In 1204, the Fourth Crusade begins. The Western Latin army captures Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and from there gradually invades the Aegean. By 1261, when the Byzantines reclaimed the City, the Frankish crusaders had established small Latin fiefs, duchies, and principalities throughout the Aegean, bringing significant political and social changes to the region of the Archipelago.

They now manipulate the economic strings through trade while simultaneously imposing on the local population to embrace Catholicism and declare loyalty to the Pope. The slave trade is thriving, and Greek Orthodox men and women are forcibly dragged to the large ports of the West. Hellenism is shrinking, the wealth of Greece is transferred to the major economic centers of the West, and the people experience a new occupation following the Roman.

Despite the extensive bibliography concerning the Crusades, the Frankish States of the Aegean is a subject neglected by historians in the modern era. Peter Lock thoroughly investigates the governance of the various Frankish states of the Aegean, their social, economic, religious, and cultural evolution, as well as the impact they had on the Greek population.

This wonderful and richly detailed historical study reveals unknown aspects of Greek history and serves as a cornerstone in the existing historical studies regarding the Crusades.