♦Despotat of Epeiros.♦
We have seen how the despotat of Epeiros parted away from the momentary Empire of Thessalonikê. The despots, like their neighbours, often found it convenient to acknowledge the overlordship of some other power, Venice, Nikaia, Sicily, or Achaia. The boundaries of their dominions were greatly cut short by the advance of the restored Empire and by the cessions to Manfred of Sicily. ♦Dismemberment of the despotat.♦ A state was left which took in old Epeiros, Akarnania, and Aitôlia, save the points on the coast which were held by other powers. Arta, the old Ambrakia, was, as in the days of Pyrrhos, its head. ♦1271-1318.
1309.♦ Another branch reigned in Great Blachia or Thessaly, with its capital at Neopatra, a capital presently lost to the Catalan invaders. ♦1318.
1339.
Servian conquest. 1331-1355.♦ Next the greater part of Thessaly, and then Epeiros itself, were recovered by the Empire, and then all gradually passed under the Servian power. On the break-up of that power came a time of utter confusion and endless shiftings, which has however one marked feature. ♦Advance of the Albanians.♦ The Albanian race now comes fully to the front. Albanian settlers press into all the southern lands, and Albanian principalities stand forth on a level with those held by Greek and Latin lords.
♦Kings of Albania of the house of Thopia, 1358-1392.♦
The chief Albanian power which arose within the bounds of the despotat was the house of Thopia in northern Epeiros. ♦1366.♦ They called themselves Kings of Albania; they won Durazzo from the Angevins, and their power lasted till that duchy passed to Venice. ♦Servian dynasty in Epeiros. 1359.♦ To the south of them, in southern Epeiros, Akarnania, and Aitolia, reigned a Servian dynasty, whose prince Stephen Urosh added Thessaly to his dominions, and called himself Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks.[39] ♦1363.♦ His western dominion passed from him. A Servian despot ruled at Jôannina, and an Albanian despot at Arta. ♦Kingdom of Thessaly.
Turkish conquest.
1393.♦ But Thessaly went on as a kingdom, taking in the greater part of the land anciently so called,[40] a kingdom which was the first Hellenic land to pass under the power of the Turk. ♦1396.♦ Neopatra and Salôna followed, and the Ottoman power stretched to the Corinthian gulf, and parted asunder the still independent states of Western Greece from Attica and Peloponnêsos.
In Epeiros the Servian and Albanian despots had both to yield to Italian houses. ♦Buondelmonti in Northern Epeiros.♦ Northern Epeiros passed to the Florentine house of Buondelmonte. ♦The house of Tocco.♦ To the south arose a dynasty of greater interest, the Beneventan house of Tocco, the last independent princes in Western Greece. ♦1357.♦ They first, as counts palatine, held Kephallênia and Zakynthos as a fief of the Latin Empire. ♦1362.♦ Then they won Leukadia with the ducal title. ♦1394.♦ They next began a continental dominion, first for a moment in Peloponnêsos, then more lastingly in the lands near their island duchy. ♦1405-1418.♦ Duke Charles of Leukadia gradually won all Epeiros save the Venetian posts; and he, his wife, and his heirs were called Despot of Romania, King of Epeiros, and even Empress of the Romans.[41] ♦Its effects.♦ This dynasty, though not long-lived on the mainland, is of real and abiding importance in the history of the Greek nation. The advance of the Albanians was checked; their settlements were thrust further north and further south, while the Beneventan dominions became and remained purely Greek. ♦Venetian and Turkish occupation. 1430.♦ Soon after the death of Duke Charles, the Turk won Jôannina and the greater part of Epeiros; but his son kept Arta and its neighbourhood for nineteen years as a vassal of Venice. ♦1449.♦ Then the dominions of Duke Charles became the Turkish province of Karlili. ♦1449-1479.
1481-1483.♦ The house of Tocco kept its island possessions for thirty years longer. Then they too passed to the Turk, to be recovered for a moment by their own Duke, and then to be struggled for between Turk and Venetian.
♦Northern Albania.♦
Meanwhile the strictly Albanian lands, from the Akrokeraunian point northwards, were subdued by the Turk, were freed, and subdued again. ♦1414.
Turkish conquest. 1431.♦ Early in the fifteenth century the Turk won all Albania, except the Venetian posts. ♦Revolt. 1448.♦ Seventeen years later came a revolt and a successful defence of the country, whose later stages are ennobled by the name of George Kastriota of Croja, the famous Scanderbeg. ♦Death of Scanderbeg. 1467.♦ His death gave his land back to the Ottoman, while Croja itself was for a while held by Venice. The whole Greek and Albanian mainland was now divided between Turk and Venetian.
♦The Empire of Trebizond.♦
Lastly, we must not forget that Greek state which outlived all the rest. Far away, on the furthest bounds of the elder Empire, the Empire of Trebizond had the honour of being the last remaining fragment of the Eastern Roman power. The rule of the Grand Komnênos survived the fall of Constantinople; it survived the conquest of Athens and Peloponnêsos.
♦Origin of the Empire. 1204.♦