Gazo Chinard (1230–1294) was a
French noble lord, brother or son of
Philippe Chinard Philippe Chinard (1205 - 1266) was a French nobleman, admiral and governor of Manfred of Sicily. After Manfred had captured some territories in Albania, Philip was appointed as Manfred's general governor of those dominions. Initially based in Corfu, ...
and vassal of
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred ( scn, Manfredi di Sicilia; 123226 February 1266) was the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, reigning from 1258 until his death. The natural son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Manfred became regent over the ...
and
Charles of Anjou
Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...
. After the assassination of Philippe Chinard by
Michael II of Epirus
Michael II Komnenos Doukas, Latinized as Comnenus Ducas ( el, Μιχαήλ Β΄ Κομνηνός Δούκας, ''Mikhaēl II Komnēnos Doukas''), often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, was from 1230 until his death in 1266/68 the rule ...
, Gazo enraged by the act, handed over the territories to Charles of Anjou, who in return appointed him as captain general of
Corfu.
The same year as Charles' envoy, he tried to persuade local noblemen and commanders in Albania to surrender Manfred's domains in Albania to Charles of Anjou, but they refused to do so.
In 1272, when Charles of Anjou proclaimed the
Kingdom of Albania, he appointed Gazo Chinard as his Vicar-General. In 1273 he was replaced by a French governor.
In 1274 he was in command of a fleet in
Ischia
Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...
. In 1278 he was one of Charles' vassals who was ordered to provide ships for his planned crusade. In 1279 he was the castellan of
Bari and later on the commander of the whole fleet in
Abruzzo and
Apulia. In 1282 he participated in the attack on Sicily in an effort by Charles to recapture the island following the
Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers ( it, Vespri siciliani; scn, Vespiri siciliani) was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out at Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I of Anjou, who had ruled the Kingdom of ...
, but with no success. He was removed definitively from command in 1283, on account of old age and he is not mentioned again in the sources.
[''Mercenaries and paid men: the mercenary identity in the Middle Ages : proceedings of a conference held at University of Wales'', Swansea, 7–9 July 2005 Volume 47 of ''History of Warfare'', ed. John France , Brill, 2008 , p. 123-124]
References
{{Authority control
Vicars-General of the Kingdom of Albania
History of Corfu
1230 births
1294 deaths
13th-century Italian nobility
Charles I of Anjou
People of the Kingdom of Naples