The ''Chronicle of the Morea'' ( el, Τὸ χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως) is a long 14th-century history text, of which four versions are extant: in French,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(in verse),

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the ''Chronicle'' narrates events of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

' establishment of

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

in mainland

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 ...

. West European Crusaders settled in the Peloponnese (called

Morea The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottom ...

at the time) following the Fourth Crusade. The period covered in the ''Chronicle'' was 1204 to 1292 (or later, depending on the version). It gives significant details on the civic organization of the

Principality of Achaia 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 o ...

The extant texts of the ''Chronicle of the Morea''

The Greek text is the only text written in verse. The French, Italian and Aragonese texts are written in prose.Jean-Claude Polet, ''Patrimoine littéraire européen'', De Boeck Université, 1995,

Greek text

The verses of the Greek text are written in a 15-syllable

political verse Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. The verses are accented but not rhymed.William Smith, ''A History of Greece'', R. B. Collins, 1855, p. 579 It is written in the spoken Greek of the time, with the inclusion of several French words. There are two parallel Greek texts, as well as three copies: *Ms Havniensis 57 (14th–15th century, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

) 9219 verses **Ms Taurinensis B.II.I, library of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, closely related to the Copenhagen text *Ms Parisinus graecus 2898 (15th–16th century, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) 8191 verses **Ms Parisinus graecus 2753 and **Ms Bern 509 grec, both copies of the Paris version. The oldest text is that held in Copenhagen, the language of which is more archaic. The Parisian, more recent, text is simpler in language and has fewer foreign words. The transcriber omitted several anti-Hellenic references, so the overall text expressed less contempt of Greeks. The difference of about one century between the Copenhagen and Parisian version shows a considerable number of linguistic differences due to the rapid evolution of the Greek language. The text of the Copenhagen version describes events until 1292.

French text

* Royal Library of Belgium No 15702 This text is known under the title: "The Book of the Conquest of Constantinople and the Empire of Roumania and the country of the Principality of Morea", since in the incipit, it is indicated "C'est le livre de la conqueste de Constantinople et de l'empire de Romanie, et dou pays de la princée de la Morée" Information in this text reaches until the year 1304.

Italian text

*''Cronaca di Morea'', is a summary that was compiled later than the previous texts and contains several mistakes. Its source is the text found in the Greek manuscript held in Turin.

Aragonese text

*''Libro de los fechos et conquistas del principado de la Morea'', was compiled at the end of the 14th century, in 1393, from the Greek version and other later sources, at the request of the Grand Master Jean Fernandez de Heredia of the Knights of St. John. It covers events to 1393.

Which text is the original? Which version came out first?

It appears that the original text of the ''Chronicle of the Morea'' has been lost. Although the Aragonese and Italian texts have been clearly identified as later texts, there is no widely accepted consensus on the priority of the Greek or French text.

The Author

The author of the original text of the chronicle appears to be a Franc or a '' gasmoule'' (a French-Greek, born from a mixed French-Greek marriage, the word seems to have an etymology from ''garçon'' (boy) and ''mule''). He appeared to admire the Franks (Crusaders) and have contempt of the local population and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. Notably, the author respects the citizenship of 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 ...

, calling them Romans (Ρωμαῖοι) (especially in verses 1720-1738).

The significance of the ''Chronicle''

The ''Chronicle'' is famous in spite of certain historical inaccuracies because of its lively description of life in the feudal community and because of the character of the language which reflects the rapid transition from Medieval to Modern Greek. Polet explains that since the author admired the Franks and had contempt for the Byzantine culture, the ''Chronicle of Morea'' did not become part of popular culture and history after the Franks left the Peloponnese. Numerous administrative laws and practices of the

are mentioned in the Chronicle, making it a significant source on the Frankish period in Greece.

Language of the ''Chronicle''

Since the year of the Fall of Constantinople, 1453, marks the symbolic boundary between

Medieval 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 ...

and

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

, the ''Chronicle of the Morea'' is generally classified under Medieval Greek.H. Tonnet ''Histoire du grec modèrne'', chapter “la langue médievale” ) However, the ''Chronicle of the Morea'', along with the Ptochoprodromic poems and

acritic songs The Acritic songs ( "frontiersmen songs") are the epic poems that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably around the ninth century. The songs celebrated the exploits of the Akritai, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzant ...

are considered as the beginnings of

modern Greek literature Modern Greek literature is literature written in Modern Greek, starting in the late Byzantine era in the 11th century AD. It includes work not only from within the borders of the modern Greek state, but also from other areas where Greek was widel ...

. They are classified as part of both "Byzantine / medieval vernacular" and "(early) modern Greek" literature.

The first editions in print

The first printed edition of the ''Chronicle'' was published in 1840 by J.A. Buchon. It contained the Greek text from Paris. Buchon named the book ''Βιβλίον της κουγκέστας του Μωραίως'' (Book of the conquest of Morea), a different title than the text. The second printed edition of the Chronicle was that of the Greek text from Copenhagen, published by Buchon in 1845. In 1889 John Schmitt published both texts of the Copenhagen and Paris manuscripts side by side. John Schmitt, ''The Chronicle of Morea, o Chronikon Tou MoreōsA history in political verse, relating the establishment of feudalism in Greece by the Franks in the thirteenth century'', Methuen & Co., London, 1904

Translations

A 1964 translation of the Greek text by Harold E. Lurier.

The first text

The book begins with a prologue of 1302 verses. The first three verses are: :I will tell a tale to thee rehearse, a tale of import mighty :And if attention you do lend, I hope the tale will please you :T'is how the Frank by arms did gain the realm of fair Morea

Notes

References

The original Greek text of the Chronicle of Morea
* *''Crusaders as Conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea'' translated from the Greek with notes and introduction by Harold E. Lurier, Columbia University Press, 1964. . *Peter Topping, Review of H.E. Lurier, ''Crusaders as Conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea'', in '' Speculum'', Vol. 40, No. 4 (Oct 1965), pp. 737–742. * Shawcross, C. Teresa, ''The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greec''e (Oxford, OUP, 2009) (Oxford Studies in Byzantium).