Mystras

Mystras

Mystras was a fortified town in Peloponnese, on Mount Taygetos, near ancient Sparta. It lies approximately 8km west of the modern town of Sparti. In 1249 Mystras became the seat of the Latin Principality of Achaea, established in 1205 after the conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade & Prince William II Villehardouin, a grand-nephew of the Fourth Crusade historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin, built a palace there. In 1261, the Latins ceded Mystras & other forts in the southeastern Peloponnese as ransom for William II, who had been captured in Pelagonia & Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city the seat of the new Despotate of Morea. It remained the capital of the despotate, ruled by relatives of the Byzantine emperor, although the Venetians still controlled the coast & the islands. Mystras & the rest of Morea became relatively prosperous after 1261, compared to the rest of the empire. Under the despot Theodore it became the second most important city in the empire after Constantinople & William II’s palace became the second residence of the emperors.