This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2024) |
Francesca of Montferrat was a noblewoman of the Palaeologus-Montferrat family, a cadet branch of the Byzantine Palaiologos dynasty. She married Costantino Arianiti Comneno of the Arianiti family. [1]
Francesca Palaeologus-Montferrat | |
---|---|
Princess consort of Arianiti (in exile) | |
Tenure | 1489 - 8 May 1530 |
Predecessor | Pietrina Francone |
Princess consort of Macedonia (titular) | |
Tenure | c. 1494 - 8 May 1530 |
Duchess consort of Achaea (titular) | |
Tenure | c. 1494 - 8 May 1530 |
Despotess consort of Morea (titular) | |
Tenure | 1502/1507 - 8 May 1530 |
Predecessor | Caterina Palaiologina |
Born | c. before 1486 |
Died | c. after 1561 |
Spouse | Constantine Arianiti |
Issue | Arianitto Arianiti Andronica Arianiti, Despotess of Epirus Penthesilea Arianiti Ippolita Arianiti Polissena Arianiti Deianira Arianiti Elena Arianiti |
House | Palaeologus-Montferrat (by birth) Arianiti (by marriage) |
Father | Boniface III, Marquis of Montferrat |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Francesca Paleologa, Lady of Refrancore was an illegitimate daughter of Boniface III, Marquis of Montferrat. [2]
Between 1489 and 1492, Francesca married exiled Albanian prince Constantine Arianiti Komneni, son of prince and military leader Gjergj Arianiti and Pietrina Francone, an Italian noblewoman. Like most medieval Albanian nobility, the Arianitis were exiled to Italy after their territories, specifically the Principality of Arianiti, fell to the Ottomans. Her sister-in law Andronika Arianiti was the wife of Albania's national hero Skanderbeg.
Francesca's marriage to Constantine was likely arranged by her step-mother, Maria of Serbia, the groom's niece, as she was the daughter of his elder sister Angelina Arianiti. She brought a good dowry to the marriage, which enabled Constantine to be able to purchase some fiefs.
After the death of her husband in 1531, Francesca gained a position at the court of Christina of Denmark in Milan, as chief lady in waiting to the young duchess. Later, during Christina's second marriage, she was appointed as governess to the duchess' daughters, Renata and Dorothea. [3] [4]
Francesca was seen as an ideal candidate because of her husband's loyalty to the pope, as well as, her daughter Deianira's husband, being a loyal subject to Francesco Sforza. Moreover, she was the paternal aunt of Margaret Paleologa, the Marquise regnant of Montferrat. After leaving the position and returning to Italy, Francesca was given 4000 scudi by Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, [4] Christina's son. She died sometime after 1561. [5]
Francesca of Montferrat had seven children with Constantine Arianiti:
Moisi Komnen Arianiti, also known as Moisi Golemi and Moisi of Dibra, was an Albanian nobleman and a commander of the League of Lezhë. In 1443–44 he captured all Ottoman holdings in the area of Dibër region. For a brief period in the 1450s he joined the Ottomans, but soon abandoned them and returned to the League. He died in 1464, when he was executed publicly in Constantinople after being captured by the Ottoman army.
Gjergj Arianiti (1383–1462) was an Albanian feudal lord who led several successful campaigns against the Ottoman Empire. He was the father of Donika, Skanderbeg's wife, as well as the grand-uncle of Moisi Arianit Golemi. Gjergj Arianiti was Skanderbeg's ally within League of Lezhë before abandoneding the alliance after the defeat in Berat in 1450. He later returned. Robert Elsie emphasizes that Arianiti was often Skanderbeg's rival. He allied with the Kingdom of Naples in 1446, left his alliance with Skanderbeg by 1449 and allied with Venice in 1456. However his daughter married Skanderbeg and he remained officially part of the League of Lezhe, continuing to fight Ottomans successfully up to his death in 1462.
The House of Arianiti was an Albanian noble family that ruled large areas in Albania and neighboring areas from the 11th to the 16th century. Their domain stretched across the Shkumbin valley and the old Via Egnatia road and reached east to today's Bitola.
Centurione II AsanesZaccaria, scion of a powerful Genoese merchant family established in the Morea since the marriage of the lord of Chios Martino Zaccaria to the baroness Jacqueline de la Roche. Centurione purchased the rights of the title of Prince of Achaea by Ladislaus of Naples in 1404 and was the last ruler of the once Latin Empire not under Byzantine suzerainty.
Margaret Palaeologa, was the ruling Marquise regnant of Montferrat in her own right between 1533 and 1536. She was also Duchess of Mantua by marriage to Federico II, Duke of Mantua. Margaret acted as the regent of the Duchy of Mantua twice during the minority of her sons: for her elder son Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua in 1540-1549, and for her younger son Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, between 1550 and 1556.
The Muzaka family was an noble Albanian family that ruled over the region of Myzeqe in the Late Middle Ages. The Muzaka are also referred to by some authors as a tribe or a clan. The earliest historical document that mentions the Muzaka family is written by the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene. At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century members of the Muzaka family controlled a region between the rivers of Devoll and Vjosë. Some of them were loyal to the Byzantine Empire while some of them allied with Charles of Anjou who gave them impressive Byzantine-like titles in order to subdue them more easily. In the 1340s, Stefan Dušan pressed further south into Albania, and by 1343-45 had taken central towns and territories in southern Albania, including domains of the Muzaka family. However, they would fall back under local control after his death in 1355. After the Battle of Savra in 1385 the territory of Albania came under the Ottoman Empire; they served the Ottomans until 1444 when Theodor Corona Musachi joined Skanderbeg's rebellion. When the Ottomans suppressed Skanderbeg's rebellion and captured the territory of Venetian Albania in the 15th century many members of the Muzaka family retreated to Italy. Those who stayed in Ottoman Albania lost their feudal rights, some converted to Islam and achieved high ranks in the Ottoman military and administrative hierarchy.
Maria Muzaka was an Albanian princess from the Muzaka family. She was a daughter of Andrea III Muzaka and his wife Anna Zenevisi, Lady of Grabossa. From her marriage to Gjergj Arianiti, Maria had eight daughters, most notably of them were Andronika, Queen of Albania, and Saint Angelina, Empress of Serbia.
Angelina Branković, née Arianiti, was the Albanian Despotess consort of Serbian Despot Stefan Branković, and a daughter of Prince Gjergj Arianiti and his first wife Maria Muzaka. For her pious life she was proclaimed a saint and venerated as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina.
The House of Tocco was an Italian noble family from Benevento that came to prominence in the late 14th and 15th centuries, when they ruled various territories in western Greece as Counts Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos and Despots of Epirus. During their brief period of rule in Greece, they were one of the most ambitious and able Latin dynasties in the region, and they were one of the few to leave descendants lasting until modern times.
John George of Monferrat was the last Marquis of Montferrat of the Palaeologus-Montferrat family.
William IX Palaeologus was Marquis of Montferrat from 1494 until his death. He was a member of the House of Palaeologus-Montferrat, a cadet branch of the Palaiologos dynasty which had once ruled the Byzantine Empire.
George Strez Balšić or Gjergj Strez Balsha and his brothers Gojko and Ivan were the lords of Misia, a coastal area from the White Drin towards the Adriatic. The brothers were members of the Balšić noble family, which had earlier held Zeta. They participated in founding of the League of Lezhë, an alliance led by their maternal uncle Skanderbeg. George later betrayed Skanderbeg, by selling a domain to the Ottomans, while his two brothers continued to support Skanderbeg until his death and then continued to fight for the Venetian forces.
Carlo III Tocco (1464–1518) was the titular despot of Epirus and count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from the death of his father Leonardo III Tocco c. 1503 to his own death in 1518. Carlo lived in Rome, where he received pensions from both the Papacy and the Kingdom of Naples. As an adult, Carlo worked as a military officer, serving both the Papacy and Emperor Maximilian I.
Constantine Cominato Arianiti also known as Constantine Komnenos Arianites, was a 15th and 16th-century Albanian nobleman, military leader, diplomat and pretender who lived most of his life in exile in Italy due to the conquest of his homeland by the Ottoman Empire. Constantine sought to establish himself as a leader among the Christian Balkan refugees in Italy and claimed lordship over various former Christian lands in Greece, using the titles Prince of Macedonia, Duke of Achaea and Despot of the Morea.
Leonardo IV Tocco was the titular Despot of Epirus and Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from the death of his father Carlo III Tocco in 1518 to his own death in 1564. His mother was Andronica Arianiti, daughter of Constantine Arianiti, also a claimant to various lands in Greece. From his maternal grandfather, Leonardo was granted the fortress of Refrancore, which he held under the title signore (lord).
Arianitto Cominato Arianiti was a 16th-century Italian nobleman of Albanian descent, the only son of the diplomat and pretender Constantine Arianiti. After his father's death in 1530, Arianitto continued Constantine's pretensions, styling himself as the 'Prince of Macedonia', but dropping the other titles used by his father. He served as a captain in the papal army in Rome until his death in battle in 1551, which ended the male line of the Arianiti family in Italy.
Francesco Tocco was the titular Despot of Epirus and Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from the death of his father Leonardo IV Tocco in 1564 to his own death in 1596. He served as infantry captain in the army of the Republic of Venice.
Leonardo V Tocco was the titular Despot of Epirus and Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from the death of his father Francesco Tocco in 1596 to his own death in 1641. In addition to holding titular claims to lordships in Greece, Leonardo was also the lord of Refrancore in Montferrat, Italy, as well as Apice and Tinchiano, which he purchased in 1639. Upon Leonardo's death, his claims and titles were inherited by his son, Antonio Tocco.
The Angelo Flavio Comneno or Angeli family were a Venetian noble family of Albanian descent who claimed descent from the Angelos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. In the 16th century, the family founded the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, a knightly order with invented Byzantine connections. From the 16th century onwards, the heads of the family styled themselves as "Prince of Macedonia, Duke and Count of Drivasto and Durazzo", though other titles were also sometimes used.
Don Fernando Palaiologos or Paleologo was a 15th and 16th-century nobleman of Greek descent who lived in Italy. After the death of Andreas Palaiologos in 1502, Fernando claimed the title of Despot of the Morea. Though Andreas Palaiologos is generally believed to have been childless, Fernando might have been his son, though possibly illegitimate, and through Andreas possibly a grandnephew of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the final Byzantine emperor.