1302: After the defeat in the 1280s, Byzantium has retreated behind the Bosphorus and defended itself successfully from there, being safe for a while. The union with the Catholic church has been dissolved again, and despite of that and the toppling of emperor Andronikos II after said defeat, the country has enjoyed relative peace. Now however, the country is attacked by the ambitious Charles of Valois, who wants to become new Latin emperor. Thrace is overrun, and in their panic the Byzantines call the Rum-Seljuks for help. The Seljuks indeed throw the crusaders out again, but they don't think about giving Thrace to Byzantium again... now the empire only consists of the capital and Thessaloniki.