Morea, Despotate Of

Autonomous Byzantine principality located on the Greek Peloponnese (Morea). It was established in the mid-14th century by the Byzantine emperor John VI Cantacuzenus (reigned 1347–54) as an appanage for his son Manuel. Manuel Cantacuzenus consolidated his territory against the claims of Latins (western Europeans) and the inroads of Turks, but after his death (1380) the Palaeologians