Qualla: Chlemoutsi https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Chlemoutsi https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi Chlemoutsi: Introduction https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Roman Klementschitz, Wien, CC BY-SA 3.0. Geoffrey I of Villehardouin needed money to build a castle, and the Church of Achaea had it. When the clergy refused his request for military donations — citing their allegiance to the Pope alone — Geoffrey confiscated their lands and properties. With those funds, between 1220 and 1223, he built Chlemoutsi on a plateau 226 meters above the Elian coast. It was an act of appropriation that became architecture, and the architecture has outlasted every grievance.

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Image: Roman Klementschitz, Wien | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Chlemoutsi: Fortress Born of Dispute https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Kritheus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Principality of Achaea was a Frankish state established after the Fourth Crusade, controlling the Peloponnese peninsula — the Morea, in medieval usage. Geoffrey I of Villehardouin ruled it at its height, and Chlemoutsi was his flagship project. The castle occupied a new found...

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Image: Kritheus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-fortress-born-of-dispute.mp3 0:06 2 full Chlemoutsi: A Hexagonal Keep and Eight Centuries https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Σωτήριος Παν. Γιαννακουλόπουλος, CC BY-SA 4.0. The heart of Chlemoutsi is an irregular hexagonal keep, roughly 90 meters east-to-west and 60 meters north-to-south, enclosing a central courtyard. Around that courtyard, two-storeyed halls run along the entire interior perimeter — their upper galleries vaulted in ovoid barrel va...

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Image: Σωτήριος Παν. Γιαννακουλόπουλος | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-a-hexagonal-keep-and-eight-centuries.mp3 0:06 3 full Chlemoutsi: Princes, Prisoners, and Palaiologoi https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Olaf Tausch, CC BY-SA 3.0. The castle's roster of notable prisoners is long. In around 1263, Byzantine generals captured at the Battle of Makryplagi were held here; one, Alexios Philes, died in captivity. In the 1290s, Thomas Komnenos Doukas, son of the Despot of Epirus, was kept at Chlemoutsi as a hostage...

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Image: Olaf Tausch | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-princes-prisoners-and-palaiologoi.mp3 0:06 4 full Chlemoutsi: Ibrahim Pasha's Cannons and What Survived https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Doulisath, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1825, during the Greek War of Independence, the Egyptian forces of Ibrahim Pasha occupied Chlemoutsi and demolished a portion of its outer wall to deny the structure to Greek rebels. The breach is still visible in the southern wall, where later Turkish repairs — broken tiles a...

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Image: Doulisath | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-ibrahim-pashas-cannons-and-what-survived.mp3 0:06 5 full Chlemoutsi: The View from 226 Meters https://qualla.com/chlemoutsi/ Photo credit Ramsay Traquair (1874-1952), Public domain. Standing on the roof terrace of the keep, the view extends across the Elian plain to the Ionian Sea, with the islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia on the horizon and, in clear conditions, the mainland coast of Aetolia-Acarnania beyond. The castle's setting — steep drops on the sou...

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Image: Ramsay Traquair (1874-1952) | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/chlemoutsi-wp/sqxp-chlemoutsi-the-view-from-226-meters.mp3 0:06 6 full