Zealots, Thessalonica

The Zealots (Greek: Ζηλωταί) were a political group that dominated political developments in Thessalonica from 1342 until 1350. The contemporary sources, notably anti-Zealot in sympathies, provide little information on the Zealots' government of Thessalonica. The Zealots managed to establish effective civic self-government for eight years. They confiscated the property of the , and redistributed their wealth. In the past it had been claimed that the Zealots had a kind of social reform program, but sources are quite scanty. Many of these claims were built upon a discourse of the scholar Nikolaos Kabasilas, but eventually it seems that it had no connection to the Zealot revolt but was composed many decades later.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Byzantine Empire went into dramatic decline. There was a major civil war in the 1320s, accompanied with invasions from almost all sides. As the Empire became weaker and more impoverished, the misery of the great masses in the countryside and in the cities became almost unbearable. Both in the country and in the towns all wealth was concentrated in the hands of a small aristocratic class, and against them was directed the bitterness of the destitute masses.

John Kantakouzenos, after the death of Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos was the effective regent for the latter's infant son, John V. A faction in Constantinople, formed around the powerful megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, plotted against him, and managed to enlist the support of dowager empress Anna of Savoy and the Patriarch John Kalekas. The conflict between the new regency and Kantakouzenos broke out openly in October 1341.

The literary sources, all in favor of Kantakouzenos, presented the conflict as a struggle between the "aristoi" (i.e. the best) and the poor. In fact, the aristocracy was divided equally between the two factions, while most aristocratic supporters of Kantakouzenos soon abandoned him in 1342-1343 after his first major defeats. Against Kantakouzenos also militated the common people of the cities, often after encouragement of the authorities. In many cities of Thrace, which had joined Kantakouzenos in the early stages of the civil war, there were riots in favor of the rightful minor John V. In addition, contemporary Byzantine society was also divided on religious issues, between the mysticist Hesychasts or Palamites and the intellectuals or Barlaamites, who preferred to pursue the study of philosophy and cherished the inheritance of Ancient Greece. During the second civil war Thessalonica was administered by anti-Hesychast metropolitans. We know little about the attitudes of the Zealots to this controversy, but it is a fact that one of their leaders, Andreas Palaiologos, sought spiritual guidance to St. Savvas, one of the leading Hesychasts.

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