Of burning monks, unidentified churches and the last Cistercian foundation in the East: Our Lady of Camina in the principality of Achaia

Abstract

The existence of the monastic church of Camina in Frankish Morea has long been noted by historians of Frankish Greece, but its history has never been thoroughly investigated and its location remains unknown. Moreover, some of the documents pertaining to this church have not been published while others have been published in faulty editions that have obscured their full significance. In the present study we edit (or re-edit) the surviving documents and attempt to reconstruct the church's history and identify its location. It is suggested that the original Benedictine inhabitants of Camina were the only known Latin religious to be burnt at the stake for heresy in Medieval Greece. It is also argued that Camina was the last Cistercian abbey to be founded in the Latin East. It is finally suggested that Camina may be identified as the existing monastery of Our Lady of Blachernae near Glarenza (Killini).