166 Coureas
of Vienne, but also of mendicants and members of the military orders. The
four main mendicant orders established in the formerly Byzantine Greek lands
were the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites and the Augustinian fri-
ars, who all came into existence during the 13th century.48 The Military Orders
of the Templars, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic knights also established
themselves in these lands, although after the dissolution of the Templars in 1312
and the departure of the Teutonic Order for Prussia early in the 14th century
only the Hospitallers remained on Rhodes, which they held until the Ottoman
conquest of 1522, while on Cyprus they kept estates until the Ottoman con-
quest of 1570.
Like their secular counterparts, the Greek regular clergy suffered losses
following the Latin conquest. On Cyprus Latin Benedictine monks flee-
ing from Antioch who established the monastery of the Holy Cross, alias
St Paul’s, on Stavrovouni in the diocese of Limassol may have displaced a
Greek monastic community there. The Augustinian canons that later became
Praemonstatensian canons regular establishing a community at Episkopia,
later known as Bellapais, may have founded their establishment on a sup-
pressed Greek bishopric. The Praemonstratensians also founded three estab-
lishments in Constantinople and Latin Greece, although there is little
information on them. Their house in Constantinople was either St Nicholas of
Varvar, which perhaps passed into their possession from the canons regular of
the Temple, who had received it in 1209, or the small monastery of St Nicholas
εν τη Βαρβάρα located to the north of the cathedral of St Sophia. In 1212 the
Premonstratensians acquired the village of Hermocastron near Thebes, where
they founded a house which was, however, short lived. Their third house,
reportedly in Kalavryta near Patras, was founded sometime after 1218 when
they occupied the Greek monastery of Hagia Lavra, although this is uncertain,
given that the Cistercians may have occupied the monastery. Whatever the
case, most of these Premonstratensian foundations occupied the sites of for-
mer Greek monastic houses.49
In Constantinople some of the colleges of secular canons were founded after
1204 on the premises of the famous Greek monasteries of the Holy Apostles,
the Pantokrator (Almighty), Our Lady of Chalkoprateia and the Forty Martyrs.
In Constantinople canons regular also took control of the former Greek mon-
astery of St George of Mangana but quarrelled with the Hospitallers in around
1208 over the possessions of a hospital attached to the monastery. In 1209 the
48 Tsougarakis, Latin Religious Orders, pp. 35–261.
49 Coureas, Latin Church 1195–1312, pp. 187–88 and 200–01; Tsougarakis, Latin Religious Orders,
pp. 268–70.