The Strange Case of the Diocese of Olena and the Churches of Andravida, Capital of the Principality of Achaia

Abstract

Abstract By the mid-thirteenth century, at least five Latin churches stood in Andravida (Andreville), capital of the Principality of Achaia, and yet the town lay in the diocese of Olena, an obscure village. Understandably, it is the unanimous view of writers of every sort that the Latin bishops merely took their title from Olena but were actually bishops of Andravida, where they allegedly presided. Many even assert that these de facto bishops of Andravida employed as their cathedral the Dominican church of Holy Wisdom (Sancta Sophia), ubiquitously identified with the vaulted remains of the Gothic east end of a church still prominent in the town. After reviewing the evidence for the above claims, this paper analyzes the phenomena in light of the broader context of the transition from Byzantine to Frankish secular control and from Greek to Latin ecclesiastical rule. It proposes instead that, after the Frankish conquest, a Greek bishop remained in situ in Olena, leading the Franks to create a new episcopal see in Andravida, the memory of which persisted for centuries. With the eventual demise, deposition, or departure of the Greek prelate, however, there was no need for the new see. Whether the Latin bishops of Olena then resided in Andravida, Olena, or both, they did not preside from the Dominican church of Holy Wisdom.