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El Principado de Acaya ( / ə k i ə / ) o el Principado de Morea fue uno de los tres vasallos estados del Imperio Latino , que sustituyó al imperio bizantino tras la captura de Constantinopla durante la Cuarta Cruzada . [1] Se convirtió en vasallo del Reino de Tesalónica , junto con el Ducado de Atenas , hasta que Tesalónica fue capturada por Teodoro, el déspota de Epiro., en 1224. Después de esto, Acaya se convirtió durante un tiempo en la potencia dominante en Grecia .

Fundación [ editar ]

Acaya fue fundada en 1205 por Guillermo de Champlitte y Geoffrey I de Villehardouin , quienes se comprometieron a conquistar el Peloponeso en nombre de Bonifacio de Montferrat , rey de Tesalónica . Con una fuerza de no más de 100 caballeros y 500 soldados de infantería, tomaron Achaea y Elis , y después de derrotar a los griegos locales en la Batalla del Olivar de Koundouros , se convirtieron en dueños de Morea . La victoria fue decisiva, y después de la batalla toda la resistencia de los lugareños se limitó a unos pocos fuertes que continuaron resistiendo. El fuerte de Araklovon [2] en Elis, fue defendido por Doxapatres Boutsaras y resistió los ataques hasta 1213, cuando la guarnición finalmente se rindió. El fuerte de Monemvasia y los castillos de Argos , Nauplia y Corinto bajo el mando de Leo Sgouros resistieron hasta su suicidio en 1208. En 1212, estos también habían sido conquistados y organizados como el señorío de Argos y Nauplia , y solo Monemvasia seguía teniendo hasta 1248. Guillermo de Champlitte gobernó Acaya hasta que partió hacia Francia para asumir una herencia, pero murió en el camino en 1209. Fue sucedido por Geoffrey I de Villehardouin, quien gobernó hasta su propia muerte en 1219.

Organización del Principado [ editar ]

Organización territorial y estructura feudal [ editar ]

Mapa del Peloponeso con sus principales ubicaciones durante la Baja Edad Media

Achaea era bastante pequeña, formada por la península del Peloponeso (entonces conocida como Morea ), pero era bastante rica, exportando vino, pasas, cera, miel, aceite y seda. La capital del principado estaba originalmente en Andravida . Limitaba al norte con Epiro y el Ducado de Atenas y estaba rodeado por territorios dominados por Venecia en el mar Egeo , incluidos los fuertes de Modon y Coron en el Peloponeso.

En 1208/9, después de la partida de Champlitte, Guillermo I creó una comisión, compuesta por dos obispos latinos, dos bannerets y cinco magnates griegos y presidida por él mismo, para evaluar la tierra y dividirla, según la práctica latina, en feudos . El registro resultante se presentó en un parlamento celebrado en la residencia principesca de Andravida y dividió el país en doce baronías , en su mayoría centradas en un castillo recién construido, un testimonio del hecho de que los francos eran una élite militar en medio de una población griega potencialmente hostil. . [3] [4] A los doce barones temporales se unieron siete señores eclesiásticos, encabezados por el arzobispo latino de Patras.. A cada uno de estos últimos se le concedieron una serie de propiedades como feudos caballerescos , recibiendo el Arzobispo ocho, los otros obispos cuatro cada uno, y también cuatro otorgados a cada una de las órdenes militares : los Templarios , Hospitalarios y los Caballeros Teutónicos . [5] Las doce baronías seculares fueron: [6] [7]

Poco después de 1260, se estableció una decimotercera baronía, la de Arcadia (actual Kyparissia ), que también era un feudo personal de los Villehardouin. [6] Aparte de Kalamata (y más tarde Arcadia), que se convirtió en el feudo personal de los Villehardouin, el propio dominio del Príncipe abarcaba la región de Elis, donde estaba la capital Andravida, el puerto de Glarentza (Clarence) y la fortaleza de Chlemoutsi (Clermont). estaban situados, Corintia , con Acrocorinto como el sitio principal, así como la mayor parte de Mesenia y Laconia alrededor del fértil valle de Eurotas . Cuando Tsakoniay las otras regiones montañosas del sureste fueron sometidas a finales de la década de 1240, y también quedaron bajo el control del Príncipe. [8]

Los doce barones conservaban poderes y privilegios considerables, de modo que el príncipe no era un soberano absoluto, sino un "primero entre iguales" entre ellos. Por lo tanto, tenían derecho a construir un castillo sin el permiso del Príncipe oa decretar la pena capital . Dado que la Ley Sálica no fue adoptada en Acaya, las mujeres también podían heredar los feudos. [9] Los altos señores seculares y eclesiásticos formaron el Tribunal Superior ( la Haute Court ) del principado, presidido por el Príncipe, que actuó como consejo consultivo del Príncipe y juzgó los asuntos relacionados con la ley feudal . [10] [11] Además, un Tribunal de Primera Instancia ( la Court de la Borgesie) se menciona, que abjuició en materia de derecho consuetudinario. [10]

Por otro lado, todos los vasallos debían al príncipe cuatro meses de servicio en el campo y cuatro meses de servicio de guarnición cada año, y se retiraban después de los sesenta años, pero solo si se les podía proporcionar un reemplazo. Esto puso al principado en pie de guerra constante. De hecho, los caballeros de Acaya gozaron de una reputación considerable tanto en el Levante como en Europa Occidental. [12] [13]

With the Byzantine recovery of the region around Mystras after 1261, however, the rapid extinction of the original families and the expansion of Achaean influence across Frankish Greece, the initial organization of the Principate changed. By the time the principality's laws, the Assizes of Romania, were codified in the 1330s, the peers of the Prince were: the Duke of Athens, the Duke of Naxos, the Triarchs of Negroponte, the Margrave of Bodonitza, the Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, the barons of Patras, Matagrifon and Kalavryta, as well as the marshal of the principality.[6]

Government and administration[edit]

Achaean tornese from Glarentza (Clarentia)

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 chancellor, the Prince's chief minister, the marshal, the constable, the treasurer, the protovestiarius, in charge of the Prince's personal treasury, and the pourveur des chastiaux, who was responsible for the replenishment of the castles.

The Principality also produced a unique set of laws, the Assizes of Romania, which combined aspects of Byzantine and French law, and became the basis for the laws of the other Crusader states. Several Byzantine titles such as logothetes and protovestarius continued in use, although these titles were adapted to fit the conceptions of Western feudalism. The Byzantine pronoia system was also adapted to fit Western feudalism; peasants (paroikoi) technically owned their land, but military duties and taxes that they had not been subject to under the pronoia system were imposed on them by their new French lords.

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[edit]

Geoffrey I was succeeded 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 William II Villehardouin, the Principality reached its zenith. William was a poet and troubadour, and his court had its own mint at Glarentza, and a flourishing literary culture, using a distinct form of spoken French. In 1249, William II moved the capital of Achaea to the newly built fortress of Mistra, near ancient Sparta. In 1255 he became embroiled in the War of the Euboeote Succession, and in 1259 he allied with Michael II, despot of Epirus, against Michael VIII Palaeologus of Nicaea. However, Michael II then deserted to join the Nicaean side, and William was taken prisoner at the Battle of Pelagonia. After Michael recaptured Constantinople in 1261, William was released in 1262 in return for Mistra and much of Laconia, which became a Byzantine province (the nucleus of the future Despotate of the Morea), as well as an oath of allegiance to the Emperor.

Map of the Greek and Latin states in southern Greece ca. 1278

However, soon after his release, William broke his oath of allegiance, and begun seeking alliances with and help from various Western nations.[16] Informed by the local Byzantine governor of William's actions, Michael VIII sent an army under the command of his half-brother, Constantine, against William, but the expedition was unsuccessful, the Byzantines first being routed at the Battle of Prinitza in 1263 and then, after Constantine's return to Constantinople, suffering a heavy defeat at the Battle of Makryplagi in 1264.[17][18]

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 Isabella to Andronikos, eldest son of Michael VIII, was strongly opposed by the Achaean nobility, who had no desire to come under Byzantine rule. Both William and his overlord Baldwin II, now dispossessed of Constantinople, had hoped for aid from King Manfred of Sicily, who had sent troops to aid William at Pelagonia. But Manfred fell under Papal sanction and was killed in 1266, when Charles of Anjou conquered his kingdom. Charles was now ascendant in Italy, and William and Baldwin came to terms with him in the Treaty of Viterbo (1267). In return for the military aid and funds they so greatly needed, Charles obtained the suzerainty over Achaea from Baldwin, and the Principality itself from William. The latter was to retain the Principality for life, and it was to pass to his daughter, Isabella, who was to marry one of Charles' sons.[19]

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[edit]

For this period the principality was under a violent succession dispute, which originated from the dispossessed Latin Emperor Baldwin II's gift of the overlordship of Achaea to Charles I of Sicily in return for support in his attempt to reconquer the throne in Constantinople, an action which ignored the rights of the Villehardouin Princes of Achaea. The Angevin kings of Naples subsequently gave Achaea as their fief to a series of their own relatives and creatures, who fought against Princess Margaret of Villehardouin and her heirs.

Map of the southern Balkans and western Anatolia in 1410. The Principality of Achaea under Centurione II Zaccaria was by then reduced to the western Morea.

Charles II of Naples had at first granted the fiefdom of Morea or Achaea to Princess Isabella of Villehardouin (from the Villehardouin dynasty), but he deposed her in 1307 and granted it to his son Philip I of Taranto, who in 1313 transferred it to Matilda (or Mafalda, or Maud) of Hainaut, heiress of Isabella of Villehardouin, who was married to Louis of Burgundy, titular King of Thessalonica. But Margaret, younger daughter of William II Villehardouin, claimed her rights from 1307. In 1313 she claimed them again without success and then transferred her rights to her daughter Isabelle of Sabran, wife of Ferdinand of Majorca. The son of Ferdinand and Isabelle, known as James the Unfortunate, was proclaimed prince of the Morea in 1315 under the regency of his father, who conquered the principality between 1315 and 1316 but was defeated and executed by Louis of Burgundy and Matilda in 1316. In 1316 Louis of Burgundy died and King Robert of Naples deposed Matilda and gave the principality to his brother John of Durazzo, to whom Matilda was briefly married under duress before being imprisoned.

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, Catherine of Valois, titular Empress of Constantinople, wife of Philip I of Taranto, whose stepson Robert claimed her rights until 1346 when she died. Then the claim was issued by the son of Philip and Catherine, Philip II of Taranto. In 1349 James was succeeded by his son James IV (II of the Morea). In 1364 Robert of Taranto, stepson of Catherine and eldest surviving son of Philip I of Taranto, died. In 1373 Philip II transferred his rights to his cousin, overlord and former sister-in-law Queen Joan I of Naples, whose third husband James IV of Majorca, when he died in 1375, left her his own claim to the principality, at which point she became more or less uncontested Princess of Achaea. However, when Joan was imprisoned in Naples in 1381, another, much younger, James, James of Baux, grandson of Catherine and nephew of Philip II, who in 1374 had become titular Emperor of Constantinople, used the opportunity and seized Achaea. In 1383, Achaea was annexed by Charles III of Naples, successor and murderer of Queen Joan of Naples, who was the grandson of John of Durazzo, and James of Baux was driven away. In 1383 the Vicary government began, lasting until 1396, under the Durazzo kings of Naples.

In 1404, Ladislaus, King of Naples, installed Centurione II Zaccaria, the lord of Arkadia (modern Kyparissia), as prince. Centurione continued to hold the post until 1430, when invasions by the Despots of the Morea, Constantine Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos, conquered the heartland of the Principality in Achaea. Centurione married off his daughter and heiress, Catherine, to Thomas, and retreated to his ancestral Messenian castle. On his death in 1432, this too was seized by the Byzantines. In about 1450, his illegitimate son, John Asen, was the focus of rebellions against Constantine, who was despot at the time. The Byzantine reconquest proved short-lived, however, as in 1460, the Ottomans conquered the Despotate.

Princes of Achaea[edit]

Claimants to the Principality[edit]

Ferdinand of Majorca began to claim the Principality from 1313 on behalf of his wife Isabelle of Sabran, daughter of Marguerite of Villehardouin, younger daughter of William II and sister to Isabella of Villehardouin. The claim passed to Ferdinand and Isabelle's son James III and thereafter to his son James IV. He willed his claim to his wife Joan I of Naples, and after his death she held the title relatively without contest.

Although Philip I of Piedmont only held power in Achaea through his first wife, the title Prince of Achaea was claimed by his son by his second wife, James of Piedmont, and subsequently his sons Philip II, Amadeo and Louis. None of these three had sons and their claim died with Louis.

Centurione II willed his lands to Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea and husband of his daughter Catherine Zaccaria. Thomas's son Andreas later willed all of his titles to Ferdinand II of Aragon. Centurione II's bastard son John Asen Zaccaria claimed his father's title during the Morea revolt of 1453–54.

In fiction[edit]

  • 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 Morea then fleshed out but it is as accurate as any historical reconstruction can be.
  • Princess Isabeau [el] (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 Princes of Achaea[edit]


See also[edit]

  • Roman and Byzantine Greece

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Lock, Peter (2006). "Achaia". In Alan V. Murray (ed.). The Crusades: An Encyclopedia. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 5–8. OCLC 70122512.
  2. ^ Miller William (1908)The Latins in the Levant : a history of Frankish Greece, 1204-1566 E.P. Dutton and Company, New York. p38
  3. ^ Setton (1976), p. 30
  4. ^ Miller (1921), p. 71
  5. ^ Miller (1921), pp. 72–73
  6. ^ a b c Setton (1976), p. 31
  7. ^ Miller (1921), pp. 71–72
  8. ^ Bon (1969), p. 104
  9. ^ Miller (1921), p. 74
  10. ^ a b Setton (1976), p. 32
  11. ^ Miller (1921), pp. 71, 72
  12. ^ Miller (1921), p. 72
  13. ^ Setton (1976), pp. 31–32
  14. ^ Chronicle of the Morea, verses 1995-2004
  15. ^ Assizes Articles 111 & 120
  16. ^ Bartusis, M.C., The Late Byzantine Army (1997), p. 49
  17. ^ Bartusis, M.C., The Late Byzantine Army (1997), pp. 49-50
  18. ^ Hooper, N. & Bennett, M., The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare (1996), p. 104 [1]
  19. ^ Longnon 1969, pp. 254–255.
  20. ^ Longnon 1969, p. 256.
  21. ^ a b Longnon 1969, p. 258.
  22. ^ Longnon 1969, p. 259.
  23. ^ Longnon 1969, p. 260–261.

References[edit]

  • 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.
  • Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. 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 Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311 (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 234–275. ISBN 0-299-04844-6.
  • Miller, William (1908). The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece (1204–1566). London: John Murray. OCLC 563022439.
  • Miller, William (1921). Essays on the Latin Orient. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 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 0-8122-1620-2, ISBN 978-0-8122-1620-2
  • Hooper, N. & Bennett, M., The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare (Cambridge University Press, 1996) ISBN 0-521-44049-1, ISBN 978-0-521-44049-3
  • Setton, Kenneth M. (1976). The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume I: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-114-0.
  • Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1311–1364". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 104–140. ISBN 0-299-06670-3.
  • Topping, Peter (1975). "The Morea, 1364–1460". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 141–166. ISBN 0-299-06670-3.

External links[edit]

  • Latin Occupation in the Greek Lands