Zaccaria (family)

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Coat of arms of the Zaccaria family, lords of Focea

Zaccaria is the name of a Genoese patrician - dynasty , which until the early 15th century played an important role in the eastern Mediterranean from the late 13th. During this time she was one of two powerful Genoese families in the Aegean Sea , the other being the Gattilusio .

history

The Zaccaria family of merchants originally came from Gavi and probably settled in Genoa in the 11th or 12th century in the Santa Maria di Castello district . In 1202 a member of the family (Zaccaria di Castello) is mentioned by name for the first time.

After members of the Zaccaria supported the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII in the context of the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261 , the family received the port city of Phokaia in Asia Minor with its profitable alum mines as a hereditary fief. A rapid ascent followed from this source of income. Benedetto I. Zaccaria made a career as a Byzantine diplomat, married into the imperial family, became an admiral in Genoese, French and Castilian services, and finally took possession of the island of Chios in 1304 under the pretext of fighting pirates . The Byzantine Emperor confirmed control of the island as a temporary fief; In fact, the Zaccaria ruled there as independent princes.

Benedetto's grandson Martino Zaccaria married into the Frankish nobility in Greece and thus gained several baronies in the Principality of Achaia . The titular Latin emperor awarded him the title of "King and Despot of Asia Minor". In 1343 he became papal naval leader of the crusade against Smyrna , in which he was killed in 1345.

Chios and Phokaia were lost to Byzantium in 1329. Both areas came back to Genoa shortly afterwards, but no longer to the Zaccaria family, but to a trading company ( Maona ), from which the Giustiniani family later emerged.

Martino's son Centurione I. Zaccaria became the most powerful baron in Achaia. His daughter Maria Zaccaria rose through marriage to the leader of the Navarre Company up to the princess of Achaia and kept the office even after the death of her husband in 1402. Two years later, however, she was ousted by her nephew Centurione II. Zaccaria . With his death in 1432, Achaia fell to the Byzantine despotate Morea , whose ruler had married Thomas Palaiologos Centurione's daughter.

Tribe list

For the sake of clarity, only significant family members are listed:

  1. Fulcone Zaccaria († after 1275), participant in the Nymphaion Convention
    1. Manuele Zaccaria († 1287/88), lord of Phokaia; ∞ I) Eliana Grillo, ∞ II) Clarisia di Fieschi, relatives of Popes Innocent IV and Hadrian V.
      1. Tedisio Zaccaria († 1313), administrator of Phokaia, lord of Thasos
    2. Benedetto I. Zaccaria († 1307), admiral, lord of Phokaia, first lord of Chios; ∞ members of Palaiologoi dynasty
      1. Paleologo Zaccaria († 1314), lord of Chios
        1. Benedetto II. Zaccaria († 1330), co-lord of Chios
        2. Martino Zaccaria († 1345, killed by the Turks in Smyrna ), last lord of Chios, lord of Chalandritsa, "King and Despot of Asia Minor"; ∞ Jacqueline de la Roche , Baroness von Veligosti – Damala
          1. Bartolomeo Zaccaria († 1334), co-lord of Damala; ∞ Guglielma Pallavicini, Margrave of Boudonitza
          2. Centurione I. Zaccaria († 1382), lord of Damala, Chalandritsa, Estamira; Bailli and constable of Achaia; ∞ Members of the Asanes dynasty
            1. Andronico Asano Zaccaria († 1401), lord of Chalandritsa, constable of Achaia; ∞ heir daughter of Erard III. of Le Maure, Lord of Arcadia
              1. Centurione II. Zaccaria († 1432), Lord of Arcadia, from 1404 to 1430/32 Prince of Achaia; ∞ Creusa Tocco , daughter of Leonardo II Tocco , lord of Zante
                1. Caterina Zaccaria († 1462), ∞ Thomas Palaiologos , Despot of the Morea
                2. (illegitimate) Giovanni Aseno Zaccaria († 1469), rebel leader against Ottoman rule
              2. Erardo Zaccaria, as Erard IV. Lord of Arcadia
              3. Stefano Zaccaria († 1424), Latin Archbishop of Patras
            2. Maria Zaccaria († after 1404), ruling princess of Achaia from 1402 to 1404; ∞ Pedro Bordo de San Superano, leader of the Navarre Company
              1. son
      2. Eliana Zaccaria ∞ Andriolo Cattaneo, Lord of Phokaia
        1. Domenico Cattaneo († 1336), last lord of Phokaia

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG): Latin lordships in Greece (accessed February 2016)

literature