The Barony of Gritzena or Gritsena was a medieval

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in eastern Messenia, in the

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 ...

peninsula in

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 ...

, centred on the settlement of Gritzena ( el, Γρίτζενα/Γρίτσενα; french: La Grite).

History

The Barony of Gritzena was established , after the conquest of the

by the Crusaders, and was one of the original twelve secular

baronies Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

within the Principality of Achaea. The various versions of the '' Chronicle of the Morea'' mention that the barony comprised four knight's fiefs, and was located in the region of Lakkoi (the upper Messenian plain, between Kalamata and Skorta), under a certain Lucas (Λούκας), of whom nothing other than his name is known. The Barony of Gritzena is little-known. It remained a peaceful backwater until 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 ...

attacks of the 1260s, and there is no evidence of a castle being constructed there; it is hence impossible to establish its exact location. If

Antoine Bon Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

's equation of "La Grite" with Gritzea is correct, the barony re-appears only , when it was controlled by Geoffrey of Durnay, who had possibly received it as compensation for the loss of his family's

Barony of Kalavryta The Barony of Kalavryta was a medieval Frankokratia, Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the town of Kalavryta ( el, Καλάβρυτα; french: La Colo rate). History Th ...

to 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 ...

. It then disappears again from the sources along with the Durnay family, at the end of the 13th century.Bon (1969), pp. 146, 420–421, 445

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gritzena, Barony of States and territories established in 1209 States and territories disestablished in the 13th century Baronies of the Principality of Achaea Medieval Messenia