Battle in the olive grove of Kountouras

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The Peloponnese in the late Middle Ages with Messenia in the south-western part of the peninsula.

The battle in the olive grove of Kountouras ( Middle Greek μάχη του ελαιώνα του Κούντουρα ) took place in Messinia in the Peloponnese in the early summer of 1205 . The Frankish knights of Wilhelm von Champlitte (and Romans) as well as local Greeks and Melingers were involved . The Franks tried to occupy Morea . They won the battle and thereby broke the resistance in the Peloponnese. Ultimately, they established the Principality of Achaia .

background

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 by the Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade and after the fall of the Byzantine Empire , Boniface I (Montferrat) founded the Kingdom of Thessaloniki . In autumn Wilhelm von Champlitte followed him to Thessaloniki , but then moved on to Morea (Peloponnese). There he met Gottfried von Villehardouin , who was heading for Modon (Methoni) on his way back from Palestine . Gottfried had meanwhile hired in the service of a Greek prince, Johannes Kantakuzenos (or Leon Chamaretos ), and got the impression that the country could easily be conquered. When the crusaders under Boniface besieged the Greek prince Leon Sgouros in Nafplio and Acrocorinth in the north-west, he set out to demand Boniface's help. Bonifatius made arrangements to keep him in his own service, but Villehardouin allied himself with his compatriot from Champagne , whom he enticed with stories about the country's wealth and took the oath of allegiance from him. Boniface finally allowed their venture and Champlitte and Villehardouin set out to conquer Morea. They conquered the cities of Patras and Andravida without a fight and in Andravida Champlitte received the homage of the local rulers and the citizens of Skorta and Mesaria. From there the Franks moved south along the coast. They were accompanied by a fleet that easily captured the fortress of Pontikon , which they restored and garrisoned. They bypassed the strong fortress of Arkadia ( Kyparissia ), crossed Navarino , and reached Methoni. They fortified the walls of the fortress, which the Venetians had razed to get a grip on local piracy. From there they attacked the fortress of Koroni , which they captured within a day and subsequently Kalamata . On the Greek side, residents of Laconia , Arcadia and Argolis fought . The general of the Greeks, Michael, has been identified on various occasions with Michael I Komnenos Dukas , who soon afterwards founded the Despotate of Epirus , but this is unlikely.

course

According to the sources, Michael's army numbered 5,000 or 4,000 men, while the men of Champlitte only counted 500 or 700. Despite their numerical inferiority, the Franks dominated the battle and won it. Details of the battle are not given in the sources, nor is the location known. Even the exact chronology is unclear because the two sources contradict each other. Thereupon the resistance of the Greeks was broken, one castle after another and town after town the Franks surrendered. In the same year Champlitte founded the Principality of Achaia .

swell

The battle was described in two reports, each showing the perspective of the victors. They are the Chronicle De la Conquête de Constantinople by Gottfried von Villehardouin and the Chronicle of Morea . Gottfried was the uncle of Gottfried von Villehardouin . He took part in the enterprise himself. The author of the Chronicle of Morea was probably a Gasmulos , that is, a child of the conquerors. The text De la Conquête de Constantinople reports the following:

So Wilhelm von Champlitte and Gottfried von Villehardouin (the nephew) set out, taking with them a hundred knights and a large number of mounted squires, and moved into the land of Moria until they reached the city of Methoni. Michael heard that they had come into the country with such a small number of men, gathered a large number of men, a number that was quite wonderful, and attacked them when someone who thought they were nothing better than prisoners and himself would already have it in his hand. And when they heard he was coming, they fortified Methoni anew, where the fortifications had long been torn down, and there they left the entourage and the common people. Then they rode out for a day's march and made their lines of battle with as many men as they had. They seemed in great danger, for they were barely five hundred and the other force was more than five thousand. But things are happening as pleases God, for our men fought with the Greeks, scattered them, and overcame them. And the Greeks lost much, while ours gained horses and weapons and many other goods, and they returned joyful and happy to the city of Methoni.

The description of the battle according to the Chronicle of Morea (lines 1720–1738):

ἀκούσασιν κ 'ἐμάθασιν τὸ πῶς ἦλθαν οἱ Φράγκοι
καὶ περπατοῦν ἐκ τὰ χωρία κ' ἐπαίκλ υσιν
σοη τ κοἐρνουσιν σοη τ κοἐρνουσιν σοη στὰ κούρνουσιν σοη τὰ κούτκανοητσ.
Ἐκεῖσε ἐπαρεσύρθηκαν, τὸ λέγουν Κηπησκιάνους,
ὅπου τὸ κράζουν ὄνομα στὸν Κούντουραν ἐλαιῶνα.
Ἦσαν χιλιάδες τέσσαρες, πεζοὶ καὶ καβαλλάροι.
Οἱ Φράγκοι γὰρ ὡς τὸ ἐμάθασιν πάλε ἀπὸ τοὺς Ρωμαίους ,
ὅπου ἤσασιν γὰρ μετ 'αὐτοὺς κ' ἐξεύρασιν τοὺς τόπους,
ἐκεῖ τοὺς ἐπαρέσυραν, καὶ ηὕρανέ τους ἦλθαν
καὶ πόλεμον ἐδώκασιν οἱ Φράγκοι kappa 'οἱ Ρωμαῖοι.
Κ 'οἱ Φράγκοι γὰρ οὐκ ἤσασιν, πεζοὶ καὶ καβαλλάροι,
μόνοι ἑφτακόσιοι μοναχοί, τόσοι ταννς ἐγνω.
Με προθυμίαν ἀρχάσασιν τὸν πόλεμο οἱ Ρωμαῖοι,
διατὶ ὀλίγους τοὺς ἔβλεπαν, ὕστερα ἐμετενοῆσαν.
Τι νὰ σὲ λέγω τὰ πολλὰ καὶ τὶ τὸ διάφορόν μου;
τὸν πόλεμον ἐκέρδισαν ἐτότε ἐκεῖν 'οἱ Φράγκοι˙
ὅλους ἐκατασφάξασιν, ὀλίγοι τοὺς ἐφύγαν.
Αὐτὸν καὶ μόνον πόλεμον ἐποῖκαν οἱ Ρωμαῖοι
εἰς τὸν καιρὸν ποῦ ἐκέρδισαν οἱ Φράγκοι τὸν Μορέαν.

they heard and found out how the Franks arrived,
and they went through the villages and picked up the weapons,
and they said and they thought they were wounded.
There they were dragged over to what is called Kepeskianous,
Where it is called the olive grove of Kountouras.
They were four thousand, on foot and on horseback.
The Franks, however, when they learned it from the Romans,
because they were with them and knew the place,
they dragged them there, they came and they found them,
and they made war with the Franks and the Romans.
And the Franks weren't even on foot or on horseback,
just 700, they thought.
The Romans eagerly started the war,
seeing only a few, but later felt sorry for it.
Why should I tell a lot more and who cares?
The war they won, then, these Franks
they put them all down, only a few escaped.
That was the only war the Romans waged
at the time the Franks were winning Morea.

meaning

The battle in the olive grove of Kountouras was decisive for the conquest of the Peloponnese. The historian William Miller compared the battle to a " Hastings of the Morea". After the victory, the crusaders stayed for a while in the plain of Messenia. Champlitte convened a war council, determined the future strategy and sent the fleet home. At the end of the year the Crusaders conquered Arcadia and soon afterwards the fortress Araklovon (Ἀράκλοβον), which was defended by the brave warrior Doxapatres Voutsaras . At that time, Champlitte had the north and west of the peninsula under his control and the northeast belonged to the Duchy of Athens under the suzerainty of Boniface. Leo Sgouros and his followers, however, still held two fortresses. Also Laconia and the mountains of Taygetos remained unconquered. But with that the first phase of conquest was over and in a letter to Pope Innocent III. from November 19, 1205, Champlitte raised the claim to the title of princeps totius Achaiae provincie , whereby the Principality of Achaia was established.

literature

  • Antoine Bon: La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe (French). De Boccard, Paris 1969.
  • John Van Antwerp Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 .
  • Raymond-Joseph Loenertz: Aux origines du despotat d'Épire et de la principauté d'Achaïe. Byzantion (French) 43 (1973) 360-394.
  • Jean Longnon: The Frankish States in Greece, 1204-1311. In: Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard: A History of the Crusades. Vol. II: The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. University of Wisconsin Press, 1969, pp. 234-275. ISBN 0-299-06670-3 .
  • William Miller: The Latins in the Levant, a History of Frankish Greece (1204-1566). EP Dutton and Company, New York 1908.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250 , Florin Curta, Paul Stephenson, p. xxv, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0521815398
  2. ↑ Miller 1908, pp. 36-37
  3. ↑ Bon 1969, p. 60.
  4. ^ The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, John V Fine, p. 66, University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0472082604
  5. ^ A b Geoffroi de Villehardouin, De la Conquête de Constantinople 1207-1210?
  6. ↑ a b Χρονικόν του Μορέως
  7. ↑ The chronicle of Geoffry de Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne and Romania concerning the conquest of Constantinople, by the French and Venetians, anno M.CCIV., Translated by T. Smith, London, William Pickering, 1829. (Χρονικό της Τέταρτης Σταυροφοριας της κατάκτησης της Κωνσταντινούπολης)
  8. ↑ Έτσι ο ο Γουλιέλμος Σαμπλίτης και Γοδεφρείδος Βιλλαρδουίνος (ο ανηψιός) ξεκίνησαν και πήραν μαζί τους περίπου εκατό ιππότες και ένα μεγάλο αριθμό έφιππων και μπήκαν στη γη του Μωριά και προχώρησαν μέχρι που έφτασαν στην πόλη της Μεθώνης . Ο Μιχαήλ άκουσε ότι είχαν έλθει στη χώρα με τόσους λίγους και μάζεψε ένα μεγάλο αριθμό ανθρώπων , έναν αριθμό εκπληκτικό, και προχώρησαν ακολουθώντας τους, σαν κάποιος που σκεφτόταν ότι αυτοί δεν ήταν σε καλύτερη κατάσταση από κρατούμενοι και μάλιστα στη δική του χώρα . Όταν αυτοί άκουσαν ότι έρχεται, οχύρωσαν εκ νέου τη Μεθώνη όπου οι οχυρώσεις από παλαιότερα είχαν εγκαταλειφθεί και άφησαν εκεί τα πράγματά τους και τους συνοδούς τους . Μετά προχώρησαν μιας μέρας δρόμο και διατάχθηκαν με όσους ανθρώπους είχαν. Ο κίνδυνος έμοιαζε μεγάλος, γιατί δεν είχαν πάνω από πεντακόσιους έφιππους, ενώ στην άλλη πλευρά ήταν αρκετά πάνω από πέντε χιλιάδες . Αλλά τα γεγονότα συμβαίνουν σύμφωνα με το θέλημα του Θεού, γιατί ο άνθρωλοί μας πολέρωλλοί μας πολέρωλλτας πολές Έμησαν με στατατωσ πολςς μησανμε κατως κτυς Έμησανμε κτατως πολές σησανμε κτατως πολές σησανμε κατυς όπτατς πολές Έμησαν με κατυς. Και οι Έλληνες έχασαν με πολύ βαριές απώλειες, ενώ όσοι ήταν στην πλευρά μας κέρδισαν αρκετά άλογα και όπλα και άλλα αγαθά σε μεγάλη ποσότητα και έτσι γύρισαν χαρούμενοι και πολύ ευτυχισμένοι στην πόλη της Μεθώνης .
  9. ↑ Το Χρονικόν του Μορέως , έκδοση Π.Καλονάρου, Αθήνα 1940
  10. ↑ they heard and they learned that the Franks had come, and that they walked through the villages and took the gains of war and they said and they thought they had been harmed Over there they were drawn, they call it Kepescianous where they name it the olive grove of Kountouras They were four thousand, on foot and mounted The Franks, though, when they learned it from the Romans since they were together with them and they knew the place there they drew them, they came and they found them and war they gave the Franks and the Romans. And the Franks were not, on foot and mounted, but just seven hundred, that many they thought. Eagerly did the Romans start the war, because they saw them few, but later they were sorry. Why shall I tell you a lot and what do we care? The war, they won, then, those Franks they slaughtered them all, a few did escape That was the only war the Romans made during the time that the Franks won the Morea.
  11. ^ The fate of the Morea, like that of Saxon England, was decided by a single pitched battle ".
  12. ↑ Bon 1969, pp. 61, 63.
  13. ↑ Miller 1908, pp. 38-39.