Principality of Achaea
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Principality of Achaea | |||||||||
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1205–1432 | |||||||||
Greek Orthodox popularly | |||||||||
Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||
Prince of Achaea | |||||||||
• 1205–1209 | William I | ||||||||
• 1404–1432 | Centurione | ||||||||
• 1453-1455 | John Asen Zaccaria | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
1204 | |||||||||
1205 | |||||||||
1259 | |||||||||
• Angevin takeover | 1278 | ||||||||
• Exile of the last Zaccaria Prince | 1455 | ||||||||
• Absorbed in Despotate of the Morea | 1432 | ||||||||
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Today part of | Greece | ||||||||
* The principality was a client state of, in order, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, then the Latin Emperors at Constantinople, the Angevins of the Kingdom of Naples, until the purchase of 1404 by Centurione II Zaccaria. |
The Principality of Achaea (
Foundation
Achaea was founded in 1205 by
Organization of the Principality
Territorial organization and feudal structure
Achaea was rather small, consisting of the Peloponnese peninsula (then known as the Morea), but it was fairly wealthy, exporting wine, raisins, wax, honey, oil and silk. The capital of the principality was originally at Andravida. It was bordered on the north by Epirus and the Duchy of Athens and surrounded by Venetian-held territories in the Aegean Sea, including the forts of Modon and Coron on the Peloponnese.
In 1208/9, after Champlitte's departure, William I created a commission, composed of two Latin bishops, two
Barony | Fiefs | Territory | First holder |
---|---|---|---|
Akova (Mattegrifon) | 24 | Arcadia | Walter of Rosières |
Karytaina (Chabron) | 22 | Skorta | Renaud of Briel |
Patras | 24 | N. Achaea | William Aleman |
Passavant (Passava) | 4 | Mani Peninsula | John of Nully |
Vostitsa | 8 | E. Achaea | Hugh I of Charpigny |
Kalavryta | 12 | SE. Achaea | Otho of Tournay |
Chalandritsa | 4 (later 8) | S. Achaea | Audebert of la Trémouille |
Veligosti | 4 | S. Arcadia | Matthew of Mons |
Nikli | 6 | S. Arcadia | William of Morlay |
Geraki | 6 | E. Laconia | Guy of Nivelet |
Gritzena | 4 | SE. Messenia | Luke |
Kalamata |
- | S. Messenia | William I of Villehardouin |
Shortly after 1260, a thirteenth barony, that of Arcadia (modern Kyparissia) was established, which was also a personal fief of the Villehardouins.[6] Aside from Kalamata (and later Arcadia), which became the Villehardouins' personal fief, the Prince's own domain encompassed the region of Elis, where the capital Andravida, the port of Glarentza (Clarence) and the fortress of Chlemoutsi (Clermont) were situated, Corinthia, with the Acrocorinth as the chief site, as well as most of Messenia and Laconia around the fertile valley of Eurotas. When Tsakonia and the other mountainous regions of the southeast were subdued in the late 1240s, these too came under the Prince's control.[8]
The twelve barons retained considerable powers and privileges, so that the Prince was not an absolute sovereign but rather a "first among equals" among them. Thus they had the right to construct a castle without the Prince's permission, or to decree
On the other hand, all vassals owed the Prince four months service in the field and four months garrison duty every year, retiring after the age of sixty, but only if a replacement could be provided. This put the principality on constant war footing. Indeed, the knights of Achaea enjoyed a considerable reputation both in the Levant and in Western Europe.[12][13]
With the Byzantine recovery of the region around
Government and administration
The most important secular and ecclesiastical lords participated in the council of the "Grand Court", which was presided over by the Prince. The council had great authority, and its decisions were binding for the Prince. The Principality's higher officials were the
The Principality also produced a unique set of laws, the
The Frankish barons were subjected to heavy military obligations. They had to serve four months each year with the Principality's army and further four months of guard duty on various castles.[14] They could not leave the Principality, except with the Prince's permission, and even then had to return within two years and two days or have their property confiscated.[15]
The Principality in the 13th century
Geoffrey I was succeeded (1209) by his son Geoffrey II, who ruled until his death in 1245. By confiscating the ecclesiastical taxes, in the years 1221–1223 he built himself a powerful castle at Chlemoutsi, near modern Kyllini, which he used as his main residence. Because of this, he came into conflict with the Catholic Church, and was briefly excommunicated by the Pope. When John III of Nicaea besieged Constantinople in 1236, Geoffrey II came to the aid of the Latin Empire with 100 knights, 800 archers and 6 vessels.
Under his son and successor, Prince
However, soon after his release, William broke his oath of allegiance, and begun seeking alliances with and help from various Western nations.
Despite his successes at Prinitza and Makryplagi, the war with the Byzantines had taken a toll on Achaean resources, and their empire remained a looming threat. A proposal to marry William's elder daughter
These were hard terms, essentially detaching Achaea from the Latin Empire and making it a dependency of the Kingdom of Sicily. Nonetheless, William fulfilled his obligations, leading an Achaean force to aid Charles against the invasion of Conradin at the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268), and bringing Isabelle to Italy to marry Charles' son Philip in 1271.[20] The military support of Charles allowed William to resist the Byzantines, and the last years of his reign were relatively quiet.[21]
However, after the death of William in 1278, the seeds of a calamitous succession dispute were laid. In the normal course of events, Achaea would have passed to a cadet branch of the House of Anjou. However, his son-in-law Philip had died in 1277 without an heir, and a reversionary clause in the Treaty of Viterbo provided that the Principality would go to Charles of Anjou, rather than Isabelle, should this occur.[21] Charles duly took possession of the Principality, which he ruled through a series of baillis; he would never personally visit it.[22]
A renewed commitment by Charles to retake the Latin Empire (Treaty of Orvieto, 1281) was forestalled by the War of the Sicilian Vespers, and this struggle with the Crown of Aragon consumed the remainder of his life. His son Charles II succeeded him in Achaea as well as Sicily (now reduced to the Kingdom of Naples), but was a prisoner in Aragonese hands. In the interim, the rule of Achaea devolved upon a series of baillis chosen from the Morean nobility. Not long after his release and coronation in 1289, he granted the Principality to Isabelle of Villehardouin upon her marriage with Florent of Hainaut, in part to redress the grasping application of the Treaty of Viterbo at William's death. However, he retained feudal overlordship over the Principality, and his grant provided that neither Isabelle nor any daughter who was her heir might marry without his consent.[23]
The feudal conflict of the Morea (1307–1383) and last decades of the principality
For this period the principality was under a violent succession dispute, which originated from the dispossessed
From 1331 the feudal lords began to recognize the rights of James, and in 1333 the recognition was total. Then John transferred his rights to his sister-in-law,
In 1404,
During the great Morean revolt of 1453 John Asen, the son of Centurione from his marriage to a lady by the prestigious Asen Palaiologoi family,[24] revived the Principality and was proclaimed as Prince by the Latins of Morea but also from Greeks and Albanians. He was recognised as the legitimate and only Prince by the King Alfonso of Naples and also by Venice.[25] However he was defeated by the Turkish allies of Thomas and fled in Venice. Later in Rome the Popes recognised John as the titular Prince of Achaea and offered him a symbolic pension.[26]
The Byzantine reconquest proved short-lived, however, as in 1460, the Ottomans conquered the Despotate.
Princes of Achaea
In fiction
- Lord Geoffrey's Fancy (first published 1962, Bello Publishing, ISBN 1447232259). One of the last books by British historical novelist Alfred Duggan, this covers events in the Morea and the Duchy of Athens during the period 1257–1272. It is told from the perspective of an English knight who follows Geoffrey of Briel, a real person who held the Barony of Karytaina. Duggan was an archaeologist and historian; key facts are taken from the Chronicle of the Moreathen fleshed out but it is as accurate as any historical reconstruction can be.
- Princess Isabeau (Πριγκιπέσσα Ιζαμπώ), a novel by the Greek writer Angelos Terzakis about Princess Isabella, originally serialized in the Kathimerini newspaper in 1937–38.
Family relations of the Princes of Achaea
Family relations of the Princes of Achaea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
References
- OCLC 70122512.
- ^ Miller William (1908)The Latins in the Levant : a history of Frankish Greece, 1204–1566 E.P. Dutton and Company, New York. p. 38
- ^ Setton (1976), p. 30
- ^ Miller (1921), p. 71
- ^ Miller (1921), pp. 72–73
- ^ a b c Setton (1976), p. 31
- ^ Miller (1921), pp. 71–72
- ^ Bon (1969), p. 104
- ^ Miller (1921), p. 74
- ^ a b Setton (1976), p. 32
- ^ Miller (1921), pp. 71, 72
- ^ Miller (1921), p. 72
- ^ Setton (1976), pp. 31–32
- ^ Chronicle of the Morea, verses 1995–2004
- ^ Assizes Articles 111 & 120
- ^ Bartusis, M.C., The Late Byzantine Army (1997), p. 49
- ^ Bartusis, M.C., The Late Byzantine Army (1997), pp. 49–50
- ^ Hooper, N. & Bennett, M., The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare (1996), p. 104 [1]
- ^ Longnon 1969, pp. 254–255.
- ^ Longnon 1969, p. 256.
- ^ a b Longnon 1969, p. 258.
- ^ Longnon 1969, p. 259.
- ^ Longnon 1969, pp. 260–261.
- ^ Sturdza, Mihail Dimitri (1999). Grandes familles de Grèce: d'Albanie et de Constantinople. p. 373.
- ^ Kenneth, Setton (1975). A History of the Crusades, The Fourteenth And Fifteenth Centuries. The University of Wisconsin Press. p. 165.
- ^ Miller, William (1921). Essays on the Latin Orient. Cambridge, University Press. p. 502.
Sources
- Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe [The Frankish Morea. Historical, Topographic and Archaeological Studies on the Principality of Achaea] (in French). Paris: De Boccard. OCLC 869621129.
- Dourou-Iliopoulou, Maria (2005). Το Φραγκικό Πριγκιπάτο της Αχαΐας (1204–1432). Ιστορία. Οργάνωση. Κοινωνία. [The Frankish Principality of Achaea (1204–1432). History. Organization. Society.] (in Greek). Thessaloniki: Vanias Publications. ISBN 978-960-288-153-8.
- ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
- Finley Jr, John H. "Corinth in the Middle Ages." Speculum, Vol. 7, No. 4. (Oct., 1932), pp. 477–499.
- Longnon, Jean (1949). L'empire latin de Constantinople et la principauté de Morée (in French). Paris: Payot.
- Longnon, Jean (1969) [1962]. "The Frankish States in Greece, 1204–1311". In ISBN 0-299-04844-6.
- OCLC 563022439.
- OCLC 457893641.
- Tozer, H. F. "The Franks in the Peloponnese." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 4. (1883), pp. 165–236.
- Bartusis, M.C., The Late Byzantine Army (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997) ISBN 978-0-8122-1620-2
- Hooper, N. & Bennett, M., The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare (Cambridge University Press, 1996) ISBN 978-0-521-44049-3
- ISBN 0-87169-114-0.
- Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1311–1364". In ISBN 0-299-06670-3.
- Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1364–1460". In ISBN 0-299-06670-3.