In the book of the famous Russian medievalist and Byzantinist S.P. Karpov, for the first time, the history of states founded in the 12th–15th centuries is comprehensively explored. Western European knights, as well as Venetians, Genoese, Catalans in territories conquered from Byzantium or obtained under treaties. The lands of Latin Romania were scattered over a wide area - from the Adriatic to the Northern Black Sea region. Their destinies were intricately intertwined with the history of neighboring countries and peoples, including Paleologian Byzantium, the Golden Horde, and Ancient Rus'. Among them are large feudal lordships (such as the Achaean Principality) and trading settlements, which sometimes turned into large cities (Kafa, Pera), and small trading posts and castles on “foreign” land. The book, structured as a system of essays, introduces the reader to the phenomenon of Latin Romania, its unique culture, the roads that connected the West and the East, and the destinies of the people of that distant era. Among them are witnesses to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, noble patricians who served the Trebizond emperors, Genoese consuls, and daring pirates. The book makes extensive use of unpublished documents from the Venetian and Genoese archives and St. Petersburg manuscript collections. Much attention is paid to interethnic relations, problems of family and marriage, the formation of a new culture based on the synthesis of Byzantine and Western European traditions, the struggle and cooperation of the Greeks and “Latins” during the classical Middle Ages. The book is intended for specialists, students of humanities faculties of universities, as well as the widest range of readers . It will introduce you to the unknown side of the history of Byzantium and the West.

CONTENTSIntroductionPhenomenon of Latin RomaniaRoads of Latin RomaniaPeople and circumstancesIllustrationsList of abbreviationsIndex of personal names and geographical names