Nikephoros II Orsini

Nikephoros II Orsini (c. 1328–1359) was the child ruler of Epirus, a Greek despotate the Byzantine emperor meant to swallow. His father John Orsini died in 1335, allegedly poisoned by his mother Anna Palaiologina, who governed as regent for the seven-year-old.

Emperor Andronikos III annexed the Epirote part of Thessaly in 1336 and in 1338 kept Anna hostage. Nobles smuggled Nikephoros to the titular Latin empress Catherine of Valois, at whose urging Arta rose in his name. John Kantakouzenos crushed the revolt, married Nikephoros to his daughter Maria and took him to Constantinople; when Kantakouzenos became emperor in 1347, Nikephoros was made despot.

In 1356 he seized Thessaly and drove Simeon Uroš out of Arta. He was killed fighting Albanian clans at the Battle of Achelous in 1359.