Former name of the Peloponnese peninsula
Not to be confused with
Moorea
.
Morea
(
Greek
:
Μορ?α?
or
Μωρι??
) was the name of the
Peloponnese
peninsula in southern
Greece
during the
Middle Ages
and the
early modern period
. The name was used for the
Byzantine
province known as the
Despotate of the Morea
, by the
Ottoman Empire
for the
Morea Eyalet
, and later by the
Republic of Venice
for the short-lived
Kingdom of the Morea
.
Etymology
[
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]
There is some uncertainty over the origin of the medieval name "Morea", which is first recorded only in the 10th century in the
Byzantine
chronicles.
Traditionally, scholars thought the name to have originated from the word
morea
(μορ?α), meaning
morus
or
mulberry
,
[1]
a tree which, though known in the region from the ancient times, gained value after the 6th century, when mulberry-eating
silkworms
were smuggled from China to Byzantium.
The British Byzantinist
Steven Runciman
suggested that the name comes "from the likeness of its shape to that of a mulberry leaf".
[2]
History
[
edit
]
After the conquest of Constantinople by the forces of the
Fourth Crusade
(1204), two groups of
Franks
undertook the occupation of the Morea. They created the
Principality of Achaea
, a largely Greek-inhabited statelet ruled by a Latin (Western) autocrat. In referring to the Peloponnese, they followed local practice and used the name "Morea".
The most important prince in the Morea was
Guillaume II de Villehardouin
(1246–1278), who fortified
Mistra
(Mystras) near the site of
Sparta
in 1249. After losing the
Battle of Pelagonia
(1259) against the
Byzantine Emperor
Michael VIII Palaeologus
, Guillaume was forced to ransom himself by giving up most of the eastern part of Morea and his newly built strongholds. An initial Byzantine drive to reconquer the entire peninsula failed in the battles of
Prinitza
and
Makryplagi
, and the Byzantines and Franks settled to an uneasy coexistence.
In the mid-14th century, the later Byzantine Emperor
John VI Kantakouzenos
reorganized Morea into the
Despotate of the Morea
. Sons of the emperor with the rank of
despotes
were usually sent to rule the province as an
appanage
. By 1430, the Byzantines eventually recovered the remainder of the Frankish part of the Morea, but in 1460 the peninsula was almost completely overrun and conquered by the
Ottoman Empire
. In these conquests, the coastal and port cities remained in the hands of the Venetians such as
Monemvasia
,
Lepanto
,
Modon
,
Koron
, but these places were captured during the reigns of
Bayezid II
and
Suleyman I
.
[3]
In July 1461, the last holdout,
Salmeniko Castle
, was taken.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
The peninsula was captured for the
Republic of Venice
by
Francesco Morosini
during the
Morean War
of 1684?99. Venetian rule proved unpopular, and the Ottomans recaptured the Morea in a lightning campaign in 1714. Under renewed Ottoman rule, centered at
Tripolitsa
, the region enjoyed relative prosperity. The latter 18th century was marked by renewed dissatisfaction. Armed bands of the
klephts
emerged, undeterred by the brutal repression of the
Orlov revolt
. They waged
guerrilla war
against the Turks, aided both by the decay of Ottoman power and the emergence of Greek national consciousness. Ultimately, the Morea and its inhabitants provided the cradle and backbone of the
Greek Revolution
.
Chronicle of the Morea
[
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]
The anonymous 14th century
Chronicle of the Morea
relates events of the
Franks
' establishment of
feudalism
in mainland Greece following the Fourth Crusade. Despite its unreliability about historical events, the
Chronicle
is famous for its lively portrayal of life in the feudal community. The language in Greek versions is notable as it reflects the rapid transition from Medieval to Modern Greek. The original language of the Chronicle is disputed, but recent scholarship prefers the Greek version in MS
Havniensis 57
(14th–15th century, in
Copenhagen
). Other manuscripts include the Ms
Parisinus graecus 2898
(15th–16th century, at the
Bibliotheque nationale de France
,
Paris
). The difference of about one century in the texts shows a considerable number of linguistic differences due to the rapid evolution of the Greek language.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, μορ?α"
. Perseus.tufts.edu
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
- ^
Runciman,
A Traveller's Alphabet
, "Morea")
- ^
"Mora Yarımadası"
.
Ansiklopedika
. Archived from
the original
on 24 June 2021
. Retrieved
24 June
2021
.
- ^
"Monemvasia"
. Monemvasia. 1941-04-28. Archived from
the original
on 2018-08-07
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
- ^
"Monemvasia Lakonia Peloponnese Greece. The travel and holidays guide to Monemvassia in Laconia. Sparti, Gytheio, Mystras, Mani, Elafonissos, Gytheio. Travel greece"
. Thegreektravel.com. 2013-08-26
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
- ^
"Welcome to our homepage"
. Katsoulakos.com
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
- ^
[1]
Archived
January 10, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Genealogy - Geni - private profile - Genealogy"
. Geni
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
- ^
"The journal of Hellenic studies"
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bon, Antoine (1969).
La Moree franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archeologiques sur la principaute d'Achaie
(in French). Paris: De Boccard.
- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994),
The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest
, University of Michigan Press,
ISBN
978-0-472-08260-5
- Crusaders as Conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea,
translated from the Greek with notes and introduction by Harold E. Lurier, Columbia University, 1964.
- M.J. Jeffreys, "The Chronicle of Morea: Priority of the Greek Version."
Byzantinische Zeitschrift
68 (1975), 304-350.
- Teresa Shawcross,
The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece
(Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) (Oxford Studies in Byzantium).
External links
[
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]
37°36′N
22°12′E
/
37.6°N 22.2°E
/
37.6; 22.2