There was, therefore, no surprise when the council of election announced that the choice had fallen upon Baldwin, and his rival was among the first to acknowledge the validity of the election.  The Marquis of Montferrat obtained for his prize Crete and the Asiatic part of the empire.  As, however, he discovered that the latter part of the Byzantine realm would require to be conquered, he exchanged it for the kingdom of Thessalonica.  The Greek empire had at one blow fallen to pieces.  What the crusaders had conquered was that part of the country now called Roumelia.  Across the Dardanelles, Theodore Lascaris established himself as emperor at Nicaea; and Alexius, a son of Manuel Comnenus, created an empire for himself at Trebizond; another established himself as despot of Epirus; and the other two wandering emperors, Alexius III and Alexius V, joined their forces, in the hope of keeping the Latins out of the northwest provinces.

But these two passed masters in duplicity could not, even in misfortune, trust one another, and Alexius III, the craftier if not the stronger of the two vagabond usurpers, seized his ally, put out his eyes, and handed him over to the Latins.  They went through the formality of a trial, and found him guilty of the murder of Alexius IV.  He was sentenced to death, and after a good deal of discussion it was decided that the manner of his death should be by being hurled from the top of a lofty column, and this was accordingly done.

As for Alexius III, after a great variety of adventures he finally fell into the hands of his son-in-law, Theodore Lascaris, who shut him up in a monastery, where his troubled life came to an end.

Baldwin began his reign by sending a conciliatory letter to the Pope.[51] He had not, it is true, attempted to carry out the vows which he and his brother-crusaders had taken upon themselves.  Palestine still groaned under the yoke of the infidel.  At the same time the Pope could not but feel gratified at the extinction of the Greek schism and the restoration of the unity of Christendom, That event was undoubtedly due to him, and the Pope acknowledged it in a careful letter, which left him free at any time to express his disapprobation of the course pursued by the crusaders.  To the King of France Baldwin wrote, inviting the French knights to find their way to this new scene of conquest and glory.  To Palestine he sent promises of assistance, with, as tokens of his power, the gates of Constantinople and the chain which barred the port.

And then, the empire being fairly parcelled out, the Marquis of Montferrat took his knights and men-at-arms to establish his own kingdom of Thessalonica.  Other chiefs, who had obtained each his own part of the Byzantine territories, went off to conquer them for themselves; and the Greeks began to perceive that they were ruled by a mere handful of Latin adventurers, only to be dreaded when they were together, and now scattered in small garrisons and feeble bands all about the country.  When this knowledge was thoroughly acquired, troubles began to befall the new empire.