2019-20

The course analyzes and studies the political and social entity created in Egypt and Syria in the late Middle Ages by the Mamluks, who were military personnel of servile origin. The Mamluk State was the largest political, military, and economic power in the Middle East until it was conquered and incorporated by the Ottomans into their state.

The course focuses on the states created in Greek lands by various Westerners (excluding the Venetians). These “Franks” originated mainly from areas of Western Europe, such as Champagne, Flanders, Burgundy and Lombardy, where feudal organization was prominent, but also from city-states, such as Genoa and Florence. Most Frankish lordships were created in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1204) – for example, the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Principality of Achaia, the Duchy of Athens and the Duchy of the Aegean.