British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
The Eastern Mediterranean in the Thirteenth century:
identities and allegiances
Abstract
Identities in Transition: Individualised Experience of Regime Change in Thirteenth-Century Greece
Teresa Shawcross
This paper examines the transitional decades of the early to mid thirteenth century. It seeks to shed light on the manner in which those with first-hand knowledge of the old Byzantine regime grappled with the changed external realities they faced after the Fourth Crusade. Rather than consider the occupation as this was experienced in the capital, my analysis focuses instead on the provinces of the former Eastern Roman Empire. Central and southern Greece, the geographical area that eventually coalesced into a powerful crusader state, the Principality of Morea or Achaia, is proposed as the subject of study because it was here that Frankish dominion was able to put down lasting roots, surviving for over two hundred years. It is argued that the sense of separatist or 'proto-national' Moreot identity that was created in this region emerged out of the ideological uncertainties that arose after the conquest.
Although the subjugation by the invaders of the twin province of Hellas and the Peloponnese is represented in the sources as a relatively straightforward process aided by the compliance and indeed active cooperation of the indigenous population, this general picture proves impossible to substantiate with reference to specific cases involving individuals. The difficulty here is that while writers of the period are eloquent on the subject of collective actions and reactions, they rarely refer to particular persons. Indeed, a prosopographical void can be said to characterise the first half of the thirteenth century. Especially elusive remain those who either openly declared their acceptance of the conquering regime and alliance with it, or alternatively performed acts of collaboration. The accidental loss of archives, together with generic concerns and ideological biases can be shown to be to blame for the almost complete absence of the names of indigenous allies in texts of an 'official' nature. Also responsible, however, was a marked reluctance on the part of the natives themselves to leave posterity autobiographical accounts admitting to transactions with the new regime.
A careful reading of the evidence suggests that the reality of relations between the conquerors and conquered was complex. A certain ambivalence regarding allegiance appears to have typified the native elite, with subterfuge and double-dealing being very much the order of the day. This should be viewed as the natural consequence of deep political instability. Conditions during the first decades of the occupation were extremely fluid, and those who had initially secured the favour or tolerance of the invaders had to face the distinct possibility that their current status was merely a temporary respite. This climate of confusion and uncertainty could only have been exacerbated by the establishment of 'governments in exile' in Epirus and Anatolia by groups whose privileges had been rescinded as a result of the Fourth Crusade and its aftermath. Three rival 'Empires' ended up competing for the loyalties of fundamentally the same provincial population. Although, with time, the baggage of imperialism would ultimately be abandoned in central and southern Greece, and a fully viable state created that rested upon a rather different set of ideological tenets, all this was far into the future for the generation that lived through the initial invasion and occupation. To that generation, the Principality of Morea or Achaia represented an unknown quantity.
Without the benefit of hindsight, it was impossible to divine whether western presence in Greece would turn out to be temporary or permanent. There appears to have been an acute sense that, as one contemporary put it, 'the battle is undecided [...] victory shifts'. In such a bewildering environment, it was only to be expected that anyone with a modicum of desire for self-preservation would display a certain changeableness and lack of constancy in matters of allegiance. Thus, the patterns of behaviour that we observe within the local elite can be interpreted as part of a strategy of survival necessitated by a highly dangerous and unpredictable environment.