near Kastoria, and some thirty of his most senior barons were likewise taken captive. The Chronicle of the Morea offers a variant account, but confuses the leading personages, claiming that "Theodore Doukas" (an error for John Doukas) was the commander of the Nicaean forces, and placing Nikephoros at the head of the Epirote army. According to the Chronicle, the Nicaean commander tried to frighten his opponents by lighting many camp fires and using cattle to simulate marching troops, and sent an agent to the allied camp to persuade the Despot of the vastly superior size of the Nicaean force. The stratagem worked in so far as the Epirote troops fled during the night, while the Nicaeans, emboldened by this, moved to confront the Achaeans. The Achaeans, with Geoffrey of Briel leading the van, managed to rout the German knights who were the Nicaeans' first line; but the ordered his Hungarian and Cuman horse archers to shoot indiscriminately at the horses of the Franks and the Germans, bringing the knights down and forcing them to surrender. According to Geanakoplos, although differing in details, the various accounts can be reconciled to form a more complete picture of the battle. Certainly the crucial turning point, Michael II's flight on the eve of the battle, is easy to explain even without a Nicaean stratagem: the Epirote ruler was disquieted by the presence of such a strong Frankish army, and feared that in the event of an allied victory, he would be likely to lose his own territory to the Latins, fears which would have been confirmed with the clash between his son John Doukas and William of Villehardouin in the days leading up to the battle. Conversely, if the Nicaeans won, not only his rule, but his own life would be in danger, leading him to choose flight instead. Aftermath The battle was a decisive event for the subsequent history of the Balkans. With the collapse of the Epirote–Latin league, Michael Palaiologos was free to pursue the reconquest of Constantinople and the revival of the Byzantine Empire: the rump Latin Empire was now cut off from any aid, and the capture of Villehardouin deprived it, in the words of Donald Nicol, "of its only capable defender". Already in 1260, Michael Palaiologos attacked Constantinople, as one of the knights taken prisoner in Pelagonia, and whose house was in the city walls, had promised to open