The Great Wallachia and the Byzantine

Commonwealth (13th - 14th century)

It is known that the ethnonymous term "Vlachos" and

by extension the derivative name "Vlachia", as well as the aggressive definition
"Vlachos", are very general terms. They have been adopted and incorporated into
several languages by taking more or less differentiated grammatical forms into
different alphabets. In addition, the term "Vlachs" does not only designate a single
population. On the contrary, in different languages it is attributed to many different
populations. And as the "Vlachs" never formed a particular and homogenized
people, the consequence was the emergence of many, different and scattered
"Vlachs".
Written sources testify to the existence of Vlachs in the Greek space no later than
the second half of the 10th century 2, well before the testimonies for other regions
of the Balkans and particularly for areas north of the Danube. The references
continue in the 11th century, when Kekathimenos in his work entitled Strategic
gives us more information about Vlachs who were living in the area of today's
Thessaly 3

For the existence of Vlachs, perhaps somewhere near Olympus, around 1083, Anna
Komneni speaks to Alexiada 4 . In 1160, the Spanish Jewish traveler Benjamin of
Tundele traveling to the Greek countries of Byzantium points to the existence of
Vlach populations somewhere in the mountains near Lamia and is the first to
allegedly use the term Wallachia to identify a region of central Greece - most likely
due to the existence the remarkable demographic presence of the Vlachs and the
strong role they played 5 . From the 13th century, according to the Byzantine
historian Nikita Choniati, Thessaly, along with some adjacent areas, mainly to
Sterea Hellas, were called Wallachia, Great Wallachia, Megaloclachia and Upper
Wallachia 6 .
Gradually references to "Vlachs" and "Vlachs" and to other parts of the Balkans are
increasing. But it is hard to claim that these scattered populations had a common
origin, a common and identifiable starting point, and even less that they had a well-
formed common conscience and action. The dismantling of Byzantium, with the fall
of Constantinople in the hands of the Crusaders in 1204, may have helped the
Vlachs already living in areas of present-day central Greece, or even some of their
groups, to reinforce the tendencies of indiscipline that already characterized
them. Perhaps they have acquired some degree of local autonomy, like other
groups and divisions of the empire. Very soon, their outbreaks were found in the
territory of the Despotate of Epirus,
The sporadic installation of Vlachs in central Greece is confirmed by written
Byzantine sources. Indicatively, in 1221, the Bishop of Nafpaktos, Ioannis
Apachekos, points to the existence of a rather remarkable number of "Roman
colonists" in the area of Akarnania, somewhere near Vonitsa, which, as he points
out, were now called Vlachs. In addition, he transfers the name of a leading person
among them, Konstantinos Aurelianis, a man of adventure and violent, as he
portrays himself as a female rapist and episode organizer ; . In 1228, Georgios
Choniatis, brother of the historian Nikita Choniatis, was named "Provezervisitis" of
Epirus Theodoros Doukas, and allegedly ruled the Wallachian region, probably
responsible for the collection of military taxes. During the same period and in the
same area, a group of settlements inhabited by Vlachs had been granted "care" to a
smaller military official. Honiates expressed the desire to visit one of the villages of
this welfare and the "providarian" ordered the most prosperous village to prepare
the things to accommodate the visitor, although he knew that "the Vlach was very
inhospitable." This particular parishioner seems to have not obeyed the command
and the episode followed by the premoniar killed another slave who dared and
mingled with the brawl. The offender was found guilty of murder and was punished
by the Apocalypse8 .
It is very likely that the Vlachs lived in southern Thessaly as well as in the region of
Velechatouia, which is more or less identical with the Doridas area between
Nafpaktos, Amfissa and Ypati 9 . Some other written Byzantine references refer to
groups of Vlachs who allegedly lived as servants in monastery estates of Makrinitsa
and Portaria in Pelion in 1266 and 1273 10 . We observe that although a portion of
the Vlachs are sketched negatively, most of them should have been settled in
stable settlements linked to agro-livestock life and integrated into the structure of
the site, as some of them were serfs in ecclesiastical estates and military
provisions.
After the death of the Despot of Epirus Michael II Aggelos Komninos Doukas,
probably in 1271, his despotate was split and divided between two of his sons. Until
1289, the ruler of the eastern section, that is to say, of Great Wallachia, presents
John II Komnenos Doukas 11, a deceased son of Michael II and Gagrini 12 , a woman
from Arta, who may have been of Vlach origin. John I was in this hegemonic
position having already married a beautiful, according to the script, daughter of
Tarona, a "prince" of the Vlachs who lived in the area. The sources do not seem to
be so clear that we can be sure that the Taranades had the Vlach origin or
not. They are more present as members of local aristocracy, as local dynasties,
rather than as natural heads of some Vlachs 13 . Most likely, they were a branch of a
prominent family of the military and social Byzantine establishment, also known as
the Turonites. They came from the Armenian ruler Krikr (Gregory), who had been
subjugated to the Byzantines on Leo VI (886-912) and had since settled in
Constantinople. From the late 10th and throughout the duration of 11oufaiona, the
ekvyzantinismenoi descendants distinguished themselves as senior military
participated in interlaces of Komninos and developed intermarriages with the
dynastic houses of Byzantium and Bulgaria 14 . From her mother's side, the
daughter of Tarona came from another well-known family of local aristocrats,
Levahatous or Leovachi of Thebes. The large estates of such families in estates and
animals brought them into close interdependence with the predominantly breeders
and often unruly Vlachs of the region. The marriage of John I with the daughter of
the Tarronades seems to have been aimed at strengthening the subordination of
local society, in this case the Vlachs, to the ruler and the state through the
aristocracy 15 .
The Vlachs, under the leadership of John I, reported that they had helped, in 1258-
59, the Despot of Epirus Michael II Doukas in his controversy with the Empire of
Nicaea and with the Frankish rulers of southern Greece. The Magnolials of the
written sources constituted the bulk of the troop that Michael II made available to
the famous battle of Pelagonia. In its most critical phase, John I is said to have
withdrew his warriors, betrayed and abandoned his father, wanting to defend his
honor and the honor of his beautiful husband from the offensive Frankish knights.
The capital of Great Wallachia, or better its administrative center, was in the
fortified Ypati - New Patras - on the northern slopes of Oiti, near Lamia. Because of
this fact, John I was recorded in the western sources and by the Latin name of La
Patria , the "Frankish" name of the New Patras 16 . Although the borders of its
territory were volatile, during the period of its great power, they began from
Lidoriki and Galaxidi to the Corinthian bay and reached up to the Sarantaporo of
Elassona, Servia and Petra on the northern slopes of Olympus 17 . John I's policy
attributed to the Great Wall the dimensions of a hegemony with expansionist
potential and an enhanced role in the events of the southern Balkans. John I, like
Nikephoros, his brother-in-law brother in Arta, recognized the union of all the
Orthodox Romans and the supreme power of a single emperor. But they were
determined to surrender to the Palaiologists, to the reclamators of the Empire, as
little as possible from their independence and from the areas that their family had
earned, the Komneno-dukes 18 . The efforts made by John I to preserve the
independence of his hegemony and the establishment of relatives and alliances
through his children with the houses of the neighboring states and hegemons. He
had three sons: the prominent first-born Demetrius-Michael, Constantine and
Theodore, and four daughters, of whom we know the name of only one, Helen.
As soon as John I officially took over, he tried to strengthen his position and his
hegemony over the then assertive Byzantine Emperor Michael II Palaiologos. So he
gave one of his daughters as a husband to a nephew of the emperor, Andronikos
Tarchaneiotis. In 1270, the latter was governor of Adrianople, but soon he was
dissatisfied with his uncle and fled with his wife on the territory and service of his
father-in-law. The most important result of this marriage was that John I, who had
not previously had an official title, was named a sabastokrator and gained an
honored place in the Byzantine establishment 19 . Although with this marriage and
the acceptance of the title he essentially recognized the imperial domination of the
emperor, he set out an autonomous foreign policy and alliances that contradicted
the interests of the empire. Apart from territorial differences, John I and Michael II
also disagreed with ecclesiastical issues. In the area of the Despotate of Epirus and
Great Wallachia, several of those who reacted to the union of churches, which
Michael II had sought, had condemned and condemned the ecclesiastical authorities
of Great Wallachia at a local summit, ridicating the then unionist patriarch and their
unionist bishops Ypatis and Trikkis (Trikala), even the emperor himself 20 .
The two opponents did not start to open controversy when, in 1275, the emperor
sent numerous troops to invade the Great Wallachia. Among them were numerous
groups of Cumans and Turks (Turks) who buried John I in the fortress of Ypati. In
the night, the ruler, clothed with worn clothing, rode the walls and attempted to
secretly cross the siege camp. When he fell into their minds, he spoke to them in a
"barbarous voice" and pretended to be a peasant who was looking for his
chick. They started mocking him and laughing with him, but so he could escape
their attention and escape 21 . The episode is of interest as it raises the question of
what might be the language unknown to us, perhaps spoken John with ease. We
could be led to the hypothesis that John was well aware of the language of his
vicious subordinates. Perhaps he had learned it by associating his vicious
supporters. Maybe he had learned the Vlach in the arms of Mother Gagrini or his
wife and relatives, the Taronades. This comes to reinforce, but it does not prove the
view that Gagrini or the Tarronas were Vlachs.
Nevertheless, John I finally resorted to Thebes, where he sought help from the then
Duke of Athens, John (Jean de la Ros). With the help of Burgundy (francs) rulers of
Athens, finally defeated and expelled the imperial troops from its territory 22 . In
return he offered the hand of another daughter, Eleni Doukaina, and as a dowry the
castles of Siderokastro, Lamia, Gardikou and Gravia to William, brother of the elder
John (Jean) de la Ros and next duke of Athens. The pupil's dowry included the
famous monastery of Osios Louka in Boeotia, which perhaps had passed to her
from the dowry of her mother who was the daughter of the Taronae and the
Leuwans 23 . At about the same time, another daughter of John I became the first
wife of Stephen Milutin, the second son of the then King of Serbia, Stephen Uros,
further strengthening an alliance against the Palaeologists. Milutin ascended to the
Serbian throne in 1282, succeeding his first-born brother, Stephen Dragutin. In the
process he separated from his daughter John I, made two more weddings and
eventually married for the fourth time, in 1299, with the five-year-old Shimonda,
the daughter of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos 24 .
Imperial troops invaded Great Wallachia again in 1278. The invasion ended again
with the victory of John I. Emperor Michael H 'insisted and re-invaded four years
later. His new "weapon" was 400 Tartars of the ruler of the Golden Horde, Hanu
Nogai, from the steppes of present-day southern Russia and Ukraine. The sick
emperor died at the beginning of the campaign, leaving John I the winner once
again, though the Tatars almost deserted his territory. The new emperor, son of the
previous one, Andronikos II Palaiologos attempted one last invasion in 1284,
without bending the resistance of John I. However, he insisted and attempted to
neutralize his opponent by different methods.
His then ally, Epirus Despot Nikiforos II, a half-brother and adversary of John I, and
his wife Anna Kantakouzini Palaiologina captured their nephew Demetrios-Michael,
the first-born son of John I. They had tricked him by calling him to Arta to offer him
a hand of a daughter. The captive was handed over to the emperor in distant
Constantinople in 1284. In the same year, one of the daughters of John I fell in the
hands of the emperor. The young man was engaged in 1281-82 with Theodoros
Svatoslavos, son of Georgios I Terterios, the cumanian cousin of Bulgaria. Terterios
handed over his candidate bride to the emperor when he reconciled with the
Palaeologists, breaking his alliance with the Great Wall. At first, it was considered
that the two captives were in honorary detention in the emperor's court. In
Dimitrios Michael, a marriage was also proposed with a niece of the emperor, the
daughter of John Asan III, the former Tsar of Bulgaria. Through such a marriage,
the emperor hoped to eventually take control of the Great Wall. However, the
permanent thought of the prospective groom has always been the escape, leading
to the jail. He was killed by the Imperial Guard of the Gorges, when many years
later, in 1307, he attempted to escape once again However, the permanent thought
of the prospective groom has always been the escape, leading to the jail. He was
killed by the Imperial Guard of the Gorges, when many years later, in 1307, he
attempted to escape once again However, the permanent thought of the
prospective groom has always been the escape, leading to the jail. He was killed by
the Imperial Guard of the Gorges, when many years later, in 1307, he attempted to
escape once again25 .
John I probably died in 1289 and was buried in the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of
the Great Pillars, known most as Porta Panagia, near the village of Pyli Trikalon, at
the roots of Koziakas. The monastery was founded by him in 1283. His tomb is still
preserved, where, in a fresco of the time, John is portrayed as a monk led by Christ
to the enthroned Virgin. The hegemony of Great Wallachia passed to the second
son of Constantine and the third-born Theodorus, who ruled together, also taking
the title of the sebastokrator. Their mother, daughter of Tarona, became a nun,
taking the name Patience, and retired from the mundane in the monastery of
Theotokos Eleoussis in Lykousada, near the Phanari, which she had founded and
which the Emperor himself took care of. The new rulers continued an ambitious
policy of retaliation and conflict with their relatives and rulers of the Despotate of
Epirus, claiming territories that belonged to the Despotate, in the areas of today's
Aitoloakarnania. They soon retreated, as these lands were given as a dowry to their
cousin, Princess Aikaterini (Thamar), to Philippe Andegau (Anzou) of Taranto. In
1294-95 the two siblings and their sister, the widow of the duke of Athens,
reportedly claimed allegiance to Carol II of Naples, Philip's father, and thus more
closely connected with Latin power as these lands were given as a dowry to the
cousin of the Princess Aikaterini (Thamar) in Filippo Andegau (Anzou) of Taranto. In
1294-95 the two siblings and their sister, the widow of the duke of Athens,
reportedly claimed allegiance to Carol II of Naples, Philip's father, and thus more
closely connected with Latin power as these lands were given as a dowry to the
cousin of the Princess Aikaterini (Thamar) in Filippo Andegau (Anzou) of Taranto. In
1294-95 the two siblings and their sister, the widow of the duke of Athens,
reportedly claimed allegiance to Carol II of Naples, Philip's father, and thus more
closely connected with Latin power26 .
Constantine allegedly married a local governor, Anna Evaillonissa, although he had
been proposed to marry a niece of Serbian King Milutin. For Theodoros, there are
plans to marry, sometimes Theodora, cousin of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos,
and in 1296, Princess of Little Armenia Theodora (Theophano), sister of Rita-Xenis
(Maria) and wife of the previous emperor Michael IV Palaiologos, taking for dowry
the coastal commercial city of Demetrias in Magnesia. The second marriage did not
take place, as the candidate bride died in Thessaloniki while on the way to the
Great Wall. However, Demetrias was not returned to the emperor, creating new
cause for friction 27 .
Theodore was soon out of the spotlight, probably in 1299, and Constantine
remained a ruler of Great Vlachs until his death in 1303. His position was taken by
the minor son of John II Doukas. The rulers of the local aristocracy, possibly
following wills, but more recognizing the weak position in which their hegemony
was found, invited and entrusted the guardianship of John II to his adulthood and
the rule of Great Vlachs at the Duke of Athens Guidon B '(Guy) de la Roos, first
cousin of the minor ruler. The guardian immediately placed one of his Greek
barons, Vakomitis, as his marshal-representative in Great Wallachia, and undertook
to successfully defeat the invasion of Anna Palaiologina from the Despotate of
Epirus, which had passed over Pindos and had reached the Phanar. When John II
became adult, he tried to regain his independence from the duchy of
Athens. Seeking allies, he turned to the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II
Palaiologos and in 1309 (or 1315) he married Irene, a wicked imperial daughter,
also taking the title of the sabastokrator28 . It may be relieved for a while by
contending relatives and neighbors, but it seems to have ruled the Great Wall more
as the emperor's slave than as an independent ruler.
Then the new risk came from the mercenaries of the Catalan Company 29 , who
invaded the north and looted the lands of Great Wallachia in the period 1306-
09. Immediately afterwards, they were recruited by the new Duke of Athens, Valter
I Vrienio (Walter or Gottide A'Breen), and occupied certain fortresses in the south
and east of the hegemony. They even derailed the ducat of their employer. Finally,
the "Vlachion" of Great Vlachia in Central Greece looked like a shadow of its own
when it was dissolved by the death of the eloquent and uninterrupted John II in
1318. Some cities and fortresses, in the north and east, had passed into the hands
of the Emperor Andronikos 2nd Palaiologus, who claimed all of Great Damn as the
possession of his daughter's widow. Other territories, in the west and central, were
under the control of the local aristocracy and others in the south were occupied by
the Catalans, who captured Ypati (New Patras) the following year (1319). The
image complemented by the Venetian domination over the port of Pteleus on the
coasts of Pagasitikos30 . The Great Wallachia ceased to be referred to as a self-
governing hegemony. There followed young short-lived rulers, mainly Byzantines
and Serbs, who either did not possess their lands as a whole or were more likely to
be titulars.
In the middle of the 14th century, taking advantage of the lack of strong local
authority, numerous Vlachs, entire breeds of nomadic farmers from northern
Epirus, present-day southern and central Albania, followed more populous Arvanite
populations and sought better prospects in central Greece. Although the sources
are not entirely clear about their origin, the so-called Malakasi or Malakasiotes
allegedly settled permanently and permanently along the southern Pindos, between
Thessaly and Epirus, and the Boioi or Bouioi in the lands between Thessaly and
Sterea Greece 31 . In 1334, these Arvanites or Vlachs of the Nazi tribes, which may
have numbered a total of 12,000 souls, were forced to declare submission and to
recognize the Byzantine imperial dominion in the lands of Thessaly. Their
submission was made when the Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos sent forces
from Constantinople to validate his local sovereignty. As the warfare took place
during the winter, the unsubstantiated races capitulated fear of the complete
destruction, as they could not take refuge with their families and flocks to the
safety of the mountains. Evolvingly, almost all Arvanites were promoted in southern
Greece, where they strengthened the Arvanite settlements there,32 . Finally, in
1392-94, the Ottomans conquered Thessaly, the castle of Ypati (the Turkish
Patratzik) and the Corinthians arrived.
All of this may sound like a Byzantine tale, but they were a historical
reality. The Chronicle of Morea remains the most well-known source for the events
and spirit of those times, as well as the coexistence of the Vlachs with the events in
the medieval Greek space 33 . Both their name and theirs were closely linked to the
place, so they went even up to the Renaissance Greek literature, judging by their
interesting and protagonist role in the plot of Vetzentzos Kornaros Erotokritos and
their rivalry with the "Kingdom of Athens » 34 .
Through this recapitulation of faces and events we can better understand the
"hegemony" developed in medieval central Greece and more commonly known as
the Great Wall. She was found to balance between independence and subordination
through weddings and betrayal, alliances and wars. It seems to have played the
role of an intermediate space between the Byzantines and the Latins 35 as well as
other territories of Romania after 1204. On the other hand, there is no evidence to
support the view that Great Wallachia was an exclusive creation of Vlach
populations, an independent state with Vlachian superiority, not even a state entity
analogous to the medieval Serbian and Bulgarian states and hegemony. In the case
of the reconstruction of the medieval Bulgarian state in the times of the Assad
dynasty, the local "Vlach populations", whatever they may have been, contributed
decisively both to the birth of the dynasty and to the state's consolidation. Besides,
in westernmost sources this state was known as the "Empire of Bulgarians and
Vlachs" 36 . On the contrary, Great Wallachia has never been a forgotten historical
homeland of a particular people. However, the medieval Vlach populations of Great
Wallachia are the ancestral roots of the people of Vlach origin who live today in
Greece and the Southern Balkans. Their historical identity was shaped and
coincided with that of the medieval Byzantine world. In addition, it has distanced
itself and differentiated essentially and decisively from other populations also
known as "Vlach" in northern Balkan regions. Medieval historical evidence favors
the view that, irrespective of their older or modern ethno-linguistic identity, the
Vlachs of the southern Balkans are a constituent element of Modern Greek historical
reality.
The Great Wallachia and Byzantine commonwealth (13 th - 14 th century):
balancing between independence and servitude through weddings and betrayals,
alliances and wars
Asterios Koukoudis
Istor, 15 (2009), sel.49-61

GENETIC TREATMENT OF THE DRAPER OF THE DEPPOSE OF EPIRUS AND

THE LARGE SLAUGHTER
FAMILY TREE OF THE DUCAS DYNASTY OF THE DISPOSITION OF EPIRUS
AND GREAT VLACHIA
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Footnotes

1 . The work was presented for the first time at an event by the Association of
Friends of the Byzantine Museum of Veria in February 2007. The project was
presented on the Internet at www.vlachs.gr and www.tamos.gr
2 . In 976 somewhere between Kastoria and Prespa some of the Vlachs traveled to
David, one of the brothers of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel; Stavridou-Zafraka (2000:
171), Theocharides (1980: 260), Winnifrith 1987: 100).
3 . Kecked (1996: 214-239, 252-255), Winnifrith (1987: 106, 108, 110-111),
Harvey (1997: 190-191, 256-257).
4 . "It reaches the area of Larissa, it passes from the mountain of Kellia, leaves to
the right the public avenue and the mountain that the locals call Kissavos and
descends to Ezevan, a Vlach village, very close to Andronia" Komneni (1990: 198) ,
Winnifrith (1987: 111).
5. "On one day we arrive at the Sinon River [Zitouni / Lamia], where about fifty
Jews live, with the rabbis Solomon and Jacob among them. The city is at the foot of
the Wallachian hills. In these mountains lives the nation called Vlachs. They are
very fast and descend from the mountains to destroy and plunder the Greek
land. No one can fight them, and no king manages to rule them. They are not
particularly attached to the faith of the Nazarenes [Christians], but give themselves
Judean names. Some argue that these are Jews - and indeed they call their Jewish
brothers - and when they meet with them, though they rob them, they do not kill
them, as they do with the Greeks. They are all out of the law "· Benjamin of Tudelis
(1994: 63).
6 . (1980: 109-117, 121-123), Stavridou-Zafraka (2000: 171-179), Winnifrith
(1987: 119), Magdalino (1991) : 40-45). It is noted that during the same period, in
the 13th century, the present Romanian province north of the Danube, which
evolutionarily prevailed to be the most famous of all "Vlachs", was known as
Cumania, a country of the Cumans.
7 . Municipality (1990: 279-302), Lambropoulos (1988: 271-272).
8 . Lampropoulos (1988: 157, 281-282).
9 . The conclusion is drawn from a conciliatory decision of divorce by Ioannis
Dekaucus, from which we inform you that the genius of Malina Theodora had
compelled an eighteen-year-old reader to marry a woman who probably had her
grandmother's years. Her name was Roussa, originated from the mountains of
Velechatou, was "barbarian" and spoke Greek with difficulty; Stavridou-Zafraka
(2000: 178-179). It is most likely that Lampropoulos (1988: 210-211, 289-290) is
wrong to consider Roussa Slavophone.
10 . Kordatos (1960: 159-161).
11 . More about the life and politics of John 1 and his successors, (1995: 74, 79-
81), Tarfali (1994: 176-178), Paparrigopoulos (1992: 35-36, 47-48), Theocharides
(1980: 353, 356) , 358). For the spirit of those times and for the historical events
in central Greece, Lock (1998: in particular 170-184), Nicol (1991: 21-117),
Ostrogorsky (1981: sporadic and 189-190), Magdalino (1991: 33-52).
12 . Ziagos (1974: 112, 134).
13 . From the letters of the Bishop of Nafpaktos, Ioannis Apakyakos, we are
informed about the existence of several people named Taronas or Targonitis, who
were probably members of the same family. In 1223, a Targonite former "ruler" of
Angelokastro, near the estuary of Acheloos, had fallen into disrepute and was
imprisoned by Epirus Theodore Doukas of Epirus. In the same year, another
Tarone, formerly "intercepted" by the despot, that is, a leader or a member of his
personal guard, having, rather, conspired against him, demanded forgiveness. Yet
another, Nikolaos Taronas, was the founder of a homonymous monastery in Patras,
in Arta · Lambropoulos (1988: 140-141, 228-229, 291).
14 . For influential members of the Tarnovites, Kalomenopoulos and Kambouroglou
(1933). Evolutionally, although unknown when, a branch of the Tarnovites was
established in Athens. During the Turko-Venetian wars, they fought for the
Venetians head of the military. They have developed close relations with eminent
families of Athens, such as the Chalconcondyles, the Cordes, the Astrakarians and
others, and received titles of nobility from the Venetians. Their last descendant,
Leander Tarounitis, died in Athens in the late 18th century.
15 . Magdalino (1991: 45-46).
16 . Kalomenopoulos (1933: 358).
17 . Efthimios (1996: 146-147).
18 . Magdalino (1991: 33-34).
19 . Nicol (1991: 23).
20 . Velkos (1980: 61-62).
21 . Efthimios (1996: 148).
22 . For the medieval duchy of Athens and its relations with the Great
Wallachia, Konstantinidis (1996: 337-394).
23 . Magdalino (1991: 45-46).
24 . For the four weddings of Milutin, Fine (1994: 185, 217, 222).
25 . Nicol (1991: 43), Fine (1994: 198-199).
26 . Magdalino (1991: 36-37).
27 . For the politics and marriages of Constantine and Theodore, Davlia (2002: 95-
105) and Nicol (1991: 87-89).
28 . Magdalino (1991: 37) and Nicol (1991: 103-104, 115).
29 . More about the Catalans, Lock (1998: 185-218).
30 . Ziagos (1974: 126-131, 134-137, 143-145, 149) and Fine (1994: 230-250).
31 . Pouqueville (1994: 287-319), Hammond (ch.er.:39), Winnifrith (1987: 120-
121), Vakalopoulos (1974: 25-40), Ziagos (1974: 218-225), Magdalino : 40-41,
46-48).
32 . Pouqueville (1994: 287-319), Aravantinos (1856: 112-113), Aravantinos
(1903: 31-32), Krystallis (1959: 518-519), Soulis (1980: 127-130), Winnifrith -
121), Vakalopoulos (1974: 25-40), Psimouli (1998: 34-57).
33 . Anonymous (e. G., Nst, 45, 47, 109, 132, 150-164, 174, 236, 322-323).
34 . Kornaros (1994: nz'nomi, p'-pa) and Magdalino (1991: 35).
35 . Magdalino (1991: 33-35).
36 . Fine (1994: 10-33).
Istor , 15 (2007), 1-16