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In January 1222 John Vatatzes was crowned emperor by Patriarch [[Manuel I (Charitopoulos) of Constantinople]]. His wife Irene gave birth to only one son, the heir [[w:Theodore II Laskaris|Theodore II Lascaris]] in 1222.<ref group="note">Years later his wife Irene fell from a horse and was so badly injured that she was unable to have any more children. She retired to a convent, taking the monastic name Eugenia, and died there in 1239.</ref>
Meanwhile, in 1224 [[w:Theodore Komnenos Doukas|Theodore Komnenos Doukas]], the ruler of Epirus and Thessaly, made himself master of [[Thessalonica ]] and of nearly the whole of Macedonia, assumed the title of emperor, and was crowned by the Autonomous [[Autonomous Archdiocese of Ohrid|Archbishop of Achrida]]<ref name="PLATE"/> Demetrios Chomatianos. Four emperors now reigned over the remnants of the Eastern empire:
:* [[w:Andronikos I of Trebizond|Andronicus I Gidos]] in Trebizond (1222-1235),
:* [[w:Theodore Komnenos Doukas|Theodore Komnenos Doukas]] in Epirus and Macedonia (1215-1230),
'''Siege of Constantinople (1236)'''<br>
In 1236 the allies attempted to capture the capital once again. During the siege, however, Asen, fearsome of the rise of [[Nicea|Nicaea]], and listening to the persuasions of [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anseau_de_Cayeux Anseau de Cayeux], who acted as regent in the absence of the emperor [[w:Baldwin II of Constantinople|Baldwin II]] (1237-1261), cancelled the alliance and demanded that his daughter, Helen, should return to him. He then sided with the Latins and the Cumans of Macedonia and, circa 1237, he commenced hostilities against Vatatzes, besieging [[w:Çorlu|Tzouroulos]], a strategic stronghold. During that siege Ivan Asen changed his mind again, and remorseful, he broke off the siege, sent his daughter Helen back to Nicaea, and signed a peace treaty with Vatatzes. In 1241 the Bulgarian ruler passed away. Then John III Vatatzes, rid of all of his dangerous enemies, renewed the pact with the underage heir of Ivan Asen, [[w:Kaliman I of Bulgaria|Kaliman Asen I]] (1241-1246).<ref name="BANEV"/>
===Relations with the Holy Roman Emperor===
