The Best-Preserved Medieval Castle in

Welcome to the best-preserved crusader castle in Greece. After the fourth crusade, Byzantine Greece was divided among the crusader lords into fiefs, nominally subject to the Latin emperor in Constantinople. The Peloponnese became the principality of Achaea, or Morea. It was the third Latin prince of Achaea, Geoffrey I de Vilhardouin, who built the castle of Clemoutzi, the best-preserved Frankish fortress in Greece. The castle's construction was inspired by a squabble between Geoffrey and the Latin clergy of his principality, who refused to contribute to an ongoing campaign against the Byzantine fortress at Monambasia. In response, Geoffrey confiscated all the revenues and used them to build the stronghold at Clemoutzi, which he called Clermont. In the process, unsurprisingly, he was excommunicated, though he managed eventually to straighten things out with the pope. The castle was largely built in a concentrated period between 1219 and 1223. For its time, it was cutting-edge, applying lessons that the crusaders had learned from their wars in the Holy Land. It had two parts, a lower ward, or bailey, where we currently are, and the huge projecting keep above. The walls of the lower ward are largely intact, save for a section leveled by Abraham Pasha's cannons in 1825 to prevent the castle from being used by the Greek rebels. The buildings inside, mostly built against the inner face of the walls, have almost entirely vanished. In the courtyard of the huge hexagonal keep, the keep's courtyard was ringed by huge vaulted galleries, which still stand to their original height. Part of one vaulted hall, the former throne room. A last look out toward the sea and the outer bailey of Clemoutzi, the best-preserved Frankish castle in Greece.