Andravida (, ) is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') 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 ...

, in the northwest of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

peninsula of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Andravida-Kyllini Andravida–Kyllini () is a municipality in the Elis regional unit, West Greece region, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Lechaina. The municipality has an area of 355.476 km2. Municipality The municipality Andravida–Kyllin ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 40.728 km². Its population is about 3,700. The town was the capital of the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thes ...

in the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Location

Andravida is located in the plains of northwestern Elis, at about 7 km from the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...

coast. It is 3 km south of

Lechaina Lechaina () is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andravida-Kyllini, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 9 ...

, 6 km north of

Gastouni Gastouni () is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pineios, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 59.325&nb ...

, 30 km northwest of Pyrgos and 55 km southwest of

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

. The

Greek National Road 9 Greek National Road 9 (, abbreviated as EO9) is a single carriageway with at-grade intersections in the West Greece and Peloponnese regions. It runs along the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, from Patras to Methoni via Pyrgos. Its leng ...

(also E55) Patras-Pyrgos-

Pylos Pylos (, ; ), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...

passes east of the town. The

Andravida Air Base Andravida Air Base () is a military airport operated by the Hellenic Air Force, located 2.5 kilometres from the town of Andravida in Elis, Greece, housing the 117th Combat Wing (117 Πτέρυγα Μάχης, 117 ΠΜ), and the Air Force's Air Tac ...

is 2.5 km to the east of the city center.

Population

History

Coat of arms of the Principality of Achaea

Andravida's early history is obscure: the name is of unknown provenance—several proposals have been made, the most probable of which is that it derives from a Slavic name for "place of the otters"—and the site is not mentioned before the conquest by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

in 1205, even though it certainly existed before that. According to the ''

Chronicle of the Morea ''The Chronicle of Morea'' () is a long 14th-century history text, of which there are four extant versions: in French, Greek (in verse), Italian and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the ''Chronicle'' narrates events of the Franks' estab ...

'', Andravida, like most of the towns and regions of the northern and western Peloponnese, was captured without a fight in 1205 by the Crusader leader

William of Champlitte William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

, and it was there that the local Greek magnates and lords of Elis and of the mountains of Skorta and Mesarea paid him homage and recognized him as their lord. Soon after the Frankish conquest, Andravida (known as ''Andreville'' in French, ''Andrevilla'' in Aragonese and ''Andravilla'' in Italian) became the residence of the princes of the newly established

. As the medievalist Antoine Bon points out, Andravida's choice as the ''de facto'' capital of the principality rested on its favourable location: situated in the midst of the fertile plain of Elis, it was well provisioned and could sustain horses, it was located near the major port town of

Glarentza Glarentza (), also known as or Clarenia, Clarence, or Chiarenza, was a medieval town located near the site of modern Kyllini, Elis, Kyllini in Elis (regional unit), Elis, at the westernmost point of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece. ...

, but not on the coast and hence not vulnerable to seaborne raids, and was equally far from the mountains of the central Peloponnese with their rebellious inhabitants. Consequently, despite its importance, it was never fortified. The town also became the seat of a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishopric, attested since 1212, which assimilated the pre-existing Greek bishopric of Olena and retained the latter's name. Andravida Ayia Sophia from W

Only a few traces survive of the Frankish town, and most of the testimony about its buildings comes from literary sources: a palace for the Princes; the Church of Saint Stephen, possibly belonging to the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

; the Church and hospice of Saint James, given to the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

in 1241 and serving as the burial place for the princely

House of Villehardouin The Villehardouin family was a noble dynasty that originated in Val-d'Auzon, Villehardouin, a former commune of the Aube department, now part of Val-d'Auzon, France. It is most notable as the ruling house of the Principality of Achaea, a Frankokrat ...

; the convent of Saint Nicholas of Carmel; and the Church of Saint Sophia, serviced by the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

and the largest of them all, by virtue of which it often served as the site of assemblies and parliaments of the principality's nobility. Early 19th-century travellers like

François Pouqueville François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (; 4 November 1770 – 20 December 1838) was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, and member of the Institut de France. He traveled extensively throughout Ottoman-occupied G ...

and Jean Alexandre Buchon reported that the three churches were still largely extant, but today only Saint Sophia survives to a substantial extent. Like the rest of the Principality's remnants in Elis and Achaea, Andravida was conquered by the

Despotate of the Morea The Despotate of the Morea () or Despotate of Mystras () was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost a ...

in the late 1420s. In 1460 it was conquered by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and remained under Ottoman rule, with the exception of a brief Venetian period in 1686–1715, until

Greek independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

People

* Konstantinos Andravidiotis, chieftain of the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Andravida is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *Andravida (Andravida, Agios Georgios), pop. 3,172 in 2021 * Stafidokampos, pop. 290 * Strousi, pop. 291 The small village Agios Georgios (pop. 62) lies 6 km east of Andravida town centre, on the east side of the air base.

References

Sources

External links

Andravida Website
{{Authority control Populated places in Elis Andravida-Kyllini Principality of Achaea Burial sites of the Komnenodoukas dynasty