d'Autremencourt seized a few islands in the Corinthian Gulf off Galaxeidi, the inhabitants of the latter called upon Michael for aid, and in the ensuing battle, Thomas was killed and Salona (modern Amfissa) was occupied. Epirote rule there proved short-lived, however, as d'Autremencourt's son Thomas II soon recovered his father's lordship. In 1212, his troops invaded Thessaly in force, overrunning the resistance of the local Lombard nobles. The Epirotes took Larissa, where they deposed the Latin Archbishop and restored the local see to an Orthodox metropolitan, Velestino, the fief of Berthold of Katzenelnbogen, and reached the shores of the Pagasetic Gulf at Demetrias. The newly gained Thessalian territories were entrusted to Michael's son-in-law Constantine Maliasenos as a hereditary appanage. Soon after, probably in 1213, he took Dyrrhachium from Venice, followed in 1214 by Corfu. Very little is known about the details of these successes, as the generally hostile stance of the pro-Nicaean Byzantine historians towards Michael means that his achievements were often ignored. According to local Corfiot tradition, the castle of Angelokastro was built by Michael. Michael continued to push northward into Albania and Macedonia, taking Kruja and ending the independence of the principality of Arbanon and its ruler, Dimitri Progoni, but his attempt to seize Zeta was stopped by the Serbs at Skadar. Death and legacy Michael himself did not long outlive these successes: in late 1214 or in 1215, he was assassinated in his sleep at Velegrada by a servant called Rhomaios. According to the historian John V. A Fine, "whether he was hired to do the act, and, if so, by whom is unknown". As his only surviving son was illegitimate and underage, Michael was succeeded by his half-brother Theodore. Theodore had been in the service of Nicaea, and Michael had requested Laskaris to send him to Epirus because his own son's position was weak. In the event, Theodore not only sidelined the young Michael II, but according to the hagiography of St. Theodora of Arta, sent him and his mother to exile in the Peloponnese for the duration of his reign. Theodore proved a powerful and warlike ruler, greatly expanding the Epirote state and capturing Thessalonica in 1224, where he was crowned emperor. The rise of Theodore's Empire of Thessalonica ended abruptly with his defeat and capture by the Bulgarians at the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230, that allowed the exiled Michael II to return to