Benutzer:HajjiBaba/Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae

Vorlage:Under construction Vorlage:Italic title Vorlage:Infobox treaty The Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae (Latin for "Partition of the lands of the empire of RomaniaVorlage:Efn [i.e., the Byzantine Empire]) was a treaty signed among the crusaders after the sack of the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It established the Latin Empire and arranged the nominal partition of the Byzantine territory among the participants of the Crusade, with the Republic of Venice being the greatest titular beneficiary. However, because the crusaders did not in fact control most of the Empire, with local Byzantine Greek nobles establishing the Byzantine successor kingdoms (Empire of Nicaea, Empire of Trebizond, Despot of Epirus), most of the crusaders' declared division of the Empire amongst themselves could never be implemented.

Provisions

The treaty, which was promulgated either in late September or early October 1204 (according to the opinions of W. Heyd, Dionysios Zakythinos, and A. Carile) or (according to Nikolaos Oikonomides) immediately after the sack in April–May 1204,Vorlage:Sfn was drafted by a 24-man committee consisting of 12 Venetians and 12 representatives of the other Crusader leaders.Vorlage:Sfn The Venetians played a major role in the proceedings, as they had first-hand knowledge of the area, and many of the final text's provisions can be traced to the imperial chrysobull granted to Venice in 1198 by Alexios III Angelos.Vorlage:Sfn

The Latin text of the treaty was first published in the collection of Venetian diplomatic documents compiled by Gottlieb Tafel and Georg Thomas for the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna in 1856,Vorlage:Sfn while A. Carile published an up-to-date edition with full commentary in 1965.Vorlage:Sfn It gave the Latin Emperor direct control of one fourth of the Byzantine territory, to Venice three eighths – including three eighths of the city of Constantinople, with Hagia Sophia – and the remaining three eighths were apportioned among the other Crusader chiefs. Through this division, Venice became the chief power in Latin Romania, and the effective power behind the Latin Empire, a fact clearly illustrated by the lofty title its Doge acquired: Dominator quartae et dimidiae partis totius Romaniae ("Lord of a quarter and a half quarter of all of Romania").

Lands assigned to Venice

According to the treaty's provisions, the share of the "Doge and Commune of Venice" (pars domini Ducis et communis Venetiae) was:

• in Thrace:
  • the cities (civitasVorlage:Efn) of Arcadiopolis, Mosynopolis (Missini), Bulgarophygon, belonging to the district (pertinentiaVorlage:Efn) of ArcadiopolisVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of Poutza (pertinentia Putis et Nicodimi)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the city of Heraclea Perinthus (civitas Heraclee)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the district of Chalkis with the cities of Rodosto and Panidos with all their dependencies (cum omnibus, que sub ipsis)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the city of Adrianople with its dependenciesVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of GanosVorlage:Sfn
  • the casaliaVorlage:Efn of Chortocop[l]i, Chotriki, Kerasea, and Myriophyton (Miriofitum)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the district of PeristasisVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of BrachiolionVorlage:Sfn
  • the casalia of Raulatis and Hexamilion, Emporion, and SagudaiVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of GallipoliVorlage:Sfn
  • the localities of Lazos and LactusVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of Muntimanis and Sigopotamos with their dependenciesVorlage:Sfn
• in the Peloponnese:
  • the province of Lacedaemonia and the "minor and major episkepseis" (micra et megali episkepsis) in it, and the town of KalavrytaVorlage:Sfn
  • the site of Ostrovos (Ostrouos)Vorlage:SfnVorlage:Efn
  • the horionVorlage:Efn of Patras and Methone with its dependencies, "namely the district of the Branas family",Vorlage:Sfn the district of the Kantakouzenos estates, along with the estates of kyra Irene, daughter of Emperor kyr Alexios III, and the estates of Molinetes, of Pantokrator [Monastery] and other monasteries, and other estates that are in them, that is the "minor and major episkepseis"Vorlage:Sfn
• in the Aegean:
  • the towns of Oreos and Karystos in EuboeaVorlage:Sfn
  • the island of AndrosVorlage:Sfn
  • the Saronic Gulf islands of Aegina and Salamis (Culuris)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the province of ColonieVorlage:Efn with the Cyclades IslandsVorlage:Sfn
  • the district of Levitha (pertinentia Lopadi)Vorlage:Sfn
• in western Greece and Albania"
  • the islands of Zakynthos and CephaloniaVorlage:SfnVorlage:Efn
  • Nicopolis with the district of Arta and Achelous, of Anatoliko, Lesiana, "and other archonships and monasteries" (et de ceteris archondorum et monasteriorum)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Dyrrhachium and Arbanon, with the chartoularataVorlage:Efn of Glavinitza and VagenetiaVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of IoanninaVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of DryinopolisVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of OhridVorlage:Sfn
  • the islands of Lefkada and CorfuVorlage:Sfn

Lands assigned to the Latin Emperor

According to its provisions, the portion of the Latin Emperor (pars domini Imperatoris) was:

• in Thrace:
  • from the Golden Gate and Blachernae and the western shore of the Bosporus (Stenon),Vorlage:Efn up to Mideia and Agathopolis on the Black Sea coast. Likewise from Bizye to Tzurulon (Zurlo) and Theodoropolis on the Sea of Marmara.Vorlage:Sfn
• in Asia Minor:
  • the province of OptimatoiVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of NicomediaVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Tarsia, Plousias, and Metabole, along with Servochoria and all their dependenciesVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Paphlagonia and the BucellariiVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Oenoe and Sinope and PavraeVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Pylae, Pythia, and KeramaVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of MalaginaVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of AchyraiVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Adramyttium, Chliara, and PergamonVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of NeokastraVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Mylasa and MelanoudionVorlage:Sfn
  • the province of Laodicea and the Maeander, with the district of Sampson and Samakion (Samakii),Vorlage:Efn with the estates of the Kontostephanoi (Contostephanatis) and the Kamytzai (Camizatis) families and other places, as well as ChiosVorlage:Sfn
• in the Aegean:
  • the island of Mytilene (i.e., Lesbos)Vorlage:Sfn
  • the islands of Lemnos and Skyros, and the islands this side of Abydos (i.e., in the Sea of Marmara), namely Proconnesus and the others, with StrobilosVorlage:Sfn
  • the islands of Samos and Tinos with SamothraceVorlage:Sfn

Effects

The Partitio Romaniae initiated the period of the history of Greece known as Frankokratia or Latinokratia ("Frankish/Latin rule"), where Catholic West European nobles, mostly from France and Italy, established states on former Byzantine territory and ruled over the mostly Orthodox native Byzantine Greeks. The provisions of the Partitio Romaniae were not fully carried out; much of the Byzantine realm fell into the hands not of the crusaders who had sacked the capital but of the local Byzantine Greek nobles, who established the Byzantine successor states of the Despotate of Epirus, the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond, while the Crusaders also squabbled among themselves. The Latin Empire itself, consisting of the area surrounding Constantinople, Thrace, and the Sea of Marmara was also drawn into a disastrous conflict with the powerful Second Bulgarian Empire. Latin rule became most firmly established and lasted longest in southern Greece (the Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens), as well as the Aegean islands, which came largely under the control of Venice.

Importance as a historical source

As the division was based on now lost documents and tax registers from the Byzantine imperial chancery, the Partitio Romaniae is a valuable document for the administrative divisions (episkepseis) and estates of the various Byzantine magnate families ca. 1203, as well as the areas still controlled by the Byzantine central government at the time.

Sources

• Vorlage:ODB
• A. Carile: Partitio terrarum imperii Romanie. In: Studi Veneziani. 7. Jahrgang, 1965, S. 125–305. 
• Johannes Koder, Friedrich Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 1: Hellas und Thessalia. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, Austria 1976, ISBN 3-7001-0182-1 (google.com). 
• Andreas Külzer: Tabula Imperii Byzantini: Band 12, Ostthrakien (Eurōpē). Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-7001-3945-4 (oeaw.ac.at). 
• Ljubomir Maksimović: The Byzantine Provincial Administration under the Palaiologoi. Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 90-256-0968-6. 
• Donald M. Nicol: Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-521-42894-1 (google.com). 
• Peter Soustal, Johannes Koder: Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 3: Nikopolis und Kephallēnia. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-7001-0399-9 (google.com). 
• Gottlieb Lukas Friedrich Tafel, Georg Martin Thomas: Urkunden zur älteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig, mit besonderer Beziehung auf Byzanz und die Levante: Vom neunten bis zum Ausgang des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts. 1. Theil (814–1205). Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1856 (mdz-nbn-resolving.de). 
• Peter Thonemann: The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011, ISBN 978-1-107-00688-1 (google.com).