Qualla: Duchy of the Archipelago https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Duchy of the Archipelago https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago Duchy of the Archipelago: Introduction https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago/ Photo credit William Robert Shepherd, Public domain. When Constantinople fell to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Byzantine Empire shattered into pieces, and ambitious men reached for the fragments. One of them was a Venetian nobleman named Marco Sanudo. In 1207 he borrowed eight galleys from the Venetian Arsenal, sailed into the Aegean without asking anyone's permission, and carved out a private kingdom among the scattered islands of the Cyclades. He called himself Duke of the Archipelago, ruled it from Naxos, and his successors held it for more than three and a half centuries.

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Image: William Robert Shepherd | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/swd5-duchy-of-the-archipelago-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Duchy of the Archipelago: A Freelance Conquest https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago/ Photo credit Geraki, CC BY-SA 3.0 gr. Sanudo was the nephew of Enrico Dandolo, the blind old Doge who had steered the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, and he had inherited the family appetite for empire. His expedition was nobody's official policy. He anchored at the harbour of Potamides, in the southwest of Naxos n...

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Image: Geraki | CC BY-SA 3.0 gr

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/swd5-duchy-of-the-archipelago-a-freelance-conquest.mp3 0:06 2 full Duchy of the Archipelago: Fifty-Six Fiefs https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago/ Photo credit Squirmy2000 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Sanudo governed like a feudal lord transplanted from western Europe. He rebuilt a strong fortress on the old acropolis of Naxos and split the island into fifty-six provinces, parceling them out as fiefs to the captains who had sailed with him. Each held his land in near-independe...

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Image: Squirmy2000 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/swd5-duchy-of-the-archipelago-fifty-six-fiefs.mp3 0:06 3 full Duchy of the Archipelago: Two Churches, One Island https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago/ Photo credit Zitumassin, Public domain. The Venetians brought the Catholic Church with them, and Sanudo established a Latin archbishopric on Naxos. But the rulers were a thin layer of often-absentee landlords atop a Greek Orthodox majority that stayed Orthodox. Sanudo himself, unlike some who came after him, did not tr...

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Image: Zitumassin | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/swd5-duchy-of-the-archipelago-two-churches-one-island.mp3 0:06 4 full Duchy of the Archipelago: The Long Decline https://qualla.com/duchy-of-the-archipelago/ Photo credit Original design: unknown 13th-century artist; Sketch: Gustave Schlumberger (1844–1929), Public domain. Twenty-one dukes of two dynasties, Sanudo and then Crispo, ruled the Archipelago across the centuries, shifting their nominal allegiance from the Latin emperors to the princes of Achaea, to the Angevins of Naples, and finally to Venice itself. The state was never secure. A revive...

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Image: Original design: unknown 13th-century artist; Sketch: Gustave Schlumberger (1844–1929) | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/w/d/5/duchy-of-the-archipelago-wp/swd5-duchy-of-the-archipelago-the-long-decline.mp3 0:06 5 full