Monumental Art in the Lordship of Athens and Thebes 411
of the Catalans during the ducal reign of King Frederick iii of Sicily (1355–77)
seem to have played a decisive role.104
Patrons, Painters, and Sovereigns: The Evidence of Inscriptions
and Paintings
The evidence for Latin sponsorship is very limited, as noted above. The few
known Latin patrons—rulers and knights—belong to the elite of Frankish
social hierarchy and their knightly ideology is reflected in the choice of the
iconography for their secular buildings. At the same time, certain iconographic
predilections, the assignment of painted decoration to Greek artisans, and the
financial support of Orthodox religious foundations reflect, besides practical
reasons, a certain degree of acculturation on the part of the Latin lords and an
inclination towards rapprochement with the local population.
Whereas in the fortified cities we know about Orthodox churches converted
into Latin ones, in the countryside, with the exception of certain monasteries,
there is no evidence, literary or archaeological, for any Latin religious foun-
dations decorated with murals, although place-names, such as Frangoklissia,
point to the existence of Frankish churches.105 We actually do not know where
the Latins, scattered in the fiefs of the lordship and housed close to the pre-
served towers, practiced their religious duties. Some of them certainly founded
their own chapels. Others might have used the Orthodox churches of the local
population.
With regard to Orthodox patronage, dedicatory inscriptions of painted
ensembles in the Duchy of Athens and Thebes testify to the social status of
the donors. Among the epigraphically attested ktetores are ecclesiastics, monks
and lay people. The usual scheme includes a male patron, alone or with his
nuclear family, and seldom with members of the extended family. For example
the donor’s mother is mentioned in the inscription of the church at Alepochori
(1260–80), while brothers or cousins are implied in the churches of St Nicholas
Mavrika in Aegina (1330) and of Taxiarches in Desphina (1332).106 Father and son
104 Setton, “Catalan Society,” p. 247; Jacoby, “Changing Economic Patterns,” p. 203. Marie-
Hélène Concourdeau, “Pour une étude de la Peste Noire à Byzance,” in Mélanges offerts
à Hélène Ahrweiler (Paris, 1998), pp. 149–63; Elisavet A. Zachariadou, “The Catalans of
Athens and the Beginning of the Turkish Expansion in the Aegean Area,” Studi Medievali
31 (1980), 821–38, repr. in eadem, Romania and the Turks (c. 1300–c. 1500) (London, 1985), V.
105 Kalopissi-Verti, “Relations between East and West,” pp. 10–13.
106 See above pp. 391, 407–08.