Τhe area of the archaeological site of Delphi did not recover as a settlement until the early Ottoman period. When the Byzantine Empire collapsed after the Fourth Crusade, the region was occupied in 1205 by Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, king of Thessaloniki. Following the western feudal system, the new monarchs distributed the land to title holders, officers of the military and their attendants. Amphissa and its surrounding area, for instance, was renamed La Sole (Salona) and was given to the D’ Autremencourt family (often paraphrased as Stromoncourt).
The first count of Salona was Thomas who originated from Picardy in France. Through a series of military operations he expanded his dominance to almost all of Phocis. However, in his attempt to conquer Galaxidi he faced resistance by the Despot of Epirus Michael I Komninos Doukas and was killed in a battle in 1212. The Byzantines managed to prevail for a short period, however the son of D’Autremencourt, Thomas II, regained control of the area which remained under Frankish rule until 1318. In that year the Catalan Company, consisting mainly of mercenaries, took hold of the Duchy of Athens to which the D’Autremencourt family was subject. The Catalans remained masters of Thessaly, Boeotia, Attica and Phocis until approximately 1390, when their possessions were taken over by the Navarrese Company. The next two decades were especially turbulent, with continuous disputes between the Latin conquerors and the Byzantine Despots of Morea. Tired from the military turmoil but also fed up with the tyrannical Elena Asanina Katakouzene, widow of the last master of Salona, Ludwig Frederic of Aragon, the inhabitants of Amphissa opened the gates of the city in 1394 to the army of Beyazid I, who was moving southwards through Central Greece, invited by the Byzantines. In 1402 the region was conquered by the Despots of Morea and two years later Thomas Palaeologos sold it to the Knights of St. John. Nevertheless, the Ottomans returned once again and conquered it permanently in 1410.     

Text: Dr.Aphrodite Kamara, Historian
Translation: Dr.Metaxia Papageorgiou