Nerio I Acciaioli or Acciajuoli (full name Rainerio; died 25 September 1394) was the actual ruler of the
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens (Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of th ...
from 1385. Born to a family of Florentine bankers, he became the principal agent of his influential kinsman,
Niccolò Acciaioli
Niccolò Acciaioli or Acciaiuoli (1310 – 8 November 1365) was an Italian noble, a member of the Florentine banking family of the Acciaioli. He was the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and count of Melfi, Malta, and Gozo in the mid- ...
, in
Frankish Greece
The ''Frankokratia'' ( el, Φραγκοκρατία, la, Francocratia, sometimes anglicized as Francocracy, "rule of the Franks"), also known as ''Latinokratia'' ( el, Λατινοκρατία, la, Latinocratia, "rule of the Latins") and ...
in 1360. He purchased large domains 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 ...
and administered them independently of the absent princes. He hired mercenaries and conquered
Megara, a strategically important fortress in the Duchy of Athens, in 1374 or 1375. His troops again invaded the duchy in 1385. The
Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citize ...
who remained loyal to King
Peter IV of Aragon could only keep the
Acropolis of Athens, but they were also forced into surrender in 1388.
Nerio and his son-in-law,
Theodore I Palaiologos
Theodore I Palaiologos (or Palaeologus) ( el, Θεόδωρος Α΄ Παλαιολόγος, translit=Theodōros I Palaiologos) (c. 1355 – 24 June 1407) was despot (''despotēs'') in the Morea from 1383 until his death on 24 June 1407. A son of Em ...
,
Despot of the Morea
The Despotate of the Morea ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μορέως) or Despotate of Mystras ( el, Δεσποτᾶτον τοῦ Μυστρᾶ) was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centu ...
, occupied the
Lordship of Argos and Nauplia
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos ( el, Άργος, french: Argues) and Nauplia (modern Nafplio, Ναύπλιο; in the Middle Ages Ἀνάπλι, in French ''Naples de Romanie'') formed a lordship within the Frankish-ruled M ...
. Nerio received Nauplia, but the Venetians expelled his troops from the town. Nerio was captured by a mercenary commander,
Pedro de San Superano Pedro de San Superano (also spelled San Superán, in French ''Pierre de Saint-Superan''; died 1402) was one of the captains of the Navarrese Company in the Morea from 1379 until he was made Prince of Achaea in 1396, a post he held to his death.
Nam ...
, in 1389. He was released after he promised to support the Venetians to seize Argos from Theodore I. He had to cede parts of his domains to Venice as a guarantee to keep his promise, but he could not convince his son-in-law to surrender Argos. Nerio's troops captured the
Duchy of Neopatras
The Duchy of Neopatras ( ca, Ducat de Neopàtria; scn, Ducatu di Neopatria; gr, Δουκάτο Νέων Πατρών; la, Ducatus Neopatriae) was a principality in southern Thessaly, established in 1319. Officially part of the Kingdom of Sici ...
from the Catalans in 1390, but the Ottoman sultan
Bayezid I
Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...
conquered the territory in 1393. Thereafter Nerio paid a yearly tribute to the sultan. King
Ladislaus of Naples
Ladislaus the Magnanimous ( it, Ladislao, hu, László; 15 February 1377 – 6 August 1414) was King of Naples from 1386 until his death and an unsuccessful claimant to the kingdoms of Hungary and Croatia. Ladislaus was a skilled political and m ...
, who claimed suzerainty over Frankish Greece, invested Nerio with the Duchy of Athens on 11 January 1394. In his last will, Nerio distributed his domains between his younger daughter,
Francesca, his illegitimate son,
Antonio, and the church of Saint Mary (the
Parthenon
The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...
) of Athens.
Early life
Nerio (or Rainerio) was the second son of Jacobo Acciaioli and Bartolomea Riccasoli. The
Acciaioli
The Acciaioli, Acciaiuoli, Accioly, Acciajuoli or Acioli was an important family of Florence.
Family name is also written Acciaioli, Acciainoli, or Accioly, Accioli, Acioli and Acyoly in Portugal and Brazil, where there are branches of it. Descent ...
were a Florentine banking family who regularly lent money to the
Angevin
Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to:
*County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France
**Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou
**Counts and Dukes of Anjou
* House of Ingelger, a Frank ...
monarchs of
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in the 14th century. The Angevins also required their assistance in the financial administration of their possessions in Frankish Greece. The Acciaioli set up their first bank office 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 ...
in 1331. Jacobo Acciaioli's second cousin, Niccolò Acciaioli, was a close confidant of
Catherine of Valois-Courtenay, the titular
Latin Empress of Constantinople
The following is a list of the Latin empresses consort of Constantinople. Yolanda of Flanders and Marie of Brienne were not only empresses consort but also empresses regent. Catherine I and Catherine II were empresses regnant, not empresses con ...
. Catherine's son,
Robert of Taranto
Robert II of Taranto (1319 or early winter 1326 – 10 September 1364Peter Lock, ''The Franks in the Aegean: 1204-1500'', (Routledge, 1988), 129.), of the Angevin family, Prince of Taranto (1331–1346), King of Albania (1331–1364), Prin ...
, bought Achaea with the Acciaioli's financial support in 1332. Niccolò seized large estates in Achaea during the following decades, but his children showed little interest in the Greek affairs. He decided to bequeath Italian estates to Nerio already in 1359, although they were only distant relatives.
Frankish Greece
Aristocrat
Niccolò Acciaioli persuaded
Pope Innocent VI to appoint Nerio's younger brother, John, to the important
Archbishopric of Patras in Achaea in May 1360. Nerio was sent to the Peloponnese to secure his brother's installation. Next year, Niccolò and John Acciaioli decided to arrange Nerio's marriage with
Florence Sanudo,
Duchess of the Archipelago (or Naxos). Flerence's suzerains, Queen
Joan I of Naples
Joanna I, also known as Johanna I ( it, Giovanna I; December 1325 – 27 July 1382), was Queen of Naples, and Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1343 to 1382; she was also Princess of Achaea from 1373 to 1381.
Joanna was the eldest dau ...
and Robert of Taranto supported their plan and forbade Florence to marry without their consent, but the
Venetians abducted her to prevent the marriage. Florence was first taken to
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, ...
, then to Venice, where she was given in marriage to her cousin,
Nicholas II Sanudo, in 1364.
Niccolò Acciaioli adopted Nerio as his son in 1362. Robert of Taranto's wife,
Marie of Bourbon, sold two Achaean baronies,
Vostitza and
Nivelet, to Nerio for 6,000 ducats in 1363 or 1364. The transaction made him the master of the whole coastline between
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...
and
Patras. Niccolò Acciaioli died on 8 November 1365. His eldest son, Angelo, inherited Corinth, but he mortgaged it to Nerio who took up his seat in the town. Thereafter Nerio was the actual ruler of northeastern Achaea. Although
Philip of Taranto (who had succeeded Robert as prince of Achaea) confirmed Angelo's hereditary right to Corinth in 1371, Angelo and his heirs could not redeem the town from Nerio.
Pope Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pop ...
styled Nerio as "lord of the town of Corinth" in a letter in November 1372, showing that the Pope regarded Nerio as the town's ruler. Nerio was one of the Christian leaders whom the Pope urged to make an alliance against the
Ottoman Turks, but the Christian rulers' conflicts prevented them from attending a crusader congress at
Thebes.
Conquests
Joan I of Naples, who inherited Achaea from Philip of Taranto in 1373, confirmed Nerio's possessions and titles in the principality. Nerio took advantage of the conflicts between the Catalans of the
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens (Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of th ...
and the officials whom
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 ...
,
King of Sicily, appointed to administer the duchy. He captured Megara with the support of its burghers and imprisoned its Catalan commander, Francis Lunel, in late 1374 or early 1375. Megara controlled the road between Thebes and Athens. Joan I leased Achaea to the
Knights Hospitallers
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 military order. It was headq ...
for five years in the summer of 1376. The Hospitallers hired the
Navarrese Company
The Navarrese Company ( es, Compañía navarra; eu, Nafarroako konpainia) was a company of mercenaries, mostly from Navarre and Gascony, which fought in Greece during the late 14th century and early 15th century, in the twilight of Frankish power ...
a group of mercenaries from Navarre, Gascogne and Italyin June 1378. Nerio made contact with one of the Navarrese commanders,
Juan de Urtubia, and persuaded him to invade the Duchy of Athens in early 1379. The Navarrese laid siege to Thebes and the burghers who supported Nerio convinced the defenders to surrender before June 1379.
The Catalans of Athens held a general assembly and acknowledged King
Peter IV of Aragon as their lawful ruler on 20 May 1380. The Navarrese continued their campaign and captured
Livadeia
Livadeia ( el, Λιβαδειά ''Livadiá'', ; grc, Λεβάδεια, Lebadeia or , ''Lebadia'') is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the Boeotia regional district. Livadeia lies north-west of Athens, west of Chalkida, south-ea ...
in late 1380 or 1381. Nerio seized both Thebes and Livadeia from the Navarrese at an unspecified date. Historian
Kenneth Setton
Kenneth Meyer Setton (June 17, 1914 in New Bedford, Massachusetts – February 18, 1995 in Princeton, New Jersey) was an American historian and an expert on the history of medieval Europe, particularly the Crusades.
Early life, education and aw ...
proposes that he most probably bought Thebes from two Navarrese commanders, Pedro de San Superano and
Berard de Varvassa, after Urtubia died in 1381. San Superano and Varvassa returned to Achaea and swore fealty to Philip of Taranto's nephew,
James of Baux James of Baux or James of Les Bauxfrench: Jacques des Baux, it, Giacomo or ''Jacopo del Balzo'' (died 17 July 1383) was the Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1374 to 1383. He was the last Latin emperor to govern any imperial territory.
James be ...
, who had laid claim to the principality. Nerio made peace with Peter IV's vicar-general,
Philip Dalmau, who left Athens in the spring of 1382. The Navarrese started expanding their rule towards Corinth, but Nerio concluded an alliance with Theodore I Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, against them. Nerio also entered into negotiations with the Venetian officials of
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...
to organize joint military actions against the Turks who were making raids against the Greek coasts.
Nerio's troops invaded the Duchy of Athens and occupied most parts of
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
and
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...
in 1385. They occupied the lower town of Athens, but could not capture the
Acropolis from Dalmau's deputy, Raymond de Vilanova. Historian Peter Lock says that Nerio seized Thebes from the Navarrese during the siege of the Acropolis. A Venetian document referred to him as the "ruler of Corinth and the duchy of Athens" on 7 July 1385. Nerio styled himself as "lord of the castellany of Corinth, the duchy of Athens and their dependencies" in a letter of grant on 15 January 1387. Both documents show that he had taken possession of most of the duchy in 1385. He also defeated a group of Turk marauders with Venetian support on 6 February 1386. On 17 April 1387, Peter IV's successor,
John I of Aragon
John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death.
Biography
John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...
, offered Nerio to renew the peace, but Nerio's troops did not abandon the siege of the Acropolis, although a plague had forced him to move to Thebes. The occupation of the duchy became his principal aim and he did not pay the full rent of the galleys that he had hired from Venice against the Turks. The Venetians accused him of inciting the Turks to invade Venetian territories in the autumn of 1387.
Duke of Athens
![Peloponnese Middle Ages map-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Peloponnese_Middle_Ages_map-en.svg)
Nerio's troops captured the Acropolis on 2 May 1388, putting an end to the Catalans' rule in the Duchy of Athens. Nerio hired Italian and Greek officials to administer the duchy and made Greek the language of state administration. He also allowed the
Greek Orthodox archbishop of Athens to settle in the lower town. The Catalans still preserved the
Duchy of Neopatras
The Duchy of Neopatras ( ca, Ducat de Neopàtria; scn, Ducatu di Neopatria; gr, Δουκάτο Νέων Πατρών; la, Ducatus Neopatriae) was a principality in southern Thessaly, established in 1319. Officially part of the Kingdom of Sici ...
. Nerio dispatched his troops to continue the conquest of Catalan territories, but his alliance with Theodore I Palaiologos brought him into conflict with Venice.
Pietro Cornaro Pietro Cornaro, also known as Peter Cornaro or Corner (died in 1387 or 1388), was Lord of Argos and Nauplia in Frankish Greece from 1377.
Early life
Pietro was the son of Federico Cornaro of the Santa Lucia branch. He was born before 1363. Being ...
, Lord of Argos and Nauplia, died in 1388. His widow,
Maria of Enghien
Maria of Enghien, also known as Marie of Enghien or d'Enghien (after 1363–1392/1393), was the Lady of Argos and Nauplia in Frankish Greece from 1376 or 1377 to 1388. Because she was a minor when she inherited the lordship from her father, G ...
, who was the heiress of the lordship, started negotiations about the transfer of both towns to the Venetians. Theodore I and Nerio invaded the lordship, with Theodore taking
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
and Nerio capturing
Nauplia
Nafplio ( ell, Ναύπλιο) is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece and it is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important touristic destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the ...
. On 12 December 1388, Maria sold the lordship to Venice. The Venetians made an alliance with Pedro de San Superan and
Paolo Foscari Paolo Foscari was a Venetian noble and churchman, who rose to become Bishop of Castello in 1367–1375, and Latin Archbishop of Patras from 1375 until his death in 1393/4. In the latter capacity he played a leading role in the affairs of the Princi ...
, Archbishop of Patras, and sent commissioners to take possession of both towns. . They captured Nauplia, but could not force Theodore I to surrender Argos. They prohibited the delivery of iron and plowshares to Athens and the Morea. Later, they stopped the import of
figs
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
and
currants from Athens on 22 June 1389.
San Superano invited Nerio to
Vostitza (that had become an important fortress of the Navarrese Company) to start negotiations about Argos with him. Nerio accepted the invitation, but San Superano captured him on 10 September 1389. Nerio was imprisoned in the castle of Listrina (near Vostitza). Nerio's brother, Donato, persuaded the Florentine government to send envoys to Venice, demanding the release of Nerio.
Amadeus of Savoy, Lord of Pineroloa claimant to the Principality of Achaeaalso assured Donato Acciaioli of his support in early 1390. Donato proposed to cede Athens, Thebes and movables as pledge to Venetians for Nerio's support for the surrender of Argos to them. The Venetian castellan of Modon and Coron and other Venetian officials had a meeting with Nerio near Vostitza on 22 May 1390. Nerio promised the Venetians that he would persuade his son-in-law to abandon Argos. After he ceded Megara to the Venetians and sent his daughter, Francesca, as a hostage to Euboea, the Venetians achieved his release in late 1390. He also gave his personal property in Corinth as a pledge to the Venetians and he appropriated church property to pay his ransom to the Navarrese. Nerio could not persuade Theodore to surrender Argos, which put an end to their alliance.
Nerio's troops captured
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 ...
before the end of 1390. King
Ladislaus of Naples
Ladislaus the Magnanimous ( it, Ladislao, hu, László; 15 February 1377 – 6 August 1414) was King of Naples from 1386 until his death and an unsuccessful claimant to the kingdoms of Hungary and Croatia. Ladislaus was a skilled political and m ...
appointed Nerio as his vicar-general in Achaea and in
Lepanto in 1391, but Ladislaus had no authority in the principality. Amadeus of Savoy sent envoys to Athens to secure Nerio's support for himself. On 29 December 1391, Nerio recognized Amadeus as his suzerain in return for a promise of the restoration of his Achaean estates, but Amadeus could never assert his authority in the principality. Nerio dispatched
Lodovico Aliotti,
Archbishop of Athens
The Archbishopric of Athens ( el, Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή Αθηνών) is a Greek Orthodox archiepiscopal see based in the city of Athens, Greece. It is the senior see of Greece, and the seat of the autocephalous Church of Greece. It ...
, to Ladislaus of Naples to achieve the legitimization of his rule in Athens. Ladislaus accepted the offer and granted the Duchy of Athens to Nerio and his legitimate male heirs on 11 January 1394.
The Ottoman sultan Bayezid I launched an invasion of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
in late 1393. The Turks captured Neopatras and Livadeia and Nerio agreed to pay a yearly tribute to the sultan in early 1394. Nerio fell seriously ill and completed his "eccentric" last will on 17 September. He bequeathed Athens to the church of Saint Mary (the Parthenon) of Athens and ordered the restoration of the church property that he had seized to pay his ransom. He made his younger daughter, Francesca, his principal heiress, only leaving money to his elder daughter,
Bartolomea. He bequeathed Thebes and Livadeia to his illegitimate son, Antonio. Nerio died on 25 September. He was buried in the
Parthenon
The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...
. His title of duke of Athens was inherited by his brother, Donato, but an Ottoman attack against Athens forced him to cede the town to Venice.
Family
Nerio's wife, Agnes de' Saraceni, was the daughter of Saraceno de' Saraceni, a Venetian burgher living in Euboea. They married before 1381. She administered Athens and Corinth during Nerio's captivity. She sent
James Petri,
Bishop of Argos to Venice to achieve the release of her husband in 1389. She died before Nerio made his last will.
The elder of the two daughters of Nerio by Agnes, Bartolomea, was famed for her beauty, according to the Byzantine historian,
Laonikos Chalkokondyles
Laonikos Chalkokondyles, Latinized as Laonicus Chalcocondyles ( el, Λαόνικος Χαλκοκονδύλης, from λαός "people", νικᾶν "to be victorious", an anagram of Nikolaos which bears the same meaning; c. 1430 – c. 1470; ...
. She was given in marriage to Theodore I Palaiologos in 1385. Her younger sister, Francesca, became the wife of
Carlo I Tocco Carlo I Tocco was the hereditary Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1376, and ruled as the Despot of Epirus from 1411 until his death on July 4, 1429.
Life
Carlo I was the son of Count Leonardo I Tocco of Cephalonia and Leukas by Madda ...
. Nerio's favoritism towards Francesca in his last will caused a conflict between his two sons-in-law, because the former claimed Corinth for himself. Nerio's illegitimate son, Antonio, was born to Nerio's lover, Maria Rendi. Antonio seized the Duchy of Athens in 1403.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nerio 01 Acciaioli
1394 deaths
Acciaioli family
Dukes of Athens
Year of birth unknown
History of Corinth
14th-century births
14th-century rulers in Europe
Barons of Vostitsa
14th-century people of the Republic of Florence