Kinsterna () or Gisterna was a

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

-inhabited district in the southern

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 ...

during the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

. The Kinsterna is described as a fertile and rich plain northwest of the

Mani Peninsula The Mani Peninsula (), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (), is a geographical and cultural region in the Peloponnese of Southern Greece and home to the Maniots (), who claim descent from the ancient Spartans. The capital ci ...

, and inhabited by Slavs, most likely the

Melingoi The Melingoi or Milingoi () were a Slavic tribe that settled in the Peloponnese in southern Greece during the Middle Ages. In the early decades of the 7th century, Slavic tribes (Sclaveni) settled throughout the Balkans following the collapse of ...

tribe. The district was ceded by the

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 ...

to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

province around

Mystras Mystras or Mistras (), also known in the '' Chronicle of the Morea'' as Myzethras or Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated on Mount Taygetus, above ancient Sparta, ...

in 1263, but it remained largely autonomous. Thus in 1295, some of the local tribesmen captured

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

on their own initiative, and both the local Byzantine governor and Emperor

Andronikos II Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos (; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinization of names, Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. His reign marked the beginning of the recently restored em ...

declared themselves unable to force them to restore it to the Principality, while in the next year, the Prince of Achaea was able to recruit 200 men and a ship from among its inhabitants to fend off Byzantine attacks in Skorta. The castles of

Grand Magne Grand Ma ne ( French for "Great Maina", in ) or Vieux Ma ne ("Old Maina", in ) was a Frankish castle in the Mani Peninsula, Greece. It was built, according to the ''Chronicle of the Morea'', ca. 1248–1250 AD by William II Villehardouin, the Princ ...

and Leuktron or Beaufort were erected by the Princes of Achaea to keep the raids of the Slavs of Kinsterna at bay.

References

Sources

* * Medieval Messenia Historical regions in Greece South Slavic history {{Greece-hist-stub