The Fourth Crusade led to the establishment of the Principality of Achaia (1205–1432) in the Peloponnese by the Franks, and this was followed by the arrival of western populations into the peninsula (Βon 1969). Among the newcomers were the wives and children of the conquerors with their entourage. Most of the unmarried barons, knights and other nobles preferred to return to France for a limited time to find a wife. Their attempt to keep the Greeks away from the administration of the newly formed state prevented them from marrying Greek subjects. At the same time, female aristocrats from France arrived in the principality to marry their counterparts and create families (Bon 1969, 686; Jacoby 1973, 888; Longnon 1969, 240). A series of provisions in the legislative code of Assises of Romania defined their rights and obligations, discouraging them from marrying Greeks (Lock 1998; Papacosma 2010). Unfortunately, no written evidence survives of the coming of western female villani (villeins).
However, mixed marriages must have taken place as the Assises of Romania provided for them in articles 138 (marriage of Greek women to Latin men) and 194 (marriage of Greek men to Latin women) (Lock 1998; Page 2008). The dispersion of the Franks in small groups to different areas (fiefdoms) in order to strengthen rural life and to acquire close relations with the local Greek and Slavic populations must have sooner or later allowed mixed marriages to take place (Bon 1969). Two women, Constanza and her sister or cousin (“αὐταδέλφη”) Maria, who married the Greeks George and Konstantinos Kalligopoulos, respectively, might have belonged to the western or mixed population. The couples are recorded together with their other relatives in the dedicatory inscriptions of the church of Panagia Katholiki in Gastouni, Ilia, in 1278/1279 (Athanasoulis 2003, 63–78).
The return of Byzantine troops to the Peloponnese peninsula in 1262 and its gradual reconquest found Laconia with a large number of gasmulus, i.e. children who came from the union of Franks and Greeks. At that time, the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos established a military unit manned by the gasmulus ("Γασμούλικον"). Many of them settled in Constantinople (Beazley 1906–07; D’Amato 2010; Lock 1998; Longnon 1969, 252–53; Page 2008). The good knowledge of Latin by these children leads to the conclusion that they grew up in a mixed environment (D’Amato 2010, 221–23; Page 2008). Indeed, their ability to handle Latin equally well may also have been inherited from their French mothers, since the first two or three years of a child are the most important for the development of their language skills (Lock 1998, 475). The removal of Frankish administration from Laconia must have allowed more mixed marriages, with Latin women who marry Greeks changing their doctrine. The painter George Konstantinianos very likely married a gasmulus or French woman. The couple is depicted in a dedicatory portrait in the church of Saint Nikolas in Exo Nyfi in Kato Mani, Laconia, in 1284/1285 (Agrevi 2008–09; Katsafados 2015, 117–24; Kiltzanidou 2021, 9–12). A Dominican monk described to the King of France Philip VI of Valois in 1330 (or 1332) how Latin women were marrying Greeks and were obliged to embrace the orthodox doctrine and live according to the Byzantine way. In fact, he suggested that those Latin women who live in the Byzantine way should die or be exiled as soon as the king conquered the Byzantine lands (Beazley 1906–07). At the same time, in the Greek edition of the 14th-century historical Chronicle of the Morea, it is said that the subjects of the principality should not trust the Greeks because if they want to harm them they will propose the marriage of their children (Page 2008, 241; Το χρονικόν του Μορέως v. 3932–37).
The choice of the despots of Morea to marry women from the West has been linked to the cessation of hostilities and the development of alliances (Bon 1969; Zakythinos 1975, vol. I). Α question that arises is whether these marriages were aimed to approach and influence a part of the population originating from Western Europe. Τhe political efforts of women of Western European extraction to maintain the Roman Catholic doctrine even after their marriage to a Greek Orthodox may be seen in the marriage of the despot Theodore II Palaiologos with Cleopa Malatesta. The different doctrines of the two partners did not prevent their marriage on January 21, 1421. Τhe despot himself had agreed in writing (March 29 or May 1419) that his wife would not accept any pressure to become Orthodox. Nevertheless, Cleopa changed her dogma and lifestyle so as not to affect the women of the despotate (Ronchey 2000; Zakythinos 1975, vol. 1; Kiltzanidou 2021, 17). Similar mixed marriages in the despotate are not known from the sources. If the donor Giacuma in the church of Zoodochos Pigi (Eleousa) in Geraki, Laconia, c. 1431, belonged to the western population then either she changed her dogma to marry Constantine or, following the example of Cleopa Malatesta, she kept her Roman Catholic doctrine (Kiltzanidou 2021, 17–8; Papageorgiou 2007). A few years later, in 1452, the Metropolitan of Lacedaemon Ioannis Eugenikos requested the despot Dimitrios II Palaiologos to stop the Latinization of the Orthodox Church in the dioceses of Elos as well as Amykles, Karyoupoli and Maini (Zakythinos 1975, vol. II). This solicitation may hide the fact that there was still a French population in those areas.
All of this points to the fact that the arrival of the Crusaders in the Peloponnese marked the coming of French women. The official Frankish authorities tried to prevent them from marrying Greek subjects. However, mixed marriages did take place. The gradual reduction of the borders of the Principality of Achaia and the return of the Byzantine administration facilitated the marriages of French women with Greek men. The majority of these women changed their Roman Catholic doctrine and embraced Orthodoxy.
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Katerina Kiltzanidou comes from Thessaloniki, Greece. She studied at the Department of History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2010-2014) and completed her postgraduate studies in Byzantine Archaeology at the same university (2015-2018). In January 2019 she started her doctoral dissertation at the Department of History and Ethnology at the Democritus University of Thrace (Komotini). Katerina has written Greek articles and has participated in Greek and international scientific meetings, conferences and workshops. Finally, she had a scholarship at Melina Mercouri Foundation (2019-2020) and at Democritus University of Thrace (2021-2022).
Email: kkiltzanidou@gmail.com