Cities, Fortresses, and Monasteries in Thrace and Their Role in Power Struggles of the 14th Century

During the civil wars of the fourteenth century, the hinterland of Thrace became a contested landscape where cities, castles, and monasteries played a decisive role in the power struggle. The involvement of urban centres such as Adrianople (Edirne) and Didymoteichon reveals how local communities and commanders shifted allegiance between rival rulers. In this context, the region’s fortresses and road networks mediated alliances with neighbouring powers eager to take part in the same struggles. In 1341, Adrianople appealed for protection simultaneously to Tsar Ivan Alexander and John Kantakouzenos, while its capture by the latter in 1345 and his coronation there the following year turned it into a stage of imperial symbolism. Didymoteichon, residence of Andronikos III, became a base from which alliances with Umur of Aydin and Bulgarian forces were coordinated—showing how Thracian strongholds facilitated both local and regional politics. Fortresses and monasteries were equally effective in taking part in the contest for power over a strategically significant frontier zone. At Didymoteichon, the abbot of St. Gaura Monastery acted as a mediator between Kantakouzenos and Anna Palaiologina, while she, in turn, mobilized a wider clerical network—including Adrianople’s metropolitan, the monks of the Hodegetria monastery near Didymoteichon, and the monastery at the fortress of Petritzos (Stenimachos)—to strengthen her position. These dynamics show how political control in late Byzantium was dependent on geography, mobility, and communication networks across fluid frontiers. By tracing these interconnections through the lens of roads, settlements, and power, this paper reconstructs how allegiance and authority were constantly renegotiated in Palaiologan Thrace. Drawing on BRIA’s cross-border research in Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey, it demonstrates how collaborative initiatives are vital for rethinking today’s borders, which often limit our understanding of these negotiations within what was once a more unified landscape.