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VII 
THE CATALANS AND 
FLORENTINES IN GREECE 
1380—1462 
 During the last decade of Catalan rule in the Athenian duchy (1379—1388)
the Aragonese chancery issued almost 250 documents relating to Greek affairs.
The number attests the royal concern with such affairs, as well as the fortunate
survival of the Archives of the Crown in Barcelona. As the shock of the Navarrese
invasion subsided, a parliament was assembled in Athens to which were summoned
the syndics, aldermen, and council of the municipal corporation. This parliament
prepared a petition, dated May 20, 1380, for submission to king Peter IV,
who by accepting or rejecting its terms would determine the conditions under
which the chief officers and citizens of Athens would become the vassals
of the crown of Aragon. Rubió i Lluch has called this important document
the "Articles of Athens" (els Capitols d'Atenes); of the sixteen or seventeen
items which it contains, only four or five relate to the common concerns
of the state and the community. The remaining dozen items consist of personal
requests which seem to show small understanding of the perilous condition
to which the duchy of Athens had been reduced; the parliament at Athens was
anxious to secure rewards from the crown for those who had proved their loyalty
by resisting the Navarrese invasion. 
 The parliament was under the dominance of Romeo de Bellarbre, castellan
and captain of Athens, and Galcerán of Peralta had become merely "our
former governor" as he languished in his Theban prison. The petitioners'
first request of Peter IV was that he send them a proper "official" to govern
the duchies, one who could reconquer 
For bibliography see preceding chapter. 
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