Nicaea - the site of the First Ecumenical Council (325) and the capital of the Byzantine Empire in exile during the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204-1261) following the Fourth Crusade - has an important, albeit neglected, role in ecclesiastical and political history.

With this book, Professor Clive Foss - a meticulous historian - takes a significant step in rectifying that neglect. As he tells us, his initial objective was to provide a comprehensible English translation of the two thirteenth century encomia delivered by Theodore Laskaris and Theodore Metochites. The intent was to make these important sources accessible to the contemporary readers; and in this he has succeeded notably.

But, in addition, there is a major bonus. The initial objective blossomed into a history of Nicaea from the third to the fourteenth centuries, which will interest general readers of history and the specialist as well.