The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521130899)

The district of Epiros in north-western Greece became an independent province following the Fourth Crusade and the dismemberment of the Byzantine Empire by the Latins in 1204. It retained its independence despite the recovery of Constantinople by the Greeks in 1261. Each of its rulers acquired the Byzantine titles of Despot, from which the term Despotate was coined to describe their territory. They preserved their autonomy partly by seeking support from their foreign neighbours in Italy. The fortunes of Epiros were thus affected by the expansionist plans of the Angevin kings of Naples and the commercial interests of Venice. Until 1318 it was governed by direct descendants of its Byzantine founder. Thereafter it was taken over first by the Italian family of Orsini, then conquered by the Serbians, infiltrated by the Albanians, and appropriated by an Italian adventurer, Carlo Tocco. Like the rest of Byzantium and eastern Europe it was ultimately absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century. The Despotate of Epiros illuminates part of Byzantine history and of the history of Greece in the Middle Ages.

Author: Donald M. Nicol
ISBN-10: 0521130891
ISBN-13: 9780521130899
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/11/2010
Pages: 312
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.70d