Despotate Morea

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Despotate Morea, 1450

The despotate Morea was a Byzantine rule in the Peloponnese .

After the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 Konstantin Opel conquered and thus the still considerable Byzantine Empire had broken up, a number states emerged as the Despotate of Epirus , the Empire of Trebizond , the Empire of Nicaea , the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica and the Latin Empire as the real remnant of the former Eastern Roman Empire . In Morea ( Peloponnese ) the Latin formed Principality Achaia .

In 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologus succeeded in defeating the Allied Epirot and Achaean armies at the Battle of Pelagonia and in capturing the Achaean prince Wilhelm II of Villehardouin . Two years later Michael was also able to recapture Constantinople . In 1262 Wilhelm II was released from captivity, but he had to cede the area around the fortress Mistra , near ancient Sparta , to the emperor and swear an oath of allegiance to him, of which he was acquitted by the Pope after his return to Morea.

The area around Mistra (mainly Laconia ) became a Byzantine province, ruled by a cephale . The Byzantines first tried to retake the rest of Moreas, but were repulsed again. A certain modus vivendi was established between the two states in the 14th century, although mutual forays never completely stopped. Since the middle of the 14th century, first under the Kantakuzenen and later the palaeologists , the office of “ despot ” served the Morea as a Byzantine secundogeniture , while the power of Achaia declined. Besides possessed Venice important possessions on the peninsula, such as the massive fortresses of Methoni and Koroni at the western tip of the Peloponnese .

In the 15th century the sons of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos were able to remove the remnants of Latin rule, and with the fall of Patras in 1430, the peninsula, except for the Venetian colonies, again came under Byzantine control. In 1448 the despot Constantine was named Constantine XI in Mistra . raised to the last Byzantine emperor. After Constantinople was conquered by the Turks in 1453 , Morea was also conquered by the Turks under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih in 1460 .

designation

The term despotate is derived from the Greek word despotes (δεσπότης) for 'lord' and has no judgmental function in relation to the Byzantine despotates. The Byzantine despotates are not tyranny in the sense of despotism , but only provinces or principalities within the empire. Accordingly, despot in this context is the title of provincial governor. See also Despot (title) .

Byzantine governors and despots of Morea

literature