Domenico Gattilusio (Archon)

Domenico Gattilusio ( murdered around 1415; † 1458 ) was Archon ( regent or lord) of Lesbos from 1455 to 1458 and of Thasos from 1457 .

He came from the respected Genoese patrician family Gattilusio and was the eldest son of Archon Dorino I Gattilusio of Lesbos, and his wife Orietta Doria .

At first he lived on Lemnos , which his father had transferred from the Emperor John VIII of Byzantium to other areas as property. After his father's death on June 30, 1455, he succeeded him as Archon of Lesbos. As governor on Lesbos initially resided his brother Niccolo , who later became governor of Lemnos. Shortly after the beginning of his rule, relations with the Ottoman Empire deteriorated . Since the Byzantine Empire had already been defeated by the Ottomans in 1453 and was extinguished, Domenico, like his father, had to pay tribute to the Turkish sultan . Sultan Mehmed II asked the new Archon of Lesbos to double the tribute . Since Domenico could not meet this demand, he went to negotiate with the Sultan at the Sultan's court in Adrianople . The Sultan refused personal negotiations with Domenico and left them to a high dignitary.
First Domenico Gattilusio was forced to cede rule over Thasos to the Ottomans. With the tribute payments, Domenico was accommodated by foregoing a doubling of the tribute and instead agreeing a moderate increase. In addition, Domenico had to undertake to protect the coast of Asia Minor opposite his island from pirates . After taking the oath of allegiance to the Sultan, Domenico returned to Lesbos.

A little later the Ottomans occupied the Gattilusio'sche possession Phokaia under a pretext . Favored by a rebellion of the population against the rule of his brother Niccolo II on Lemnos, Domenico finally lost this property to the Ottomans, who now also threatened Lesbos.

Under the pretext of wanting to prevent his brother from surrendering Lesbos to the Ottomans, the power-hungry Niccolo II deposed his brother Domenico at the end of 1458 and declared himself Archon of Lesbos. He had Domenico thrown into dungeon and finally strangled.

Domenico Gattilusio was married to Maria-Giustiniana Longo .

predecessor	Office	successor
Dorino I. Gattilusio	Archon of Lesbos 1455 - 1458	Niccolo II. Gattilusio