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A: Athina, Greece

Norman Crusaders, Overrunning Greece, Take Manuscripts as Spoils of War

1175
Seal of Michael, Metropolitan of Athens

Lead seal of Michael Choniates as Metropolitan of Athens. From Gustave Schlumberger, Sigillographie de l'Empire byzantin.

In 1175 Norman Crusaders overan the Greek peninsula and took manuscripts as spoils of war. "When Michael Acominatus became Archibshop of Athens in 1275 he noted that the city had no libraries at all, and that his two chests of books constituted the largest collection of literature in the city" (Harris, History of Libraries in the Western World 4th ed [1999] 75).

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