Morea

   Name for the Peloponnesos (q.v.) from the time of the 13th-century Latin occupation. The etymology of the word is obscure; it may derive from morea, the Greek word for the mulberry tree, whose leaf has an outline not unlike that of the Peloponnesos. In 1205 after the Fourth Crusade (q.v.) much of it became the Latin principality of Achaia (q.v.), as described (to 1292) in the anonymous Chronicle of the Morea. Despite the battle of Pelagonia (q.v.), which forced William II Villehardouin to cede to Michael VIII (qq.v.) in 1262 the important castles of Mistra, Monemvasia (qq.v.), and Maina, the principality endured to 1430. The renewed Byzantine presence was organized into the despotate of Morea in 1349 by despot (q.v.) Manuel Kantakouzenos (son of John VI Kantakouzenos [q.v.]), its first ruler. Thereafter, it was an appanage (q.v.) of the reigning emperor in Constantinople (qq.v.). After 1428, rivalry among the sons of Manuel II (q.v.), the brothers Theodore II (despot from 1407-1443), Constantine (XI), and Thomas (who ruled from the castle of Chlemoutsi) weakened the despotate. Theodore II exchanged Constantine's appanage of Selymbria (q.v.) for the despotate of Morea in 1443. This solved the political problem, but not the Ottoman (q.v.) military threat. In 1446 the forces of Murad II (q.v.) breached the Hexamilion (q.v.) and entered the Morea, making a tributary out of Constantine. After being proclaimed emperor at Mistra on 6 January 1449 Constantine XI left for Constantinople (q.v.). Thomas and Demetrios Palaiologos (q.v.) governed Mistra jointly until 1460, when it surrendered to Mehmed II (q.v.).