In the course of these centuries there occurred a number of developments in the history of the Greek-speaking people which are reflected in the history of the language, and even profoundly affected it. Nevertheless, it must be made clear at the outset that they are all of secondary character. Modern Greek took its shape in the previous period, above all in its earlier half. The accident – from the linguistic point of view, though of course it is not an accident for the historian – that we have a great deal more evidence for the spoken language from the later middle ages than from the earlier middle ages attracted scholars to the later period. And misunderstanding of the nature of the mixed language in which the late medieval texts are in the main written often caused them to date the changes by which the modern Greek language was formed to a period many centuries too late. This point has been discussed in Chapter 1.

At the end of the eleventh century the greater part of Asia Minor was conquered and occupied by the Seljuk Turks. Large areas in the west of the peninsula were regained by the Byzantines in the first half of the twelfth century, but their tenure was weak and uncertain. By the early thirteenth century Asia Minor was once again largely in Seljuk hands, or in those of the Turcoman subjects of the Seljuks.