Crusaders (1145-1261)
In 1130 Roger II (58; r.1130-1154) united Apulia and Sicily into a single realm called the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1140 the Byzantine emperor John II (55; r.1118-1143) made an alliance with German king Conrad III (58; r.1138-1152) against Norman power in southern Italy. When Conrad was advancing on Constantinople with the Second Crusade (1145-1149) his attention was diverted from Europe, allowing Roger to seize Corcyra and pillage Corinth, Thebes and Euboea.
In April 1204 Constantinople surrendered to the Latin soldiers of the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). The empire broke into two parts: the Byzantine Greeks ruling the successor states of Epirus (1205-1479), Nicaea (1204-1261) and Trebizond (1204-1461); and Latin rule split into the Latin Empire covering Thrace (1204-1261), the Kingdom of Thessalonica (1204-1224), the Principality of Achaea (1205-1432), the Duchy of Athens (1205-1456), and the Aegean islands forming Venetian Duchy of the Archipelago (1207-1579).
In September 1259 Michael VIII of Nicaea (58; r.1259-1282) defeated William II of Achaea (r.1246-1278) and Michael II of Epirus (r.1230-1266/68) at the Battle of Pelagonia, and in July 1261 recaptured Constantinople, officially restoring the Byzantine Empire. By his death in 1282 Michael had taken back the Aegean islands, Thessaly, Epirus, and most of Achaea, including the Crusader fortress of Mystras, which became the seat of a Byzantine despotate. However, Athens and the northern Peloponnese remained in Crusader hands.
Ottoman Sultanate (1299-1922)
Beginning from northeastern Asia Minor the Ottoman forces spread rapidly westwards. In 1337 they captured Nicomedia in northwestern Asia Minor. In a civil war (1354-1355) between John V (58; r.1341-1391) and John VI (91; 1347-1354) the Ottomans as allies established themselves in the Thracian Chersonese and Thrace, bypassing Constantinople. They captured Adrianople (1365) which they made their capital, Thessalonica (1387-1402) and Thessaly (1393). In 1453 Mehmet II (49; r.1444-46, 1451-81) laid siege to Constantinople.
After the fall of Constantinople on 29 May, the Ottomans gained Athens (1458), the Peloponnese (1460), and most of the plains and islands of Greece (by 1500). The mountains of Greece, such as the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece, were left to those wanting to escape from Ottoman rule. Cyprus fell in 1571 and the Venetians managed to retain control of Crete until 1670. The Ionian Islands stayed primarily under their rule, though the Ottomans ruled Leucas from 1479 to 1684 and Cephalonia from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500.
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