Geoffrey of Aulnay was
Baron of Arcadia
The Barony of Arcadia was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located on the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, and centred on the town of Arcadia ( el, Ὰρκαδία; french: l'Arcadie; it, Arc dia), ...
in the
Principality of Achaea in the late 13th century.
Geoffrey was a son of the first Baron of Arcadia,
Vilain I of Aulnay. When Vilain died , his lands were divided among his two sons, Geoffrey and
Erard I.
Erard was taken prisoner by the Byzantines during the skirmishes with the Byzantine province in the southeastern
Morea, sometime around 1279, and likely died in captivity. Disregarding the provisions of Erard's will, the
Angevin sequestered the lands, and it was not until 1293 that Geoffrey, managed to recover Erard's half of the barony.
In 1292 or 1293, Geoffrey went on a diplomatic mission to the Byzantine court in
Constantinople along with
John Chauderon John Chauderon (french: Jean Chauderon; died 1294) was the Baron of Estamira and Grand Constable of the Principality of Achaea, the strongest of the principalities of Frankish Greece.
He succeeded his father, Geoffrey Chauderon, Baron of Estami ...
, in order to obtain the recovery of the fortress of
Kalamata, which had shortly before been seized by
local Slavs and handed over to the Byzantine governor of
Mystras. The embassy succeeded in obtaining a verbal promise only thanks to the intercession of the Angevin ambassador to Constantinople; indeed, the Byzantine emperor insisted that the castle be handed over to Geoffrey, rather than the Prince of Achaea. At the same time, however, the emperor also sent orders to his local governor to refuse to hand the castle over. In the event, Kalamata was surrendered to the Achaeans due to the intervention of a local Greek magnate, Sgouromallis.
Geoffrey had a son,
Vilain II, who married Helena, a daughter of
Geoffrey II of Briel Geoffrey II of Briel or Geoffrey of Briel the Younger, was a French knight and the cousin or nephew of Geoffrey I of Briel, Baron of Karytaina in the Principality of Achaea, in Frankish Greece. Biography
Geoffrey I of Briel died in 1275, and in 127 ...
and lady of Moraina and Lisarea. Geoffrey died sometime after 1297, and was succeeded by his son.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoffrey of Aulnay
13th-century births
1290s deaths
Barons of Arcadia
Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire