Othon de la Roche, also Otho de la Roche (died before 1234), was a Burgundian nobleman of the De la Roche family from La Roche-sur-l'Ognon. He joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first Frankish Lord of Athens in 1204. In addition to Athens, he acquired Thebes by around 1211.
The chronicler Alberic of Trois-Fontaines writes that Othon was the son of "a certain noble Pons of La Roche in Burgundy". [1] The identification of La Roche is uncertain, because Burgundy may refer either to the Free County or to the Duchy of Burgundy. [2] La Roche-sur-l'Ognon, a hamlet by Rigney in the Free County, is the most probable candidate, because of its proximity to Flagey, Venise and other domains of Othon's family. [3]
Othon confirmed his forefathers' donations to the Charlieu Abbey in 1195. [4] He was with the Fourth Crusade on its arrival before the walls of Constantinople in 1203. [1] At that time, he was a member of the "sixth division" of the crusading army, which "was formed by the people of Burgundy", [5] according to the chronicler Geoffrey of Villehardouin. [1] The crusaders captured Constantinople on 12 April 1204. [6] They started the conquest of the Byzantine Empire under the command of Baldwin IX of Flanders who was elected the first Latin Emperor of Constantinople on 9 May. [7]
The distribution of the conquered lands gave rise to conflicts among the commanders of the crusaders. [8] Boniface of Montferrat —one of the most influential leaders of the Crusade—even laid siege to Adrianople, a town recently captured by Emperor Baldwin. [8] In order to reach an agreement, the crusaders' other commanders initiated negotiations with Boniface. [8] Villehardouin writes that Othon de la Roche was one of the four "chief counsellors" [9] of Boniface during the discussions. [8]
An agreement on the distribution of the Byzantine Empire was reached in October 1204. [10] Boniface of Montferrat's claim to the western regions of the Byzantine Empire was tacitly acknowledged. [11] [10] He went on to conquer Thessaly, Boeotia and Attica in November, granting these regions to his commanders. [12] [13] To Othon de la Roche, he gave Athens. [14] It is possible that Othon also received Thebes from Boniface, [15] although Jean Longnon has argued that Boniface granted Thebes to Albertino and Rolandino of Canossa after the conquest. [14] [16]
Othon took the title of Megaskyr (μεγασκύρ) or "Grand Lord" in Athens. [17] There is uncertainty about when and how or even if he acquired the title "Duke" (dux). [18] The traditional account, found in the Chronicle of the Morea , states that it was first officially bestowed by King Louis IX of France around 1259 to Othon's successor, Guy I de la Roche. [18] [19] The title does appear in some pre-1260 documents, including a letter of Pope Innocent III from July 1208, which refers to Othon as Duke, although the papal chancery generally preferred "Lord". [18]
The Acropolis of Athens was fortified in Othon's reign. [20] According to Longnon, following the specialist Antoine Bon, Othon had a square tower erected by the main entrance of the citadel. [21] Othon seems to have supported the development of the Latin Church in his domains. [22] Pope Innocent III confirmed on 27 November 1206 that Berard, the first Catholic Archbishop of Athens succeeded his Orthodox predecessor, Michael Choniates. [22] Othon had good relations with the Cistercian Bellevaux Abbey in his native Burgundy. [23] He established some monks from Bellevaux at Daphni Monastery in his Greek domains in about 1207. [24] A portico in the Burgundian style still evokes their memory. [23]
After the sudden death of Othon's overlord, Boniface of Montferrat, in September 1207, many of Boniface's former vassals started to plot against the new Latin Emperor, Henry of Flanders. [25] [26] Othon remained loyal to the Emperor, a stance which "may have cost him Thebes" (if he already possessed it), as Albertino of Canossa was in possession of the citadel of this town in this period. [27]
Othon married his wife Isabelle in late 1208. [28] [29] Othon's first conflict with the Church was recorded around the same time: he forced Archbishop Berard to renounce the right to appoint the treasurer of the Athens Cathedral on his behalf. [28] Pope Innocent III authorized the Archbishop of Larissa to investigate the case. [28]
Emperor Henry called his first of two parliaments at Ravennika and Othon made an appearance to demonstrate his loyalty to his suzerain in the first days of May 1209. [26] The Emperor captured Thebes from Albertino of Canossa on 8 May and visited Athens, [30] where Othon received him with great respect. [30] Even so, historian Jean Longnon writes that Othon never recognised Henry as his direct overlord and remained loyal to Boniface of Montferrat's successor, King Demetrius of Thessalonica, until the end of the Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1224. [15] Likewise uncertain is whether Othon received Thebes from Emperor Henry in 1209, or whether the town was not granted to him prior to 1211. [30] [31]
On 2 May 1210, at the second parliament of Ravennika, Othon ratified the pact between church and state, signing as "Othon de la Roche, lord of Athens" (Otto de Roccha, dominus Athenarum). [4] However, he did little to effect it. He was accused of treating the Greek priests as serfs, since many of them were former serfs raised to their clerical status by Greek prelates desiring to lift the heavy burden the Franks could impose with their corvées on the local populace.
With Geoffrey, Othon embarked on a series of military adventures to consolidate mainland Greece. Together they took Acrocorinth (1210), Argos and Nauplia (1212). In compensation, he received two lordships in the Argolid: Argos and Nauplia and Damala. According to Marino Sanudo Torsello, he acquired the kommerkion (a right to tax commerce) of Corinth as well. [4] The city of Thebes itself became Othon's capital and the economic centre of his domains, due to its silk industry. Athens itself remained Othon's residence. There he lived in his castle atop the Acropolis.
Between 1208 and 1213 there was a steady stream of correspondence between Othon and Pope Innocent, because the Latin clergy of Attica made frequent complaints about Othon's conduct. [4] In 1214 he gave the castle of Livadeia to the pope and received it back as a fief in exchange for an annual tribute. [4] Between 1217 and 1225 he also kept a correspondence with Pope Honorius III. In response to the grievances of the Athenian clergy, Honorius excommunicated him and placed his domains under interdict. [4] About 1223, Othon came to an agreement with the pope by which he returned church lands, but kept church furnishings at the cost of an annual indemnity. A quota, proportional to the population of the community, was also placed on the number priests per parish.
In 1217 and 1221 he also granted Bellevaux the right to the catch of the fisheries of La Roche and Ray on set dates of the year. [4]
Othon ceases to be mentioned after 1225, when he is commonly held to have resigned the Duchy of Athens to his son Guy I and returned home to Burgundy with his wife, although this is unsubstantiated. [4] He died sometime before 1234, since in that year his other son Othon II of Ray called himself "a son of the former lord Othon, duke of Athens" (filius quondam domini Ottonis, ducis Athenarum). [4]
Othon's wife name was Isabel (and its variant Elisabeth). She is generally described as the daughter and heiress of Guy, lord of Ray-sur-Saône in the Free County of Burgundy. [32] According to Longnon however, she was the daughter of Clarembaud IV of Chappes, a lord from Champagne. [33] She gave birth to two sons, Guy and Othon. Othon inherited the lordship of Ray. Guy is traditionally held to have inherited La Roche, while the duchy is said to have passed to a nephew of Othon's also named Guy. [32] [29] Longnon has challenged this view according to a chart in which Othon of Ray, son of Othon de la Roche, presents the duke Guy as his brother - meaning that Guy would be Othon's son and not his nephew. [4] While most members of the La Roche family lived in the Free County of Burgundy, some of them settled in Athens. [32] For instance, a great-grandson of his, Walter, was a member of the Chapter of the Parthenon in 1292. [32] [22]
The Principality of Achaea or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica was captured by Theodore, the despot of Epirus, in 1224. After this, Achaea became for a while the dominant power in Greece.
William of Villehardouin was the fourth prince of Achaea in Frankish Greece, from 1246 to 1278. The younger son of Prince Geoffrey I, he held the Barony of Kalamata in fief during the reign of his elder brother Geoffrey II. William ruled Achaea as regent for his brother during Geoffrey's military campaigns against the Greeks of Nicaea, who were the principal enemies of his overlord, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II. William succeeded his childless brother in the summer of 1246. Conflicts between Nicaea and Epirus enabled him to complete the conquest of the Morea in about three years. He captured Monemvasia and built three new fortresses, forcing two previously autonomous tribes, the Tzakones and Melingoi, into submission. He participated in the unsuccessful Egyptian crusade of Louis IX of France, who rewarded him with the right to issue currency in the style of French royal coins.
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a lordship within the Frankish-ruled Morea in southern Greece.
William I of Champlitte (1160s-1209) was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea (1205–1209).
Geoffrey I of Villehardouin was a French knight from the County of Champagne who joined the Fourth Crusade. He participated in the conquest of the Peloponnese and became the second prince of Achaea.
Guy I de la Roche (1205–1263) was the Duke of Athens, the son and successor of the first duke Othon. After the conquest of Thebes, Othon gave half the city in lordship to Guy.
Guy II de la Roche, also known as Guyot or Guidotto, was the Duke of Athens from 1287, the last duke of his family. He succeeded as a minor on the death of his father, William I, at a time when the duchy of Athens had exceeded the Principality of Achaea in wealth, power, and importance.
Nicholas III of Saint-Omer was one of the most powerful and influential lords of Frankish Greece. He was hereditary Marshal of the Principality of Achaea, lord of one third of Akova and of one half of Thebes. He also served on three occasions as bailli of the Principality of Achaea.
Guy or Guido Pallavicini, called Marchesopoulo by his Greek subjects, was the first marquess of Bodonitsa in Frankish Greece from 1204 to his death in or shortly after 1237. He was one of the most important Frankish rulers in Greece, and played a major role in the short-lived Kingdom of Thessalonica: in 1208–1209 he supported the Lombard rebellion against King Demetrius of Montferrat, but by 1221 he was the kingdom's regent (bailli), and was left to defend the city against the ruler of Epirus, Theodore Komnenos Doukas. Left unsupported by the Latin Empire, and with a projected crusade to relieve the city delayed, he surrendered the city in December 1224. The belated arrival of the crusade helped to save his own fief from falling to the Epirotes, however, and he was soon able to return there, dying on or shortly after 1237.
The War of the Euboeote Succession was fought in 1256–1258 between the Prince of Achaea, William of Villehardouin, and a broad coalition of other rulers from throughout Frankish Greece who felt threatened by William's aspirations. The war was sparked by Villehardouin's intervention in a succession dispute over the northern third of the island of Euboea, which was resisted by the local Lombard barons with the aid of the Republic of Venice. The Lord of Athens and Thebes, Guy I de la Roche, also entered the war against William, along with other barons of Central Greece. Their defeat at the Battle of Karydi in May/June 1258 effectively brought the war to an end in an Achaean victory, although a definite peace treaty was not concluded until 1262.
Bela of Saint Omer was a French knight, descended from a Fauquembergues family who were castellans of the eponymous castle of Saint-Omer.
Otho of Saint Omer was the lord of half of Thebes in Frankish Greece from 1294 to ca. 1299.
John of Saint Omer was baron of a third of Akova and marshal of the Principality of Achaea.
Geoffrey of Briel, in older literature Geoffrey of Bruyères, was a French knight and the third lord of the Barony of Karytaina in the Principality of Achaea, in Frankish Greece. He led a colourful and turbulent life, narrated in detail in the Chronicle of the Morea. Accounted the finest knight in the Principality, he fought in the wars against the Byzantine Greeks, was captured in the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, and was sent back to Achaea bearing the Byzantine terms in 1261. Geoffrey was twice deprived of his barony, once for rebelling against his uncle, the Prince of Achaea William II of Villehardouin, and then for abandoning the Principality without leave in order to spend time with a mistress, the wife of one of his feudatories, in Italy. He was pardoned both times, but henceforth held his title as a gift of the Prince. He died childless in 1275, and the Barony of Karytaina was split up.
Othon de Cicon was a Frankish noble and baron of Karystos on the island of Euboea (Negroponte) in medieval Greece.
Nicholas I of Saint Omer was a French knight who in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade became a lord in the Frankish Duchy of Athens.
Berthold II von Katzenelnbogen was a German nobleman of the family of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen and a participant in the Fourth Crusade (1202–04), who became lord of Velestino (c.1205–17) and regent of the Kingdom of Thessalonica (c.1217) in Frankish Greece. He was a patron of poets and in politics a Ghibelline.
The First Parliament of Ravennika was convened in May 1209 by Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders in the town of Ravennika in Central Greece in an attempt to resolve the rebellion of the Lombard barons of the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
The Second Parliament of Ravennika was convened in May 1210 by Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders in the town of Ravennika in Central Greece in order to resolve the differences between the princes of Frankish Greece and the Roman Catholic clergy of their domains.
Helena Angelina Komnene was a daughter of the Greek sebastokrator John I Doukas, ruler of Thessaly in ca. 1268–1289, and a Greek princess of Aromanian origin, known only by her monastic name, Hypomone.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)| De la Roche dynasty (1205–1308) |     | |
|---|---|---|
| Brienne–Enghien dynasty (1308–1311/94)§ | ||
| Catalan Domination (1311–1388) | ||
| Acciaioli dynasty (1388–1395, 1402–1458)† | ||
| ||