Crusaders as conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea j9602091k

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Introduction (page 1)
HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS (page 3)
MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS OF THE CHRONICLES OF MOREA (page 32)
The Chronicles of Morea (page 65)
Selected Bibliography (page 327)
Index (page 335)

Citation preview

CRUSADERS AS CONQUERORS THE CHRONICLE OF MOREA

NUMBER LXIX OF THE

Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

CRUSADERS AS CONQUERORS THE CHRONICLE OF MOREA, TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK, WITH NOTES AND

INTRODUCTION, BY

HAROLD E. LURIER

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK AND LONDON 1964

© 2S

C56 Harold E. Lurier is Professor of Social Sciences at Pace College.

Copyright © 1964 Columbia University Press

Printed in the United States of America

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 62-9367

YS BIISS (aan ‘ h ' KSA Mist a-13-6F

THIS TRANSLATION IS DEDICATED TO MY SISTER

JANICE “O8 yao dutcbov to ed noteiv, xdy 7 mwapayonUa ths eveogyeciag 7 avtido-

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RECORDS OF CIVILIZATION SOURCES AND STUDIES EDITED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

GENERAL EDITOR

W. T. H. Jackson, Professor of German and History PAST EDITORS

1915-1926

JAMES T. SHOTWELL, Bryce Professor Emeritus of the History of International

Relations }

1926-1953

AuSTIN P. Evans, Late Professor of History 1953-1962

JACQUES Barzun, Seth Low Professor of History EDITORS: ORIENTAL RECORDS

Wn. THEODORE DE Bary, Professor of Chinese and Japanese C. MARTIN WILBUR, Professor of Chinese History

CONSULTING EDITORS

SALo W. Baron, Professor of Jewish History, Literature, and Institutions on the Miller Foundation GILBERT HicHET, Anthon Professor of the Latin Language and Literature DoNALD KEENE, Professor of Japanese

Paut O. KRISTELLER, Professor of Philosophy . GERHART B. LapNER, Professor of History, University of California at Los Angeles

JoHN H. Munpy, Professor of History Inon Sevéenxo, Professor of History SPECIAL EDITOR FOR THIS VOLUME: KENNETH M. SETTON

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author who undertakes the translation of a work already in print must face a special set of trials. Some of these I was able to avoid, since the text that I chose was both antique and anony-

mous. Yet there still remained the tedium and persistence of the mechanics of the translation. From these I soon learned that the translator needs spiritual sustenance rather than technical assistance from those to whom he turns for help. In this respect I consider myself most fortunate to have been first introduced to my labors by my mentor, Professor Kenneth M. Setton, whose exacting standards of scholarship provided me with a constant and sustaining goal. I should also like to express my gratitude to the librarians and staff of the Public Library of Danbury, Connecticut, a small library not often thought of, perhaps, as a place of research, yet a library

that offered me all its facilities and the friendly, even eager help of its staff through the long, otherwise discouraging, months that produced the main text of this book.

I must also thank Miss Elisabeth Shoemaker of the staff of Columbia University Press who read my manuscript with extraordinary skill and attention. Finally, my deepest debt is to my sister Janice, who not only spent countless hours typing manuscript for me, but who was ever

vigilant to correct my all too frequent errors. In the end her faith and trust in me produced this work, and to her I have dedicated it. H. E. L. October, 1962 Pace College

ABBREVIATIONS H. = Codex Havniensis (Copenhagen text of the Greek Chronicle)

K. = P. Kalonaros, To Xoovixov tot Mooéwe (edited text of the Greek Chronicle)

L. = Livre de la Conqueste de la Princée de l’Amorée (French version of the Chronicle, edited by Jean Longnon)

L. de F. = Libro de los fechos, efc. (Aragonese version of the Chronicle, edited by Alfred Morel-Fatio)

Lg. = J. Longnon, L’Empire latin de Constantinople M. = W. Miller, Latins in the Levant

P, = Codex Parisinus (Paris text of the Greek Chronicle) S. = J. Schmitt, The Chronicle of Morea (edited text of the Greek Chronicle)

Zz. = ID). Zakythinos, Le Despotat grec de Morée See Bibliography for full details on these works.

CONTENTS

Introduction 1 HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS 3 MOREA 32 The Chronicle of Morea 65 MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS OF THE CHRONICLES OF

Index 339

Selected Bibliography 327 Map

Thirteenth-Century Greece under Frankish Domination 6-7 Charts

Emperors of Byzantium 12

Latin Emperors of Constantinople 20

Princes of Morea 27

*

INTRODUCTION

A

INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS On the morning of April 13, 1204, the knights of the Fourth Crusade

found themselves in possession of the city of Constantinople. For the second time within a year this greatest prize of Christendom had bowed to its first conquerors. For three days the city was pillaged without mercy, but by Easter Sunday, April 25, some semblance of order had been restored. Even as the echo of the stately Latin chants still hovered above the Greek churches, proclaiming to the bewildered populace a new regime and a reunited Church, the leaders of the Crusade turned to the complicated problem of organizing their new empire. In March the leaders of the Crusade, Boniface, marquis of Mont-

ferrat, Baldwin, count of Flanders, and the counts of Blois and St. Pol had met with their Venetian allies to determine the strategy for the assault and the division of the spoils. It was decided that the newly won empire would be given to an emperor chosen from

candidates proposed by the Crusaders and the Venetians; the patriarchate and all its possessions would go to the loser. The booty was to be distributed fairly according to rank, and one quarter of the empire was to go to the emperor, the remainder to be divided equally between Venice and the Crusaders, with fiefs to be assigned one half in territory already taken and one half in lands yet to be conquered. This treaty was submitted for approval to Pope Innocent III who accepted its terms reluctantly. As soon as the committee met to elect the emperor there appeared

the factionalism that had brought dissension to earlier crusading hosts. After spirited wrangling, Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor. His rival Boniface de Montferrat was offered extensive

lands in Anatolia to assuage ruffled sensibilities and to keep peace among the Crusaders. As planned, the patriarchate and its

4 INTRODUCTION possessions went to the Venetians, who assigned them to one of their aristocrats Tommaso Morosini, without any consultation with the pope, who felt an immediate chill of apprehension. At its very inception the Latin Empire of Constantinople had already established the pattern of dissension and competing ambitions that was to be its lasting weakness. But any forebodings were soon lost in the general excitement of the division of the staggering pile of booty. The emperor apportioned this fairly and then took a careful survey of the lands of the empire in order to make a just distribution of the fiefs. Boniface, meanwhile, had married Marie, sister of the king of Hungary and the still young widow of the late Byzantine emperor Isaac Angelos. He asked the emperor to exchange his as yet unconquered lands in Anatolia for the kingdom of Salonika, either because he wished to be closer to his new brother-in-law, who might

need his aid, or because he had ambitions of his own to establish a Balkan kingdom. Baldwin was suspicious but made the exchange. The rest of the empire was divided properly, and the fiefs were assigned. All thereupon rushed to conquer their new lands, the marquis marching westward with a large following of the best troops in the Host. In addition to his own vassals from northern Italy, his rank and reputation for bravery attracted Germans, like the count Berthold of Katzenelnbogen; Burgundians, like Guillaume

de Champlitte and Othon de la Roche; Provencals, and even Flemings and Frenchmen, like Jacques d’Avesnes and Thomas d’Autremencourt. In addition he had a large Greek following that included a cousin of the late royal Greek house, Michael Komnenos

Doukas. The marquis apparently was quite fond of him and put great trust in him, but as soon as he could, Michael deserted and with his brother Theodoros made his way to Epiros where he organized the local Greeks, the Albanians, and the Vlachs into a center of Greek resistance in the west. The marquis reached Salonika without any trouble. In fact, he was greeted with joyous welcome everywhere by the Greeks. Leaving his wife in charge of the city’s defense, he took her son by her former marriage, the young prince Manuel, and began a triumphant tour southward, displaying the boy everywhere. In Macedonia and Thessaly he was greeted enthusiastically, almost

INTRODUCTION +) as a returning hero. The Vale of Tempe, Larissa, and other towns all paid him homage. He met no resistance until he reached Thermopylae. The explanation of this extraordinary passage lies in

the fact that, even before it fell to the Latins, the Byzantine government had largely lost its control over Greece. Petty lords, pirates, local governors, and a few great feudal families had taken over the country for themselves and had crushed the people of the cities and the farms under an insupportable load of exactions. The fall of the city was the signal for a mad scramble for power

among these petty leaders. It is no wonder that there was no will to resist another invader. In fact, the people of the land saw in the Latins a possible turn for the better. One of the local petty tyrants who had seized power was Leon Sgouros. His original holding was around the town of Nauplia, but he had expanded northward to Argos and Corinth, past Athens, where the valiant metropolitan Michael Choniates had put up too stiff a resistance, to Thebes and Larissa. As Boniface advanced, Leon withdrew

to the mountains around Thermopylae to bar the entrance to central Greece. Then, losing his nerve, he fled to Corinth to protect the entrance to the Peloponnesos. The marquis, leisurely following,

was welcomed by Thebes and Boeotia. Athens was not so hos-

pitable but put up no resistance. Euboea fell without a blow. Finally he arrived in Corinth and besieged Sgouros in the fastness of the Acrocorinth, building a small castle called Mont Escovée

to control the operation. Leaving Jacques d’Avesnes in charge, he then proceded south and laid siege to Nauplia. It was at this time that he received an unexpected visit that was to decide the history of Greece for the next two centuries. Geoffroy de Villehardouin, nephew of the marshal of Champagne

and chronicler of the Crusade, had gone directly to Syria and had not taken part in the assault on Constantinople. Like others who had done the same, as soon as he had heard of the establishment of the Latin empire, Geoffroy set sail for Constantinople, hoping to make his fortune. His ship was blown to the west by contrary winds, and he had to take refuge in the port of Modon in the south of the Peloponnesos. There he and his companions were approached by a local Greek archon who wanted to use this unexpected troop to expand his territories. The prospect of adventure and profit

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8 INTRODUCTION led Geoffroy to join the Greek, and together they conquered all of the western Peloponnesos as far north as Patras. These lands, it must be noted, had already been assigned to Venice. At this point the Greek died, and his son, distrustful of the Latins, closed all the cities to them and raised the Greeks against them. Finding himself in a hostile land and hearing of the arrival of Boniface in the Peloponnesos, Geoffroy rode in great peril across the peninsula to Nauplia to seek help. The marquis was delighted to see him and

invited him to join his army. But Geoffroy found an old friend, Guillaume de Champlitte, in the host. He prevailed upon him to return to the west to conquer Morea and promised to become his liegeman for any lands that Guillaume might assign to him. Thereupon, while Jacques d’Avesnes was at Corinth and the marquis at Nauplia, the two companions with about two hundred knights and four hundred sergeants began an astonishing adventure in the western Peloponnesos. With no trouble at all they took province after province, city after city, until they found themselves

in the far south at Modon. They fortified the town and pushed their way into the mountainous regions of Messenia, Arkadia, and

Lakonia. In short, almost all of the peninsula fell to them, and they made a great division of the land. Twelve major fiefs were created and assigned to barons and to each of these were assigned vassals, knights, and sergeants, each of whom was given a fief. The religious orders, the Hospitalers, the Templars, and the prelates, also received lands and for these they owed military service, but not garrison duty. In fact, the whole land was on a war footing

and the vassals were expected to give military service all year round, four months in the field, four months in garrison duty, and four months at home on call, since no one could leave the land without permission. Even the Greek dignitaries had a place in the feudal order. Those who submitted retained their lands and had the same rights and duties as the Franks. The arrangements with the peasants on the land remained unchanged, but actually conditions for them improved as peace and order were restored and the crushing exactions of the Greek governors and tyrants were stopped. The moderation and tolerance of the new Frankish lords ensured the support of the Greeks, made the conquest easier, and brought about general prosperity. The new

INTRODUCTION 9 ruler of the land took as his official title the designation prince of Achaia, but he was popularly called prince of Morea, prince being a title unusual in the Middle Ages and unique in the Latin Empire. The prince and his barons held their lands by right of conquest, but technically Guillaume de Champlitte had asked leave of the marquis of Montferrat to go on his adventure, and the permis-

sion seems to have established some sort of suzerainty over Morea.

The marquis, meanwhile, was establishing the same sort of order

throughout Greece. He gave Athens to Othon de la Roche who took the title duke of Athens, but he was commonly called by the Greeks Megas Kyr (great lord). Thebes was first given to an Italian, Albertino de Canossa, though it soon passed to Othon, who added it to his fief and to his title. Thermopylae went to another Italian noble, the marquis Guido Pelavicino, and became the famous marquisate of Boudonitza. The lands around Delphi, stretching to the Gulf of Corinth, were given to Thomas d’Autremencourt, who established the lordship of Salona there. The assignment of Euboea first to Jacques d’Avesnes, then to Ravan dalle Carceri, a noble of Verona, completed the arrangements for central Greece. Northern Greece was likewise divided among the many followers of the marquis, though many cities were kept by him as royal castellanies. Strangely enough, he never took the title of king. He was called lord of the kingdom of Salonika or simply marquis of Montferrat. While the western part of the empire was being organized, Venice

began to occupy the points that she had chosen for herself along the coasts of Greece and on the islands of the Ionian and Aegean seas. Baldwin, for his part, once crowned with pomp in the Church of the Holy Wisdom, led a swarm of Crusaders into Anatolia. The resistance of the petty Greek princelings in the area melted away before the superior tactics and determination of the western knights. A main center of Greek resistance, however, began to form around Theodoros Laskaris, son-in-law of the emperor Alexios III and hero of the defense of Constantinople. He was established near Nicaea, and leading Greek prelates and dignitaries began to join him there.

10 INTRODUCTION Once the lands were divided among the Latins, the problem of organization arose. Had the example of the Franks in Morea in their dealings with the Greeks been followed, all might have gone well, but unfortunately the new emperor Baldwin failed completely in developing a workable policy towards his Greek subjects. His natural hauteur and disdain led him to spurn all offers of assistance from the Greek nobles. Refused a part in the Latin feudal structure of the state, these outraged nobles became the nucleus of a Greek resistance and looked for help from the two free Greek centers at Epiros and Nicaea. They even looked to their ancient enemies the Bulgars for deliverance. As for the masses of the people, they were better disposed toward the Latins at first, and with them Baldwin displayed a more intelligent approach by allowing conditions on the lands to go on without significant change. But here again a spirit of Greek resistance arose, following the attempts of the new regime to force a union between the two churches. Already the Greeks identified their individual and communal liberties

with the rites of their church. Though the metropolitans and bishops had fled their sees at the time of the conquest, the members of the lower clergy remained, and these the Latins attempted to bring under Roman control. The pope recognized the delicacy of the problem, and at times so did the emperor, but the Greeks increasingly resisted all overtures. They clung to their Church with a stubborn fervor and looked longingly to the same sources

of deliverance that attracted their leaders. The situation was aggravated by a singular lack of tact and restraint on the part of many of the Crusaders, particularly the Venetians, who had taken Adrianople as part of their share of the empire. There an uprising broke out in February, 1205, and quickly most of Thrace fell into the hands of Greek insurgents. As the emperor proceeded westward with a fatally weak army made up mostly of his vassals called from their lands in Asia Minor, the Greeks called upon Kalojan, tsar of the Bulgars, for help. This leader of the Bulgarians had sought before the Fourth Crusade to throw off allegiance to the Byzantine emperor and had turned to the pope for help. After a lengthy correspondence with Innocent III, who hoped to penetrate the Balkans and open a new route to Syria for the crusading movement, an agreement was

INTRODUCTION 11 reached in 1203. By its terms a Latin archbishop was made primate of Bulgaria in September, 1203, and in February, 1204, the pope

recognized Kalojan as king of the Bulgars and the Vlachs. In the spirit of this rapprochement, Kalojan subsequently offered his services to the Crusaders in their conquest of the empire. They rejected his overtures in a particularly haughty and brutal manner and, treating him as a vassal, demanded that he do homage to the

Latin emperor for his lands. In a rage, Kalojan threw off his friendship with the Latins and became their implacable foe. It was

this man who now came to the assistance of the Greeks with a vast army, including in its troops over 14,000 Cuman mercenaries. The two armies met near Adrianople, and the Latins were overwhelmed. The emperor was captured and later died mysteriously

in prison. Remnants of the troops streamed back toward the capital, where the state was taken over by Baldwin’s brother Henri de Hainaut. Henri’s reign (1206-16) was crucial for the survival of the empire. With all of Thrace repeatedly laid waste by the Bulgars and Anatolia deserted by its Latin lords and falling bit by bit to Laskaris, Henri’s position was desperate. In the east he allied himself with the Greeks who had established themselves at Paphlagonia and Trebizond under two sons of the late emperor Andronikos, and even with the infidel Turk, making an uneasy common cause against the common enemy, Laskaris. In the west his position was somewhat improved by the Venetians, who now began to take over their lands in earnest. Relentlessly they reduced all centers of resistance along the Greek coast, fighting Greeks, pirates, and Champlitte himself in the process. They sent fleets and armies to the Ionian islands, and a swarm of Venetians pacified

all the islands of the Aegean. Ravan dalle Carceri did homage to Venice for his island of Euboea, and Crete, bought by Venice from Boniface de Montferrat, was invaded. In Greece the barons of

Morea slowly pushed eastward, and in the north the marquis consolidated his holdings after the disastrous Bulgar invasions. Thus the west was made more stable, and the marquis and Henri cemented a treaty of friendship by the marriage between Henri and Agnes, daughter of the marquis. Marie, wife of the marquis,

at this time produced an heir. He was named, significantly, Demetrios, after the patron saint of Salonika.

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