Battle of Antioch On The Meander - Aftermath

Aftermath

In this way Laskaris snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, although his own army was well-nigh destroyed in the process. The battle ended the Seljuk threat: Kaykhusraw's son and successor, Kaykaus I, concluded a truce with Nicaea on 14 June 1211, and the border between the two states would remain virtually unchallenged until the 1260s. The former emperor Alexios, Laskaris's father-in-law, was also captured during the battle. Laskaris treated him well but stripped him of his imperial insignia and consigned him to the Monastery of Hyakinthos in Nicaea, where he ended his days.

Following the battle, the Turks carried the body of their sultan back to Konya where he was buried in the dynastic mausoleum. Ibn Bibi relates that Theodore Laskaris gave 20,000 dirhams to be distributed at the sultan's funeral as alms.

The battle freed Nicaea from Seljuk pressure, but Laskaris's army had suffered heavy casualties. In particular, his very effective, though headstrong, Latin mercenary cavalry had been almost destroyed. As a result, Laskaris could not adequately defend his territory from an attack by the Latin Empire of Constantinople; defeated at the Battle of the Rhyndacus, he had to cede some territory bordering the Sea of Marmara. The Nicaeans were compensated for this territorial loss when, in 1212, the death of David Komnenos allowed their annexation of his lands in Paphlagonia.

The victory at Antioch on the Meander gave Laskaris considerable prestige and the capture of Alexios ended internal opposition to his rule. The battle was the last major encounter between the Seljuks and the Byzantines. Ultimately, the Seljuks had failed to take all of Asia Minor. However, even though the Nicaean Empire would strengthen (at the cost of the Latins) and the Seljuks would weaken, the Turks, under Ottoman leadership, would ultimately conquer Byzantine Asia Minor a little over 100 years later.