CHAPTER THREE
THE IMPERIAL QUARTER
To a major extent, the Latin emperors modelled their emperorship ideologically on the Byzantine example, while at the same time signifi- cant Western influences were also present. But how did they actually develop the concrete administrative organization of their empire? The constitutional pact of March 1204 established the contours within which this imperial administration was to be constructed. The starting point of the convention meant a drastic change with regard to Byzantine administrative principles. A fundamental aspect was the feudalization and the theoretical division of the Byzantine Empire into three large regions. One-quarter of the territory was allotted directly to the Latin Emperor. Three-eights were allotted to the non-Venetian and three- eights to the Venetian component of the crusading army. Both regions were to be feudally dependent upon the emperor. In this chapter we examine administrative practice in the imperial quarter.
The Location of the Imperial Quarter
The imperial domain encompassed five-eighths of the capital Cons- tantinople: the imperial quarter plus the non-Venetian crusaders’ sec- tion. It is true that the March 1204 agreement allotted only the Great Palace—designated as the Boukoleon palace—and the Blacherna pal- ace to the emperor, which implied that the rest of the city should have been divided up according to the established distribution formula, but in practice there is not a single indication to be found that part of the city (three-eighths) was to be allotted to the non-Venetian crusaders in the form of a separate enclave with administrative autonomy from the imperial quarter.1 Apparently, the definitive distribution agree- ment stipulated that five-eighths of Constantinople was to fall to the emperor or, de facto, this was the situation there.2
1 Prevenier, De oorkonden, II, no 267. 2 Tautu, Acta Honorii III et Gregorii IX, no 110. Jacoby, The Venetian Quarter, pp. 160–167. 104 chapter three
In Thrace, by virtue of the already discussed Partitio document of 1204, the imperial quarter encompassed the region stretching from Constantinople in the East, to Medeia and Agathopolis in the North, with Vizye and Tzouroulon in the West and Salymbria and Athyra in the South.3 Carile erroneously assumes that the region of Philippopolis was also part of the imperial quarter.4 In 1219 Venice claimed her share of the region from Regent Cono of Béthune, from which it would appear that this territory was not part of the imperial quarter.5 During the greater part of the period 1204–1228 the imperial territory in Thrace was effectively under Latin rule. Only in the years 1205–1206 and 1225–1228 was control over it problematic to non-existent as the result of first the Bulgarian and then Epirote offensives in the region. In Asia Minor, the Partitio allotted to the emperor virtually all the territories which, prior to 1204, had belonged to the Byzantine Empire: Paphlagonia, Optimaton, Bithynia, Opsikion, Neokastra, Thrakesion, Mylasa and Melanoudion.6 In the period 1204–1228 only a limited number of these belonged effectively to the Latin Empire: 1. The region Optimaton, with Nicomedia as its most important city for virtually the entire period; 2. A number of coastal towns in the Bithynia region, such as Kibotos, during the entire period; 3. The Opsikion region with, inter alia, the towns of Adramyttion, Achyraeus, Poimanenon, Lentiana, Lopadion and Daskylion in 1204–1205 and 1212–1224/25; in the period 1206–1211 only a few places such as Pegai remained in Latin hands; 4. The Paphlagonia region, with the towns of Herakleia Pontika and Amastris in the years 1206–ca. 1214/1222. The confronta- tion with the Nicaean Empire explains the changes in the control over these territories. Finally, the text of the Partitio allocated to the emperor the island of Prokonnesos in the Sea of Marmara, and in the Aegean Sea the islands of Samothrace, Lemnos, Lesbos (Mytilene), Skyros, Chios, Tinos, Samos and Kos. The extent to which other, unmentioned islands, such as the central Cycladean island of Naxos belonged to the imperial quarter on the basis of the definitive distribution agreement, is unclear. In the case of the Cyclades for example, some islands fell under the authority
3 Carile, Partitio, p. 217. Niketas Choniates, p. 646. On Agathopolis: see Chapter VI, pp. 327, 346. 4 Carile, Alle origini dell’Impero latino d’Oriente, tavola IV. 5 Tafel & Thomas, Urkunden, II, no 257. 6 Carile, Partitio, pp. 217–218. Cf. Angold, A Byzantine Government in Exile, p. 243.