Kladas

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Krokodēlos Kladas (Greek: Κροκόντηλος Κλαδάς), born about 1425, led stratioti in the Peloponese (Morea) in the 15th century. He was a member of the prominent Kladas clan. When Mehmed II took the Morea in 1460, Kladas handed over his castle of Ag. Giorgios and was given in exchange the castle of Vardounia in Upper Mani and the territory of Elos.^[1] By 1465 the Kladas brothers --Krokodēlos and Epifani -- were leading bands of stratioti (warrior bands) on behalf of Venice against the Turks. They put Vardounia and their lands into Venetian possession, for which Epifani then acted as governor. The Kladas brothers were frequently complimented by Venetian officials, and received generous Venetian gifts. In 1477, they led the resistance that drove an Ottoman invading force out of Mani.^[2] Krokodēlos Kladas and his followers stood in the position of rebels against Mehmed, but the Venetian-Ottoman peace settlement [1], while giving them a full pardon, also returned territorial boundaries to what they had been in 1463, so this put the Venetian-Kladas land holdings back into Ottoman possession. Kladas moved to Venetian-held Koroni.

On October 9, 1480, Kladas led stratioti from Koroni to attack Ottoman holdings in Mani. A number of Turks were killed. Both Ottomans and Venetians put a price on his head. This revolt was joined in December by stratioti from Nafplion led by Thodaro Bua. An army sent by the Sultan was defeated between Passavas and Oitylo in February of 1481. Later that month, a larger force under Mohammed Bey drove Kladas to Porto Quaglio where he was taken on board a Neopolitan galley, leaving his revolt to wither in his absence. A peaceful settlement of the revolt was negotiated by the Ottoman governor of the Morea and Venetian official Bartolomeo Minio. Meanwhile, Kladas went with a Neopolitan army to Albania to aid an anti-Ottoman revolt there. It is not known when he returned to Mani. He was captured in battle near Monemvasia in 1490 and flayed.^[3]

[edit] Family

The Kladas family is known in records from the Morea since 1296 when a Corcondille managed to capture a Frankish-held castle for the Byzantines. ^[4] Members of the family made donations to a monastery at Mistra in 1366 and 1375. ^[5] A Krokodeilos is identified as one of the rebels against the Emperor Manuel II in 1415. The "Crocodile" pun made there is a single appearance and never appears in contemporary documents relating to this Krokodēlos Kladas. ^[6] The only contemporary document that can be directly tied to Krokodēlos Kladas as possible author is a carved inscription on a donation to a church in Karytaina. ^[7] He and his brothers are strongly praised in Venetian sources. ^[8] Kladas had been awarded a Venetian knighthood (and a gold robe) just before the 1480 revolt. ^[9] Members of the family moved to Kefalonia, and continued to lead stratioti in Venetian service for at least another hundred years.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Barbarigo, Iacopo. 1466. "Dispacci," Sathas, Vol. 6, 1-92.
• Beēs, Nikos A. 1907. “Διοπθωσεις καὶ παρατηρησεις εν Μυστρα μονη τὴς τὴς Παναγίας τοῦ Βροντοχιοῦ,” Nea Siōn 5: 245ff.
• Feissel, Denis, & Anne Philippidis-Braat. 1985. “Inventaires en vue d’un recueil des inscriptions historiques de Byzance: III, Inscriptions du Péloponnèse,” Travaux et Mémoires 9: 273-371.
• Kladas, Count Yannis. 1872. Ἀρχαία Ἱστόρικα Γεγονότα τὴς Οἰκογενείας τῶν Κομετῶν Κλαδαίων ἀπὸ τὰ 1366 μέχρι 1803. Athens.
• Livre d'or de la noblesse ionienne. 1926. Vol. 2 (Céphalonie, premiére partie), 153-167, s.v. “Clada.” Athens.
• Longnon, J. 1949. Chronique de Morée: Livre de la conqueste de la princée de l’Amorée, 1204-1305. Paris.
• Magno, Stefano. XXXX. “Ėvénements historiques en Grèce (1479-1497),” Sathas, Vol.6, 215-243.
• Miklosich, Franz & Ioseph Müller. 1865. Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana. Vol.1. Vienna.
• Philippides, Marios. 1980. The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes (1401-1477). Amherst, MA.
• Sathas, Konstantine N. 1880-1890. Mnēmeia Ellēnikēs Istorias: Documents inédites rélatifs à l’histoire de la Grèce au moyen âge. 9V. Paris.
• Seminar Classics 609. 1975. Mazaris’ Journey to Hades. Buffalo, N.Y.
• Wright, Diana Gilliland. 1999. Bartolomeo Minio: Venetian administration in 15th-Century Nauplion. Doctoral dissertation, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC (Online Version - Chapter 4 in File 7; Appendices 5 & 8 in File 9).