Reign of Negroponte

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The rule of Negroponte was a feudal territory in medieval Greece . It was founded as a result of the fourth crusade in 1205 by the Western European-Latin crusaders and thus represents one of the crusader states . The rule was under the dominant influence of the Republic of Venice until the island was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1470 .

The rule included the Greek island of Evia , which the Italians called "Negroponte" (black bridge), and had its own peculiarity with its tripartite division. The Latin rule on the island was divided into three dominions, the center with the main town Chalkis , the south with Karystos and the north with Oreos . His masters were therefore also called "three men" ( terzieri or triarchs ). At times even these thirds were divided, which is why up to six gentlemen ( sestieri or hexarchs ) officiated on Negroponte at the same time.

history

The Latin rule on Negroponte was founded in the spring of 1205 by Boniface de Montferrat as a fiefdom of his kingdom of Thessaloniki , entrusting the rule of the island to his Flemish follower Jacques d'Avesnes . With the permission of his liege lord, Avesnes divided Negroponte into three after-fiefs in August 1205, which he gave to Italian-Lombard knights. When Avesnes died around 1209, one of these Lombard lords, Ravano dalle Carceri , became the next sole ruler, as his two colleagues had either died or left for their Italian homeland.

Although Ravano had to recognize the sovereignty of the Latin emperor of Constantinople , Heinrich , after a failed revolt , he established the dominant influence of Venice on Negroponte by tolerating a Venetian Bailò as a permanent representative of the "Serenissima" from 1211 onwards . Upon the death of Ravano in 1216, the rule on the island was again and now permanently divided into three parts and with the death of Emperor Heinrich in the same year, Venice finally took over control of the three lords who arose from Venetian and Italian families. The succession in the triple rule turned out to be complicated and, due to the lack of sources, cannot be adequately traced. In the 13th century the families of the dalle Carceri and da Verona provided the three lords , who were then inherited by the families of the Ghisi , Giustiniani , Sommaripa , Zorzi and Noë .

In 1255, the prince of Achaia , Wilhelm II of Villehardouin , claimed rule in Oreos and thus started a war with Venice, which ended in a compromise in 1262 in which the prince became the nominal overlord of the island but renounced Oreos in favor of an Italian lord . In fact, Venice continued to be the determining factor on the island. From 1276 the Byzantine Empire was able to point to the Negroponte present tense again for the first time since 1204, when it was able to conquer southern Karystos and other castles with the help of the Italian mercenary Licario . But until 1296 the Latins under Bonifazio da Verona were able to drive out the Byzantines again. With the conquest of the Duchy of Athens by the Catalan company in 1311, Negroponte finally lost its feudal bond towards Achaia and now took on the role of a Venetian colony . In 1470 the island was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

See also: List of the Baili of Negroponte

literature