Lefkada, also known as Lefkas or Leukas and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Lefkada. It is situated on the northern part of the island, approximately 25 minutes by automobile away from Aktion National Airport. The island is part of the regional unit of Lefkada.
The despot of Epirus was the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. The name "Despotate of Epirus" and the title "despot of Epirus" are modern historiographical names, and were not in use by the despots themselves. In the Byzantine Empire, the title of despot was a prestigious court title and did not designate rule over some specific territory. Though several of the early Greek rulers of the Epirote realm did use the title of despot, it was never in reference to the lands they governed, but instead in reference to their position in the imperial hierarchy.
Nicholas Orsini was a Greek–Italian nobleman who was count palatine of Cephalonia from 1317 to 1323 and ruler of southern Epirus around Arta from 1318 to 1323. The son of Count John I Orsini and an Epirote princess, he succeeded his father upon the latter's death, and in the next year murdered his uncle, Thomas Komnenos Doukas, and usurped his rule of Epirus. While able to secure his control over southern Epirus, however, the north with the city of Ioannina were taken over by the Byzantine Empire. Nicholas' attempts to ally with the Republic of Venice and recover Ioannina failed, and he was in turn killed by his brother John II Orsini in 1323.
John II Orsini, also John Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas, was count palatine of Cephalonia from 1323 to 1324 and Despot of Epirus from 1323 to 1335.
Carlo I Tocco was the hereditary Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1376, and ruled as the Despot of Epirus from 1411 until his death on July 4, 1429.
Leonardo III Tocco was the last ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, ruling from the death of his father Carlo II Tocco in 1448 to the despotate's fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1479. Leonardo was one of the last independent Latin rulers in Greece, and the last to hold territories on the Greek mainland. After the fall of his realm, he fled to Italy, where he became a landowner and diplomat. Leonardo continued to claim his titles in exile until his death.
The County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos existed from 1185 to 1479 as part of the Kingdom of Sicily. The title and the right to rule the Ionian islands of Cephalonia and Zakynthos was originally given to Margaritus of Brindisi for his services to William II, King of Sicily, in 1185.
The Frankokratia, also known as Latinokratia and, for the Venetian domains, Venetokratia or Enetokratia, was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French and Italian states were established by the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae on the territory of the dissolved Byzantine Empire.
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.
Guglielmo Tocco was the governor of the Greek island of Corfu in the 1330s and the founder of the Tocco dynasty.
The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet of Anticythera, indirectly in 1238 and directly after 1363. In 1386, Corfu voluntarily became part of Venice's colonies. A century later, Venice captured Zante in 1485, Cephalonia in 1500 and Ithaca in 1503. The conquest was completed in 1718 with the capture of Lefkada. Each of the islands remained part of the Venetian Stato da Màr until Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797, annexing Corfu. The Ionian Islands are situated in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece. Cythera, the southernmost, is just off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Corfu, the northernmost, is located at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. In modern Greek, the period of Venetian rule over Greek territory is known as Venetokratia or Enetokratia and literally means "rule of the Venetians". It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was agreeable, especially compared with the coinciding Tourkokratia — Turkish rule over the remainder of present-day Greece.
Karli-Eli, also Karli-Ili or Karlo-Ili, was the Ottoman name for the region of Aetolia-Acarnania in western Greece, which formed a distinct administrative unit from the late 15th century until the Greek War of Independence.
Leonardo II Tocco was a scion of the Tocco family and lord of Zakynthos, who played an important role as a military leader for his brother, Carlo I Tocco, in early 15th-century western Greece.
John I Orsini was the count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1303 or 1304 to his death in 1317. Married to an Epirote princess, John spent a decade at the Epirote court before succeeding his father, Richard Orsini, as count palatine. As a vassal of the Principality of Achaea, he was involved in its domestic affairs and especially the dynastic dispute between the infante Ferdinand of Majorca and Princess Matilda of Hainaut in 1315–16, and participated in a number of Latin campaigns against Epirus, which he aspired to rule. A year after his death, his son and heir Nicholas Orsini seized Epirus and brought it under the Orsini family's rule.
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.
Matthew Orsini or Maio Orsini was a Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.
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).
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.
Don Antonio Tocco was the last titular Despot of Epirus and Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, claiming these titles from the death of his father Leonardo V Tocco in 1641 until he abandoned them in 1642, substituting them for the title of Prince of Achaea, which he used until his death in 1678.
Leonardo Tocco was the name of several members of the medieval and modern Italian Tocco family. It may refer to:
