![Seal of John IV Crispo (Schlumberger, 1897)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Seal_of_John_IV_Crispo_%28Schlumberger%2C_1897%29.jpg)
John IV Crispo or ''Giovanni IV'' (1500-1564), was the sovereign
Duke of the Archipelago
The Duchy of the Archipelago ( el, Δουκάτο του Αρχιπελάγους, it, Ducato dell'arcipelago), also known as Duchy of Naxos or Duchy of the Aegean, was a maritime state created by Venetian interests in the Cyclades archipelago ...
, ruling from 1517, when he succeeded
Francesco III Crispo Francesco III Crispo (died 1511) was the Duke of the Archipelago, ruling from 1500, when he succeeded John III Crispo (r. 1480–94) after an interregnum. He was succeeded in 1517 by John IV Crispo, after an interregnum that began in 1511.
France ...
(r. 1500–11). He was succeeded in 1564 by the last Duke,
Giacomo IV Crispo
Giacomo IV Crispo (died 1576) was the last Duke of the Archipelago in 1564–1566.
He succeeded his father Giovanni IV Crispo (r. 1517–64). In reality, he acknowledged himself in a letter from 1565 that he had little power:
"We are now tributa ...
.
Life
Early life
John IV Crispo was the son of Francesco III Crispo; his mother was
Taddea Caterina Loredan, sister of
Antonio Loredan
Antonio Loredan ( lat, Antonius Lauretanus) (1420 – August 1482) was a member of the Venetian noble family of Loredan, captain of Venetian-held Scutari (Shkodër in modern Albania) and governor in Split (Venetian Dalmatia), Albania Veneta ...
. His father was reportedly insane, and in 1511, he murdered his mother in a fit of insanity.
The murder caused a rebellion among the Naxians who deposed Francesco in favor of his eleven year old son.
When told of the rebellion, his father reportedly attacked his son with a knife, and John IV was forced to flee from a balcony to escape his father.
The Naxians asked the Republic of Venice for support against Francesco III, and the Venetians had Francesco seized and deported in captivity to Venetian Crete, while John IV was placed under the guardianship of his maternal uncle
Antonio Loredan
Antonio Loredan ( lat, Antonius Lauretanus) (1420 – August 1482) was a member of the Venetian noble family of Loredan, captain of Venetian-held Scutari (Shkodër in modern Albania) and governor in Split (Venetian Dalmatia), Albania Veneta ...
, who ruled the Duchy as Venetian governor during the minority of John IV.
Early reign
In 1517, John IV Crispo reached legal majority and the Venetian administration of the Duchy under his uncle ceased. Not long after this, he was abducted by a Turkish corsair while hunting.
He was released by ransom and the support of Venice, but the ransom had a draining effect on his finances.
A Venetian testimony described him: "The young duke, is surrounded by evil counsellors; his island is weak, his castle strong, but badly armed."
He made an unsuccessful attempt to incorporate
Paros
Paros (; el, Πάρος; Venetian: ''Paro'') is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of ...
in his domain, but the rights of
Fiorenza Sommaripa was protected by his ally Venice.
John IV Crispo supported the
Knights of Rhodes during the
Siege of Rhodes (1522)
The siege of Rhodes of 1522 was the second and ultimately successful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to expel the Knights of Rhodes from their island stronghold and thereby secure Ottoman control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The first siege i ...
with provisions.
During the first decades of his reign, the Duchy was protected by the peace treaty between the Ottomans and Venice, as Venice was the ally and protector of the Duchy.
It was tormented by
corsairs, however. In 1532, the Turkish corsair
Kurtoglu threatened Naxos, with a fleet of pirates, and Naxos was forced to buy itself free from looting, as was
Paros
Paros (; el, Πάρος; Venetian: ''Paro'') is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of ...
and
Sifanto.
In 1536, France and the Ottoman Empire made a treaty of alliance against Venice. The following year, war broke out between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, who attacked the Venetian islands and allies in Greece under command of
Khaireddin Barbarossa. The Ottoman fleet under Barbarossa conquered one island after another; the Venetian islands of
Cerigo
Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, ...
and
Egina
Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and b ...
,
Cyclades
The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The nam ...
, the principalities of
Seriphos,
Nio
are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Gautama Buddha, Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues. They are dharmapala manifestations of the bo ...
,
Namfio,
Antiparos
Antiparos ( ell, Αντίπαρος; grc, Ὠλίαρος, Oliaros; la, Oliarus; is a small island in the southern Aegean, at the heart of the Cyclades, which is less than one nautical mile (1.9 km) from Paros, the port to which it is conne ...
,
Stampalia
Astypalaia (Greek: Αστυπάλαια, ), is a Greek island with 1,334 residents (2011 census). It belongs to the Dodecanese, an archipelago of fifteen major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
The island is long, wide at the most, an ...
and
Amorgos
Amorgos ( el, Αμοργός, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighboring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Niko ...
, all ruled by Venetian dynasties, were all incorporated in the Ottoman Empire.
After the Ottomans took Paros in 1537, they attacked Naxos, the main island of the Duke of the Archipelago. Upon the sight of the Turkish fleet, the inhabitants all took refuge in the capital, leaving goods and chattels behind them. When the Ottomans landed, the island was looted and buildings destroyed.
The Turkish commander sent a Christian emissary to the duke with the message:
"If, you will voluntarily submit yourself and your islands to the emperor, already master of Asia and ere long of all Europe too, you may easily obtain his favour. If not, then I bid you expect his hatred and indignation. If you surrender, all your possessions shall be saved; but if you refuse, we will send you, your wife and children, your fellow-countrymen and subjects, to destruction to gether. We have a powerful fleet, a vigorous and victorious soldiery, and an admirable siege equipment. Take warning and counsel, then, from the Eginetans, the Parians, and the other lords of the Cyclades. You are fortunate to be able, if you choose wisely, to profit by the misfortunes of your neighbors."
As it was not possible to resist, and no help from Europe was expected, John IV Crispo and his council on 5 November 1537 surrendered, promised to pay an annual tribute of 5000 ducats and subject to the sultan, to avoid slavery.
Nevertheless, the Ottomans did loot the island of 25,000 ducats' worth of booty, and reportedly the duke "already foresaw that, unless Christendom
would unite against the Turk, in a few years' time he would share the same fate which had, eighty years before, befallen the last Greek emperor of Constantinople".
The duke sent an appeal to "Pope Paul III.; the Emperor Charles V. ; Ferdinand, King of the Romans; Francois I. of France; and the other Christian kings and princes",
in which he urged to them to unite against their common enemy, the Ottoman sultan, who planned to conquer them all by separating them, to avoid sharing his fate.
His appeal to the powers of Europe was however unsuccessful.
Later reign
After the Peace Treaty of 1540 between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, only very few states in the archipelago: the Duchy,
Andros
Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many fr ...
and
Kythnos
Kythnos ( el, Κύθνος), commonly called Thermia ( el, Θερμιά), is a Greek island and municipality in the Western Cyclades between Kea and Serifos. It is from the Athenian harbor of Piraeus. The municipality Kythnos is in area and has a ...
remained, and Venice were able to keep only a few of its former colonies, such as
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, and ...
and
Tenos
Tinos ( el, Τήνος ) is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos. It has a land area of and a 2011 census population of 8,636 inhabitants.
Tinos ...
.
With Ottoman support, John IV Crispo deposed the
Premarini dynasty from their domain of
Zia
Zia or ZIA (also spelled Ziya, Ḍiya , Dia or Diya) may refer to:
People
* Zia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** A romanization of the Wu ( Shanghainese) pronunciation of the Chinese surname Xie (謝)
...
and bestowed it as well as Mykonos to his daughter upon her marriage to
Gian Francesco Sommaripa of Andros.
After having become a vassal of the Ottomans, John IV Crispo experienced a growing unpopularity among the Greek population of the Duchy. The rule of the Latin Catholic crusader elite was not popular among the Greek Orthodox population, and when the Latin dynasties themselves were subjected to the Muslim Ottomans, their authority over the Greek quickly deteriorated, particularly since the duke was forced to raise taxes to pay the tributes due to the sultan.
In 1559, a rebel by the name Mamusso of Candia proclaimed: "It was disgraceful, that so many valiant Greeks should allow their religion to be insulted and their country to be governed by a mere handful of Franks",
and John IV banished the Orthodox
metropolitan of Paronaxia for sedition and for supporting this view.
The
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
applied to the Ottoman grand vizier to oust the Catholic hierarchy, who had a bad reputation on the island because of its many scandals, and John IV therefore decided to only appoint local people to Catholic bishops and friars as they would be better accepted.
In 1563, the Duchy was described by a Venetian commissioner's report: "The islands of Zia, Siphnos, and Andros have their own lords (the Sommaripa and the Gozzadini), but are tributaries of the sultan; the other sixteen islands are under the duke, but of these, only five — Naxos, Santorin, Melos, Syra, and Paros — are inhabited. The Duke of Naxos, a man of nearly seventy, is, in point of dignity, the Premier Duke of Christendom; but, despite his title, he is duke more in name than in fact; for in all things the Grand Turk and his ministers are practically supreme. Every year, when the Turkish captains arrive, the duke's subjects bring their complaints against him before them, so that he dare not punish his own dependents for their crimes, nor even for their offences against his own person. He dresses and lives like a pauper, without the least pomp or princely expenditure ; for, though he raises from 9000 to 10,000 ducats a year out of his islands, he has to pay 4000 ducats as tribute to the sultan, and his sole thought is how he can save money with which to bribe the Turkish captains and ministers. Under these circumstances, his administration is rather the shadow of a principality than a government."
During his later years of reign, he allowed his eldest son Francesco to participate in government, but he predeceased him, and he was therefore succeeded by his second son.
Family
He was married to Adriana Gozzadini, related to the
Gozzadini dynasty of Zia, which were traditional allies of Naxos.
# Caterina, married to Niccolo III Gozzadini, Lord of Sifnos and Kythnos
# Francesco, co-ruler, died before 1564, married to Fiorenza Gozzadini
#
Giacomo IV Crispo
Giacomo IV Crispo (died 1576) was the last Duke of the Archipelago in 1564–1566.
He succeeded his father Giovanni IV Crispo (r. 1517–64). In reality, he acknowledged himself in a letter from 1565 that he had little power:
"We are now tributa ...
, married to Cecilia Sommaripa
# Thaddea Crispo, married to
Gian Francesco Sommaripa,
Lord of Andros
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crispo, John 04
1564 deaths
16th-century Italian nobility
John 04
John 04
Year of birth unknown
1500 births