nikli, known in antiquity as tegea, is located on the southern arcadian plain and was conquered by the franks after a siege sometime before 1209; at the time it was a town of some importance and the seat of a bishopric, which was taken over by a latin bishop until 1222, when it was abolished and joined to that of lacedaemon. nikli's location made it an excellent assembly point for armies, as well as for parliaments like the famous "ladies' parliament" in 1261, but after 1262, when the byzantines recovered parts of the southeastern peloponnese, the barony became a battleground, and by the early 1270s, nikli was permanently garrisoned to prevent the byzantines from breaking out of their territory in laconia into the central arcadian plateau. nikli was still in frankish hands in 1280, but was lost to the resurgent byzantines sometime after. the aragonese version of the "chronicle" states that the byzantines occupied the town in 1296, but, it being indefensible on account of its location on the plain, they preferred to destroy and abandon it. the region seems to have remained under frankish control for a few years after that, but by 1302, it was definitely in byzantine hands.