Viewing the Morea : land and people in the late medieval Peloponnese / edited by Sharon E. J. Gerstel.

"The majority of the chapters in this volume were presented as papers at the 2009 Dumbarton Oaks symposium 'Morea: The Land and Its People in the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade'."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Sharon E.J. Gerstel -- The Morea through the prism of the past / Elizabeth Jeffreys -- The architectural layering of history in the medieval Morea : monuments, memory, and fragments of the past / Amy Papalexandrou -- The songbook for William of Villehardouin, Prince of the Morea (Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, fonds francais 844) : a crucial case in the history of vernacular song collections / John Haines -- The triangle of power : building projects in the metropolitan area of the crusader -- Principality of the Morea / Demetrios Athanasoulis -- Coinage and money in the Morea after the Fourth Crusade / Julian Baker and Alan M. Stahl -- The Frankish Morea : evidence provided by acts of private transactions / Helen G. Saradi -- Rural exploitation and market economy in the late medieval Peloponnese / David Jacoby -- People and settlements of the northeastern Peloponnese in the late Middle Ages : an archaeological exploration / Timothy E. Gregory -- Greek, Frank, other : differentiating cultural and ancestral groups in the Frankish Morea using human remains analysis / Sandra J.Garvie-Lok -- Mapping the boundaries of church and village : ecclesiastical and rural landscapes in the late Byzantine Peloponnese / Sharon E.J. Gerstel -- Reflections of Constantinople : the iconographic program of the south portico of the Hodegetria church, mystras / Titos Papamastorakis -- A brief "history of the Morea" as seen through the eyes of an emperor-rhetorician : Manuel II : Palaiologos's funeral oration for Theodore, despot of the Morea / Florin Leote -- A new Lykourgos for a new Sparta : George Gemistos Plethon and the despotate of the Morea / Teresa Shawcross -- Mapping "melancholy-pleasing remains" : the Morea as a Renaissance memory theater / Veronica Della Dora.

""I'm going to tell you a great tale, and if you will listen to me, I hope it will please you." The opening line of the Chronicle of the Morea sets the stage for this volume, which examines the late medieval Peloponnese following its conquest by Crusader knights. The Chronicle, other awritten sources, buildings, and excavated finds reveal a bold attempt to establish a new kingdom in a distant land, adding yet another layer to the many levels of habitation of the "island of Pelops." Too often omitted from this myth of Crusader foundation are the large numbers of Orthodox villagers and town dwellers who shared the region and created their own myth of an eternal and sacred empire generated by the pains of loss and the hopes of refoundation. Their remains, though less studied, are also left in the written and material records of the period. Layered upon the historical and physical topography of this region, too, are the traces of the Venetians, whose "right eye," Modon, was located at the southwestern tip of the penisnula. The Turkish layers, revealed in standing fortresses, toponyms, vernacular poetry, and pottery, also left deep traces on the ground and remain in collective memory. How these groups, and others who shared the land, interacted and how they asserted identity are at the center of this volume. At the core of this volume, too, is the understanding of place and memory - the recollection of the ancient history of the Peloponnese, the architectural and cartographic marking of its mountains and valleys, the re-creation of distant capitals on its land, and the re-fashioning of the Morea for a renaissance audience. The authors of this volume look at the Morea and its people in the broadest possible manner and with careful attention to written and material evidence, historiography, economic networks, and the making - or re-telling - of myths." -- Back cover.