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Following the road
from Sparta which passes through plane trees, cypresses, olive
trees, mulberries and orange trees we reach Mystras.
In the distance, mount Taygetos looms proudly. We scan its
innumerable peaks, precipitous slopes and deep gorges until our
gaze suddenly rests on a hill, detached from the mountain range. On the
naturally defended hill of Myzithras in Lacedaimon, the
ruler of the Frankish Principate of Achaia
Guillaume
de Villehardouin built in 1249 a strong medieval
castle the "Oriokastro" which
was to play an important role in the history of the last
centuries of the Byzantine empire.
In 1262 the
Byzantines made themselves masters of Mystras,
inaugurating a brilliant period for the
medieval
fortress-state. Houses covered the hill, mansions and palaces,
churches and fortified monasteries were built and the densely settled
city was encircled by two enclosure walls.
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High on its summit
stands an impregnable fortress and on its flanks extends the
erstwhile glorious Medieval state of Mystras, now in ruins and
silent.
We go back into time,
to the era of the Frankish Occupation of Greece, the time when
the Crusaders, having conquered Constantinopole
in 1204, shared the rest of the country between themselves, thus
creating small states. The most significant of these, the French
Principality of Morea, was much retarded in spreading throughout
the entire Peloponnese and so in 1249 the Frankish Prince of
Achaia, Guillaume de Villehardouin, managed with the help of
the Venetians, to take
Monemvasia and so pass through the whole
of Laconia. There it was that he came and built a castle on this wisely
chosen inaccessible hill in order to rule over the whole of Lacedaemonia. However, the
sovereign with his iron-clad knights did
not enjoy this land for long. A decade later Guillaume
was taken prisoner while fighting against the Emperor
Michael
Palaiologos at Pelagonia, nowadays in Yugoslavia, and was
forced to surrender his castle in return for his freedom.
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So Mystras, a Frankish castle, once again became
the seat of the Byzantine commander of the Peloponnese. The inhabitants of
Sparta, who felt insecure in the undefended plain, moved to this spot which
consequently started coming to life and developed into a city. Houses were
built, a Metropolis, monasteries, palaces and ramparts. Mystras developed at
such a rate that a hundred years after the building of
the castle, in 1348, it became the capital of the
Despotate of Morea with Manuel Kantakouzenos as first
Despot, son of the Emperor John VI.
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Later, in 1384, the Palaiologoi came and
succeeded in the expansion of the Despotate virtually throughout the
Peloponnese. During these years Mystras experienced its greatest fluorite.
An intellectual centre developed were personalities in the arts and letters
brought from the capital of the Empire, which was then in decline,
congregated. Distinguished among them was the Neoplatonic philosopher
Georgios Gemistos,
Plethon who attracted many pupils around him and taught them the
ancient authors as well as his own innovative ideas
concerning the social and religious organization of the
state. |
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However, the
disaster which dogged the sovereign was not slow in
reaching here also and so when Konstantinos
Palaiologos, Despot of Mystras, left for the
capital wearing the martyred crown of the last emperor,
his brother Demetrios who succeeded him
after the legendary Fall of Constantinople in 1453,
surrendered the castle to the Turks in 1460.
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The splendor and grandeur of Mystras ceased but a commercial
centre was created where in 1687, after Morosini
had subjugated and plundered the area, 42.000 souls lived
a life of comparative economic affluence based on the
rich production of silk. In 1770, when Orloff's fleet
anchored in the Mane, the Greeks were aroused and attacked the Turks of
Mystras alongside the Russians.
They breathed the air of freedom for only a few
months and then the wrath of the Albanians burst upon them. For ten years they
butchered, broke down and burnt everything. It was liberated once again during
the 1821 Revolution but in 1825 Ibrahem set fire to this
much-tortured place for the last time. By the time
King Othon came and built new
Sparta, Mystras was already dead. The gloomy world of
the ruins remained as a testimony of a state which in its day constituted the
unique hope of the revival of an empire which was slowly dying and which is
today the sole example of a medieval settlement with its castle, the
fortification walls encircling it, its palaces, churches and mansions.
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