Melinger

The Melingers (Gr. Μελιγγοί, Μηλιγγοί; Melingoi ) were a Slavic tribe in the Taygetos in the Peloponnese in Greece from the 10th to the 14th century.

history

Slavs have settled in the Balkans since the 7th century, and in the Peloponnese at the latest since the 9th century. The Melingers are mentioned for the first time by Emperor Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos in his work De administrando imperio for the year 934, when Emperor Romanos I put down a Slavic uprising in this area; the Melinger and Ezerite tribes could stay in the area.

From the 12th century on, military units were mentioned by Melingians in Frankish and Byzantine services. In the 1330s, Melingers are mentioned as the founder of several churches.

Settlement area

According to Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos, the Melingers lived in the mountains of Pentedaktylos (Πεντεδάκτυλος), the Byzantine name of Taygetus . According to the Chronicle of Morea , the Melingers settled on the slopes of the "Melinger Mountains" named after them (ὁ ζυγὸς τῶν Μελιγῶν; o zygos ton Meligon ) between Mystras and Passava .

swell

• Const. Porphyry: De admin. imper. 50
• Chronicle of Morea 1718, 2993, 3032, 4588 etc.

literature

• Omeljan Pritsak : Melingoi. In: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (ODB). Vol. 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 1334 f.
• Max Vasmer: The Slavs in Greece . Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1941, keyword: Μελίγοι ( online : Etymology of the name).