Epirus and recover his father's domain. Michael laid the foundations of the Epirote state, and initiated a dynasty, the Komnenoi–Doukai, who would rule over Epirus until 1318, when the Italian Orsini family took over. Members of the family also ruled over Thessaly, and for a while claimed the imperial title as rulers of Thessalonica from 1224 until its capture by the Nicaeans in 1246. It appears that during his lifetime, Michael was a popular ruler with his subjects; the contemporary metropolitan bishop of Naupactus, John Apokaukos, lauded Michael as a "new Noah", at whose side the refugees of the Latin cataclysm found refuge. The contemporary Archbishop of Ohrid Demetrios Chomatianos even estimated that at least half, if not most, of those who fled from Constantinople, found refuge in Epirus, including many of the senatorial aristocracy. More still came from the Peloponnese, fleeing Latin rule there. Apokaukos also praises him for his refoundation and refortification of the city of Ioannina, where many of the refugees were settled; the city thenceforth chose the Archangel Michael as its patron saint in his honour. Family The exact identity of Michael's wife or wives is unknown. According to the hagiography of St. Theodora of Arta, he married twice. His first wife was a lady of the aristocratic Melissenos family, who died at an unknown time. Her first cousin, likewise a Melissenos, married the governor of Nicopolis, Senachereim (see above). After his murder by the locals, Michael avenged him, took his place and married his widow. Despite the unreliability of the hagiography, its account is partially confirmed by Villehardouin's reference to the daughter of an Epirote magnate. Furthermore, as Michael's second wife was a first cousin of his first, their marriage was uncanonical in the eyes of the Church and of hostile historians; it is therefore likely that the "concubine" referenced by the latter as the mother of Michael II Komnenos Doukas was in reality Michael's second wife. Michael had five children, three by his (first) wife and two by his second wife or concubine: An unnamed daughter, who in 1209 married Eustace, brother of the Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders. Theodora Komnene Doukaina, only mentioned briefly by Demetrios Chomatianos in 1216. Constantine Komnenos Doukas, mentioned only in the Latin text of the 1210 treaty with Venice, where he is designated as his father's successor. He must have died at a young age, before Michael's own