Marco Sanudo

Coat of arms of Marco Sanudo as Duke of Archipelagos

Marco Sanudo († 1227 ) was a Venetian nobleman who rose to become Duke of Archipelagos .

He was a nephew of the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo and a participant in the Fourth Crusade , in the course of which Constantinople was conquered in 1204 and in which he led a Venetian fleet to the Byzantine capital.

In 1207 he conquered the island of Naxos with the help of eight galleys on loan from Venice , where he founded the Duchy of Archipelagos and made himself duke.

The campaign was an undertaking that was not coordinated with Heinrich von Flanders , the ruler of the Latin Empire . Sanudo was accompanied by Marino Dandolo and Andrea and Geremia Ghisi, but also by Ravano dalle Carceri, Lord of Euboea , and Philocalo Navigaioso, Lord of Lemnos . He began the conquest of the island by entering the port of Potamidides in southwest Naxos. The orthodox Naxiots did not surrender without resistance: in the interior they held the fortress Apalyros, which surrendered only after a five or six week siege of Sanudo, despite the support of Genoa, who saw themselves excluded from the Aegean trade by the pirate actions of the Venetians.

With Naxos in his hand, Sanudo conquered Melos and the rest of the Cyclades in 1210 . He had a strong fortress built and divided the islands into 56 provinces, which he distributed as feudal fiefs among the leaders of his men, who had mostly joined him in anticipation of such rewards and who had previously borne their own costs.

He himself ruled for 20 years (1207-1227) as Duke Marcos I, surrounded by Latin seigneurs on more than two dozen islands, some of which swore allegiance to him, others directly to the emperor in Constantinople. Sanudo's personal possessions were the islands of Paros , Antiparos , Melos , Sifnos , Kithnos , Ios , Amorgos , Kimolos , Sikinos , Syros and Pholegandros .

When he died in 1227, his son Angelo followed him as Duke of the Archipelagos. His family ruled the duchy until 1383, when they were overthrown by an uprising by the Crispos , who sat on the throne in their place.

literature

• John Knight Fotheringham, Laurence Frederic Rushbrook Williams: Marco Sanudo, Conqueror of the Archipelago , Clarendon Press, Oxford 1915.
• Charles A. Frazee: The Island Princes of Greece. The Dukes of the Archipelago , Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 90-256-0948-1 .

predecessor	Office	successor
––	Duke of Archipelagos 1207–1227	Angelo