The Latin and Greek Churches in former Byzantine Lands 153
of another Ionian bishopric, that of Cephalonia, had written to the pope main-
taining that although his bishopric had been subject to Rome directly “ab
antiquo”, the Latin archbishop of Corinth was maintaining that he was juris-
dictionally subject to him. In fact the see of Cephalonia in Byzantine times
had been subject to the archbishops of Corinth, and the incumbent bishop
was clearly striving to place his see directly under the pope, nullo medio. The
pope simply told Archbishop Antelm of Patras to examine this issue and pre-
vent the archbishop of Corinth in the meantime from troubling the bishop
of Cephalonia. The town of Andravida, despite assertions to the contrary, was
not elevated to a bishopric under the incoming Latins but was considered an
archdeaconate in the diocese of Olena.24
In the Peloponnese as in Cyprus and Constantinople a fusion of dioceses
took place. On 24 April, on the basis of Pope Honorius iii’s letter granting per-
mission to change the diocesan structure, Cardinal John Colonna in March
1222 had the diocese of Kernitsa absorbed into the archdiocese of Patras, that
of Christianoupolis divided between those of Modon and Coron and that of
Veligosti absorbed into that of Coron. In addition, Zakynthos was annexed to
Cephalonia and Amyclae to Lacedaemon, with Cephalonia placed under the
jurisdiction of Patras and Lacedaemon under that of Corinth some time before
- The see of Zemaina was united to Corinth, while that of Damala was
divided, with one half going to Corinth and the other half to Argos, a suffragan
see of Corinth.25 One observes that Coron, Modon and some Ionian Islands
had been conquered by Venice as a result of the Fourth Crusade, and so the
Latin archdioceses in the Peloponnese included sees under Venetian as well
as Frankish domination. In the Venetian-ruled dioceses of Coron and Modon
the Greek bishops were compelled to reside outside the city walls, a situation
reminiscent of Cyprus, where after 1223 the Greek bishops were likewise forced
to live in villages within the new Latin dioceses but far from the diocesan capi-
tal. Such Greek bishops had no territorial jurisdiction and limited powers, like
their counterparts in Sicily, Crete and Cyprus. It is noteworthy, however, that
such Greek bishops acting as coadjutors or vicars of the Latin ordinary are not
recorded in the Frankish Peloponnese, only in the areas under Venetian rule.26
24 Wolff, “Organization,” p. 40; Nicholas Coureas, “The Establishment of the Latin Secular
Church at Patras under Pope Innocent iii: Comparisons and Contrasts with Cyprus,”
Mésogeios 13–14 (2001), 147–48; Schabel, “Antelm the Nasty,” pp. 103–04.
25 Wolff, “Organization,” pp. 45–46; Schabel, “Antelm the Nasty,” pp. 104–05; Claverie,
Honorius iii, pp. 169–70.
26 Hussey, Orthodox Church, p. 198; Coureas, “Church at Patras,” pp. 149–50.