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.


Glossary (1)

catholicon: the main church of a monastery. As a rule it was the most imposing one, located in the center of the courtyard


Information Texts (6)

William II of Villehardouin: Born in Kalamata, which earned him the sobriquet Kalamatas. After the death of Geoffrey II in 1246 he became governor of the principality of Achaia. His rule ended abruptly during the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, when he was defeated and captured by Michael Palaeologus; in order to save his life he was forced to relinquish the fortresses of Monemvasia, Maini and Mystras (1262).
Agios Demetrios: Martyr and patron saint of Thessaloniki. According to sources on his martyrdom, he was born c. 280-284 AD to an aristocratic family and served as an officer in the Roman army. On being baptized he was imprisoned for breaching Emperor Diocletian’s decree on renouncing Christianity. He was executed by the Romans in 303, during the reign of Emperor Galerius Maximianus (293-311). Fearing his remains would be snatched by Roman pagans, some Christians buried them on the site of his martyrdom, in the basement of a ruined Roman bath near the stadium. Shortly after the Edict of Milan in 313, a small rectangular commemorative building was erected on the same site, followed by the large basilica of St. Demetrios. Extensively added to and repaired over the years, the church is still in use to this day.
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 church of Agioi Theodoroi: Located next to Hodegetria in the north-eastern part of the Lower Town in Mystras, the church of Agioi Theodoroi was originally the catholicon and then the burial church of Vrontochi Monastery. It was built in 1290-1295 by Pachomius and Daniel, monks who are mentioned in a verse inscription on the templon architrave. Agioi Theodoroi exhibit the general features of a mainland octagonal church, but three centuries after the type was first employed at Agios Loukas in Phocis, the church displays a series of remarkable innovations. There are no tribunes or narthex, the dome is only supported on columns to the west, and the side compartments have barrel vaults rather than groin vaults. There are chapels in all four corners, the east of which served as a burial place.Externally, this evolved type of church takes the form of a cuboid building deftly scaled up, thus counterbalancing the aesthetic effect of the massive central dome. Decoration on the side walls is then taken up by characteristic features of the Greek school, such as zones of cloisonné masonry, dogtooth bands, ceramic cups, which initially coexisted with abacus-like friezes, quadrant arches flanking the windows and curved pediments. This special monument was supplemented by a narthex with tower-like corner chapels to the west, and a closed gallery to the north. The interior retains part of the original decoration dating to the late 13th century. The lower surfaces are covered in a series of full-length military saints above a zone imitating marble revetments, while the upper parts are covered with scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary and the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The later frescoes in the southeast chapel, which is apparently dedicated to Our Lady of the Life-Giving Spring, may date to around 1400. The figures of two Byzantine nobles are depicted on the north and south walls. In the north-east chapel there is a tomb and depiction of someone called Manuel Palaeologus kneeling and praying in front of the Virgin and Child. According to an inscription, Manuel died in 1423 or 1453. Surviving traces of the decoration in the north-west narthex chapel depict the miracles of Archangels Michael and Gabriel, to whom it was probably dedicated.
The church of Panagia Hodegetria or Aphentiko: The Church of Panagia Hodegetria (Our Lady of the Way) or Aphentiko is the new catholicon of Vrontochi Monastery, abutting the massive walls in the north-western part of the lower city of Mystras. It was built in around 1310 by an energetic abbot named Pachomius. According to two chysobulls painted in the southwest chapel, he managed to secure imperial grants of considerable lands in the Peloponnese and a lifetime appointment as head of the monastery.Hodegetria is a large, imposing two-storey building that shows architectural innovation: while the upper part is a five-domed cross-in-square church with a narthex and galleries, the ground floor is a basilica divided into three naves by arched colonnades. This church type, known as the "Mystras mixed type", was used for other monuments in the vicinity (Pantanassa, Agios Demetrios). The nave is built of roughly hewn stones with occasional rows of brick, and was probably originally plastered. The east side of the building retains its original form and exhibits stylistic elements similar to those of contemporary monuments in Constantinople. The sanctuary apse and pastophoria are divided into zones with windows and blind (bricked up) arches. In the upper zone, low, flat niches with double brick arches complete the exterior decoration. The church was surrounded by porches arranged in a pi-shape, covered with hemispherical domes. The south porch was converted into a burial chapel in the 14th century, when the openings in the ground floor were walled up and turned into burial niches. Two additional chapels were created at either end of the narthex, and a further two at ground level in the north porch. The three-storey bell tower to the south of the west portico is built of cloisonné masonry. On the outside, the upper level is separated from the ground floor by a marble cornice, and has triple-light windows adorned with brick arches. Higher up, the tower’s exterior appearance is complemented by shallow blind niches.The interior decoration was sumptuous, combining sculpture decoration, marble revetments and wall paintings. Only a few pieces of the sculpture decoration and rare revetments have survived. The wall paintings date to different periods; some fragments are visible in the nave, along with better preserved sections in the chapels. In the main church, the frescoes dating to the 1410’s are obviously the work of painters from Constantinople. They depict an extensive Christological cycle, martyrs and saints in the side aisles, prelates and deacons in the sanctuary, and patriarchs, prophets and apostles in the galleries. The compositions in the chapels reveal the personality of Pachomius, the founder. In the so-called chrysobull chapel in the south-west, four angels are holding a mandorla around a now lost depiction of Christ, from which beams of light descend by divine hand, holding the chrysobulls of Emperors Andronicus II Palaeologus and Michael IX. Pachomius is buried in the northwest chapel, where successive rows of saints’ choruses are depicted praying to Christ; Pachomius appears on an arcosolium on the western side, offering a model of the church to Our Lady. On the north side is the tomb of Despot Theodore I Palaeologus (1384-1407). According to his burial mural, he became a monk and took the name Theodoretos.The southeast chapel is probably dedicated to the Three Hierarchs. The decoration in it is later, and depicts the vision of Agios Ioannis Euchaita (St. John, Bishop of Euchaita), which when interpreted led to the establishment of a joint feast day for Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. The frescoes can be dated to 1366 on the basis of the monogram above the chapel entrance, representing Cyprianus, Episcopal Vicar and Abbot. Finally, the frescoes in the south portico date to later in the 14th century; the portico served as a burial place for rulers, as is evidenced by scenes in the dome, burial paintings of a noble named Kaniotis and his wife in the west arcosolium, and of another officer on the northern wall.Under Ottoman rule the church served as a mosque before being abandoned. In the early 19th century, columns were removed from the colonnade to be used elsewhere, while the central part of the dome and galleries collapsed.
Despotate of Morea (or Despotate of Mystras) : semi-autonomous region of the Byzantine Empire in the Peloponnese, including the castles of Mystras, Monemvasia and Great Mani. The capital of the region was the castle of Mystras, founded in 1249 by William II Villehardouin, Frankish ruler of the Principality of Achaia. The Despotate of Morea was established in 1262 and remained under the influence of Byzantium until 1460, when it was captured by Mehmed V.


Bibliography (4)

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4. Runciman St., Mistra, Byzantine Capital of the Peloponnese, Λονδίνο, 1980


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