Editing Peloponnese (section)

====Despotate of Morea and Ottoman incursions====
Frankish supremacy in the peninsula, however, received a critical blow after the [[Battle of Pelagonia]], when [[William II of Villehardouin]] was forced to cede the newly constructed fortress and palace at [[Mystras]] near ancient [[Sparta]] to a resurgent Byzantium. At this point, the emperor concluded an agreement with the captive prince: William and his men would be set free in exchange for an oath of fealty, and for the cession of Monemvasia, Grand Magne, and Mystras.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=122–125}} The handover was effected in 1262, and henceforth Mystras was the seat of the governor of the Byzantine territories in the Morea. Initially this governor (''[[kephale (Byzantine Empire)|kephale]]'') was changed every year, but after 1308 they started being appointed for longer terms.{{sfn|Gregory|Ševčenko|1991|p=1382}} Almost immediately on his return to the Morea, William of Villehardouin renounced his oath to the emperor, and warfare broke out between Byzantines and Franks. The first Byzantine attempts to subdue the Principality of Achaea were beaten back in the battles of [[Battle of Prinitsa|Prinitsa]] and [[Battle of Makryplagi|Makryplagi]], but the Byzantines were firmly ensconced in Laconia. Warfare became endemic, and the Byzantines slowly pushed the Franks back.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=129ff.}} The insecurity engendered by the raids and counter-raids caused the inhabitants of Lacedaemon to abandon their exposed city and settle at Mystras, in a new town built under the shadow of the fortress.

While Mystras served as the provincial capital from this time, it became a royal capital in 1349, when the first despot was appointed to rule over the Morea. The Byzantine Emperor [[John VI Kantakouzenos]], reorganized the territory in 1349 to establish it as an [[appanage]] for his son, the [[Despot (court title)|Despot]] [[Manuel Kantakouzenos]]. Around that time, the [[Ottoman Turks]] began raiding the Peloponnese, but their raids intensified only after 1387 when the energetic [[Evrenos Bey]] took control. Exploiting the quarrels between Byzantines and Franks, he plundered across the peninsula and forced both the Byzantine despots and the remaining Frankish rulers to acknowledge Ottoman suzerainty and pay tribute. This situation lasted until the Ottoman defeat at the [[Battle of Ankara]] in 1402, after which Ottoman power was for a time checked.<ref name="EI2-237">Bées & Savvides (1993), p. 237</ref> From 1349 until its surrender to the [[Ottoman Turks]] on 31 May 1460, Mystras was the residence of a [[Despot (court title)|Despot]] who ruled over the Byzantine Morea, known as the "[[Despotate of the Morea]]". For the larger portion of his reign, Manuel maintained peaceful relations with his Latin neighbors and secured a long period of prosperity for the area. Greco-Latin cooperation included an alliance to contain the raids of the Ottoman Sultan [[Murad I]] into Morea in the 1360s. The rival [[Palaiologos]] dynasty seized the Morea after Manuel's death in 1380, with [[Theodore I Palaiologos]] becoming despot in 1383. 

Theodore I ruled until 1407, consolidating Byzantine rule and coming to terms with his more powerful neighbours—particularly the expansionist [[Ottoman Empire]], whose [[suzerainty]] he recognised.{{sfn|Runciman|2009}} Subsequent despots were the sons of the Emperor [[Manuel II Palaiologos]], brother of the despot Theodore: Theodore II, Constantine, Demetrios, and Thomas. As Latin power in the Peloponnese waned during the 15th century, the Despotate of the Morea expanded to incorporate the entire peninsula in 1430 with territory being acquired by dowry settlements, and the conquest of [[Patras]] by Constantine. However, in 1446 the Ottoman Sultan [[Murad II]] destroyed the Byzantine defences—the [[Hexamilion wall]] at the [[Isthmus of Corinth]].{{sfn|Rosser|2011|page=335}} His attack opened the peninsula to invasion, though Murad died before he could exploit this. His successor [[Mehmed II]] "the Conqueror" [[Fall of Constantinople|captured]] the Byzantine capital [[Constantinople]] in 1453. The despots, [[Demetrios Palaiologos]] and [[Thomas Palaiologos]], brothers of the last emperor, failed to send him any aid, as Morea was recovering from a recent Ottoman attack. Their own incompetence resulted in the [[Morea revolt of 1453–1454]] led by [[Manuel Kantakouzenos (usurper)|Manuel Kantakouzenos]] against them, during which they invited in Ottoman troops to help them put down the revolt. At this time, the [[Greeks|Greek]] ''archons'' made peace with Mehmed.<ref>[http://angiolello.net/ARCHONS.pdf Contemporary Copy of the Letter of Mehmet II to the Greek Archons 26 December 1454 (ASV Documenti Turchi B.1/11)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727041148/http://angiolello.net/ARCHONS.pdf |date=27 July 2013}}</ref> After more years of incompetent rule by the despots, their failure to pay their annual tribute to the Sultan, and finally their own revolt against Ottoman rule, Mehmed came into the Morea in May 1460. Demetrios ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas fled. By the end of the summer the Ottomans had achieved the submission of virtually all cities possessed by the [[Greeks]].

Ottoman incursions into the Morea resumed under [[Turahan Bey]] after 1423. Despite the reconstruction of the Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus of Corinth, the Ottomans under [[Murad II]] breached it in 1446, forcing the Despots of the Morea to re-acknowledge Ottoman suzerainty, and again under Turahan in 1452 and 1456. Following the occupation of the [[Duchy of Athens]] in 1456, the Ottomans occupied a third of the Peloponnese in 1458, and Sultan [[Mehmed II]] extinguished the remnants of the Despotate in 1460. A few holdouts remained for a time. The rocky peninsula of [[Monemvasia]] refused to surrender, and it was first ruled for a brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out, they obtained the consent of Thomas to submit to the Pope's protection before the end of 1460. The [[Mani Peninsula]] at the south end of the Morea resisted under a loose coalition of the local clans, and that area then came under [[Venice]]'s rule. The last holdout was [[Salmeniko]], in the Morea's northwest. [[Graitzas Palaiologos]] was the military commander there, stationed at [[Salmeniko Castle]]. While the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian territory.<ref name="EI2-237"/> Only the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] fortresses of [[Methoni, Messenia|Modon]], [[Koroni|Coron]], [[Pylos|Navarino]], [[Monemvasia]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Nauplion]] escaped Ottoman control.<ref name="EI2-237"/>