Matthew of Moncada was count of Aderno and Agosta, the grand seneschal of the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

under

Frederick the Simple Frederick III (or IV) (1 September 1341 – Messina 27 July 1377Setton, Kenneth M. (1975) " Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", Edited by Harry W. Hazzard, page 214.), called the Simple, was King of Sicily from 1355 to 1377. H ...

. He was the son of William Raymond II of Moncada and his wife, Margaret Sclafani. He was twice appointed as

vicar-general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

for the twin duchy of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Neopatras Ypati ( el, Υπάτη) is a village and a former municipality in Phthiotis, central peninsular Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Lamia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an a ...

, in 1359–61 and again 1363–66. The latter appointment came after the ''de facto'' ruler of the duchies, the marshal

Roger de Llúria Roger of Lauria (''c''. 1245 – 17 January 1305) was a Neapolitan admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and talent ...

, had admitted a Turkish garrison into Thebes to strengthen his own position. The inhabitants of the duchy sent a delegation to the King, who in August 1363 appointed Matthew to the post—reportedly for life—with the task of restoring order. He did not himself go to Greece, but the troops he sent were heavily defeated by Roger de Llúria and his men. As Roger de Llúria was also engaged in a conflict with the Venetian colony of Negroponte, and due to the danger posed by his Turkish troops to all Christian states of Greece, a coalition comprising Venice, the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

, 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 o ...

, and the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

province of

Mystras Mystras or Mistras ( el, Μυστρᾶς/Μιστρᾶς), also known in the '' Chronicle of the Morea'' as Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated on Mt. Taygetus, ne ...

had formed, which defeated Roger's Turks in a naval battle off

Megara Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, befo ...

and forced him to come to terms in 1365. Despite the fact that the Catalan lords of Athens were now willing to affirm their submission to the King, Moncada was reluctant to go to Greece, where the situation was unstable and perilous; as a result, King Frederick was forced to legitimize Roger de Llúria's power and acknowledge him as vicar-general in late 1366.

References

Sources

* {{Setton-A History of the Crusades , volume =3 , first = Kenneth M. , last = Setton , authorlink = Kenneth Setton , chapter = The Catalans and Florentines in Greece, 1311–1462 , pages = 225–277 , chapter-url = http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?type=article&did=History.CrusThree.i0019&id=History.CrusThree 1378 deaths 14th-century people from the Kingdom of Aragon House of Moncada Counts of Italy Vicars-General of the Duchy of Athens Kingdom of Sicily people