Theodore was a son-in-law and heir apparent to Alexios III Angelos, when the latter was deposed by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. In the confusion that followed, Theodore was able to take power in Nicaea and hold off the Latins, who claimed the region, and his father-in-law, Alexios III, who wanted to retake his throne. Theodore was able to consolidate his Anatolian holdings and loyal towns and nobles into an entity we now call the Empire of Nicaea, a successor state to the Byzantine Empire, alongside Trebizond, Thessaloniki, Epirus, the Latin Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, who all claimed to be the true Roman Empire. When Theodore died 16 years into his reign, his state was cohesive enough to pass on to his son-in-law John III Doukas Vatatzes.

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