Despotate of the Morea

The Despotate of the Morea or Despotate of Mystras

(Greek: ,
) was a province of the Byzantine Empire which
existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries.
Its territory varied in size during its 100 years of existence but eventually grew to include almost all the southern Greek peninsula, now known as the Peloponnesos. It
was called Morea during the medieval period. The territory was usually ruled by a close relative of the current
Byzantine emperor, who was given the title of despotes
(in this context it should not be confused with despotism).
Its capital was the fortied city of Mystras, near ancient
Sparta, which became an important centre of Byzantine
culture and power.

ers of the last emperor, failed to send him any aid, as

Morea was recovering from a recent Ottoman attack.
Their own incompetence resulted in an AlbanianGreek
revolt against them, during which they invited in Ottoman
troops to help them put down the revolt. At this time,
a number of inuential Moreote Greeks and Albanians
made private peace with Mehmed.[1] After more years
of incompetent rule by the despots, their failure to pay
their annual tribute to the Sultan, and nally their own revolt against Ottoman rule, Mehmed came into the Morea
in May 1460. Demetrios ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas ed. By the end
of the summer the Ottomans had achieved the submission
of virtually all cities possessed by the Greeks.

The Despotate of the Morea was created out of territory

seized from the Frankish Principality of Achaea. This
had been organized from former Byzantine territory after the Fourth Crusade (1204). In 1259, the Principalitys
ruler William II Villehardouin lost the Battle of Pelagonia against the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. William was forced to ransom himself by surrendering most of the eastern part of Morea and his newly
built strongholds. The surrendered territory became the
nucleus of the Despotate of Morea.

A few holdouts remained for a time. The island of

Monemvasia refused to surrender and it was rst ruled
for a brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out they obtained the consent of Thomas
to submit to the Popes protection before the end of
1460. The Mani Peninsula, on the Moreas south end, resisted under a loose coalition of the local clans and then
that area came under Venice's rule. The very last holdout was Salmeniko, in the Moreas northwest. Graitzas
Palaiologos was the military commander there, stationed
at Salmeniko Castle (also known as Castle Orgia). While
the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian
territory. Thus ended the last of the Byzantine Empire
proper.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

A later Byzantine emperor, John VI Kantakouzenos, reorganized the territory during the mid-14th century to establish it as an appanage for his son, the Despot Manuel
Kantakouzenos. The rival Palaiologos dynasty seized the
Morea after Manuels death in 1380, with Theodore I
Palaiologos becoming despot in 1383. Theodore ruled
until 1407, consolidating Byzantine rule and coming to
terms with his more powerful neighboursparticularly
the expansionist Ottoman Empire, whose suzerainty he
recognised. He also sought to reinvigorate the local economy by inviting Albanians to settle in the territory.

After 1461 the only non-Ottoman territories were possessed by Venice: the port cities of Modon and Koroni
at the southern end of the Morea, the Argolid with Argos, and the port of Nafplion. Monemvasia subsequently
surrendered itself to Venice at the beginning of the 1463
Subsequent despots were the sons of the Emperor Manuel 1479 Ottoman-Venetian war.
II Palaiologos, brother of the despot Theodore: Constantine, Demetrios, and Thomas. As Latin power in the Peloponnese waned during the 15th century, the Despotate 1 Byzantine despots of the Morea
of the Morea expanded to incorporate the entire peninsula in 1430 with territory being acquired by dowry settle Manuel Kantakouzenos (1349?)
ments, and the conquest of Patras by Constantine. How Michael Asan ?
ever, in 1446 the Ottoman Sultan Murad II destroyed the
Byzantine defencesthe Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus
Andrew Asan (?1354)
of Corinth. His attack opened the peninsula to invasion, though Murad died before he could exploit this.
Manuel Kantakouzenos (restored) (13541380)
His successor Mehmed II the Conqueror captured the
Matthew Kantakouzenos (13801383)
Byzantine capital Constantinople in 1453. The despots,
Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos, broth Demetrios I Kantakouzenos (1383)
1

3 SEE ALSO

The Byzantine Empire and the Latin and other states resulting
from the Fourth Crusade, as they were in 1265. The Byzantine
province of the Morea is also shown.
(William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 1911).

Theodore I Palaiologos (13831407)

Theodore II Palaiologos (14071443)
Constantine Palaiologos (14281449), after 1449
became emperor at Constantinople. Thereafter,
joint rule between his brothers:
Thomas Palaiologos (14281460)
Demetrios II Palaiologos (14491460)

References

[1] Contemporary Copy of the Letter of Mehmet II to the

Greek Archons 26 December 1454 (ASV Documenti
Turchi B.1/11)
[2] Monemvasia.com website, http://www.monemvasia.com
.
[3] The Greek Travel website, http://www.thegreektravel.
com/lakonia/monemvasia.html .
[4] Katsoulakos.Com website,
mani-history-new.html .

http://katsoulakos.com/

[5] Apodimos.com website, http://www.apodimos.com/

arthra/07/Jan/OTTOMAN_in_the_MOREA_in_the_
OUTER_MANI/index.htm .
[6] Geni
website,
Thomas-Palaiologos/ .

http://www.geni.com/people/

[7] William Miller, Monemvasia, The Journal of Hellenic

Studies, 1907, p. 236 (online at https://archive.org/
stream/journalofhelleni27sociuoft#page/236/mode/1up
.

See also
Byzantine Greece

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