Monumental Art in the Lordship of Athens and Thebes 373
on the marble blocks of its north wall were re-dated to the 13th century. It has
been thus assumed that these paintings are remnants of the decoration of the
converted Latin cathedral in the time of the de la Roche.12
The evidence of Frankish art in Thebes is based on literary sources. The
Chronicle of the Morea recounts that Nicholas ii de Saint Omer (1258–94), bailli
of the Principality of Achaea (1287–89) and a relative of the de la Roche family
from his mother’s side, who ruled over half of Thebes, built a sumptuous palace
on the Kadmeia suitable for a king.13 He had it painted with scenes narrating
episodes of the conquest of Syria, thus connecting his residence ideologically
στον ελληνικό χώρο [Catalan-Aragonese Rule in Greece] (Athens, 2012), pp. 34–35. On the
frescoes, see Andreas Xyngopoulos, “Παρθενώνος βυζαντιναί τοιχογραφίαι” [“The Byzantine
Murals of the Parthenon”], Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς (1920), 36–53; idem, “Ὁ μεσαιωνικός
πύργος του Παρθενώνος” [“The Medieval Tower of the Parthenon”], Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς
(1960), 1–16; Anthony Cutler, “The Christian Wall Paintings in the Parthenon: Interpreting
a Lost Monument,” Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 12 (1994), 171–80; Nano
Chatzidaki, “Mosaics and Wall-Paintings in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Churches in
Athens,” in Athens, from the Classical Period to the Present Day, 5th century B.C.–2000,
ed. Charalambos Bouras, Michael B. Sakellariou, Konstantinos S. Staicos, Evi Touloupa
(Athens, 2000), pp. 249–50, fig. 2.
12 However Tanoulas, “ ‘Το πολυτιμότερο στολίδι του κόσμου’,” p. 35, n. 35, expresses the view
that the spiral staircase within the tower is Frankish whereas its marble walls could be
older.
13 The Chronicle of Morea (Το Χρονικόν του Μορέως): A History in Political Verse, ed. John
Schmitt (London, 1904; repr. Groningen, 1967), vv. 8080–92; Harold Lurier, ed. and
trans., Crusaders as Conquerors: The Chronicle of Morea (New York, 1964), p. 298; Teresa
Shawcross, The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece (Oxford, 2009),
pp. 31–32. On the tower, Symeonoglou, The Topography of Thebes, p. 161. On the archaeo-
logical remains, Charis Κoilakou, “Η οχύρωση της μεσαιωνικής Θήβας” [“The Fortifications
of Medieval Thebes”] in Δ ́ Διεθνές Συνέδριο Βοιωτικών Μελετών, Λιβαδειά 9–12 Σεπτεμβρίου
2000 [Fourth International Conference of Boeotian Studies, Livadia 9–12 September 2000],
ed. Vasileios Aravantinos, 2 vols. numbered 4A and 4B [=Επετηρίς Εταιρείας Βοιωτικών
Μελετών (2008)], 4A:841–42. On the decoration, David Jacoby, “Knightly Values and Class
Consciousness in the Crusader States of the Eastern Mediterranean,” Mediterranean
Historical Review 1 (1986), 169–70, repr. in idem, Studies on the Crusader States and on
Venetian Expansion (Northampton, 1989), I; idem, “La littérature française dans les états
latins de la Méditerranée orientale à l’époque des croisades: diffusion et création,” in
Essor et fortune de la Chanson de geste dans l’Europe et l’Orient latin: Actes du ixe Congrès
International de la Société Rencesvals pour l’étude des épopées romanes (Modena, 1984),
pp. 637–39, repr. in Studies in the Crusader States, ii.