Editing Pretender (section)

===Byzantine Empire===
Successions to the [[Roman Empire]] long continued at [[Constantinople]]. Most seriously, after the fall of Constantinople to the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204, and its eventual recovery by [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]], there came to be three Byzantine successor states, each of which claimed to be the Roman Empire, and several Latin claimants (including the [[Republic of Venice]] and the houses of [[Marquess of Montferrat|Montferrat]] and [[Philip of Courtenay|Courtenay]]) to the [[Latin Empire]] the Crusaders had set up in its place.  At times, some of these states and titles were subjected to multiple claims.