Lordship of Salona

Last updated
Lordship of Salona
Vassal lordship (after 1318 County) of the Duchy of Athens
1205–1210
1212–1394
1404–1410
Greece in 1278.svg
The Byzantine Empire and the Latin states in southern Greece c.1278
Capital Salona (La Sole)
Government
  Type Feudal principality
Lord (after 1318, Count) 
 1205–1210
Thomas I d'Autremencourt (first Lord)
 1318–1338
Alfonso Fadrique (first Count)
Historical eraMiddle Ages
  Frankish conquest
1205
  Ottoman conquest
1410
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Simple Labarum.svg Byzantine Empire
Ottoman Empire Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1844).svg
Today part of Greece

The Lordship of Salona, after 1318 the County of Salona, was a Crusader state established after the Fourth Crusade (1204) in Central Greece, around the town of Salona (modern Amfissa, known in French as La Sole and Italian as La Sola).

Contents

History

The first lord of Salona, Thomas I d'Autremencourt (or de Stromoncourt), was named by Boniface of Montferrat, the King of Thessalonica, in 1205. After the fall of the Thessalonica to the forces of Epirus, and a short-lived Epirote occupation in c. 1210–1212, Salona became a vassal of the Principality of Achaea, but later came under increasing dependency from the Duchy of Athens. In 1318, the lordship came under the rule of the Catalan Fadrique family, the leader of the Catalan Company, who claimed the title of Count of Salona. Among the eighteen Catalan vassals of the area in 1380-1 the Count of Salona ranks first above Count Demitre and the Margrave of Bodonitsa. [1] Due to the unpopularity of the Dowager Countess Helena Asanina Kantakouzene, in 1394, the town opened its gates to the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. It fell for a short time into the hands of the Despotate of the Morea c. 1402. The Despot Theodore I Palaiologos sold Salona to the Knights Hospitaller in 1404, but it fell again to the Ottomans in 1410.

Rulers

The citadel of Amfissa, built by the Latin rulers of the town, from a 1918 postcard AMPHISSA 1918.jpg
The citadel of Amfissa, built by the Latin rulers of the town, from a 1918 postcard
d'Autremencourt/de Stromoncourt family
Catalan Conquest
Navarrese Conquest (1380)
First Ottoman conquest (1394 – c. 1402)
Byzantine Moreot conquest (1402–1404)
Knights Hospitaller (1404–1410)
Second Ottoman conquest (1410)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duchy of Athens</span> State in southern Greece (1205–1458)

The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of the process known as Frankokratia, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duchy of Neopatras</span> Medieval Greek duchy (1319–1390)

The Duchy of Neopatras was a principality in southern Thessaly, established in 1319. Officially part of the Kingdom of Sicily, itself part of the Crown of Aragon, the duchy was governed in conjunction with the neighbouring Duchy of Athens, it enjoyed a large degree of self-government. From the mid-14th century, the duchies entered a period of decline: most of the Thessalian possessions were lost to the Serbian Empire, internal dissensions arose, along with the menace of Turkish piracy in the Aegean and the onset of Ottoman expansion in the Balkans. Enfeebled, the Catalan possessions were taken over by the Florentine adventurer Nerio I Acciaioli in 1385–1390. The title of Duke of Neopatras was held by the heir of the King of Sicily.

Roger Deslaur or Desllor, a knight from Roussillon in the service of Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens, was one of the few men to survive the bloody Battle of Halmyros on 15 March 1311. Captured by the Catalan Company, he accepted the post of rector and marshal of the Company after Boniface of Verona declined it.

Don Alfonso Fadrique was the eldest and illegitimate son of Frederick II of Sicily. He served as vicar general of the Duchy of Athens from 1317 to 1330.

The margraviate or marquisate of Bodonitsa, today Mendenitsa, Phthiotis, was a Frankish state in Greece following the conquests of the Fourth Crusade. It was originally granted as a margravial holding of Guy Pallavicini by Boniface, first king of Thessalonica, in 1204. Its original purpose was to guard the pass of Thermopylae.

Peter (I) Fadrique, Count of Salona, was the eldest son of Alfonso Fadrique, vicar general of Athens and Neopatras, and Marulla of Verona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Fadrique</span>

Louis Fadrique a Catalan nobleman who was Count of Salona, as well as lord of various other towns in Central Greece from ca. 1365 until his death in 1382. In 1375–1381 he also served as the vicar-general of the twin duchy of Athens and Neopatras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boniface of Verona</span> Lombard crusader

Boniface of Verona was a Lombard Crusader lord in Frankish Greece during the late 13th and early 14th century. A third son from a junior branch of his family, he sold his castle to equip himself as a knight, became a protégé of Guy II de la Roche, Duke of Athens, expelled the Byzantines from Euboea in 1296, and advanced to become one of the most powerful lords of Frankish Greece. Following Guy II's death, he served as regent for the Duchy of Athens in 1308–09, and was captured by the Catalan Company in the Battle of Halmyros in March 1311. The Catalans held Boniface in high regard, and offered to make him their leader. Boniface refused, but retained close relations with them, sharing their hostility towards the Republic of Venice and its own interests in Euboea. Boniface died in late 1317 or early 1318, leaving his son-in-law, the Catalan vicar-general Alfonso Fadrique, as the heir of his domains.

Irene Palaiologina was the empress consort of Matthew Kantakouzenos.

<i>Frankokratia</i> Period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas III d'Autremencourt</span>

Thomas III d'Autremencourt or de Stromoncourt was the fourth Lord of Salona in Central Greece, and the last of his family. He ruled his domain from 1294 until his death in the Battle of the Cephissus against the Catalan Company in 1311. At the same time, he also held the position of marshal of the Principality of Achaea. After his death, his widow and domain passed to Roger Deslaur, who in the aftermath of Cephissus was for a brief time (1311–1312) selected as the leader of the Catalan Company.

Thomas I d'Autremencourt, commonly misspelled de Stromoncourt, was the first Lord of Salona in Central Greece. A knight from Autremencourt in Picardy, he was given Salona as a fief by Boniface of Montferrat, King of Thessalonica, in 1205 during the division of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade. Thomas extended his domain over most of Phocis, from the Gulf of Corinth to the passes of Gravia in the north and the Parnassus in the east. Ca. 1210, he tried to extend his rule westwards, and attacked the port town of Galaxidi. Its inhabitants, however, called upon the ruler of Epirus, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, for aid. The Epirote army attacked and captured Salona, with Thomas himself falling in battle. As the Epirote ruler was pre-occupied elsewhere, however, his occupation did not last long, and within a few years Thomas's son, Thomas II, was able to reclaim Salona.

Helena Asanina Kantakouzene was regent of the Lordship of Salona in Frankish Greece from 1382 until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1394 on behalf of her daughter Maria Fadrique.

Thomas II d'Autremencourt, commonly misspelled de Stromoncourt, was the second Lord of Salona in Central Greece from 1215 to 1258 and vassal of the Principality of Achaea. He was the son of Thomas I d'Autremencourt, the first Lord of Salona. In 1215 he reconquered Salona from the Despotate of Epirus and recovered the fief of his father. In 1258, he became involved in the War of the Euboeote Succession, siding with Guy de la Roche and the Frankish lords who opposed the hegemonic ambitions of the Prince of Achaea, William II of Villehardouin. William however prevailed in the Battle of Karydi in 1258, and a parliament was assembled at Nikli to judge the defeated lords, and again expressed his loyalty to the prince of Achaea. Thomas died in the same year and was succeeded by his son William.

Marulla of Verona or Maria of Verona, was Lady of Karystos in Frankish Greece in 1318–1326.

Boniface Fadrique was a Catalan nobleman active in Central Greece as lord of Karystos from 1359 until 1365 and then as Count of Salona and owner of various other fiefs in the Duchy of Athens from 1366 until his defeat in a conflict with his nephew Louis Fadrique in the late 1370s.

James Fadrique was a Catalan nobleman who became Count of Salona, as well as Lord of various other towns in Central Greece from ca. 1355 until his death in 1366.

Maria Fadrique was Lady regnant of the Lordship of Salona in Frankish Greece from 1382 until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1394 under the regency of her mother Helena Asanina Kantakouzene.

References

  1. Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1975). Athens in the Middle Ages . Variorum Reprints. p.  246. ISBN   9780902089846 . Retrieved 14 October 2012.

Sources