April 7, 2022 • 38 mins
The 4th Crusade in 1204 dramatically changed the Byzantine Empire - including the Peloponnese and Vostitsa. To understand what happened in 1204, we look at some new characters in this story - the Venetians, Normans, and Franks - and the events that led up to the 4th Crusade.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jen (00:01):
The first who was listed was, Sir Gautier he held 24
knights' fees.
He was given a holding inMesarea.
He built a castle there andnamed it Akova.
Next, there was likewise givento Sir Hughes.
A holding and the drongos ofSkorta.
he was given 22 knights fees.
When he received his fiefs, hebuilt a castle there and named
(00:23):
it.
Karytaina.
Next was listed a third Barron,Sir Guillaume, he was called.
Patra was listed for him to holdand to rule.
Next was assigned the Barony ofSir Mathieu,.
The castle of Veligosti, andfour knights fees.
He was to hold and he was tobear a banner.
(00:46):
Next there was listed anotherSir Guillaume To have the castle
of Nikli with six fees.
After him, another was listed inthe book Sir Guy.
He was called.
He was given six fees to hold inTsakonia.
He built a castle there, whichhe named Geraki.
(01:06):
Sir Othon de Tournay wasenfoeffed also to hold Kalavryta
with 12 fees.
Next was likewise listed, Sir,Hughes de Lille to have eight
knight's fees in Vostitsa.
To Sir Luc were given only fourfees to hold.
The neighborhood of Gritsena,and the Lakkos valleys.
(01:30):
To Sir Jean de Neuilly was givenPassava and four fees to hold
and he was to bear a banner tobe Marshall.
And to hold this as a hereditaryoffice.
Sir Robert de Tremolay was givenfour fees.
He built Chalandritza And wascalled lord.
(01:50):
To St.
John of the hospital were givenfour fees.
To the temple, were givenanother four and it was to raise
a banner.
And likewise, to the Germanswere given four fees to hold in
the territory of Kalamata.
The metropolitan of Patra withhis canons was given eight
(02:11):
knights fees to hold.
The Bishop of Olena was givenfour fees.
And the bishops of Methoni andKorone with their canons were
each given four as were those ofVeligosti and Nikli.
all had four each.
As did the Bishop ofLakedaemonia.
(02:32):
And this is an excerpt fromChronicle with Morea.
Translated by Lurier in 1964.
Pages 126 through 127.
I'm Jen Glaubius, and this isthe Helonaki Deep Dive, a
podcast about mapping andanalysis for historical and
archeological research.
(02:52):
In this episode, I'll discusshow the Peloponnese went from
Byzantine control to feudal rulewith fiefs given to knights with
French names.
Let's dive in.
Where we left off in the lastepisode.
The Byzantine empire was incontrol of the Peloponnese and
Vostitsa in the year, 1000.
(03:15):
That control, however wasseemingly stable, but distant.
With most interactions betweenthe people of the Peloponnese
and the Byzantine governmentrelated to collecting taxes.
Wealthy landowners had beengrowing more and more powerful.
And at that point weredeveloping self-funded private
(03:36):
armies.
Now.
The situation would remain forabout two more centuries.
But then there was upheaval.
To understand why things changedin 1204 with the fourth crusade,
I'm going to introduce two newplayers into this story.
(03:58):
First is the Republic of Venice.
Unlike many other cities inItaly, Venice was not a Roman
city, but was founded byrefugees.
Settlement in the Venetianlagoon was at first temporary.
People fled established citiesattacked by Attila the Hun in
the 450s, trying to reachsafety.
(04:21):
Once that danger had passed,most people then return to their
homes.
But by the 560s.
When the Lombards were attackingcities in Northern Italy
settlement in the lagoon becamepermanent.
Since the Western Roman empirewas gone by that time.
The Venetians consideredthemselves loyal to the last
(04:44):
part of the Roman empire, whichwe call the Byzantine empire.
And at times they looked forleadership from Constantinople.
But if you remember, from thelast episode, the Byzantine
empire went through problems inthe seventh and eighth centuries
contracted basically to just thesurroundings around
(05:04):
Constantinople.
And so they really didn't haveany help to give to the people
of the Venetian lagoon.
So instead, the Venetiansdeveloped a Republic with an
elected leader who in theirdialect is known as Doge.
Based on the series of islandsin the Venetian lagoon, the
(05:28):
Venetian Republic looked towardsthe sea.
So not towards land, which theyhad very little of, but towards
the water.
And they developed a Navy ofmerchants.
They mostly traded in theEastern Mediterranean.
In the Byzantine empire.
But despite close ties to theByzantines after the Byzantine
(05:50):
empire reestablished itself andexpanded again by 992, the
Venetian Republic was consideredentirely separate from the
Byzantine empire.
So leaving the Venetians fornow.
Let's talk about twointerrelated groups that were
both living in modern, Francearound 1000 CE.
(06:13):
And both groups would impact theByzantine empire and the
Vostitsa area.
And I'm talking about theNormans and the Franks.
Now Norman as a name comes fromthe word north man.
Referring to their Vikingancestry.
They came from the north.
While living in Normandy, whichwas named for them.
(06:35):
The Normans, intermarried andintermingled with the local
Franks a local group.
For whom France was later named.
Sometimes these groups, theNormans and the Franks are also
called Latins.
Because they spoke Latin ratherthan Greek.
So they're referred to theLatins in Greek areas.
(06:56):
But I'm mostly going to stick tocalling them Normans and Franks.
Both Norman and Frank societiesin contrast with the seafaring
Venetians were based on controlof land.
The system of control of land isknown as feudalism.
So the amount of land a Lordcontrolled, determined how much
(07:19):
food could be grown.
Which in turn decided how manysoldiers the Lord of that land
could have under his control.
So by around the year, 1000,this has been developing over
the centuries and in this area,So by around the year, 1000.
Due to the fairly new practiceof primogeniture or inheritance
(07:42):
by the eldest son and the factthat there really wasn't as much
land to expand to.
So there wasn't any extra landjust laying around.
Younger sons in Norman andFrankish areas had extensive
military training, because thatwas a part of this feudal system
you had to defend your land.
(08:03):
So they have this extensivemilitary training, but no land
themselves.
And so they were available foradventures elsewhere.
So 20 years before the Normanconquest of England by William
the Conqueror in 1066.
Norman and Frankish mercenariesparticipated in a campaign to
(08:24):
reclaim Islamic Sicily for theByzantine empire.
The Byzantines had held itpreviously, but lost it to
Islamic forces.
So.
This Byzantine campaign failed.
They did not retake Sicily.
But the Norman and Frankishmercenaries who had fought there
(08:45):
would put their knowledge of thearea to use for themselves
Starting in the 1040s RogerGiscard a Norman would conquer
both Southern Italy.
And Islamic Sicily.
Roger was helped by his brother,Robert.
(09:06):
Who decided to expand histerritory eastward into the
Byzantine empire in the Balkansin 1081.
So Robert Guiscard.
Attacked the Byzantine city ofDurrazzo, which is modern Durres
in Albania.
The Venetian Republic whoseshipping would be threatened by
Normans holding both Durrazzo,which they were attacking and
(09:29):
they already held Bari in Italy.
So they were threatened becausethe Normans would then hold both
sides of the Adriatic sea.
And could potentially cut themoff from the wider
Mediterranean.
So the Venetian Republic decidedto assist the Byzantine defense.
The Byzantines helped by theVenetians prevailed over the
(09:52):
Normans after Robert's death in1085.
In return for Venetian help inthat year, 1085.
Emperor Alexios the first issueda proclamation that gave the
Venetian Republic, manybenefits.
To the civic and religiousleaders of Venice, the Doge and
the Patriarch of Grado they weregranted annual stipends.
(10:17):
The Byzantine empire would giveannual tithes to Venetian
churches.
The Venetian Republic was givenbuildings and properties in
Constantinople.
And that later became known asthe Venetian quarter.
So they had a base inConstantinople.
And perhaps most importantly,Venetian merchants were given
(10:38):
the right to conduct, trade inByzantine ports.
Tax and duty free.
So those Byzantine concessions,especially the release from
taxes and duties.
This helped make the Venetianmerchants super wealthy.
But because of that, theconcession stirred up
(10:59):
resentment.
Since the Venetians hadadvantages over Byzantine
merchants.
They had an advantage becausethey weren't taxed.
And this resentment would end upcomplicating the Byzantine
Venetian relationship In 1095Pope Urban the second launched
(11:21):
the First Crusade.
20 years earlier, the Byzantineemperor Alexios the first had
asked the west for help againstthe Seljuk Turks who had taken
Asia Minor from Byzantinecontrol.
So it took 20 years, but thenNormans Franks and others then
(11:43):
set out for the Holy Land afterthe Pope, like said, Hey, go do
this.
And when they reached the HolyLand, they fight back the Seljuk
Turks.
And then proceed to carve outthe so-called Crusader states.
So they carved out territoriesfor themselves.
The Venetians participated inthe first crusade.
(12:04):
Although they came a bit later,it took them time to launch a
large armada, which they did in1099.
So about four years later.
But this Venetian participation,soured relations between the
Venetian Republic and theByzantine empire, because once
the crusade actually happened,the Byzantines were like, okay,
you're not really helping us.
(12:25):
You're helping yourselves.
And they weren't happy about theVenetians then like taking part
in this crusade.
But the relationship did notcompletely break at this point.
So we're at about 1100.
And the situation between theByzantine empire, the Venetian
(12:48):
Republic, the Norman kingdom ofSicily and Southern Italy.
And then Frankish and othercrusaders would be complicated
throughout the next century.
Many many different thingshappened in that time, including
a number of crusades.
I'm only going to describe a fewof the events.
There's a lot more going onbetween these, but I want to
(13:11):
give you a few high or perhapslow points in the complex
relationships between theByzantine empire, the Venetian
Republic and the Normans andFranks.
So in 1120.
The Venetian Republic respondedto a request from king Baldwin
the second of Jerusalem.
(13:33):
Which was one of those Crusaderstates.
Baldwin was looking for help totake the city of Tyre, which he
was able to do with theVenetians assistance.
For their help Baldwin gaveVenice space for their
commercial ventures in histerritory.
And he also gave them freedomfrom all tolls and customs in
(13:56):
his kingdom.
Now, this might sound familiar.
This is very close to what theByzantine empire had given to
the Venetians 35 years earlierfor their help against the
Normans.
So this is something theVenetians really needed to help
their commercial ventures.
And these benefits alsoreinforce trade relations
(14:19):
between the Venetians and theCrusader states.
So the Venetians are tradingwith the Crusader states.
They're trading with theByzantines.
This is all going on.
In 1146.
So 25 years later around thetime of the second crusade.
The Norman king, Roger of Sicilyinvaded Byzantine Greece.
(14:42):
And he plundered the cities ofThebes, which was the provincial
capital and Corinth, which wasright at the isthmus the
connection between thePeloponnese and the rest of
Greece.
So the Byzantine emperor Manuel,the first called on Venice for
help against the Normans as hispredecessors had done.
(15:04):
And after Manuel got Venetianhelp and they beat back the
Normans.
He, once again, confirmedVenice's commercial privileges
in the Byzantine empire.
So giving the money, the tithes,and also that they get to trade
without taxes or duties.
(15:24):
A few decades after that,however, the Venetian Republic
refused to help the Byzantinesinvade the Norman kingdom in
Southern Italy.
So the Emperor Manuel, asked forhelp from the Venetians to
invade the Norman kingdom.
The Venetians were like, no, wehave trade relations.
We're not going to do this.
(15:46):
In response, Emperor Manuel,punished the Venetians by
providing quarters inConstantinople for Venice's
shipping rivals the Pisans andGenoese.
So this broke the monopoly ofhaving commercial space for
trade in Constantinople itself.
(16:07):
The Venetians were not happyabout this.
And they behaved very badly toput it lightly.
They raided the Genoese quarter.
They killed many there.
And this in turn led to a massarrest of Venetians in
Constantinople and otherByzantine ports on March 12th,
(16:27):
1171.
The Venetians, of course, werenot happy about that.
And tried to retaliate againstthe Byzantine empire but were
unsuccessful.
And so there were Venetianhostages, like remaining in
prison cells for a decade.
Until the situation changed in1182.
(16:49):
In that year Andronicus who hadseized control of the Byzantine
empire.
He allowed the murder ofCatholics in Constantinople.
So many of the Pisans andGenoese were killed.
But not the Venetians becausethey were sitting in prison
cells.
This led to Pisa and Genoadeclaring war on the Byzantines
(17:10):
because their people had beenjust killed.
And so Andronicus turned toVenice for help.
And he's like, okay.
Venetian hostages.
They've been in prison cells fora decade.
Here they are free.
I'll even pay you.
Just help me beat back thePisans and Genoa.
(17:32):
So you can see that thealliances were shifting.
Constantly shifting alliancesbetween the Byzantine empire,
the Venetians and the Franks andNormans.
And this would come to a head in1204 with the Fourth Crusade.
The Frankish leaders of theFourth Crusade decided to go by
(17:54):
sea since the land route to theHoly Land was increasingly
difficult.
So they contracted the VenetianRepublic to provide transport
for 20,000 foot soldiers, 9,000Squires and 4,500 Knights and
their horses.
(18:14):
There was no down payment forthis, but transport was to be
paid in full as a lump sumbefore departing from Venice.
The Venetians did not alreadyhave the ships available for
this.
So they spent the next year anda half focused on preparing the
Crusaders fleet.
This was a huge undertaking forthem.
(18:37):
They stopped all overseas tradeand recalled the ships.
So they could be part of thefleet.
The Venetian Republic also builta number of ships so that they
would have enough space totransport all of the crusaders
that the crusades leaders hadsaid would meet up in Venice.
And then sail off on thecrusade.
(18:59):
But in June, 1202.
When the crusaders met up withtheir fleet in Venice, they were
fewer in number than expected.
And they did not have all of theVenetians payments.
So the Crusaders sat in Venicefor a few months waiting to
scrounge up the money.
In August the Venetian dogeproposed to lend the crusaders,
(19:24):
the money they owed in exchangefor all the loot that the
crusaders would steal fromwhatever people along the way.
And he also asked for help withpirates in Zara along the
Dalmatian coast, The crusadersagreed.
But while they were dealing withpirates over the winter, at
(19:47):
Zara, the crusaders andVenetians got involved in
Byzantine politics.
Young Alexios the son of thedeposed emperor, Isaac the
second, asked the crusaders tohelp him overthrow his uncle,
Alexios the third.
(20:07):
So both named Alexios.
Nephew and uncle.
Young Alexious promised them200,000 silver marks.
10,000 Byzantine soldiers toparticipate in their crusade.
And that he would make theOrthodox church obedient to the
Pope.
And this is after the schismbetween Eastern and Western
(20:29):
Christian churches.
So this is kind of a big deal.
The crusaders and Venetiansagreed.
And they reached Constantinoplein late June 1203 and soon
attack the city.
So within a month, by the end ofJuly.
Alexios the third fled the city.
(20:50):
But he took as much gold,precious stones and pearls as he
could from the Imperialtreasury.
So he took a lot of money out ofthe treasury.
Young Alexios was crowned asAlexios the fourth.
But he only had enough money topay the crusaders and Venetians
half of what he owed them.
(21:12):
So he didn't have enough moneyfor the full payment.
And so now the Venetians andcrusaders are waiting around
Constantinople.
And while they're waiting foryoung Alexios to scrounge up the
other half of the payments andhe's like trying to get the
money from people inConstantinople and churches, any
place he can.
(21:34):
But the crusaders and Venetiansare just sitting there.
And tensions between theByzantines on the one hand and
crusaders and Venetians boiledup.
So there is fighting in thecity.
And then a large fire thatdestroyed hundreds of homes in
Constantinople.
And at that point, even thoughyoung Alexios owed the crusaders
(21:57):
and he'd been very close withthem.
He refused to pay them becausethey'd caused this trouble and
he thought his people would riseup against him.
So the crusaders and Venetianswere outside the city walls.
During that winter, youngAlexios was deposed and killed.
So he's out of the picture.
And he's replaced with anotherAlexios, but this one's
(22:20):
unrelated.
But this Alexios, was more antiCrusader.
And so in April, 1204.
The Venetians and crusadersattacked Constantinople finally
getting in and they completelysacked the city.
They massacred a large number ofpeople in the city, people who
(22:42):
couldn't get away and theylooted the city.
So many treasures ended up inVenice and in France that had
previously been inConstantinople.
So after sacking Constantinopleand getting all the money, like
looting it, stealing it from thepeople from Constantinople.
Did they actually then leave fortheir crusade in the holy land?
(23:05):
No.
They did not.
Instead.
They stayed and divvied up theByzantine empire.
So also a Christian empire.
But they divvied it up amongstthemselves.
One of the leaders, Baldwin ofFlanders was crowned emperor of
the Latin empire ofConstantinople.
(23:27):
While other crusaders ended upwith other parts of the
Byzantine empire, at least onpaper.
So they divvied it up on paper,but they would have to actually
fight to get their territory.
Venice was also given a bigchunk of the Byzantine empire
because they had participated inthe attack and sacking, but
(23:48):
instead of taking the largeareas, they instead traded for
the island of Crete.
And they also got variousislands and ports because
remember they're very, merchantnavel oriented.
So they wanted ports and two ofthese ports were Coron and
Modon, which are modern Koroniand Methoni, located at the
(24:12):
southern tips of thePeloponnese.
So that's what was happeningwith the fourth crusade, but
let's now turn to what was goingon in the Peloponnese at that
time.
Even before the crusadersreached Constantinople in 1202
trouble had been brewing in thePeloponnese.
(24:34):
After the governor of theprovince of Smolena in Macedonia
rebelled in 1201 against theByzantine empire.
And so after that, there areother uprisings in the
Peloponnese that started up.
So remember there were theselarge landowners, the elites.
That had private armies and theydecided they also wanted to grab
(24:59):
some power.
And land and territory.
So Leo Chamaretos took power inSparta.
While three aristocraticfamilies in Monemvasia were all
fighting amongst themselves.
For the power there.
But those were small uprisingscompared with Leo Sgouros.
(25:23):
Leo Sgouros had been fromNauplia.
And he seized power in thecities of Argos and Corinth.
So he was taking the part of thePeloponnese that controlled
access to the rest of Greece.
So the north Eastern part of thePeloponnese.
Not satisfied with that.
Sgouros then went into centralGreece and attacked Athens
(25:45):
laying siege to the Acropolis.
But the defenders of theAthenian Acropolis held out.
And Sgouros, eventually left.
He instead headed northcapturing Thebes the provincial
capital.
And then he advanced intoThessaly in 1204.
While the crusaders andVenetians were taking apart, the
(26:07):
Byzantine empire.
Sgouros was joined by AlexiosIII, who you remember had fled
Constantinople with a large partof the Imperial treasury a few
years earlier.
Their partnership did not lastlong.
When Sgouros and Alexios thethirds forces were about to be
(26:28):
confronted by a Frankish armyled by Boniface, Marquis of
Montferrat.
Alexios a third gave himself up.
He's like not fighting.
And Leo Sgouros headed back tothe Peloponnese.
So this Frankish army was notopposed by anyone.
They took all the centralGreece, including the cities of
(26:51):
Thebes and Athens.
And then they started for thePeloponnese.
Leo Sgouros' forces did not meetBoniface's army head-on, but
they retreated to the walls ofthe cities he held Argos,
Nauplio and near the isthmusCorinth, which was really the
Citadel of Acrocorinth.
(27:13):
And Acrocorinth is where Sgouroshimself remained until he died.
Possibly of suicide in 1208.
But the siege would continueafter his death for a few years.
Going back in early 1205.
While Boniface was besiegingNauplio an unexpected person
(27:33):
showed up.
And that person was namedGeoffrey Villehardouin.
Now there was a GeoffreyVillehardouin among the
crusaders at Constantinople.
He was a historian who wrote anaccount of what happened on the
fourth crusade called"On TheConquest of Constantinople." The
(27:55):
Geoffrey Villehardouin whoshowed up Nauplio in 1205, was
not the historian, but hisnephew.
Also of course, very helpfullynamed Geoffrey Villehardouin.
And the nephew is the one thatI'm going to talk about.
He's the one who's important forthe Peloponnese.
The younger Villehardouin hadalso participated in the fourth
(28:18):
crusade.
But he was one of the crusaderswho didn't meet up in Venice,
but made his own way to the holyland.
So he actually went to the holyland, unlike most of other
crusaders.
Once he heard about the sackingof Constantinople, it became
obvious that the crusadersweren't actually going to come
to crusade in the holy land.
(28:40):
And so Villehardouin decided tohead back towards the west, go
back home.
Due to bad weather,Villehardouin's ship landed at
the Southern tip of thePeloponnese at Modon modern
Methoni.
While there Villehardouindecided to get in on the
territory grabbing and so hestarted working his way north,
(29:02):
along the Western coast of thePeloponnese heading up towards
Patra.
When he heard about Boniface'sforces that they were located
and besieging, the cities nearthe isthmus.
Villehardouin went to join them.
He was technically under theirrule.
(29:22):
Although Villehardouin hadalready started on the takeover
of the Peloponnese Boniface, theleader of this Frankish force.
appointed William of Champlitteto conquer the Peloponnese.
And it was like, okay,Villehardouin you can support
the effort and we'll give yousome land afterwards.
(29:43):
So while they're going aboutmost of the elites, those big
landowners in Ellis andMessenia, so along the Western
coast of the Peloponnese, theyput up no resistance, like
Villehardouin had already prettymuch been there and they were
like, Nope, not putting upresistance.
But in the Southern part, butfurther east in Arcadia and
Laconia.
So up through the middle, verymountainous area, part of the
(30:05):
Peloponnese.
The elites there teamed up withSlavic Melingi tribes to fight
against the Franks.
So remember from last episode,there were Slavic peoples that
settled, and some of them didnot completely Christianize some
of them, especially in themountainous areas were still
distinctly Slavic.
(30:27):
And so they decided to fightagainst the Franks.
Although the Greek side waslarger.
Had more men, they were no matchfor the Frankish Knights.
The battle at Koundouri innortheastern Messenia ended as a
complete victory for the Franks,Champlitte and Villehardouin.
Champlitte took the title Princeof Achaia.
(30:50):
In this case, Achaia refers tothe entire Peloponnese
basically, and not just thenorthwestern area, which is what
is commonly known as Achaia.
The principality of Achaiarefers to most of the
Peloponnese.
But not all of it because inearly 1206, the Venetians seized
(31:10):
the ports of Modon and Coron.
The area where Villehardouin hadfirst landed in the Peloponnese.
The Venetians would keep thosetwo ports and they'd also get
the right to freely tradethroughout the Peloponnese in
exchange for territory they hadbeen granted elsewhere in the
area.
(31:31):
Champlitte did not remain Princeof Achaia for long.
He left the principality toclaim an inheritance back in
France around 1210.
Geoffrey Villehardouin becamethe Prince of Achaia through
some trickery to cheatChamplitte's family of their
title.
Corinth, Nauplio, and Argos,which were still under siege
(31:54):
would not be captured by theFranks until 1212.
By 1212, all of the Peloponnesewas in Frankish hands, except
for Modon and Coron, which wereheld by the Venetians and
Monemvasia which was somehowstill held by the Byzantines.
Monemvasia was notoriouslydifficult to capture.
(32:16):
And this will not be the onlytime in this series that you
hear that Monemvasia holds outwhen all other parts of the
Peloponnese have been captured.
So notably feudalism, had cometo the Peloponnese.
And this is evident from theChronicle of Morea.
I read a passage in the introabout the rewarding of fiefs.
(32:41):
The Chronicle itself was writtenmuch later after 1204.
And it definitely gets some ofthe details wrong.
And so, although it lists thenumber of fiefs given to
different nights or barons, Idon't think it's wise to really
consider those numbers.
as facts.
They might give us some generalindication, but I wouldn't use
(33:03):
them for statistics or anythinglike that.
So what can we get from thatpassage that lists the different
fiefs.
The Principality of Achaia wasdivided into a number of
baronies and those baronies weregiven to Frankish Lords.
And then those barons could giveout those individual fiefs
(33:24):
within their Barony to otherpeople.
And so Greek landowners, theelites, if they had not put up
resistance would often be givenfiefs in that way.
So they remained in thearistocracy, but at a lower
level.
Specifically, we know that therewas a Barony of Vostitsa, which
was given to Sir Hughes deLille.
(33:47):
Many of the baronies eitheralready had a castle which is
listed or the new Baron wouldbuild a castle there.
Vostitsa doesn't so it's alittle unusual in that way.
Especially since as feudalLords, the Franks were very
castle oriented.
So the Greek elites who did notfight the Franks got to keep
(34:10):
their lands.
Instead of sending any money,any taxes to Constantinople and
the Byzantine empire.
After the Frankish conquest.
People in the Peloponnese paytaxes to their new feudal Lords.
Who in many cases use the moneyto build castles.
(34:30):
Or to fortify castles..
And we'll talk more about castlebuilding and the Frankish
Principality of Achaia as wellas the Byzantines who are down,
but certainly not out in thenext episode.
And now let's talk about a fewend notes.
(34:50):
As always, if you want to seethe sources for this episode of
which there are many check outthe show notes, either on the
Helonaki website or on Patreon.
There's one constant thingyou'll see in almost every
history of the fourth crusadeand it's that they blame the
Venetians entirely for sackingConstantinople instead of going
(35:15):
to the holy lands.
It's rather unfair.
The Venetians played a part, butthey were not the only decision
makers about what happened withthis crusade.
And so keep that in mind, if youread about the fourth crusade,
they're going to blame theVenetians.
If you'd like to hear a slightlylonger version of what was going
(35:37):
on with the Fourth crusade, Ihad too much material for it and
I ended up splitting that offand recording it for Patreon
supporters.
So if you become a supporter onPatreon, you can hear that as
well as other bonuses about theseries.
So the other thing I want tomention here in the end notes is
(35:57):
that the naming of Vostitsa inthe Chronicle of Morea, was
actually the first written useof that name for the ancient
city of Aegio So, from theancient Greek city state of
Aegio, it was the city underRoman rule of Aegium and then
(36:23):
you had all of the disruptions,Slavic peoples coming in.
And suddenly the city is nolonger known as Aegio but
Vostitsa.
And so we don't know exactlywhere that word comes from, but
one possible source of the nameis that it might've been Slavic.
There's a Slavic word Ovosticaand I'm sure I pronounced that
(36:46):
very badly.
But this word means a place withorchards which definitely checks
out for that area as we'lldiscuss in future episodes.
But from now until theestablishment of the modern
Greek state, the city, the areais going to be known as
Vostitsa.
Thanks for listening.
(37:08):
Email questions or comments todeepdive@helonaki.com or ask
them on the Helonaki Deep DiveFacebook page.
Show notes with links toresources mentioned in this
episode will be available athelonaki.com.
That's H E L O N A K I.com.
You can also find ways tosupport the show now, including
(37:30):
merch such as t-shirts mugs andstickers with the Helonaki Deep
Dive logo athelonaki.com/support.
My thanks to Patreon supportersat the geospatial analyst level,
Leah Varrell and Janice andJerry Farrell.
Your support keeps the HelonakiDeep Dive going.
The Helonaki Deep Dive iswritten and produced by me, Jen
(37:51):
Glaubius of the Helonaki.
The theme music is Deep OceanInstrumental by Dan-o of
danosongs.com additional soundsfrom zapsplat.com.
Thanks for listening.
The first who was listed was, Sir Gautier he held 24
knights' fees.
He was given a holding inMesarea.
He built a castle there andnamed it Akova.
Next, there was likewise givento Sir Hughes.
A holding and the drongos ofSkorta.
he was given 22 knights fees.
When he received his fiefs, hebuilt a castle there and named
(00:23):
it.
Karytaina.
Next was listed a third Barron,Sir Guillaume, he was called.
Patra was listed for him to holdand to rule.
Next was assigned the Barony ofSir Mathieu,.
The castle of Veligosti, andfour knights fees.
He was to hold and he was tobear a banner.
(00:46):
Next there was listed anotherSir Guillaume To have the castle
of Nikli with six fees.
After him, another was listed inthe book Sir Guy.
He was called.
He was given six fees to hold inTsakonia.
He built a castle there, whichhe named Geraki.
(01:06):
Sir Othon de Tournay wasenfoeffed also to hold Kalavryta
with 12 fees.
Next was likewise listed, Sir,Hughes de Lille to have eight
knight's fees in Vostitsa.
To Sir Luc were given only fourfees to hold.
The neighborhood of Gritsena,and the Lakkos valleys.
(01:30):
To Sir Jean de Neuilly was givenPassava and four fees to hold
and he was to bear a banner tobe Marshall.
And to hold this as a hereditaryoffice.
Sir Robert de Tremolay was givenfour fees.
He built Chalandritza And wascalled lord.
(01:50):
To St.
John of the hospital were givenfour fees.
To the temple, were givenanother four and it was to raise
a banner.
And likewise, to the Germanswere given four fees to hold in
the territory of Kalamata.
The metropolitan of Patra withhis canons was given eight
(02:11):
knights fees to hold.
The Bishop of Olena was givenfour fees.
And the bishops of Methoni andKorone with their canons were
each given four as were those ofVeligosti and Nikli.
all had four each.
As did the Bishop ofLakedaemonia.
(02:32):
And this is an excerpt fromChronicle with Morea.
Translated by Lurier in 1964.
Pages 126 through 127.
I'm Jen Glaubius, and this isthe Helonaki Deep Dive, a
podcast about mapping andanalysis for historical and
archeological research.
(02:52):
In this episode, I'll discusshow the Peloponnese went from
Byzantine control to feudal rulewith fiefs given to knights with
French names.
Let's dive in.
Where we left off in the lastepisode.
The Byzantine empire was incontrol of the Peloponnese and
Vostitsa in the year, 1000.
(03:15):
That control, however wasseemingly stable, but distant.
With most interactions betweenthe people of the Peloponnese
and the Byzantine governmentrelated to collecting taxes.
Wealthy landowners had beengrowing more and more powerful.
And at that point weredeveloping self-funded private
(03:36):
armies.
Now.
The situation would remain forabout two more centuries.
But then there was upheaval.
To understand why things changedin 1204 with the fourth crusade,
I'm going to introduce two newplayers into this story.
(03:58):
First is the Republic of Venice.
Unlike many other cities inItaly, Venice was not a Roman
city, but was founded byrefugees.
Settlement in the Venetianlagoon was at first temporary.
People fled established citiesattacked by Attila the Hun in
the 450s, trying to reachsafety.
(04:21):
Once that danger had passed,most people then return to their
homes.
But by the 560s.
When the Lombards were attackingcities in Northern Italy
settlement in the lagoon becamepermanent.
Since the Western Roman empirewas gone by that time.
The Venetians consideredthemselves loyal to the last
(04:44):
part of the Roman empire, whichwe call the Byzantine empire.
And at times they looked forleadership from Constantinople.
But if you remember, from thelast episode, the Byzantine
empire went through problems inthe seventh and eighth centuries
contracted basically to just thesurroundings around
(05:04):
Constantinople.
And so they really didn't haveany help to give to the people
of the Venetian lagoon.
So instead, the Venetiansdeveloped a Republic with an
elected leader who in theirdialect is known as Doge.
Based on the series of islandsin the Venetian lagoon, the
(05:28):
Venetian Republic looked towardsthe sea.
So not towards land, which theyhad very little of, but towards
the water.
And they developed a Navy ofmerchants.
They mostly traded in theEastern Mediterranean.
In the Byzantine empire.
But despite close ties to theByzantines after the Byzantine
(05:50):
empire reestablished itself andexpanded again by 992, the
Venetian Republic was consideredentirely separate from the
Byzantine empire.
So leaving the Venetians fornow.
Let's talk about twointerrelated groups that were
both living in modern, Francearound 1000 CE.
(06:13):
And both groups would impact theByzantine empire and the
Vostitsa area.
And I'm talking about theNormans and the Franks.
Now Norman as a name comes fromthe word north man.
Referring to their Vikingancestry.
They came from the north.
While living in Normandy, whichwas named for them.
(06:35):
The Normans, intermarried andintermingled with the local
Franks a local group.
For whom France was later named.
Sometimes these groups, theNormans and the Franks are also
called Latins.
Because they spoke Latin ratherthan Greek.
So they're referred to theLatins in Greek areas.
(06:56):
But I'm mostly going to stick tocalling them Normans and Franks.
Both Norman and Frank societiesin contrast with the seafaring
Venetians were based on controlof land.
The system of control of land isknown as feudalism.
So the amount of land a Lordcontrolled, determined how much
(07:19):
food could be grown.
Which in turn decided how manysoldiers the Lord of that land
could have under his control.
So by around the year, 1000,this has been developing over
the centuries and in this area,So by around the year, 1000.
Due to the fairly new practiceof primogeniture or inheritance
(07:42):
by the eldest son and the factthat there really wasn't as much
land to expand to.
So there wasn't any extra landjust laying around.
Younger sons in Norman andFrankish areas had extensive
military training, because thatwas a part of this feudal system
you had to defend your land.
(08:03):
So they have this extensivemilitary training, but no land
themselves.
And so they were available foradventures elsewhere.
So 20 years before the Normanconquest of England by William
the Conqueror in 1066.
Norman and Frankish mercenariesparticipated in a campaign to
(08:24):
reclaim Islamic Sicily for theByzantine empire.
The Byzantines had held itpreviously, but lost it to
Islamic forces.
So.
This Byzantine campaign failed.
They did not retake Sicily.
But the Norman and Frankishmercenaries who had fought there
(08:45):
would put their knowledge of thearea to use for themselves
Starting in the 1040s RogerGiscard a Norman would conquer
both Southern Italy.
And Islamic Sicily.
Roger was helped by his brother,Robert.
(09:06):
Who decided to expand histerritory eastward into the
Byzantine empire in the Balkansin 1081.
So Robert Guiscard.
Attacked the Byzantine city ofDurrazzo, which is modern Durres
in Albania.
The Venetian Republic whoseshipping would be threatened by
Normans holding both Durrazzo,which they were attacking and
(09:29):
they already held Bari in Italy.
So they were threatened becausethe Normans would then hold both
sides of the Adriatic sea.
And could potentially cut themoff from the wider
Mediterranean.
So the Venetian Republic decidedto assist the Byzantine defense.
The Byzantines helped by theVenetians prevailed over the
(09:52):
Normans after Robert's death in1085.
In return for Venetian help inthat year, 1085.
Emperor Alexios the first issueda proclamation that gave the
Venetian Republic, manybenefits.
To the civic and religiousleaders of Venice, the Doge and
the Patriarch of Grado they weregranted annual stipends.
(10:17):
The Byzantine empire would giveannual tithes to Venetian
churches.
The Venetian Republic was givenbuildings and properties in
Constantinople.
And that later became known asthe Venetian quarter.
So they had a base inConstantinople.
And perhaps most importantly,Venetian merchants were given
(10:38):
the right to conduct, trade inByzantine ports.
Tax and duty free.
So those Byzantine concessions,especially the release from
taxes and duties.
This helped make the Venetianmerchants super wealthy.
But because of that, theconcession stirred up
(10:59):
resentment.
Since the Venetians hadadvantages over Byzantine
merchants.
They had an advantage becausethey weren't taxed.
And this resentment would end upcomplicating the Byzantine
Venetian relationship In 1095Pope Urban the second launched
(11:21):
the First Crusade.
20 years earlier, the Byzantineemperor Alexios the first had
asked the west for help againstthe Seljuk Turks who had taken
Asia Minor from Byzantinecontrol.
So it took 20 years, but thenNormans Franks and others then
(11:43):
set out for the Holy Land afterthe Pope, like said, Hey, go do
this.
And when they reached the HolyLand, they fight back the Seljuk
Turks.
And then proceed to carve outthe so-called Crusader states.
So they carved out territoriesfor themselves.
The Venetians participated inthe first crusade.
(12:04):
Although they came a bit later,it took them time to launch a
large armada, which they did in1099.
So about four years later.
But this Venetian participation,soured relations between the
Venetian Republic and theByzantine empire, because once
the crusade actually happened,the Byzantines were like, okay,
you're not really helping us.
(12:25):
You're helping yourselves.
And they weren't happy about theVenetians then like taking part
in this crusade.
But the relationship did notcompletely break at this point.
So we're at about 1100.
And the situation between theByzantine empire, the Venetian
(12:48):
Republic, the Norman kingdom ofSicily and Southern Italy.
And then Frankish and othercrusaders would be complicated
throughout the next century.
Many many different thingshappened in that time, including
a number of crusades.
I'm only going to describe a fewof the events.
There's a lot more going onbetween these, but I want to
(13:11):
give you a few high or perhapslow points in the complex
relationships between theByzantine empire, the Venetian
Republic and the Normans andFranks.
So in 1120.
The Venetian Republic respondedto a request from king Baldwin
the second of Jerusalem.
(13:33):
Which was one of those Crusaderstates.
Baldwin was looking for help totake the city of Tyre, which he
was able to do with theVenetians assistance.
For their help Baldwin gaveVenice space for their
commercial ventures in histerritory.
And he also gave them freedomfrom all tolls and customs in
(13:56):
his kingdom.
Now, this might sound familiar.
This is very close to what theByzantine empire had given to
the Venetians 35 years earlierfor their help against the
Normans.
So this is something theVenetians really needed to help
their commercial ventures.
And these benefits alsoreinforce trade relations
(14:19):
between the Venetians and theCrusader states.
So the Venetians are tradingwith the Crusader states.
They're trading with theByzantines.
This is all going on.
In 1146.
So 25 years later around thetime of the second crusade.
The Norman king, Roger of Sicilyinvaded Byzantine Greece.
(14:42):
And he plundered the cities ofThebes, which was the provincial
capital and Corinth, which wasright at the isthmus the
connection between thePeloponnese and the rest of
Greece.
So the Byzantine emperor Manuel,the first called on Venice for
help against the Normans as hispredecessors had done.
(15:04):
And after Manuel got Venetianhelp and they beat back the
Normans.
He, once again, confirmedVenice's commercial privileges
in the Byzantine empire.
So giving the money, the tithes,and also that they get to trade
without taxes or duties.
(15:24):
A few decades after that,however, the Venetian Republic
refused to help the Byzantinesinvade the Norman kingdom in
Southern Italy.
So the Emperor Manuel, asked forhelp from the Venetians to
invade the Norman kingdom.
The Venetians were like, no, wehave trade relations.
We're not going to do this.
(15:46):
In response, Emperor Manuel,punished the Venetians by
providing quarters inConstantinople for Venice's
shipping rivals the Pisans andGenoese.
So this broke the monopoly ofhaving commercial space for
trade in Constantinople itself.
(16:07):
The Venetians were not happyabout this.
And they behaved very badly toput it lightly.
They raided the Genoese quarter.
They killed many there.
And this in turn led to a massarrest of Venetians in
Constantinople and otherByzantine ports on March 12th,
(16:27):
1171.
The Venetians, of course, werenot happy about that.
And tried to retaliate againstthe Byzantine empire but were
unsuccessful.
And so there were Venetianhostages, like remaining in
prison cells for a decade.
Until the situation changed in1182.
(16:49):
In that year Andronicus who hadseized control of the Byzantine
empire.
He allowed the murder ofCatholics in Constantinople.
So many of the Pisans andGenoese were killed.
But not the Venetians becausethey were sitting in prison
cells.
This led to Pisa and Genoadeclaring war on the Byzantines
(17:10):
because their people had beenjust killed.
And so Andronicus turned toVenice for help.
And he's like, okay.
Venetian hostages.
They've been in prison cells fora decade.
Here they are free.
I'll even pay you.
Just help me beat back thePisans and Genoa.
(17:32):
So you can see that thealliances were shifting.
Constantly shifting alliancesbetween the Byzantine empire,
the Venetians and the Franks andNormans.
And this would come to a head in1204 with the Fourth Crusade.
The Frankish leaders of theFourth Crusade decided to go by
(17:54):
sea since the land route to theHoly Land was increasingly
difficult.
So they contracted the VenetianRepublic to provide transport
for 20,000 foot soldiers, 9,000Squires and 4,500 Knights and
their horses.
(18:14):
There was no down payment forthis, but transport was to be
paid in full as a lump sumbefore departing from Venice.
The Venetians did not alreadyhave the ships available for
this.
So they spent the next year anda half focused on preparing the
Crusaders fleet.
This was a huge undertaking forthem.
(18:37):
They stopped all overseas tradeand recalled the ships.
So they could be part of thefleet.
The Venetian Republic also builta number of ships so that they
would have enough space totransport all of the crusaders
that the crusades leaders hadsaid would meet up in Venice.
And then sail off on thecrusade.
(18:59):
But in June, 1202.
When the crusaders met up withtheir fleet in Venice, they were
fewer in number than expected.
And they did not have all of theVenetians payments.
So the Crusaders sat in Venicefor a few months waiting to
scrounge up the money.
In August the Venetian dogeproposed to lend the crusaders,
(19:24):
the money they owed in exchangefor all the loot that the
crusaders would steal fromwhatever people along the way.
And he also asked for help withpirates in Zara along the
Dalmatian coast, The crusadersagreed.
But while they were dealing withpirates over the winter, at
(19:47):
Zara, the crusaders andVenetians got involved in
Byzantine politics.
Young Alexios the son of thedeposed emperor, Isaac the
second, asked the crusaders tohelp him overthrow his uncle,
Alexios the third.
(20:07):
So both named Alexios.
Nephew and uncle.
Young Alexious promised them200,000 silver marks.
10,000 Byzantine soldiers toparticipate in their crusade.
And that he would make theOrthodox church obedient to the
Pope.
And this is after the schismbetween Eastern and Western
(20:29):
Christian churches.
So this is kind of a big deal.
The crusaders and Venetiansagreed.
And they reached Constantinoplein late June 1203 and soon
attack the city.
So within a month, by the end ofJuly.
Alexios the third fled the city.
(20:50):
But he took as much gold,precious stones and pearls as he
could from the Imperialtreasury.
So he took a lot of money out ofthe treasury.
Young Alexios was crowned asAlexios the fourth.
But he only had enough money topay the crusaders and Venetians
half of what he owed them.
(21:12):
So he didn't have enough moneyfor the full payment.
And so now the Venetians andcrusaders are waiting around
Constantinople.
And while they're waiting foryoung Alexios to scrounge up the
other half of the payments andhe's like trying to get the
money from people inConstantinople and churches, any
place he can.
(21:34):
But the crusaders and Venetiansare just sitting there.
And tensions between theByzantines on the one hand and
crusaders and Venetians boiledup.
So there is fighting in thecity.
And then a large fire thatdestroyed hundreds of homes in
Constantinople.
And at that point, even thoughyoung Alexios owed the crusaders
(21:57):
and he'd been very close withthem.
He refused to pay them becausethey'd caused this trouble and
he thought his people would riseup against him.
So the crusaders and Venetianswere outside the city walls.
During that winter, youngAlexios was deposed and killed.
So he's out of the picture.
And he's replaced with anotherAlexios, but this one's
(22:20):
unrelated.
But this Alexios, was more antiCrusader.
And so in April, 1204.
The Venetians and crusadersattacked Constantinople finally
getting in and they completelysacked the city.
They massacred a large number ofpeople in the city, people who
(22:42):
couldn't get away and theylooted the city.
So many treasures ended up inVenice and in France that had
previously been inConstantinople.
So after sacking Constantinopleand getting all the money, like
looting it, stealing it from thepeople from Constantinople.
Did they actually then leave fortheir crusade in the holy land?
(23:05):
No.
They did not.
Instead.
They stayed and divvied up theByzantine empire.
So also a Christian empire.
But they divvied it up amongstthemselves.
One of the leaders, Baldwin ofFlanders was crowned emperor of
the Latin empire ofConstantinople.
(23:27):
While other crusaders ended upwith other parts of the
Byzantine empire, at least onpaper.
So they divvied it up on paper,but they would have to actually
fight to get their territory.
Venice was also given a bigchunk of the Byzantine empire
because they had participated inthe attack and sacking, but
(23:48):
instead of taking the largeareas, they instead traded for
the island of Crete.
And they also got variousislands and ports because
remember they're very, merchantnavel oriented.
So they wanted ports and two ofthese ports were Coron and
Modon, which are modern Koroniand Methoni, located at the
(24:12):
southern tips of thePeloponnese.
So that's what was happeningwith the fourth crusade, but
let's now turn to what was goingon in the Peloponnese at that
time.
Even before the crusadersreached Constantinople in 1202
trouble had been brewing in thePeloponnese.
(24:34):
After the governor of theprovince of Smolena in Macedonia
rebelled in 1201 against theByzantine empire.
And so after that, there areother uprisings in the
Peloponnese that started up.
So remember there were theselarge landowners, the elites.
That had private armies and theydecided they also wanted to grab
(24:59):
some power.
And land and territory.
So Leo Chamaretos took power inSparta.
While three aristocraticfamilies in Monemvasia were all
fighting amongst themselves.
For the power there.
But those were small uprisingscompared with Leo Sgouros.
(25:23):
Leo Sgouros had been fromNauplia.
And he seized power in thecities of Argos and Corinth.
So he was taking the part of thePeloponnese that controlled
access to the rest of Greece.
So the north Eastern part of thePeloponnese.
Not satisfied with that.
Sgouros then went into centralGreece and attacked Athens
(25:45):
laying siege to the Acropolis.
But the defenders of theAthenian Acropolis held out.
And Sgouros, eventually left.
He instead headed northcapturing Thebes the provincial
capital.
And then he advanced intoThessaly in 1204.
While the crusaders andVenetians were taking apart, the
(26:07):
Byzantine empire.
Sgouros was joined by AlexiosIII, who you remember had fled
Constantinople with a large partof the Imperial treasury a few
years earlier.
Their partnership did not lastlong.
When Sgouros and Alexios thethirds forces were about to be
(26:28):
confronted by a Frankish armyled by Boniface, Marquis of
Montferrat.
Alexios a third gave himself up.
He's like not fighting.
And Leo Sgouros headed back tothe Peloponnese.
So this Frankish army was notopposed by anyone.
They took all the centralGreece, including the cities of
(26:51):
Thebes and Athens.
And then they started for thePeloponnese.
Leo Sgouros' forces did not meetBoniface's army head-on, but
they retreated to the walls ofthe cities he held Argos,
Nauplio and near the isthmusCorinth, which was really the
Citadel of Acrocorinth.
(27:13):
And Acrocorinth is where Sgouroshimself remained until he died.
Possibly of suicide in 1208.
But the siege would continueafter his death for a few years.
Going back in early 1205.
While Boniface was besiegingNauplio an unexpected person
(27:33):
showed up.
And that person was namedGeoffrey Villehardouin.
Now there was a GeoffreyVillehardouin among the
crusaders at Constantinople.
He was a historian who wrote anaccount of what happened on the
fourth crusade called"On TheConquest of Constantinople." The
(27:55):
Geoffrey Villehardouin whoshowed up Nauplio in 1205, was
not the historian, but hisnephew.
Also of course, very helpfullynamed Geoffrey Villehardouin.
And the nephew is the one thatI'm going to talk about.
He's the one who's important forthe Peloponnese.
The younger Villehardouin hadalso participated in the fourth
(28:18):
crusade.
But he was one of the crusaderswho didn't meet up in Venice,
but made his own way to the holyland.
So he actually went to the holyland, unlike most of other
crusaders.
Once he heard about the sackingof Constantinople, it became
obvious that the crusadersweren't actually going to come
to crusade in the holy land.
(28:40):
And so Villehardouin decided tohead back towards the west, go
back home.
Due to bad weather,Villehardouin's ship landed at
the Southern tip of thePeloponnese at Modon modern
Methoni.
While there Villehardouindecided to get in on the
territory grabbing and so hestarted working his way north,
(29:02):
along the Western coast of thePeloponnese heading up towards
Patra.
When he heard about Boniface'sforces that they were located
and besieging, the cities nearthe isthmus.
Villehardouin went to join them.
He was technically under theirrule.
(29:22):
Although Villehardouin hadalready started on the takeover
of the Peloponnese Boniface, theleader of this Frankish force.
appointed William of Champlitteto conquer the Peloponnese.
And it was like, okay,Villehardouin you can support
the effort and we'll give yousome land afterwards.
(29:43):
So while they're going aboutmost of the elites, those big
landowners in Ellis andMessenia, so along the Western
coast of the Peloponnese, theyput up no resistance, like
Villehardouin had already prettymuch been there and they were
like, Nope, not putting upresistance.
But in the Southern part, butfurther east in Arcadia and
Laconia.
So up through the middle, verymountainous area, part of the
(30:05):
Peloponnese.
The elites there teamed up withSlavic Melingi tribes to fight
against the Franks.
So remember from last episode,there were Slavic peoples that
settled, and some of them didnot completely Christianize some
of them, especially in themountainous areas were still
distinctly Slavic.
(30:27):
And so they decided to fightagainst the Franks.
Although the Greek side waslarger.
Had more men, they were no matchfor the Frankish Knights.
The battle at Koundouri innortheastern Messenia ended as a
complete victory for the Franks,Champlitte and Villehardouin.
Champlitte took the title Princeof Achaia.
(30:50):
In this case, Achaia refers tothe entire Peloponnese
basically, and not just thenorthwestern area, which is what
is commonly known as Achaia.
The principality of Achaiarefers to most of the
Peloponnese.
But not all of it because inearly 1206, the Venetians seized
(31:10):
the ports of Modon and Coron.
The area where Villehardouin hadfirst landed in the Peloponnese.
The Venetians would keep thosetwo ports and they'd also get
the right to freely tradethroughout the Peloponnese in
exchange for territory they hadbeen granted elsewhere in the
area.
(31:31):
Champlitte did not remain Princeof Achaia for long.
He left the principality toclaim an inheritance back in
France around 1210.
Geoffrey Villehardouin becamethe Prince of Achaia through
some trickery to cheatChamplitte's family of their
title.
Corinth, Nauplio, and Argos,which were still under siege
(31:54):
would not be captured by theFranks until 1212.
By 1212, all of the Peloponnesewas in Frankish hands, except
for Modon and Coron, which wereheld by the Venetians and
Monemvasia which was somehowstill held by the Byzantines.
Monemvasia was notoriouslydifficult to capture.
(32:16):
And this will not be the onlytime in this series that you
hear that Monemvasia holds outwhen all other parts of the
Peloponnese have been captured.
So notably feudalism, had cometo the Peloponnese.
And this is evident from theChronicle of Morea.
I read a passage in the introabout the rewarding of fiefs.
(32:41):
The Chronicle itself was writtenmuch later after 1204.
And it definitely gets some ofthe details wrong.
And so, although it lists thenumber of fiefs given to
different nights or barons, Idon't think it's wise to really
consider those numbers.
as facts.
They might give us some generalindication, but I wouldn't use
(33:03):
them for statistics or anythinglike that.
So what can we get from thatpassage that lists the different
fiefs.
The Principality of Achaia wasdivided into a number of
baronies and those baronies weregiven to Frankish Lords.
And then those barons could giveout those individual fiefs
(33:24):
within their Barony to otherpeople.
And so Greek landowners, theelites, if they had not put up
resistance would often be givenfiefs in that way.
So they remained in thearistocracy, but at a lower
level.
Specifically, we know that therewas a Barony of Vostitsa, which
was given to Sir Hughes deLille.
(33:47):
Many of the baronies eitheralready had a castle which is
listed or the new Baron wouldbuild a castle there.
Vostitsa doesn't so it's alittle unusual in that way.
Especially since as feudalLords, the Franks were very
castle oriented.
So the Greek elites who did notfight the Franks got to keep
(34:10):
their lands.
Instead of sending any money,any taxes to Constantinople and
the Byzantine empire.
After the Frankish conquest.
People in the Peloponnese paytaxes to their new feudal Lords.
Who in many cases use the moneyto build castles.
(34:30):
Or to fortify castles..
And we'll talk more about castlebuilding and the Frankish
Principality of Achaia as wellas the Byzantines who are down,
but certainly not out in thenext episode.
And now let's talk about a fewend notes.
(34:50):
As always, if you want to seethe sources for this episode of
which there are many check outthe show notes, either on the
Helonaki website or on Patreon.
There's one constant thingyou'll see in almost every
history of the fourth crusadeand it's that they blame the
Venetians entirely for sackingConstantinople instead of going
(35:15):
to the holy lands.
It's rather unfair.
The Venetians played a part, butthey were not the only decision
makers about what happened withthis crusade.
And so keep that in mind, if youread about the fourth crusade,
they're going to blame theVenetians.
If you'd like to hear a slightlylonger version of what was going
(35:37):
on with the Fourth crusade, Ihad too much material for it and
I ended up splitting that offand recording it for Patreon
supporters.
So if you become a supporter onPatreon, you can hear that as
well as other bonuses about theseries.
So the other thing I want tomention here in the end notes is
(35:57):
that the naming of Vostitsa inthe Chronicle of Morea, was
actually the first written useof that name for the ancient
city of Aegio So, from theancient Greek city state of
Aegio, it was the city underRoman rule of Aegium and then
(36:23):
you had all of the disruptions,Slavic peoples coming in.
And suddenly the city is nolonger known as Aegio but
Vostitsa.
And so we don't know exactlywhere that word comes from, but
one possible source of the nameis that it might've been Slavic.
There's a Slavic word Ovosticaand I'm sure I pronounced that
(36:46):
very badly.
But this word means a place withorchards which definitely checks
out for that area as we'lldiscuss in future episodes.
But from now until theestablishment of the modern
Greek state, the city, the areais going to be known as
Vostitsa.
Thanks for listening.
(37:08):
Email questions or comments todeepdive@helonaki.com or ask
them on the Helonaki Deep DiveFacebook page.
Show notes with links toresources mentioned in this
episode will be available athelonaki.com.
That's H E L O N A K I.com.
You can also find ways tosupport the show now, including
(37:30):
merch such as t-shirts mugs andstickers with the Helonaki Deep
Dive logo athelonaki.com/support.
My thanks to Patreon supportersat the geospatial analyst level,
Leah Varrell and Janice andJerry Farrell.
Your support keeps the HelonakiDeep Dive going.
The Helonaki Deep Dive iswritten and produced by me, Jen
(37:51):
Glaubius of the Helonaki.
The theme music is Deep OceanInstrumental by Dan-o of
danosongs.com additional soundsfrom zapsplat.com.
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com