Melingoi

In the early decades of the 7th century, Slavic tribes (Sclaveni) settled throughout the Balkans following the collapse of the Byzantine Empire's defense of the Danube frontier with some groups reaching as far south as the Peloponnese.

[4][5] Like the Ezeritai, the Melingoi are first mentioned in the De administrando imperio, a manual on statecraft written by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959).

For instance, according to the Chronicle of the Morea, Prince William II of Villehardouin (r. 1246–1278) awarded to the "great droungos[a] of the Melingoi" exemption from all duties except military service.

N. Nicoloudis identifies the late medieval thema of Kinsterna or Giserna (from Latin: cisterna, "cistern") with the area of the Melingoi in the northwestern Mani peninsula.

[6][8] While the elite of the Melingoi was rich and exposed to Byzantine and Frankish influence, the ordinary pastoralist hillman remained more conservative and secluded.