It was among the twelve original baronies of the Principality of Achaea, but passed into the hands of the Latin Archbishop of Patras at about the middle of the 13th century.

In addition, the Aragonese version of the Chronicle lists a completely different, but unverifiable series of barons, beginning with Walter Aleman, who was succeeded by his son Conrad and he in turn by William (II), who then sold the rights to the barony to the Archbishop of Patras ca.

[6] Historians have generally followed this account in dating the cession of the barony to the Archbishopric to about or shortly after the middle of the century, but the transfer may have taken place, or at least begun, as early as the 1220s, for the first archbishop, Antelm of Cluny, is said to have had possession of the Patras Castle by 1233.

In the event, Pope Benedict XII reacted by declaring the city "land of the Holy Roman Church" and placed the Principality under the interdict.

[10][11] For the remainder of the century, the Archbishops of Patras played an active role in the intrigues and feuds of the Principality, and in turn the contending families often tried to place one of their own scions on the archiepiscopal throne.