The Chronicle of Morea

The Chronicle of Morea (Greek: Τὸ χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως) is a long 14th-century history text, of which there are four extant versions: in French, Greek (in verse), Italian and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the Chronicle narrates events of the Franks' establishment of feudalism in mainland Greece. West European Crusaders settled in the Peloponnese (called Morea at the time) following the Fourth Crusade. The period covered in the Chronicle was 1204 to 1292 (or later, depending on the version). It gives significant details on the civic organization of the Principality of Achaia.

The Greek text is the only text written in verse. The French, Italian and Aragonese texts are written in prose.

The verses of the Greek text are written in a 15-syllable political verse. The verses are accented but not rhymed. It is written in the spoken Greek of the time, with the inclusion of several French words.

There are two parallel Greek texts, surviving in five manuscript copies:

The Copenhagen text is considered older, and its language is more archaic. The more recent Parisian text is simpler in language and has fewer foreign words. The transcriber omitted several anti-Hellenic references, so the overall text expressed less contempt of Greeks.

The difference of about one century between the Copenhagen and Parisian version shows a considerable number of linguistic differences due to the rapid evolution of the Greek language. The text of the Copenhagen version describes events until 1292.

This text is known under the title: "The Book of the Conquest of Constantinople and the Empire of Roumania and the country of the Principality of Morea", since in the incipit, it is indicated "C'est le livre de la conqueste de Constantinople et de l'empire de Romanie, et dou pays de la princée de la Morée"

Information in this text reaches until the year 1304.