§ 1. mountaineers of the savage peaks that run out into the CHAP. VIII. sea to the south of the great summits of Taygetus, and to protect the Greek maritime community in the city of Maina, at the extreme southern point of the Peloponnesus. It was situated on the eastern coast of the promontory, about four miles to the south of Gythium, where the ruins of a castle destroyed by the Venetians under Morosini may still be seen rising over the foundations of a city of the heroic age.1 Passava was rather a frontier garrison than a mere fief; and as, from its situation, it was exposed to have its regular communications with the rest of the principality frequently interrupted, it required to be occupied by a permanent body of troops. The baron of Passava was consequently named hereditary marshal of Achaia, as being the head of what might be looked upon as the standing army and military establishment of the principality. His office gave him full baronial power in his territory, as well as peculiar judicial authority in the army, though his fief consisted of only four knight's-fees. The selection of this singular position for a French fortress, where the garrison could neither assist in protecting their own possessions from invasion nor attack the flank or rear of the enemy to advantage, and which was placed in a district where cavalry was utterly useless, leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that it was connected principally with trade or naval warfare, and that its object was to protect the commerce of the Greek subjects of the principality, or perhaps the privateers which from the ports of Maina issued out to plunder any flag that was viewed with hostile feelings, or which promised profit and impunity to the corsairs. Geraki was built on the lower slope of the mountains that rise to the east of the valley of the Eurotas, near the site of Gerouthræ, 1 Colonel Leake identifies Passava with Las, a city destroyed by Castor and Pollux.-Leake's Travels in the Morea, i. 256. Strabo, lib. viii. c. v. 95, p. 364. Boblaye, Recherches, 87. Coronelli gives a plan of the fort, p. 38. $ 1. CHAP. VIII. and was well situated for covering the lower plains from the forays of the mountaineers of Tzakonia, and the incursions of the Byzantine garrison of Monemvasia. Nikli was a walled town of considerable importance, occupying the site of Tegea, and commanding the lines of communication between the southern provinces of Lacedæmonia and Messenia, and the northern of Corinthia and Argolis.1 Only a portion of the territory allotted to several of the feudatories had been subdued in the time of William de 1 The list of the feudatories of Achaia given by count Beugnot in his edition of the Assizes de Jerusalem, p. 428, is taken from the imperfect edition of the Greek Chronicle published in 1840. Buchon's subsequent editions of the French and Greek texts supply the means of correcting it; but it must not be forgotten that, as far as its chronology is concerned, the authority is doubtful. The following is the list : All those rated at only four knight's-fees must have had a city under their jurisdiction, or else been in possession of a baronial office. The list of the twelve barons of Achaia having the right to build fortresses and exercise supreme jurisdiction, which is given in the Achaian copy of the Assize of Romania, art. 43 and 94, is of a comparatively modern date, probably about the middle of the fourteenth century. Compare Buchon, Recherches et Matériaux, p. 118. HEIRS OF CHAMPLITTE DISPOSSESSED. 217 Champlitte, whom the news of his elder brother's death compelled to return suddenly to France, in order to secure his rank in the nobility of Europe by receiving investiture of his paternal inheritance, and taking the oath of fealty to his suzerain within a year. A. D. 1210. SECT. II.-ACQUISITION OF THE PRINCIPALITY BY GEFFREY William de Champlitte left his relation Hugh to act as his bailly in the principality during his absence;1 but, Hugh dying soon after the prince's departure, Geffrey Villehardoin was elected by the feudatories to act as bailly, on account of the high reputation he enjoyed for ability and warlike skill, for his influence over the Greek population, and for his intimate connection with the family of Champlitte. The election was in strict conformity with the feudal usages established in the empire of Romania. Geffrey availed himself of his position to increase his popularity with the feudatories and subjects of the principality, and did everything in his power to gain the friendship and favour of Henry, emperor of Romania, and the great vassals of the empire. He obtained from the emperor Henry a grant of the office of seneschal of Romania, which raised him to the rank of great feudatory of the empire at the parliament of Ravenika, where he had appeared previously only as the bailly of William de Champlitte. The manner in which he possessed himself of the principality of Achaia is extremely obscure, but it seems to have been done in an unjust and fraudulent way. From the terms in which the acquisition is stigmatised in the assize of Jerusalem, it is implied that William of Champlitte died while Villehardoin was acting as his bailly, and that the 1 We learn from a letter of Pope Innocent III. that the name of the bailly was Hugh de Cham-, doubtless Champlitte.-Tom. ii. 488, edit. Baluze. § 2. CHAP. VIII. bailly basely availed himself of the defenceless condition of his patron's infant children in France, to rob the absent orphans of their heritage.' The Chronicle of the Conquest of the Morea gives a different account of the method by which Geffrey Villehardoin gained possession of the principality. The character of the bailly gains very little by the altered circumstances. He is represented as having retained possession of the principality by a dishonourable fraud, instead of seizing it by a bold crime. It was known in the Peloponnesus that Champlitte proposed sending Robert de Champlitte, a young member of his own family, to replace his relation Hugh. The nomination was displeasing both to Villehardoin, and to the barons and troops who had undergone all the fatigues of the conquest, and who feared to behold a crowd of young nobles arrive from France to share the spoils of war without having shared its dangers. A plot was formed to reject the title of the new bailly. It is said that Geffrey sent envoys to Venice, who induced the doge to retard as much as possible the arrival of Robert de Champlitte, and that the Venetian ship in which he had engaged a passage to the Morea treacherously left him on shore at Corfu. At last Robert arrived in the Morea, and then Geffrey avoided meeting him for some time, and led him into the interior of the province, where a meeting at length took place at Lacedæmon. An assembly of the barons, knights, and clergy, favourable to the projects of Villehardoin had already assembled, and in this parliament Robert claimed to be received as bailly of Achaia in 1 Assises de Jerusalem, MS. de Venice, c. 272, appendix to count Beugnot's edition. It is evident that a general reprobation of the manner in which Villehardoin acquired Achaia prevailed, even from the expressions of the Livre de la Conqueste, p. 59. In a letter of pope Innocent III., dated 4th March 1210, Geffrey is called only Seneschal of Romania.-Tom. ii. p. 409, edit. Baluze. But at the end of March he receives the title of the Prince of Achaia in the Pope's letters.Tom. ii. p. 420, ep. 23, 24, 25, edit. Baluze. CONQUESTS OF VILLEHARDOIN. 219 virtue of his cousin's act of investiture, which he produced. The assembly, however, had already concerted with Villehardoin the manner in which the claim was to be disallowed. It was pretended that William de Champlitte had engaged to cede the principality to Villehardoin in case he failed to return, or send a bailly to govern it on his own account within a year from the day of his departure. The parliament now declared that, the year having expired, they were bound to acknowledge Villehardoin as prince of Achaia. In vain Robert de Champlitte argued that, even according to this compact, he was entitled to be received as bailly, for he had landed in the principality before the expiry of the year. The parliament replied that of that circumstance they were incompetent to judge, as the public act of his appearance in the parliament of the principality could alone be taken into consideration. Robert, seeing that it was vain to resist, demanded a certificate of the decision and returned to France, while Geffrey Villehardoin was acknowledged prince of Achaia. Such is the story of the Chronicles-a story evidently false, but which proves that Villehardoin had really been guilty of something worse. Geffrey had conducted himself with great prudence and talent during the time he ruled as bailly. He had successively conquered the cities of Veligosti, Nikli, and Lacedæmon, though the two last were fortified with strong walls; and he had granted favourable terms of capitulation to the Greek inhabitants. He then laid siege to Corinth, which on the death of Leo Sguros had placed itself under the protection of Michael, despot of Epirus.1 The conquest of Corinth was of vital importance to all the Frank establishments in Greece, for, so long as it remained in the hands of the despot of Epirus, the communications of Achaia with the great feudatories in 1 Acropolita, p. 6. Compare the letter of Innocent III., lib. xv. ep. 77—tom. ii. p. 628, edit. Baluze. A. D. 1209. |