Latins had captured Thrace, Thessaly and northern Greece. Emperor AlexiosIII's cousin, Michael Doukas, who organised the Greeks' resistance in Epirus, was forced to swear fealty to Pope Innocent III to secure his protection. Emperor Baldwin dispatched his brother, Henry, to conquer Asia Minor early in 1205. Henry defeated Theodore Mangaphas and Theodore Laskaris' brother, Constantine, in the Battle of Adramyttion on 19March 1205. The Latins could not follow up their victory, because Tzar Kaloyan of Bulgaria stirred up a rebellion in Thrace and invaded the province. Kaloyan's invasion forced Emperor Baldwin to withdraw his knights from Anatolia. Kaloyan inflicted a crushing defeat on the Latin army in the Battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205. Louis of Blois and Stephen of Perche perished in the battlefield. Baldwin was captured and died in captivity in Bulgaria. Theodore emerged as the main beneficiary of Kaloyan's victory. The Latins' defeat revealed the fragility of their rule, and secured Theodore's position. Taking advantage of the moment, he expelled the Latin garrisons from most Anatolian fortresses, and transferred his capital from Prussa to Nicaea. Greeks were swarming to his realm from the European territories under Latin rule. Mangaphas ceded Philadelphia to Theodore, and Asidenos's lands were also absorbed into Theodore's realm. The local aristocrats supported Theodore against the rebellious magnates, and he awarded them with court titles. Theodore extracted an oath of fealty from Michael I of Epirus's brother, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, who had settled in Asia Minor, before allowing him to leave for Epirus. Reign Coronation David Komnenos dispatched an army to Bithynia, but Theodore defeated the invaders and their Latin allies at Nicomedia. Sultan KaykhusrawI sent Seljuq troops to his father-in-law, Maurozomes, to invade the valley of the Maeander River in the spring of 1205, but they were soon defeated. Theodore made a peace with Maurozomes, allowing him to rule two fortresses, Chonae and Laodicea on the Lycus, as the Sultan's lieutenant. Theodore assumed the title of emperor early in 1205—either after his victory at Nicomedia or after his peace treaty with Maurozomes. His new title was an open challenge to the legitimacy of the Latin emperor in Constantinople; therefore, the Latins regarded him as an usurper, unlawfully ruling territories of their empire. Many Greeks also refused to recognize Theodore's claim to the emperorship because only coronation by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople could legalize an emperor. Theodore approached Patriarch John Kamateros, who