Araklovon ( el, ), rarely known with the variant Oreoklovon (Ὀρεόκλοβον) and in French as Bucelet and variants thereof, was a medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

era located in the region of

Skorta Skorta ( el, τὰ Σκορτὰ, french: Escorta) was a name used in the 13th and 14th centuries, during the period of Frankish rule in the Peloponnese, to designate the mountainous western half of the region of Arcadia, which separated the coast ...

in the southwestern

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

History

The castle was built already in

times, and was of strategic importance as it lay at the mouth of the mountain pass (''

droungos ''Droungos'' (Greek: , sometimes δρόγγος, ''drongos'') or ''drungus'' is a late Roman and Byzantine term for a battalion-sized military unit, and later for a local command guarding mountain districts. Its commander was a "" or "" (δρουγ� ...

'') leading from the coastal plains of

Elis Elis or Ilia ( el, Ηλεία, ''Ileia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it was ...

and the interior of the peninsula. The origin of the Greek name is unclear and has been much debated, including proposals that it means "mountain cage", or linking it with

Herakles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

, although no sanctuary of his is known to have existed in the area. Similarly, the Western name in its various forms (Bucel t, Bucello, Polcellecto, Porcelle, Bucel tto) is of unclear origin. At the time of the arrival of the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

under

William of Champlitte William I of Champlitte (french: Guillaume de Champlitte) (1160s-1209) was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea (1205–1209).Longnon 1969, p. 239.Evergates 2007, p. 220. Early years and the Fourth ...

and

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for wr ...

and the onset of their conquest of the

in 1205, Araklovon was held by

Doxapatres Boutsaras Doxapatres Boutsaras ( el, Δοξαπατρής Βουτσαράς) was a Byzantine Greek independent lord in the central Peloponnese in the early 13th century. He had his headquarters in the Araklovon Castle, which is located near the Minthi villag ...

. The Crusaders tried to storm the castle, but failed. The

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese version of the ''

Chronicle of the Morea The ''Chronicle of the Morea'' ( el, Τὸ χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως) is a long 14th-century history text, of which four versions are extant: in French, Greek (in verse), Italian and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the ''Ch ...

'' then records that the Crusaders left part of their forces to lay a siege, or rather an on-and-off blockade, on the castle, which may have lasted as late as 1210. The castle is not mentioned thereafter until the revolt of the inhabitants of Skorta in 1264, and again in the late 1270s, when

Geoffrey II of Briel Geoffrey II of Briel or Geoffrey of Briel the Younger, was a French knight and the cousin or nephew of Geoffrey I of Briel, Baron of Karytaina in the Principality of Achaea, in Frankish Greece. Biography Geoffrey I of Briel died in 1275, and in 127 ...

, in an effort to claim some of the inheritance of his uncle,

Geoffrey of Briel Geoffrey of Briel, in older literature Geoffrey of Bruyères, was a Medieval France, French knight and the third lord of the Barony of Karytaina in the Principality of Achaea, in Frankish Greece. He led a colourful and turbulent life, narrated in ...

, seized the castle by a ruse. He then called upon the

Byzantine Greeks The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans of Orthodox Christianity throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), of Constantinople ...

Mystras Mystras or Mistras ( el, Μυστρᾶς/Μιστρᾶς), also known in the ''Chronicle of the Morea'' as Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated on Mt. Taygetus, nea ...

for aid, but they were stopped by the Frankish "Captain of Skorta", Simon of Vidoigne, and Geoffrey was forced to capitulate. The castle thereafter followed the fortunes of the wider

Barony of Karytaina The Barony of Karytaina or of Skorta was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the town of Karytaina ( el, Καρύταινα; french: Caraintaine; it, Caritena) in th ...

, reverting to the princely domain in the early 14th century. In 1391, it is recorded that the settlement near the castle numbered 100 hearths. At the beginning of the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1463–1479, it was captured by the Venetians, but was recovered by the Ottomans in 1467.

Location

From the 16th century on, the castle disappears from the sources and from local toponymy; as a result, various hypotheses were put forward by later scholars as to its location based on the indications in the medieval sources. Suggested identifications include the ruined castles at Palaiokastro, Platiana (now identified with medieval Acumba),

Samiko Samiko ( el, Σαμικό, before 1923: Αλή Τσελεπή - ''Ali Tselepi'') is a village in the municipality of Skillounta, Elis, Greece. In 2011 its population was 389. It is situated on a hill near the Ionian Sea, 2 km south of Kalliko ...

on the coast, Chrysouli near Mount Minthi, and on the peak of Mount Smerna. The latter two locations are the most common to be identified as medieval Araklovon.Bon (1969), pp. 371–377

References

Sources

* {{coord, 37.4875, N, 21.7825, E, source:wikidata, display=title Byzantine castles in the Peloponnese Castles and fortifications of the Principality of Achaea Medieval Arcadia