The Barony of Kalavryta 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 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 town of Kalavryta ( el, Καλάβρυτα; french: La Colo rate).

History

The Barony of Kalavryta was established ca. 1209, 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 '' Chronicle of the Morea'' mentions that the barony, centred on the mountain town of Kalavryta, comprised twelve knight's fiefs, with Otho of Durnay as the first baron. In the 1260s, he was succeeded by Geoffrey of Durnay, who is attested as being active as late as 1289. In 1292, his son John is mentioned, but the family disappears thereafter. By that time, the barony had already been lost 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 ...

. A

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

document from 1278 seems to indicate that Kalavryta was under Greek control at the time. Antoine Bon suggests that it was captured during the early 1270s, when the Greek offensives broke through the Frankish defences in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, and not, as

Karl Hopf Karl Hopf may refer to: * Karl Hopf (historian) Karl Hopf (Hamm, Westphalia, February 19, 1832 – Wiesbaden, August 23, 1873) or Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf was a historian and an expert in Medieval Greece, both Byzantine and Frankish. ...

suggests, in the first round of Greek offensives ca. 1264. Geoffrey of Durnay is attested as holding the barony of "La Grite" after 1278, which, according to Bon, is to be identified with the vacant

Barony of Gritzena The Barony of Gritzena or Gritsena was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in eastern Messenia, in the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the settlement of Gritzena ( el, Γρίτζενα/Γρίτσενα; ...

, apparently given to the Durnays as compensation. Very little is known of the barony's extent or internal history, except that the Premonstratensians had established themselves there.Bon (1969), pp. 100, 469

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalavryta, Barony of States and territories established in 1209 States and territories disestablished in the 1270s Baronies of the Principality of Achaea Achaea

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 ...