Duchy of Athens

Duchy of Athens
Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν (Greek) Ducat d'Atenes (Catalan)
Vassal state* of various countries, de facto autonomous
1205–1458
Arms of the Duchy under the de la Roche family
The Lordship of Athens and the other Greek and Latin states of southern Greece, ca. 1210
Capital		Athens, Thebes
Languages		French (until 1311) Catalan (1311–88) Greek popularly and officially after 1388
Religion		Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy popularly
Government		Feudal monarchy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Fourth Crusade	1204
•	Duchy established	1205
•	Catalan conquest	1311
•	Acciaioli rule	1388
•	Tributary to Morea	1444
•	Ottoman conquest	1458
Currency		Denier tournois
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire Ottoman Empire
*The duchy was a vassal of, in order, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Crown of Aragon, the Republic of Venice, and the Despotate of the Morea

Arms of the Duchy under the de la Roche family

The Duchy of Athens (Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, Doukaton Athinon; Catalan: Ducat d'Atenes) was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

The first duke of Athens (as well as of Thebes, at first) was Otto de la Roche, a minor Burgundian knight of the Fourth Crusade. Although he was known as the "Duke of Athens" from the foundation of the duchy in 1205, the title did not become official until 1260. Instead, Otto proclaimed himself "Lord of Athens" (in Latin Dominus Athenarum, in French Sire d'Athenes). The local Greeks called the dukes "Megas Kyris" (Greek: Μέγας Κύρης, "Great Lord"), from which the shortened form "Megaskyr", often used even by the Franks to refer to the Duke of Athens, is derived.