Gattilusio (noble family)

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The Gattilusio were an influential patrician family from Genoa who were able to establish rule on several islands in the Aegean Sea from 1355 to 1462 in the Byzantine Empire .

history

Fortress of Mytilene on Lesvos
The fortress on Ainos
The fortress in Limenas Thasou on Thasos
The castle on Samothraki
Phocaea

Francesco I. Gattilusio received in 1355 from the Byzantine emperor Johannes V. Palaiologos as thanks for his help with weapons in the fight against the counter-emperor Johannes VI. Kantakuzenos bestowed the island of Lesbos as hereditary rule. On June 17, 1355, he assumed his rule as Archon of Lesbos in the island's capital, Mytilene . Around 1357 Francesco Gattilusio married the Princess Maria Palaiologina, the widowed daughter of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III. Palaiologos and his second wife Anna of Savoy . From this marriage the three sons Andronico, Domenico and Jacopo emerged.

From 1373, however, there were tensions between Francesco and the emperor due to the policy of rapprochement between Byzantium and the Ottomans. After John V was deposed in 1376, Francesco I was able to benefit from the progenuesian policies of the new emperor Andronikos IV . So he brought the city of Ainos in Thrace into his power and installed his brother Niccolo I Gattilusio there as lord. As a lucrative source of income, Francesco I. Gattilusio continued piracy as Archon of Lesbos. On August 6, 1384, Francesco I. Gattilusio and his sons Andronico and Domenico died during an earthquake on the island of Lesbos. Although his widow Maria inherited the island of Lesbos, he was followed as archon by his 14-year-old son Jacopo, who took the name Francesco II .

In the following generations, the Gattilusio were able to expand their power to Lemnos , Thasos , Samothraki and Phokaia , where they founded Genoese colonies . Manuel II Palaiologos took the island of Lemnos in 1414 after a heavy siege and enfeoffed Jacopo Gattilusio , the archon of Lesbos, with the island of Thasos, as a reward for the Genoese support in the liberation of Constantinople and the enthronement of John V Palaiologos . The Gattilusio acted as diplomatic mediators between Byzantium and the eastern Mediterranean powers. But they were also in league with Catalan pirates and pirates from the Cyclades , who operated from Thasos. In 1428, Dorino I. Gattilusio appointed Umberto Grimaldi as administrator of the island of Lemnos , who had fortifications and castles built in various places on the island.

The links to the Byzantine imperial family of palaeologists and the Christian nobility in the Mediterranean area were strengthened through marriage policy . Francesco II was married to a daughter, unknown by name, of the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos , with whom he had three sons and three daughters. His daughter Irene married the Byzantine Emperor John VII Palaiologos in 1397 . The daughter Helena was married to Stefan Lazarević , the despot of Serbia , and the daughter Catarina to the baron Pietro Grimaldi . His sons Jacopo and Dorino succeeded him as Archons of Lesbos. The son Palamede succeeded his uncle Niccolo Gattilusio as lord of Ainos.

With the advance of the Ottomans in the 15th century, the Gattilusio lost their property and influence in the Aegean. After the conquest of Constantinople (1453) they stayed on Lesbos for a few years, from where they had to pay the Ottomans a tribute of 4,000 gold coins a year. Niccolo II. Gattilusio killed his older brother Domenico in 1458 and became the last Archon of Lesbos in his place. Sultan Mehmed II finally took the murder and the support of pirates by Niccolo II as an opportunity to take military action against him. Niccolo's sister Maria came to the harem on the orders of the Sultan, her son Page in the seraglio and Niccolo himself was executed in 1462.

Members of the Gattilusio family

Francesco I and his descendants:

Other family members:

Archons of Lesbos

The archons ( regents or lords) of the rule of Lesbos , which existed from 1355 to 1462, came from the Gattilusio family. With the occupation of the island of Lesbos by the Ottomans in 1462, the rule of the Gattilusio over Lesbos ended. The following people were Archon of Lesbos:

  1. Francesco I. Gattilusio , 1355 to 1384
  2. Francesco II Gattilusio , 1384 to 1403 or 1404; until 1387 under the tutelage of Niccolo I. Gattilusio , Lord of Ainos
  3. Jacopo Gattilusio , 1403 or 1404 to 1428; until 1408 under the tutelage of Niccolo I. Gattilusio, lord of Ainos
  4. Dorino I. Gattilusio , 1428 to 1455
  5. Domenico Gattilusio , 1455 to 1458
  6. Niccolo II Gattilusio , 1458 to 1462

literature

  • Christopher Wright: The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World, 1355-1462. Brill, Leiden 2014.

Web links