lived in exile in Thrace, offering to move him to Nicaea, but the elderly prelate refused. Byzantine aristocrats, who had lost their Thracian, Thessalian or Peloponnesian estates, came to Nicaea and Theodore gave asylum to them. He could only finance a simplified state administration, but he invited former high-ranking Byzantine officials to Nicaea. His wife's uncle, the blind Basil Doukas Kamaterosa former logothetes tou dromou (minister of foreign affairs)assisted him in setting up the new administrative system. He hired a Calabrian pirate, John Steiriones, to command his fleet in the Sea of Marmara. Theodore had great confidence in his brothers. He made them military commanders and rewarded them with court titles. Patriarch John Kamateros died in June 1206. The Orthodox clergy of Constantinople asked Pope InnocentIII to authorize them to elect a new patriarch, but the Latin authorities opposed their plan. The new Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Henry of Flanders, made an alliance with David Komnenos against Theodore. Theodore decided to capture Heraclea Pontica from David, but the Latins attacked his army from the rear when he was marching towards the town, and he had to abandon the campaign to chase the Latin troops off. The Latins invaded Asia Minor and captured Nicomedia and Cyzicus during the winter of 1206–1207. Theodore in turn allied himself with Kaloyan, who launched an incursion into Thrace, forcing Emperor Henry to recall his troops from Asia Minor. After Theodore and his brothers had laid siege to Nicomedia, Henry agreed to sign a two-year truce, authorizing Theodore to destroy two fortifications at Nicomedia and Cyzicus. The Orthodox clerics' negotiations with the Holy See about the appointment of an Orthodox patriarch proved unsuccessful. Theodore addressed a letter to Pope InnocentIII, requesting that he authorize the Orthodox clerics to elect the new patriarch. He also tried to persuade the Pope to acknowledge him as the supreme head of the Orthodox community, but the Pope ignored both requests. When the Latins broke the truce early in 1208, Theodore again approached the Pope and asked him to mediate a peace, proposing the Sea of Marmara as the permanent frontier between the Latin Empire and his realm. Orthodox clerics urged Theodore to hold an election to decide a new Ecumenical Patriarch. Theodore convoked a Church council in Nicaea in Holy Week 1208. The assembled prelates elected a high-ranking cleric, Michael Autoreianos, patriarch on 20 March 1208. Autoreianos was related to