History in High Places: Tatarna Monastery and the Pindus Mountains

Molly Greene

doi:10.1163/15685209-12341528

Abstract

Abstract Monasteries and the records they produced are a promising source base for writing a history of the mountains of the western Balkans. These mountains are, by and large, absent from accounts of the Ottoman presence in the Balkans and, as with mountainous areas more generally, are often considered to exist outside of the main historical narrative. Using the example of a monastery that was founded in the Pindus mountains in 1556, I argue that the monastery’s beginnings are best understood within the context of the Ottoman sixteenth century, even as due regard for Byzantine precedent must also be made. In addition, I pay close attention to the monastery’s location, for two reasons. First, this opens up a new set of questions for the history of monasteries during the Ottoman period; to date most studies have focused on taxation, land ownership and the relationship to the central state. Second, the monastery’s location offers a way into the environmental history of these mountains at the Empire’s western edge. This article aspires to extend the nascent field of Ottoman environmental history into mountainous terrain.

Highlights

In 1556 a monk named David (Δαυίδ), together with Methodios (Μεθόδιος) and several other brothers, founded the monastery of Theotokou (Θεοτόκου), more commonly known as Tatarna, near the Aspropotamos river in the Pindus mountains of western Greece, in what is today the province of Evrytania.[1]
Using the example of a monastery that was founded in the Pindus mountains in 1556, I argue that the monastery’s beginnings are best understood within the context of the Ottoman sixteenth century, even as due regard for Byzantine precedent must be made
I pay close attention to the monastery’s location, for two reasons. This opens up a new set of questions for the history of monasteries during the Ottoman period; to date most studies have focused on taxation, land ownership and the relationship to the central state

Summary

Introduction

In 1556 a monk named David (Δαυίδ), together with Methodios (Μεθόδιος) and several other brothers, founded the monastery of Theotokou (Θεοτόκου), more commonly known as Tatarna, near the Aspropotamos river in the Pindus mountains of western Greece, in what is today the province of Evrytania.[1]. In the words of the berat: “Everyone, the great and the small, should obey him, the monks and the priests of this place must accept his leadership.”[53] Amongst the documents still preserved in the monastery is a berat (a letter of appointment issued by the sultan) from the first half of the sixteenth century, for the bishop of Litzas and Agrafa, a bishopric high in the Pindus mountains which includes the area where Tatarna was built.[54] The bishop of Litzas and Agrafa was the signatory to a letter, in the monastery’s archives, from the 1540s, concerning the establishment of the boundaries of another bishopric, this one to the east of Dousiko, in the plains of Thessaly.[55]. Retaining those western ties meant that they would have to traverse the Pindus

A Monastery in the Mountains

Conclusion