Albanians in early medieval Greece. Historical exegesis through the Byzantine and Cypriot chronicles

Albanians in early medieval Greece. Historical exegesis through the Byzantine and Cypriot chronicles

(by Vincenzino Ducas Angeli Vaccaro)

Thanks to the well-known studies from French, German and especially Greek scholars, most of the obscure aspects of the history of medieval Greece, at the end of the nineteenth century, had a worthy and unexpected brightness. They based their work on the news taken from the local chronicles, in part lost due to the Turkish invasion, and the monumental correspondence offered by the Venetian, Spanish, French and partly Italian Archives have been abundantly. Only on the island of Cyprus, Kostantinos Sathas reminds us, the Albanians escaped the catastrophe of Muslim wrath, and among them the Chronicles of Cyprus by Leontoi de Macheras written around 1320 proved to be important for this historical investigation. The original Manuscript of the Chronicles of Cyprus (found in Oxford) was published in 1882 by "L'Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes", whose Greek text was edited by Emmanuel Miller and Kostantinos Sathas.

The conventional historiography has always held that the first appearances of the Albanian element, specifically in Thessaly, occurred around the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, until, in 1830, the theory of a Tyrolean historian, Fallmerayer. The Tyrolean historian argued that the ancient Greek element was totally destroyed by an invasion of Slavs, and after the decline, Greece was almost repopulated by them. But Cyprus, according to the Sathas, was never invaded and conquered by the Slavs, unless the Fallmerayer wanted to extend the destruction of the Greek element to the island as well. The Sathas has scientifically proved that these alleged Slavs were none other than Albanians and that the Byzantines, out of ignorance, confused with this ancient people.

In the Chronicles of Cyprus, in volume I, page 16, Macheras writes: "The Albanians settled on the island around the fourth century, forming a caste which still exists today". Sathas continues: "Any theory of Slavic invasion in Greece is to be considered incredible and unsustainable, recognizing in modern Greece a pronounced presence of the Albanian element, especially that which the Albanian language has exercised over the Greek one" - continues the Sathas - "The solution of this question will allow us to what extent the Albanian has influenced the Cypriot ancient language and that of Greece as a whole".

The Fallmerayer, in 1836 decided to go personally to Greece and to accompany him was the Russian Count Alexander Tolstoy. When he arrived in Morea he was deeply impressed by the preponderant presence of the Albanian language; he himself later wrote: "the whole Morea is flooded with the Albanian speech". He arrived in the same 1836, in the preface of the second volume of the "Geschichte", to write: "the revolution for the independence of Greece was an Albanian revolution and not of the Greeks".

To further corroborate the certain theses of Sathas was an English traveler, Simon Simeoni who visited Greece in 1322, who left us an interesting description of the inhabitants of Greece, Greeks and Albanians, where the modus vivendi was completely different from that of the their neighbors, the Slavs; not only the costume, but also the hat (chlamys) and the form "de la chevelure" of these two peoples, consanguineous and of the same religion (orthodox), differ from that of the Slavs. Simeoni writes: "Sclavi enim sunt Boemis in lingua multum conformes ... East Albania province inter Sclavoniam (Illyria) et Romaniam (Greece), per se linguam habens ... Ipsi enim Albanenses schismatici sunt, Graecorum utentes ritu, et eisdem habitu et gestu in omnibus conformes ".

In the Chronicles of Cyprus, Macheras points out, as written above, that the Albanians who arrived on the island during the fourth century soon succeeded in creating their own caste, imposing on a large part of the island's population their own habits and customs and relatively, Sathas writes in the preface of the Chronicles, also influencing the ancient Cypriot language.

Pre-medieval settlements of Albanians in Greece, recognized as ancient tribes by the indigenous people are the Argolis Albanians, now largely Hellenized, called "those of the Island of Dano -Danoa- Danaoi. Another ancient tribe settled in the mountains. of Trifilia (Eparchy of Trifilia) and nicknamed Drèdes (Valorous warriors).

Ancient tribe of the Taygetos Albanians today is extinct. It was identified by Constantine Porphyrogenitus with the name of Milligoi. A 10th century document found and published in 1865 by the German scholars J.Samuel Ersch and J.Gottfried Gruber informs us that the Milligoi are none other than the Myrmidons. A village in Laconia still bears the name of Meligoi. The Sathas is convinced that the Meligoi or Miligoi come from the Pindos Mountains, where in fact there is a tribe named Mirmidones. It is known that the Myrmidons derive their name from the ant (murmiz), but the modern Tzaconi and all Albanians call the ant meligoi or melingoi. So the Mirmidones or the Meligoi settled on the Taygetos? Certainly, an ancient Albanian tribe.

Another theme very dear to Kostantinos Sathas was the question of the Mardaites. They were none other than the predecessors of the Stradioti, mercenaries in the pay of Venice and other European powers throughout the Middle Ages. The Byzantines recognized their deeds defined as the "tactics of the Mardaites", as they were the first to use the tactics of an organized ambush. The first appearance of the Mardaites in the service of the Byzantines dates back to the eighth century, but is also known their settlement in Lebanon in 677. Many conjectures have been made about the origin of the Mardaites and the main mistake was that of being considered them as people, while in reality they were only a military organization (tàgma tòn Mardaitòn).

Two of the oldest Byzantine chroniclers wrote about them: Theophanes simply calls them Mardaites, the second, the Patriarch Nikephoros, "locuntas splitas", ie "warriors who ambush".

Throughout the Middle Ages the name of the Mardaites is found in Peloponnese, Crete, Candia, Ténos, Kèos, Kefalonia, Epirus. In Candia we find crossbowmen in the service of Venice the Murtatos (Crhonicum Tarvisinum 1372). The Byzantines in the 10th and 11th centuries call them Murtaitas and Murtatus. Venice itself has families of feudal lords of Tènos and Crete: Mordati and Mortati, we find the Mardaiti no longer as a military organization but as a family (Cancelleria Secreta).

Georgio Codino, in De Officialibus palati Costantinopolitani and in de Officis Magnae Ecclesiae, published by I. Bekker in 1839, counts in the fifteenth century among the dignitaries of the Constantinopolitan court, now at the end, the Murtaites, the megas Murtaites and the Murtaites stratopedarchs. Therefore also in Constantinople they from military organization became a high-ranking family as well as feudal lords. Certainly, even in the Peloponnese there were feudal lords and excellent men of arms, and this is confirmed by Anna Comnenus (1103). In fact, she informs us that the Peloponnesian feudal lords excelled in fighting and above all in those of the sea.

In the records of the two expeditions against the Arabs of Crete, the Mardaites provided the imperial fleet, the first time with 5087 and the second with 3000 armed men. These numbers represent the contingents provided by the Mardaites of the Peloponnese, Epirus and Kefalonia (Historia Miscella).

But who were the Mardaites really? Did they have Albanian, Greek or Middle Eastern origins?

Ultimately the Mardaites were not a people, but a body of warriors whose main tactics consisted of ambushes and these tactics were typical of the Albanians of Albania and Greece. A district of Ciameria and another of northern Albania still preserve the memory of the Mardaites: Mirditia. Furthermore, the name of the Mardaites originates from the Albanian word marda which means fold. The name is not found today rare in Epirus and Greece, in some areas in Mirtidi in other Mortati and in Greece, in the Eparchy of Trifilia, we find an ancient Albanian village which is called Mortatu. Summing up, it is deduced that the name of the Mardaites is one of those who came to Greece before the Middle Ages.

Another very important aspect, common to the two peoples, Albanians and Greeks, is the Pyrrhic dance.

According to some, the creator of this military dance was the god Curete Pirricos, according to others, Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. This dance, nowadays by the Greeks, is known as the dance of the Arvaniti which from their song call "Bale" (with the beta). It certainly has Epirote origins and was widely used under Constantine Porphyrogenitus who used to call in ancient Greek "balesmos" of the Albanians. The Venetians called it "Moresca" due to the Mauritian origin of some pantomimes. G. Haecquard writes: "the dance of the Cretan Albanians is a composition of jumps ... she pretends to mimic the scenes of life ... a sort of dance called" bale ", in use by these Albanians since the dawn of time ".

It is therefore possible to deduce that these ancient Albanians who arrived in Greece before the Middle Ages have left a profound trace in every discipline. Certainly, the progress of history will inform us with more meticulousness, dates, circumstances, and events.

Essential Bibliography K. Sathas Mnemeia Elleninikes Historias -Documents inèdits relatifs à l'histoire de la Grèce au Moyen Age Vol. IV, Prefazione. Paris Maisonneuve et C Editeurs 1881;

Leontioi Makaira, Cronique de Chypre ( Testo Greco). Pubblicazione e cura di E. Miller e K. Sathas ( Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes). Paris, Ernest Leroux Editeur 1882;

Itinerarium Simeon Someoni Cambridge 1914 in K. Sathas o.c.;
Leonici Calcondylae, Istoriarum Demonstrationes, Budapest 1922 in K. Sathas o.c.;

J. SamuelErsch e J. Gottfried Gruber, Encyclopedie historique Allemande. Paris 1883;

Alfred Nicolas Rambaud, L'Empire Grec au X° siécle, Costantin Porphirogènit. Librarie A. Frank, Paris 1870.