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{{Short description|Former name of the Peloponnese peninsula}}
{{hatnote group|{{other uses}}{{distinguish|Moria (disambiguation)}}}}
{{distinguish|Mo{{okina}}orea}}
{{Refimprove|date=October 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
[[File:Peloponnese Middle Ages map-en.svg|thumb|right|280px|Map of the medieval Peloponnese (Morea) with its principal localities]]
'''Morea''' ({{langx|el|Μορέας}} or {{lang|el|Μωριάς}}) was the name of the  [[Peloponnese]] peninsula in southern [[Greece]] during the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[early modern period]]. The name was used by the [[Principality of Achaea]], the [[Byzantine]] province known as the [[Despotate of the Morea]], by the [[Ottoman Empire]] for the [[Morea Eyalet]], and later by the [[Republic of Venice]] for the short-lived [[Kingdom of the Morea]].

==Etymology==
There is some uncertainty over the origin of the medieval name "Morea", which is first recorded in the 10th century in the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] chronicles.

Traditionally, scholars thought the name to have originated from the word ''morea'' ({{Lang|grc|μορέα}}), meaning [[morus (plant)|morus]] or [[morus (plant)|mulberry]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dmore%2Fa |title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, μορέα |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> a tree which, though known in the region from the ancient times, gained value after the 6th century, when mulberry-eating [[silkworm]]s were smuggled from China to Byzantium.

The British Byzantinist [[Steven Runciman]] suggested that the name comes "from the likeness of [the peninsula's] shape to that of a mulberry leaf".<ref>Runciman, ''A Traveller's Alphabet'', "Morea")</ref>

==History==
[[Image:ShepherdByzempire1265.jpg|thumb|right|280px|The Morea {{Circa|1265}} in its international context: the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Frankokratia|Latin states]] of Greece. Map from William R. Shepherd's ''Historical Atlas'' (1911)]]
After the conquest of Constantinople by the forces of the [[Fourth Crusade]] (1204), two groups of "[[Frankokratia|Franks]]" (as Catholic, Western Europeans were called by the Byzantines) undertook the occupation of the Morea. They created the [[Principality of Achaea]], a largely Greek-inhabited statelet ruled by a Latin (Western) autocrat. In referring to the Peloponnese, they followed local practice and used the name "Morea".

The most important prince in the Morea was [[William II Villehardouin|Guillaume II de Villehardouin]] (1246&ndash;1278), who fortified [[Mistra]] (Mystras) near the site of [[Sparta]] in 1249. After losing the [[Battle of Pelagonia]] (1259) against the [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[Michael VIII Palaeologus]], Guillaume was forced to ransom himself by giving up most of the eastern part of Morea and his newly built strongholds. An initial Byzantine drive to reconquer the entire peninsula failed in the battles of [[Battle of Prinitza|Prinitza]] and [[Battle of Makryplagi|Makryplagi]], and the Byzantines and Latins settled to an uneasy coexistence.

In the mid-14th century, the later Byzantine emperor [[John VI Kantakouzenos]] reorganized Morea into the [[Despotate of the Morea]]. Sons of the emperor with the rank of ''[[despotes]]'' were usually sent to rule the province as an [[appanage]]. By 1430, the Byzantines eventually recovered the remainder of the Latin part of the Morea, but in 1460 the peninsula was almost completely overrun and conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In these conquests, the coastal and port cities remained in the hands of the Venetians such as [[Monemvasia]], [[Nafpaktos|Lepanto]], [[Methoni, Messenia|Modon]], [[Koroni|Koron]], but these places were captured during the reigns of [[Bayezid II]] and [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mora Yarımadası|url=https://ansiklopedika.net/mora-yarimadasi.html|url-status=dead|access-date=24 June 2021|website=[[Ansiklopedika]]|archive-date=24 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204330/https://ansiklopedika.net/mora-yarimadasi.html}}</ref> In July 1461, the last holdout, [[Salmeniko Castle]], was taken.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monemvasia.com |title=Monemvasia |publisher=Monemvasia |date=28 April 1941 |access-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807005020/http://monemvasia.com/ |archive-date=7 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thegreektravel.com/lakonia/monemvasia.html |title=Monemvasia Lakonia Peloponnese Greece. The travel and holidays guide to Monemvassia in Laconia. Sparti, Gytheio, Mystras, Mani, Elafonissos, Gytheio. Travel greece |publisher=Thegreektravel.com |date=26 August 2013 |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://katsoulakos.com/mani-history-new.html |title=Welcome to our homepage |publisher=Katsoulakos.com |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://www.apodimos.com/arthra/07/Jan/OTTOMAN_in_the_MOREA_in_the_OUTER_MANI/index.htm]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110205103/http://www.apodimos.com/arthra/07/Jan/OTTOMAN_in_the_MOREA_in_the_OUTER_MANI/index.htm|date=10 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geni.com/people/Thomas-Palaiologos/ |title=Genealogy - Geni - private profile - Genealogy |publisher=Geni |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofhelleni27sociuoft#page/236/mode/1up |title=The journal of Hellenic studies |date=1880 |access-date=3 December 2013}}</ref>

The peninsula was captured for the [[Republic of Venice]] by [[Francesco Morosini]] during the [[Morean War]] of 1684–99.  Venetian rule proved unpopular, and the Ottomans recaptured the Morea in a lightning campaign in 1714. Under renewed Ottoman rule, centered at [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripolitsa]], the region enjoyed relative prosperity. The latter 18th century was marked by renewed dissatisfaction. Armed bands of the [[Klepht|klephts]] emerged, undeterred by the brutal repression of the [[Orlov revolt]]. They waged [[guerrilla war]] against the Turks, aided both by the decay of Ottoman power and the emergence of Greek national consciousness. Ultimately, the Morea and its inhabitants provided the cradle and backbone of the [[Greek Revolution]].

==Chronicle of the Morea==
The anonymous, 14th-century ''[[Chronicle of the Morea]]'' relates events of the Latins' establishment of [[feudalism]] in mainland Greece following the Fourth Crusade. Despite its unreliability about historical events, the ''Chronicle'' is famous for its lively portrayal of life in the feudal community. The language in Greek versions is notable as it reflects the rapid transition from Medieval to Modern Greek.  The original language of the Chronicle is disputed, but recent scholarship prefers the Greek version in MS ''Havniensis 57'' (14th&ndash;15th century, in [[Copenhagen]]). Other manuscripts include the Ms ''Parisinus graecus 2898'' (15th&ndash;16th century, at the {{Lang|fr|[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]|italic=no}}, [[Paris]]).  The difference of about one century in the texts shows a considerable number of linguistic differences due to the rapid evolution of the Greek language.

==See also==
* [[List of traditional Greek place names]]
* [[Moraitis]]
* [[Navarino Massacre]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book | last = Bon | first = Antoine | title = La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe | year = 1969 | language = fr | publisher = De Boccard | location = Paris | url = http://cefael.efa.gr/detail.php?site_id=1&actionID=page&serie_id=BefarA&volume_number=213&issue_number=1}}
* {{citation | first = John Van Antwerp | last = Fine | title = The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest | publisher = University of Michigan Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-472-08260-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hh0Bu8C66TsC}}
* ''Crusaders as Conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea,'' translated from the Greek with notes and introduction by Harold E. Lurier, Columbia University, 1964.
* M. J. Jeffreys, "The Chronicle of Morea: Priority of the Greek Version." ''[[Byzantinische Zeitschrift]]'' 68 (1975), 304–350.
* Teresa Shawcross, ''The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece'' (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) (Oxford Studies in Byzantium).

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040808035600/http://www.laconia.org/Mystra1_history.htm Mystras: history]

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[[Category:History of the Peloponnese]]