Most place names in Tzoumerka belong to the period immediately before the rise of the Despotate of Epirus, a successor state of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in the beginning of the 13th century. Melissourgoi, in particular, are mentioned in a golden bull (imperial decree) issued by the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in June 1321. The decree makes reference to a place called “Tzermeniko”, which eventually became Tzoumerka. Melissourgoi were the favorite retreat of Anna Palaiologina Kantakouzene, the niece of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, second wife of Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, regent of Epirus.