Leonard of Veroli ( it, Leonardo da Veroli, died 1281) was the
chancellor to and close adviser of
William II 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 Kalamata ...
,
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 ...
. He was one of only two high officials of Achaea, the other being
Peter of Vaux, not captured or killed at the
Battle of Pelagonia.
[ Nicolas Cheetham, ''Mediaeval Greece'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), p. 95]
Leonard was one of the few Italians who reached high posts on the Achaean Principality. It is unknown when exactly he came to the
Morea
The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottom ...
, but in ca. 1252 he married Margaret, the daughter of
Narjot de Toucy, then
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of the
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzant ...
.
[Bon (1969), p. 127] He participated in the so-called "Ladies Parliament" of
Nikli
Tegea (; el, Τεγέα) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit ...
in 1261, and enjoyed the complete confidence of William II.
In 1267, he ratified the
Treaty of Viterbo
The Treaty of Viterbo (or the Treaties of Viterbo) was a pair of agreements made by Charles I of Sicily with Baldwin II of Constantinople and William II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, on 24 and 27 May 1267, which transferred much of the rights to ...
on behalf of William, sealing a marital pact between Philip, the son of
Charles I of Sicily
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) i ...
and William's daughter
Isabella of Villehardouin
Isabella of Villehardouin (1260/1263 – 23 January 1312) was reigning Princess of Achaea from 1289 to 1307. She was the elder daughter of Prince William II of Achaea and of his third wife, Anna Komnene Doukaina, the second daughter of Michael II ...
and providing for the transfer of the Principality to the
Angevins.
Leonard died childless ca. 1281.
Notes
References
*
*
1281 deaths
Christians of the Crusades
Year of birth missing
13th-century people of the Principality of Achaea
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