Thessaloniki - Mystras: "Constantine XI Palaiologos"


On October 31st 1448 Emperor John VIII died without an heir. His brother Constantine, who was then despot of Mystra, ascended the throne. Legend has it that he was crowned emperor in the capital of the despotate, in January 1449, but we can be sure that two months later he travelled to Constantinople, where he was given a triumphant welcome. Constantine rose to the throne at an absolutely critical time for the empire. Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Byzantium, had already been under Ottoman rule for twenty years, after falling to forces under Murad II, while the greater part of Macedonia was in Turkish hands by the late 14th century. The only free state in the southern Balkans was the Despotate of Mystras.

As a despot Constantine had showed great skill. By 1444 he had succeeded in rebuilding the Examilion Wall at Corinth and in recapturing Athens and Thebes. The following year his forces marched into Central Greece and he himself reached Mount Pindos, where Albanian and Vlach populations joined forces with him. He made several attempts to curb the power of the Venetians, who held Argos and Nafplion on the east coast of the Peloponnese, and Koroni and Methoni on the west. However, in November 1446 Murad II’s cannons destroyed Examilion and his troops devastated the northern Peloponnese as far as Killini. Constantine and his brother Thomas managed to escape with a handful of their troops, while the Turks withdrew not long afterwards.

After the fall of Constantinople the Ottomans experienced great difficulty in advancing into the Peloponnese. It was only in 1460 that Demetrius Palaeologus was forced to surrender Mystras, and other cities put up fierce resistance. The residents of Monemvasia sought the protection of Pope Pius the Second, finally surrendering the city to the Venetians late in 1463. Since they did not wish to engage in war with Venice, the Ottomans did not launch attacks against Methoni and Koroni, which only fell into their hands in 1500, followed by Nafplion forty years later.


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The castle: The castle of Mystras or Myzithra was founded in 1249 by the Frankish Prince William II de Villehardouin. It lies on the top of a mound in the foothills of Mt. Taygetus, a few miles to the north-west of Lacedaemon, as Sparta was known in the Byzantine era. The hill is naturally fortified; it is completely inaccessible from the south and southeast, as the rock rises almost vertically to an incredible height. However, the view of the Eurotas river valley is not blocked by anything to the north, east and south - the site is crucial to controlling the area. The name Mystras is probably derived from some landowner in the area whose surname or profession was Myzithras (a cheese maker).The Franks built a strong castle for the effective control of the south Peloponnese. However, in order to free William after the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, three years later they were forced to surrender the fortresses of Monemvasia, Mani and Mystras to the Byzantines.Over the next few years, the security provided by the hill prompted the people of Lacedaemon and the surrounding villages to settle on the hillside below the castle. There they built houses, using marble and other building material from the ruins of ancient Sparta and their former properties. The Diocese of Lacedaemon moved its headquarters to Mystras in 1264, followed in 1289 by the annually elected general at the head of the military in the Morea. The cathedral dedicated to Agios Demetrios was built in the last third of the 13th century, possibly by Bishop Eugene, and was renovated by Nicephorus Moschopoulos from Constantinople. Outstanding figures in Mystras must have included Daniel and chancellor Pachomius, who founded Agioi Theodoroi (before 1296) and Aphentiko (1310), the two successive catholica at Vrontochi Monastery. From 1308 onwards the annually elected commander was replaced by a permanently appointed official.In 1348 Mystras became capital of the Despotate of the Morea, first governed by Manuel Cantcuzenus (1348-1380), second son of Emperor John VI. Manuel wedded Princess Isabella, the daughter of Guy de Lusignan, King of Armenia Minor. To Greeks she is better known as Isabeau, from a widely read fictional biography. In around 1350 Manuel founded the Monastery of the Zoodochos Christos (the Life-giving Christ), which has been identified as the present day church of Agia Sophia. Isabella appears to have founded Peribleptos Monastery at about the same time.In 1383 the command of Mystras passed from the Cantacuzenus family to the Palaeologus family, which then held the throne in Constantinople. Theodore I Palaeologus, son of Emperor John V, put a stop to the separatist aspirations of Demetrios, last of the Cantacuzeni. The administration of Mystras always depended on the delicate balance between enemies and friends. On the one hand, the city’s inhabitants had high morale and a strong sense of national consciousness, as a result of years of war and forced cohabitation with the Franks, Venetians and Albanians, who had begun to arrive in the Peloponnese in waves from the 13th century onwards, as well as with Jews, who had settled on the outskirts of the city. The inhabitants reacted vigorously when Theodore attempted to lease Mystras to the Knights Hospitaller in 1402, thus cancelling the settlement. On the other hand, there were continuous conflicts between the rulers and the population over high taxation and other burdens. In 1423 the Ottomans pillaged the Peloponnese, but in 1429, after the successes of Theodore II Palaeologus and the new emperor John VIII, a new Despotate was created with Glarentza as its capital, followed in 1430 by a third based at Kalavryta. It was then, in this period of final triumph, that the monasteries of the Annunciation and Pantanassa were built at Mystras. However, of the three Palaeologus brothers who laid claim to rule of the Morea and even of Constantinople itself - Theodore, Thomas and Constantine - only the latter remained in Mystras until 1449. He then left for the capital to ascend the throne, without having been officially crowned. After 1453 the Ottomans had the upper hand in the Peloponnese, and it was only a matter of time before they conquered the last Byzantine strongholds. In 1460 Demetrios Palaeologus surrendered Mystras to Mehmet II, when threatened by his mighty army, while Thomas left to Italy from Patras.Mystras was a large city for its time, and the heart of the Peloponnese for close on two centuries. Major figures of the time walked its narrow streets - laymen and clergy who determined not only the fate of the city, but possibly also that of Europe. The most famous of all was the philosopher Georgius Gemistus Plethon, who held high government office. Indeed, at the synod on the Union of the Churches, it was Plethon who led to the revival of interest in classical culture in Florence. In 1464, during the unsuccessful Venetian siege of Mystras, Lord Sigismondo Malatesta managed to enter the city and loot the corpse of Plethon, which he deposited alongside those of other wise men at his court in Rimini.
The city: Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, on the triangular peninsula formed by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This was an excellent location that controlled trade routes linking the Aegean to the Black Sea. Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD as a city to rival Rome in splendour, wealth and power. The city grew fast, leading to problems of space and facilities, so Theodosius I extended it to the west by building new strong walls that protected Constantinople until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was laid out after Rome. A main road, the Mese Odos, linked the palace to the Golden Gate. On this road was the Forum, a circular plaza with a statue of Constantine mounted on a column, surrounded by public buildings. Theodosius I and Arcadius later built more forums decorated with their own statues. Following the Nika riots in the 6th century, Justinian adorned Constantinople with magnificent edifices, palaces, baths and public buildings. This time also saw the construction of Agia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the church which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. During the 7th and 8th centuries Constantinople faced major problems that threw it into disarray: attacks by the Avars (a siege in 674) and Arabs (attacks in 674 and 717-718); natural disasters (a powerful, destructive earthquake in 740); and epidemics (plague in 747). Limited building activity resumed in the 8th and 9th century, mainly concentrated on strengthening the city's fortifications. With the recovery of the Byzantine Empire from the 9th to the 11th century, Constantinople became the most populated city in Christendom; the majority of inhabitants were Greek-speaking, but many other ethnic groups lived alongside them, such as Jews, Armenians, Russians, Italians merchants, Arabs and mercenaries from Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many public, private and church-owned buildings were erected at the time, with an emphasis on establishing charitable institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Higher education flourished, thanks to the care of the state and the emergence of important scholars. This renaissance lasted until the mid-11th century, when economic problems due to poor management set in, compounded by the adverse outcome of imperial operations beyond the borders. The Crusaders left Constantinople entirely unscathed when first passing through, but in the Fourth Crusade of 1204 the Franks conquered and ransacked the city, slaughtering those inhabitants they did not take prisoner or drive out. In 1261 the city was retaken by Michael VIII Palaeologus, who rebuilt most of the monuments and the walls but proved unable to restore the city to its former splendour and glory. Enfeebled as it was, the empire was incapable of checking the advance of the Ottomans, and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell into their hands. The fall signalled the end of the empire. Nevertheless, the Byzantine intellectual tradition remained significant, as many scholars settled in the Venetian dominions of Crete and the Peloponnese, as well as in European countries, conveying Greek learning to the West.
The city: Around the top of the Thermaic Gulf there were several small ancient towns with intense commercial activity, which further expanded after the destruction of Olynthus by Philip in 348 BC. According to Strabo, King Cassander founded a new city in 316 BC, naming it Thessaloniki after his wife, sister to Alexander the Great. The few traces of Hellenistic buildings identified to date - an important administrative building complex in Governing House Square, and the east part of the wall - indicate that from the outset the city was intended to be a major political and military centre. Thessaloniki’s geographic location at a key point on Macedonia’s land and sea routes was an important factor in its growth down the centuries. From the mid 2nd century BC onwards it was the most important military and trading post on the Via Egnatia, which crossed the Balkan Peninsula from Durres to Byzantium (later Constantinople). Its port also began to flourish, lying as it did at the end of the road leading from the Danube to the Aegean. The city thus became the crossroads of the major trading routes heading East-West and North-South in the Roman Empire. Christian history in Thessaloniki began with the arrival of Paul the Apostle, who preached in the city’s synagogue in 51 or early 52 AD, though archaeological traces are thin on the ground until three centuries later. The 1st century saw the foundation of the Roman forum, along with several public buildings such as the library, the gymnasium and the Gallery of Figurines, which may have belonged to the imperial bath complex. In 298-299 Caesar Galerius moved his headquarters from Sirmium in Panonnia to Thessaloniki, adorning it with new monumental buildings such as the palace, the hippodrome, the theatre-stadium and the Rotonda, which was originally a temple modelled after the Pantheon in Rome. The famous Arch of Galerius, a dedicatory tetrapylon known locally as the Kamara, was erected at this time, decorated with scenes from Galerius’s victories against the Persians. In 322 Constantine the Great built the port at the southwest end of the shore. Thessaloniki became an important ecclesiastical centre from the late 4th century onwards. In 380, while staying in the city with his court in preparation for a campaign against the Goths, Emperor Theodosius I was baptized by Bishop Acholius (or Ascholios) and issued a decree forbidding sacrifices throughout the empire. Around the same time, the bishop of the city was promoted to archbishop and vicar (representative) of the Pope of Rome, with jurisdiction over the entire prefecture of East Illyria. The Christian churches built over the next two centuries changed the city, as they were the tallest buildings and most important landmarks in the new town plan developed on either side of the imperial road (the Via Regia), along the axis of what is now Egnatia Street. The Episcopal Church was a large five-nave basilica, possibly dedicated to Agios Markos; the Church of Agios Demetrios became the city’s major pilgrimage shrine. The large public buildings of the past either fell into gradual decline and were abandoned (such as the forum, which became a quarry for rocks and clay), or changed function (such as the Rotonda, which was converted into a Christian church). Excavations in the city’s historic centre have brought to light numerous early Christian buildings, the majority of which are houses. Most are urban villas in the city’s north and east section, with a spacious vaulted banquet room (triclinium) and a peristyle surrounded by rooms, baths, storage areas or cisterns. The cemeteries outside the city walls contained graves of all types, from pit graves to cist graves and tiled versions etc. Most important of all are the vaulted tombs, with fresco decorations in the interior. From the late 6th century Thessaloniki was repeatedly raided by the Avaro- Slavs and suffered earthquakes which destroyed many buildings. Combined with a general decline in the state economy, the raids and earthquakes altered living conditions in the city. This change can be traced in the construction of smaller, humbler houses with one or at most two rooms, erected on the ruins of old buildings. Descriptions of the houses preserved in legal documents of the Mount Athos monasteries provide an idea of life in the city; workshops and houses stood cheek by jowl, around shared courtyards with ovens and wells. House walls often incorporated earlier ruins and were constructed of various materials - some were of plaster coated wooden boards. Small churches and chapels were founded in the neighbourhoods on monastery-owned land. The Archbishop of Thessaloniki came under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the new Cathedral of Agia Sophia was built in the late 8th century, decorated with mosaics sponsored by the emperor. The establishment of the Theme of Thessaloniki in the early 9th century offered security to the inhabitants and stability in the region. The markets filled with goods and the number of visitors grew. The city was proud of its scholar Bishop Leo the Mathematician and of two brothers: Constantine, who became a monk named Cyril, and Methodius. In 863 they travelled to Moravia, where they created the Old Slavonic alphabet and translated the Bible, the Divine Liturgy and important canonical texts into the language of the newly converted Slavs. Over the next centuries many more chapels and churches were built, such as Agios Euthymios, next to Agios Demetrios, and Panagia Chalkeon (1028). After Thessaloniki fell to the Saracens in 904, the next wave of destruction occurred when the city was wrested by the Normans in 1185. The Crusaders made it the capital of the Frankish kingdom from 1204 to 1224. From then onwards Thessaloniki frequently changed hands between Greek rulers who laid claim to the imperial throne, until 1246, when it was annexed to the Empire of Nicaea along with the rest of Macedonia. In 1303 Irene-Yolanda of Montferrat, second wife of Andronicus II, came to the city and remained there until her death in 1317, while in 1320 Emperor Michael IX died in the city. Important monuments of Paleologan art and architecture still survive from the first third of the 14th century, such as the churches of Agioi Apostoloi, Agia Aikaterini, Agios Panteleimon, Agios Nikolaos Orfanos and the Taxiarches (Archangels). Art production continued over the subsequent turbulent decades, though on various scales: the Church of Christ the Saviour, built after 1340, is the smallest church in the city, while that dedicated to the Prophet Elijah, built after 1360, is one of the largest. Several vacant plots within the city walls were turned into vegetable gardens or cemeteries. During the conflict between Andronicus II and his grandson Andronicus III, the Serbs and Ottomans became involved in the internal affairs of the empire as allies for one or other party vying for the throne, drawing ever closer to Thessaloniki and its surroundings. From 1342 until 1349 the city was tormented by discord between the Zealots and the Hesychasts. In 1387, following a four-year siege, the city was surrendered to the Ottomans. In 1403 it returned to Byzantine rule under Manuel II. In 1412 and 1416 it was besieged by Musa, one of the aspiring successors of Sultan Bayezid. Fearing a new conquest by the Ottomans, in 1423 Andronicus Palaeologus handed the city over to the Venetians, on conditions that were never honoured. Thessaloniki finally fell to the Ottomans in 1430.
The city: Corinth remained a thriving city in Late Antiquity, on account of its strategic location and the commercial activity in its two seaports, Kechrees and Lechaion. Earthquakes in 365 and 375 dealt the city a serious blow, as did Gothic raids in 395/6. City space was confined within the newly built Late Roman or Early Byzantine walls, parts of which still survive in places in the village of Ancient Corinth. Though previously linked by walls to Acrocorinth, the city now lost this connection. The significance of the ancient forum seems to have diminished, and archaeological evidence points to the domestic activities and small industries of a poor neighbourhood. The Early Byzantine period (especially the 5th and 6th century) saw the building of numerous large Christian basilicas with substantial sculpture decoration in Corinth and its environs, such those at Kraneion to the east, Kodratos to the north and Skoutela to the northeast, and those at Lechaion and Kechrees. Cemeteries dating to the 6th and 7th century have been excavated in areas outside the walls, at the Asclepeion and the basilicas at Kodratos and Kraneion. The city’s recovery in this period seems to have been stalled by the great famine of 542, which affected demographics, and a devastating earthquake in 525 mentioned by Procopius. The building of the Hexamilion wall was of particular importance in protecting both the city and the entire Peloponnese. The wall ran the length of the isthmus, from the shores of the Saronic Gulf to the Gulf of Corinth, rendering it one of the largest fortification projects. The wall was originally built by Emperor Theodosius II (408-451), and rebuilt by Justinian between 548 and 560 in the wake of devastating earthquakes in the first half of the 6th century. Over the following centuries there are signs of activity around the basilicas outside the walls; from the late 6th to the 8th century the Roman forum was used as a burial ground.Excavation finds from the basilicas at Kraneion, Kodratos and a small basilica at Acrocorinth reveal signs of habitation in the 7th century. Similar activity has also been detected at Diabatiki near Lechaion. In particular, building remains and other finds from the Kraneion area show that it was inhabited in the mid and late-Byzantine periods. After the empire was reformed in the late 8th century, we know that Corinth became the capital of the Theme of the Peloponnese, and the seat of a general. As an archdiocesal see it must have had a large cathedral. Despite the lack of excavation data, a large number of sculptures dating from the 9th to the late 12th-early 13th century indicate the existence of churches already known from sources, such as those dedicated to Agioi Theodoroi and Christ the Saviour, and the Latin-rite monastery of St. Nicholas. There are some remains of the small basilica erected on the site of the Roman "bema" where Paul preached; excavations have also identified churches at the Peirini spring and to the south of the museum. Added to these are the church of Agios Ioannis (St. John the Theologian), which survived until 1937, and the now ruined church of Agia Paraskevi, etc. As Corinth’s location favoured the development of trade, the city probably became an important centre in the Middle Byzantine period. Coins and treasures dating from this period attest to economic growth in the city. In the late 11th century the Venetians used Corinth to gather local products such as silks and olive oil, while in 1165-1171 Vitale Voltani, a representative of Romano Raimano, monopolized the Corinthian olive oil market on Venice’s behalf. The city was also famed for its trade in currants, derived from the renowned local variety of grape. Archaeological evidence shows that in the late 11th century various buildings encroached on the open space of the Roman forum.Though building phases are unclear, these included shops, housing and bath complexes, monasteries and a number of workshops. There is firm archaeological evidence of workshops for ceramics, glass, gold and brass. Silk has not been found, despite clear textual references to installations for processing and dyeing it. In 1147 Corinth was raided by a fleet sent by Roger II of Sicily. The city retained its commanding presence nonetheless; Roger’s geographer al-Idrisi describes it as large and prosperous, while in the late 12th century Choniates mentions the two ports of Lechaino and Kechrees, and the bustling commercial activity below Acrocorinthos castle. Excavation evidence indicates that the city must have been fortified with towers and a perimeter wall when the Franks arrived in the 13th century. Trading activity flourished despite the change in administration. The remains of a contemporary neighbourhood to the west of the Roman forum indicate that large numbers of clay vessels were imported from Apulia and Veneto.Corinth fell into decline following Catalan raids in 1312, an earthquake in about 1320 and the great plague of 1348. According to a description by Niccolò da Martoni, in 1395 there were only a few dozen houses within Acrocorinthos, while the lower city stood in ruins.
The city: Legend has it that the city of Nafplio was founded by Nauplius, son of Poseidon and Amymone, daughter of King Danaus of Argos. His son was the hero Palamedes, who gave his name to the high rocky mound to the southeast. The city was founded on a small peninsula 85m high, 900m long and roughly 400m wide. In modern times it was named Akronafplia in replacement of its Turkish name (Iç Kale). It was accessible only from the north, via the neck of Arvanitia, a spit of land created by silting. From the start, the city served as the port of Argos and always lay in its shadow and under its influence.Nothing is known of Nafplio’s history in Early Byzantine times. However, the city was probably populated by people from the surrounding areas on account of Slavic raids in the late 6th century. In the early 10th century the people of Nafplio laid claim to the reliquary of Bishop Peter from the city of Argos, which still honours him as its patron saint. Later in the same century Saint Nicon the Repenter passed through Nafplio while on his mission to the Peloponnese. In 1032, Nicephorus Karantinos, patrician and general of Nafplio, defeated the Arabs in a sea battle. By the 12th century the city had emerged as a place with an important role: testimony from the Arab geographer al-Idrisi is supplemented by references to the region’s monastic centres in the constituent documents of Areia Monastery, compiled by Bishop Leo of Argos and Nafplio, and by the fact that the diocese was upgraded to an archdiocese in 1189. At the same time, Leo Sgouros, son of a powerful local family, became ruler of Argos and Corinth, before besieging Athens and conquering Larissa in Thessaly. The Franks of the Fourth Crusade drove him to suicide at the end of the siege of Acrocorinth, and then laid siege to Nafplio. Five years later the city surrendered to Geoffroi de Villehardouin, who ceded it to Otto de la Roche, Duke of Athens, in 1212.In the Byzantine period the late classical citadel enclosing the west part of the Akronafplia peninsula was reinforced on the west, north and east sides. To the south, the mound was so steep and inaccessible that it had no need of fortification. Only a few structural remains of the Byzantine city inside the walls have been brought to light. The small three-nave church excavated in the south part of the castle was probably dedicated to Agios Theodoros the Commander, as indicated by a steatite representation of the saint, which is a unique example of a Byzantine miniature. To the north, the sea reached the edge of the rock and it is assumed that on this side, which was partially hidden and sheltered from the winds, a small seaport facility would have been built. Over time a number of workshops, shops and humble dwellings were built there.In the Frankish period (1212-1389), an intermediate wall was built to divide the castle into two unequal parts, a larger one to the west and a smaller one to the east, towards the neck of Arvanitia. The west section, known in sources as the Romeiko (Greek) castle was virtually isolated, since communication with the outside was only possible via the east castle, where the Franks founded their military and administrative buildings. The east gate, the main entrance to the Frankish castle, was protected by two round towers on the corners. After the dramatic events of the 14th century between the Franks and the Byzantines in the Peloponnese, in 1389 Marie d'Enghien, last heir of Nafplio, sold the castle to the Serene Republic.In the first period of Venetian rule, development of the port and an economic boom led to population growth. This spiralled in 1500, when the Serene Republic ruled that residents who had remained in the city for over seven years could obtain citizenship. A drainage program involving wooden poles and beach embankments was carried out in order to meet the new demands, resulting in reclaimed land and a pier. Thus Akronafplia became a citadel, and the new land to the north the lower city. It then became necessary to carry out infrastructure projects and build new fortifications. On the one hand, the city's water supply was secured using a duct to bring drinking water from the ancient Kanathos spring, next to Areia Monastery, while brick sewers carried waste water to the sea. On the other, the lower city was enclosed by strong walls that hugged the new coastline. In 1470 the Venetians built the Castello di Toro, a third castle for greater protection, to the east of the two earlier ones on the citadel. Designed by Antonio Gambello, it was built according to the latest specifications (with a sloping scarp, a horizontal cornice and circular low bastions), so as withstand the new siege techniques imposed by the use of gunpowder and cannon. In the same period fortifications were built on Bourtzi, the small island off the city’s seafront.After the end of the Venetian-Turkish War, Nafplio and Monemvasia were ceded to the Ottomans. In the first Ottoman period (1540-1686), Nafplio was divided into five districts, with the Ottoman population residing mainly in Akronafplia and its foothills and the Greeks in the rest of the lower city. The homes depicted in old engravings are all built up the hillside, with projecting wooden sun rooms on the upper floor. Fountains, the seraglio of the Pasha of Morea (Mora Valesi) and the mosques in the city market (e.g. the present day Trianon) were all built in this period.In 1686 the city was retaken by the Venetians, who initiated a major building and fortification project that lasted until 1714. Commander in chief Francesco Morosini turned Akronafplia into a military citadel. Work on the Palamidi fortifications began in 1690, when the walls of Akronafplia and the lower city were completed and reinforced with ramparts, bastions (Grimani Bastion), the imposing Land Gate, which was protected by a moat, and the great cistern in the north-west corner of the lower city. To facilitate communication with the lower city, Provedditor Agostino Sagredo built a new gate on the north side of the citadel. Some of the most important buildings were erected at this time, such as the Armoury (1713), which now houses the Archaeological Museum. Although Nafplio was designed to be impregnable, in 1715 it was seized by the Ottomans, who turned it into a typical Muslim city, complete with baroque buildings, mosques and seminaries, fountains and baths. The city fell to Greek revolutionaries on 30 November 1822, and became the first capital of the newly established Greek Kingdom.


Bibliography (2)

1. Runciman St., Μυστράς. Βυζαντινή πρωτεύουσα της Πελοποννήσου, Καρδαμίτσα, Athens, 1986

2. Nicol, D. M, The Immortal Emperor. The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1992


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