Reconquest of Constantinople | |||||||
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Part of Struggle for Constantinople | |||||||
The Gate of the Spring (Pege) or Selymbria Gate, through which Strategopoulos and his men entered Constantinople on 25 July 1261 | |||||||
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The Reconquest of Constantinople was the recapture of the city of Constantinople in 1261 CE by the forces led by Alexios Strategopoulos of the Empire of Nicaea from Latin occupation, leading to the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, after an interval of 57 years where the city had been made the capital of the occupying Latin Empire that had been installed by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 following the Crusader Sack of Constantinople.
The recapture of Constantinople brought the city back into Byzantine possession, bringing to an end the half-century occupation of the Latin Empire over the Byzantine capital. The reconstituted Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos would go on to hold the city successfully against further designs at its capture for nearly two centuries until its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.