''The Chronicle of Morea'' () is a long 14th-century history text, of which there are four extant versions: in French,

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

(in verse),

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

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

' establishment of

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

in mainland

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 ...

. West European Crusaders settled in 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 ...

(called

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

at the time) following the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

. 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 extant texts of ''The Chronicle of 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. 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, surviving in five manuscript copies: *Ms Havniensis 57 (14th–15th century, Royal Library of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 city is main ...

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

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) 8191 verses **Ms Parisinus graecus 2753, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and **Ms

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

509 grec, both copies of the Paris version. The oldest text is considered to be 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 The Royal Library of Belgium ( ; ; , abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Duke of Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy. In ...

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 The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

, 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 Morea'' has been lost. Although the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese 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 ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Notably, the author respects the citizenship of the

Byzantine Greeks The Byzantine Greeks were the Medieval Greek, Greek-speaking Eastern Romans throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), of Constantinople and Asia ...

, 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 Principality of Achaia 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), 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 language sometimes referred to ...

, ''The Chronicle of Morea'' is generally classified under Medieval Greek.H. Tonnet ''Histoire du grec modèrne'', chapter “la langue médievale” ) However, ''The Chronicle of Morea'', along with the Ptochoprodromic poems and acritic songs are considered as the beginnings of modern Greek literature. 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).

Editions of ''The Chronicle of Morea''

* J. A. C. Buchon
''Chroniques etrangères relatives aux expéditions françaises pendant le xiii siécle'',
first edition, Paris, 1840. * J. A. C. Buchon
''Recherches historiques sur la principauté française de Morée et ses hautes baronnies Le livre de la conqueste de la princée de la Morée'',
Paris, vol. ii, 1845. * J. A. C. Buchon
''Chroniques etrangères relatives aux expéditions françaises pendant le xiii siécle'',
Paris, 1875. * A. Colantuoni, ''La Cronaca della Morea. Edizione e studio della versione francese'', Napoli, 2017, n Italian * C. Hopf, (ed.)
"Versione italiana inedita della Cronaca di Morea", in: ''Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues'',
Berlin, 1873, pp. xlii-xlviii & 414-468. * P. P. Kalonaros, (ed.)
''Τὸ Χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως. Τὸ ἑλληνικὸν κείμενον κατὰ τὸν κώδικα τῆς Κοπεγχάγης μετὰ συμπληρώσεων καὶ παραλλαγῶν ἐκ τοῦ Παρισινοῦ'',
Athens, 1940, n Greek * J. Longnon, (ed.)
''Livre de la conqueste de la Princée de l ’amorée: Chronique de Morée (1204-1305)'',
Paris, 1911, n French * A. P. V. Morel-Fatio
''Libro de los fechos et conquistas del principado de la Morea compilado por comandamiento de Don Fray Johan Ferrandez de Heredia, maestro del Hospital de S. Johan de Jerusalem - Chronique de Morée aux XIIe et XIVe siècles, publiée & traduite pour la première fois pour la Société de l'Orient Latin par Alfred Morel-Fatio'',
Genève, 1885, n Spanish * J. Schmitt
''Die Chronik von Morea. Eine untersuchung über das Verhältnis ihrer Handschriften und Versionen'',
München, 1889, n German * J. Schmitt
''The Chronicle of Morea, Τὸ Χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως. A history in political verse, relating the establishment of feudalism in Greece by the franks in the thirteenth century'',
edited in two parallel texts from the MSS of Copenhagen and Paris, with introduction, critical notes and indices, London, 1904. * T. C. Shawcross, ''The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece'', Oxford, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chronicle of Morea 13th-century history books Crusade chronicles

Medieval Peloponnese Works about Greek history