John of Nully (french: Jean de Neuilly or ''Nully'') was a
French knight from
Nully became the first
Baron of Passavant in the
Principality of Achaea
The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the three 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 ...
. The date of his death is unknown.
Life
John of Nully is generally supposed to have been the son of Vilain of Nully, a native of
Nully and close friend of the historian
Geoffrey of Villehardouin
Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for w ...
. John did not take the cross until 1218, and arrived in the
Peloponnese probably not until 1220.
[Bon (1969), p. 113] There he established the fortress of
Passavant or Passava—a corruption of "''passe avant''", probably either a war-cry or the Nully family motto, however it is also found as a toponym in northeastern France—on the mountains between the
Mani peninsula and the plain of
Laconia. The castle became the seat of the
Barony of Passavant
The Barony of Passavant or Passava was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the mountains between the Mani peninsula and the plain of Laconia, in the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the fortress of Pas ...
, with four knight's fiefs. It was militarily important, since it kept watch over the unruly
Maniots
The Maniots or Maniates ( el, Μανιάτες) are the inhabitants of Mani Peninsula, located in western Laconia and eastern Messenia, in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. They were also formerly known as Mainotes and the peninsula as ''Maina''.
...
and the
Slavic inhabitants of
Mount Taygetos
The Taygetus, Taugetus, Taygetos or Taÿgetus ( el, Ταΰγετος, Taygetos) is a mountain range on the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. The highest mountain of the range is Mount Taygetus, also known as "Profitis Ilias", or "Prophet ...
, and Nully was named hereditary
marshal of Achaea.
The historian
Karl Hopf hypothesized that John was followed by another baron of the same name, John II, but this conjecture was rejected by Antoine Bon.
John of Nully married a sister of
Walter of Rosières, the
Baron of Akova, and had a single daughter:
Margaret of Passavant, the common heiress to both Passavant and Akova. Margaret was sent to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
as a hostage, however, and by the time she returned to the Peloponnese in ca. 1275, Passavant had fallen and Akova had been confiscated. She was able only to reclaim a third of Akova after a long legal process.
[Bon (1969), pp. 105, 113, 135, 508–509]
References
Sources
*
* {{Essays on the Latin Orient
Barons of the Principality of Achaea
Marshals of the Principality of Achaea
13th-century French people
People from Haute-Marne
Medieval Laconia