In a place of Greek culture’s consistent presence from the glorious ancient times to the Byzantine Empire and the modern Greek State, who would have imagined that for more than two centuries a part of the peninsula had been ruled by Knights and Crusaders? The Principality of Achaia was established by French Knights in the north-western Peloponnese from 1205 to 1432 when it was abolished by the Despot of Morea, Thomas Paleologos.