Nikola Orsini

Nikola Orsini , also Nikolaus II. Angelos Komnenos ( Middle Greek Νικόλαος Ορσίνι , Italian Nicola Orsini or Nicola d'Epiro ; * around 1295; † 1323 ) was Count Palatine of Kephalonia from 1317 and Prince of Epirus from 1318 until his death .

Nikola was the eldest son of Count Giovanni I Orsini and Maria Komnena Angelina, a daughter of the Epirotian ruler Nikephorus I. His father ruled the county of Kephalonia as a vassal of King Charles II of Naples. In addition, the island of Leukas was his wife's marriage property. In 1317 Nikola inherited these properties from his father.

Nikolas most important possessions were: Kephalonia, Ithaka, Leukas, Akarnanien and the southern Epirus

Unlike his predecessors, he wanted to take advantage of his family ties to the Angeloi in Epirus in order to take control there himself. In 1318 he appeared at the court of Arta , where he murdered his maternal uncle, Thomas , and seized power in the country. To what extent Nikola had prepared this bold step politically is unknown today. In any case, the Epirotian nobility accepted the new ruler without hesitation. To further consolidate his position, Nikola married Anna Palaiologina, the widow of his predecessor. He had separated from his wife years earlier and thrown her in prison. On the occasion of his marriage, Nikola also converted to the Orthodox Church, which greatly strengthened his reputation among the Greek clergy and people. He was the first Latin ruler in Romania and he remained one of the few who undertook this denomination change in order to adapt to the Greeks.

Despite his Greek orientation, Nikola remained a vassal of the Angevinen and took the oath of fief to Johann von Durazzo , a young son of Charles II. Nicholas' sphere of influence included the paternal inheritance on the islands, the south of Epirus, Acarnania and parts of Aetolia . In central Epirus, the Byzantines held Ioannina, the second most important city in the country. On the coast, up to Butrint in the north , the places seem to have been epirotic. In any case, Nikola offered this port to the Republic of Venice as a price for an alliance against the palaeologists , which was not accepted by the Venetians. When disputes over the throne broke out in Constantinople in 1321 , which developed into an intra-Byzantine civil war, Nikola tried to take advantage of it and conquer Ioannina. Without an ally, however, it failed because of the well-organized resistance of the imperial occupation.

In 1323 Nikola was murdered by his brother Giovanni , who succeeded him as Count of Kephalonia and Lord of Epirus.

progeny

Nikola Orsini married Anna Palaiologina († 1321), daughter of Emperor Michael IX in 1318 . and widow of Thomas Angelos .

The marriage remained childless.

literature

• John VA Fine: The late medieval Balkans. A critical survey from the late twelfth century to the Ottoman conques. 1st paperback edition. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1994, ISBN 0-472-08260-4 .
• Johann S. Publication , Johann G. Gruber (Hrsg.): Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste . Section 1: A - G. Part 85: Greece. B: Greece in the Middle Ages and in the modern age (Christian-Greek art. III. And IV. Sections - History of Greece from the beginning of the Middle Ages to our time. I. and II. Period). Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867, pp. 419-421 .

proof

1. ^ Andreas Thiele: Narrative genealogical family tables on European history. Volume 3: European imperial, royal and princely houses. Supplementary volume. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. RG Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-8301-0171-6 , plate 226.

predecessor	Office	successor
Giovanni I. Orsini	Count Palatine of Kephalonia and Zakynthos 1317–1323	Giovanni II Orsini
Thomas of Epiros	Despot of Epirus 1318-1323	Giovanni II Orsini