Andravida ( el, Ανδραβίδα, ) is a town and a former

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

in Elis, in the northwest of the

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

peninsula of

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 wi ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andravida-Kyllini, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 40.728 km². Its population is about 4,300. The town was the capital of the Frankish

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the three 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 ...

in the late

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

Location

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

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) 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 ...

coast. It is 3 km south of

Lechaina Lechaina ( el, Λεχαινά) 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 ...

, 6 km north of Gastouni, 30 km northwest of Pyrgos and 55 km southwest of

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 ...

. The

Greek National Road 9 Greek National Road 9 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 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 ...

(also E55) Patras-Pyrgos-

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

passes east of the town. The

Andravida Air Base Andravida Air Base ( el, Αεροπορική Βάση Ανδραβίδας) 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 Πτέρυ ...

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 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 ...

in 1205, even though it certainly existed before that. According to the '' Chronicle of the Morea'', 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 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 it was there that the local Greek magnates and lords of Elis and of the mountains 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 coa ...

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

, 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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

bishopric, attested since 1212, which assimilated the pre-existing Greek

bishopric of Olena In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

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 , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

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

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in 1241 and serving as the burial place for the princely House of Villehardouin; the convent of Saint Nicholas of Carmel; and the Church of Saint Sophia, serviced by the Dominicans 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, member of the Institut de France. First as the Turkish Sultan's hostage, then as Napoleon Bo ...

and

Jean Alexandre Buchon Jean Alexandre Buchon (21 May 1791 – 29 August 1849) was a French scholar born at Menetou-Salon (Cher). Buchon was an ardent Liberal and took an active part in party struggles under the Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring someth ...

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

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

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. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

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. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Andravida is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *Andravida (Andravida, Agios Georgios), pop. 4,058 * Stafidokampos, pop. 334 * Strousi, pop. 324 The small village Agios Georgios (pop. 77) lies 6 km east of Andravida town centre, on the east side of the air base.

References

Sources

External links

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