basic requirement for Theodore I to achieve the main goal of his foreign policy, the recovery of Constantinople, was the proper organisation of the Empire of Nicaea. Although the new conditions that followed the fall of the Capital imposed certain changes in the restructuring of the state, the administration and the imperial court were organised in accordance with the old Byzantine tradition.

The senate was restored, as was the ecclesiastic hierarchy in Nicaea, while the ancient court ritual was also revived. The government department and the army were staffed with a body of oficers, mostly refugee aristocrats from Constantinople, who, having served in similar positions in the past, were familiar with the administration of public affairs. Refugees who had come from other regions also occupied posts in the government and the army. Their only remuneration for their services was in the form of gifts of land. Thus, the entire administrative and military mechanism of the new empire was based on the rural policy of the Laskaroi. This policy was further strengthened by Theodore's establishment of the practice of offering land grants - pronoiai - on a wide scale. The pronoia was a piece of land allotted to an individual for a specific period of time, usually his lifetime, in return for services rendered or to be rendered by him in the future.