Andrea Barozzi () was a Venetian nobleman. He served as official and military commander for the Venetian Republic.

Life

Andrea was the firstborn son of Iacopo Barozzi, a Venetian official who was duke of Candia . Beginning with Karl Hopf in the 19th century, several modern historians held that Andrea's father had seized the Aegean islands of Santorini and

Therasia Therasia, also known as Thirasía ( el, Θηρασία), is an island in the volcanic island group of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades. It lies north-west of Nea Kameni, a small island formed in recent centuries by volcanic activity and thus mark ...

following the Fourth Crusade, meaning that Andrea was the second lord of the island following his father's death , but this has been refuted in the later 1960s, when it was shown that Barozzi rule over Santorini can be documented only from the early 14th century on. In 1252, the Venetian authorities ceded Andrea Barozzi two knightly fiefs in the Venetian colony of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. In 1258–59 he held the high office of Bailo of Negroponte. At that time, he negotiated a treaty to end the

War of the Euboeote Succession War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, between the Triarchs of Negroponte, who had been backed by Venice, and

William II of Villehardouin William of Villehardouin (french: Guillaume de Villehardouin; Kalamata, 1211 – 1 May 1278) 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 Kalamat ...

, the

Prince of Achaea The Prince of Achaea was the ruler of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). Though more or less autonomous, the principality was never a fully independent s ...

. Shortly before, when military operations were favorable to Villehardouin, Barozzi tried to change the course of the war, in an overwhelming victory in a battle near Chalcis and trying in vain to besiege

Oreoi Oreoi ( el, Ωρεοί) is a village and a former municipality in Euboea, Greece. It was named after the ancient town Oreus. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Istiaia-Aidipsos, of which it is a municipal unit. T ...

. Barozzi also renewed the 1256 treaty with the Triarchs in terms advantageous to Venice. In 1264, he was placed in command of a fleet of ships to prevent the Genoese from raiding the annual trade convoy to the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

. He was tricked, however, by the Genoese commander, Simone Grillo: Grillo spread rumours that he intended to head due east to the Levant, whereas in reality he took up station at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. When Barozzi took the bait and moved east to pursue Grillo with his much larger fleet, the latter was free to attack the Venetian convoy off

Saseno Sazan ( sq-definite, Sazani) is an Albanian uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest of Albania's islands, it is a designated military exclusion zone; it lies in a strategically important location between the Strait of Otranto ...

, and capture it almost in its entirety; only the giant merchant ship '' Roccafortis'' escaped. In the meantime, Barozzi was pressing on eastwards, searching in vain for Grillo's fleet. Arriving before Tyre on 2 September, he encountered a Genoese merchantman carrying 11,000

bezants In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (Old French ''besant'', from Latin ''bizantius aureus'') was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman ''solidus''. The word itself comes from th ...

worth of silk, the ''Oliva'', in the harbour. With the Genoese fleet nowhere in sight, Barozzi resolved to seize the ship, despite the warnings of the city's lord, Philip of Montfort, a Genoese ally, that he would confiscate double the amount in Venetian properties if they did so. Barozzi did not hesitate long: he not only captured the ''Oliva'', but also began a siege of Tyre itself, in the hopes of depriving Genoa of access to this, the second-most important port city of the Levant. The Venetians had to interrupt the siege after a few days, however, when news of the events at Saseno reached them. Instead, Barozzi hurried to Acre to escort the previous year's returning convoy back to Venice. Andrea Barozzi is attested for the last time in 1278, and likely died soon after.

References

Sources

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