Alfonso Fadrique de Aragon

Don Alfonso Fadrique de Aragón (German: Alfons Friedrich von Aragón ; catal .: N'Anfós Frederic d'Aragó ; * around 1290 ; † 1338 ) was a regent (vicar) of the Catalan Duchy of Athens .

Alfonso was the illegitimate son of King Frederick II of Sicily and his lover Sibylle Sormella. He grew up at the court of his uncle, King James II of Aragon . His father made him vicar of the Duchy of Athens in 1317, succeeding the late Berenguer Estanyol . With ten galleys he landed in Piraeus in the summer of 1317 to receive the homage of the Catalan company in Athens . Alfonso ruled formally in the name of his half-brother, Duke Manfred , and after this died a little later for Duke Wilhelm II , who never came to the duchy.

Immediately after his arrival, Alfonso set about expanding the duchy. He married the daughter of Bonifazio da Verona and thus claimed his inheritance on Euboea ( Karystos ). With that he started a war with Venice , which commanded Euboea. With 2,000 Catalan mercenaries, Alfonso built a bridge over the Euripus Strait and marched across it to the island. The Venetian governor was so surprised by this that he negotiated an armistice with the Catalans without authorization. At the end of 1317 Alfonso's father-in-law died so that he could now take possession of Karystos. The status quo was then agreed in an armistice with Venice. The peace remained fragile as Alfonso carried out raids against all of his neighbors and, with the help of Turkish corsairs, landed Venetian ships in the Aegean Sea . It was not until 1319, under pressure from King Frederick II of Sicily, that a temporary peace with Venice came about, in which Alfonso received largely confirmation of his conquests. Only the possession of Karystos remained controversial, which Venice was not ready to recognize.

After the last despot of Thessaly, John II Angelus , died in 1318 , Alfonso seized the cities of Phthiotis , Neopatra , Zeitun , Gardiki, Pharsala and Domokos after a quick march through the Thermophyls . He united the conquered area with Athens as the Duchy of Neopatria . In 1320 Alfonso was able to secure the Principality of Salona for himself after Roger Deslaur had died there. Towards the end of 1330, Alfonso resigned from his vicariate and handed it over to Nicolas de Lancia. As compensation, he was appointed Count of Malta and Gozo by his father , but remained active in Greece.

Alfonso Fadrique is considered to be the actual founder of the Catalan-Aragonese rule in Greece. Under him the overgrown rule of the Catalan company was put in order and asserted against the surrounding hostile neighbors. Through the peace with Venice he was able to weaken the front of his opponents, which paid off in 1332 when the young Walter von Brienne , despite the support of the Pope and the Anjou, failed in an attempt to recapture his inheritance. In 1335 Alfonso, like Duke Wilhelm II and the entire Catalan company, were excommunicated by the Pope. After his death, however, the order in the duchy increasingly fell apart.

With his wife Muriella da Verona he had the children:

• Pietro Fadrique de Aragón († 1355), Count of Malta and Gozo, Lord of Salona
• Jaime Fadrique de Aragón († 1366), Count of Malta and Gozo, Lord of Salona
• Juan Fadrique de Aragón († around 1366), Lord of Aegina
• Bonifacio Fadrique de Aragón († around 1375/76), Lord of Karystos (sold to Venice in 1365), from 1366 Lord of Aegina
• Simona Fadrique de Aragón, ∞ with Giorgio II. Ghisi († 1358), Triarch of Negroponte and Lord of Tinos and Mykonos

literature

• Ferdinand Gregorovius : History of the City of Athens in the Middle Ages (1889. dtv, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-423-06114-6 )