Morea
The Morea (Greek: Μορέας or Μωριάς) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and early modern period. The name was used by the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottoman Empire as the Eyalet of the Morea, by the Republic of Venice, and by the brief Kingdom of the Morea.
Origins of the name
There is some uncertainty about the origin of the medieval name "Morea", which was first recorded in the century X in the Byzantine chronicles.
Traditionally, scholars thought that the name derived from the word morea (μορέα), meaning morus or mulberry, a tree that, although known in the region since ancient times, gained value after the VI century, when mulberry-eating silkworms were smuggled from China to Byzantium.
British Byzantinist Steven Runciman suggested that the name comes from "the similarity of its shape to that of a mulberry leaf".
History
After the conquest of Constantinople by the armies of the Fourth Crusade (1204), two groups of Franks undertook the occupation of the Morea. They created the Principality of Achaia, a mostly Greek inhabited state ruled by a Latin (Western European) autocrat. These followed the local practice to refer to the Peloponnese and called it "Morea".
The most important prince of the Morea was William II of Villehardouin, who fortified Mystras, a town near Sparta, in 1249. After losing the Battle of Pelagonia (1259) against the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, William was forced to to self-rescue and gave up most of the eastern Morea and its newly built fortresses. An initial Byzantine drive to reconquer the entire peninsula failed at the battles of Prinitza and Macriplagi and the Byzantines and Franks settled in an uneasy coexistence.
In the mid-14th century, the later Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos reorganized the Morea into the Despotate of Morea. Sons of the emperor used to be sent to govern the province as infants, bearing the title of "despot." In 1430 the Byzantines finally recaptured the rest of the Frankish part of the Morea, but in 1460 the peninsula was almost completely overrun and conquered by the Ottoman Empire. In July 1461, the last resistance, the castle of Salmeniko, was taken.
The peninsula was conquered for the Republic of Venice by Francesco Morosini during the Morean War of 1684-99. Venetian rule proved unpopular, and the Ottomans recaptured the region in a lightning campaign in 1714. Under renewed Ottoman rule, which ruled the area from Tripoli, the region enjoyed relative prosperity. The end of the 18th century was marked by renewed public dissatisfaction. Armed bands of the Kleftes arose, despite the brutal government crackdown on the Orlov revolt. They waged a guerrilla war against the Turks, aided both by the decline of Ottoman power and the rise of Greek national consciousness. Ultimately, the Morea and its inhabitants were the cradle and backbone of the Greek Revolution.
Chronicle of the Morea.
The anonymous Chronicle of the Morea from the 14th century recounts the events of the establishment of feudalism in the Franks in mainland Greece after 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 the Greek versions is notable as it reflects the rapid transition from Greek 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 Mrs. Parisinus graecus 2898 (15th – 16th century, in the National Library of France, Paris). The difference of around a century in the texts shows a considerable number of linguistic differences due to the rapid evolution of the Greek language.
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