Qualla: Glarentza https://qualla.com/glarentza 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/glarentza-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Glarentza https://qualla.com/glarentza Glarentza: Introduction https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Badseed, Public domain. The town had many names. Clarence in French, Chiarenza in Italian, Clarentia in Latin, Glarentza in Greek — each version a reflection of which trading network was doing the naming. For the merchants of Venice and Genoa who sailed into its harbor in the 13th and 14th centuries, Glarentza was a known quantity: the principal port of the Frankish Morea, the place where goods entered and silver coins left. The coins it minted — the silver tornese, stamped at the Principality of Achaea's official mint — circulated across the medieval Mediterranean. The harbor that sheltered them has silted into a swamp.

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Image: Badseed | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Glarentza: Founded on the Best Anchorage in Elis https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Babis nitas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Glarentza was established in the mid-13th century by William II of Villehardouin, who ruled the Principality of Achaea from 1246 to 1278. The Principality was a Frankish state created after the Fourth Crusade's diversion to Constantinople, and it encompassed most of the Peloponne...

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Image: Babis nitas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-founded-on-the-best-anchorage-in-elis.mp3 0:06 2 full Glarentza: The Administrative Heart of the Morea https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Babis nitas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Glarentza was never an isolated port. Three sites together formed the administrative core of the Principality of Achaea: the capital Andravida, 13 km inland to the east; Chlemoutsi, the great hilltop castle 5 km to the south; and Glarentza itself, the maritime gateway. Trade with...

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Image: Babis nitas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-the-administrative-heart-of-the-morea.mp3 0:06 3 full Glarentza: A Byzantine Co-Capital https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Robert Wallace, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Principality of Achaea declined across the 14th century as the Angevin grip weakened and Byzantine power in the Morea gradually recovered ground. Glarentza changed hands with the Principality. In 1418 it passed to Carlo I Tocco, and a decade later, in 1427, after a naval defe...

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Image: Robert Wallace | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-a-byzantine-co-capital.mp3 0:06 4 full Glarentza: What the Ground Holds https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Ramsay Traquair (1874-1952), Public domain. Very little of Glarentza is visible today. The city wall has largely vanished, difficult to trace even from its foundation remains; the port basin is a swamp. The three gates left more substantial traces than the walls between them. A large monumental staircase survives. What rem...

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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/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-what-the-ground-holds.mp3 0:06 5 full Glarentza: Silver Coins and Vanished Streets https://qualla.com/glarentza/ Photo credit Robert Wallace, CC BY-SA 2.0. The tornese coins minted at Glarentza are now found in museum collections across Europe — small silver discs that outlasted the town that produced them by centuries. They were the medium through which the Principality of Achaea participated in Mediterranean commerce, and their su...

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Image: Robert Wallace | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/p/glarentza-wp/sqxp-glarentza-silver-coins-and-vanished-streets.mp3 0:06 6 full