Nicholas II Zorzi or Giorgi ( it, Niccolò) was the

Margrave of Bodonitsa The margraviate or marquisate of Bodonitsa (also Vodonitsa or Boudonitza; el, Μαρκιωνία/Μαρκιζᾶτον τῆς Βοδονίτσας), today Mendenitsa, Phthiotis (180 km northwest of Athens), was a Frankish state in Greece foll ...

, a member of the

Zorzi The House of Zorzi or Giorgi was a noble family of Venetian origin. They thrived in the Late Middle Ages, especially in the remnants of the Latin Empire in Greece, where they controlled the Margraviate of Bodonitsa and through marriage the Duc ...

family of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, from 1410 to 1414. He was the last Venetian margrave to actually rule before the

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

conquest. He was the son of either

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

or Jacob, brothers and successive margraves of Bodonitsa. He succeeded the latter on his death. He was a prisoner at the court of the Sultan Mehmet I in

Adrianople Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

, but was released in accordance with a treaty with Venice. He then ruled for a short while before his territory, which guarded the important pass of

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: (''Thermopylai'') , Demotic Greek (Greek): , (''Thermopyles'') ; "hot gates") is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur ...

, was conquered on 20 June 1414. He then fled to Venice, but was restored to power by another treaty in 1416. However, he ceded his rights to Bodonitsa to his uncle Nicholas III in return for the rectorate of

Pteleon Pteleum or Pteleon ( grc, Πτελεόν), also Pteleos (Πτελεός), was a town of ancient Thessaly, on the south-western side of Achaea Phthiotis, Phthiotis, and near the entrance of the Sinus Pagasaeus. It stood between Antron and Halos ( ...

. The margravial title was purely nominal after that.

Sources

* *Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) ''A History of the Crusades: Volume III — The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries''. Harry W. Hazard, editor. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, 1975. Year of birth missing 15th-century deaths Christians of the Crusades Marquesses of Bodonitsa 15th-century Venetian people Zorzi family {{europe-noble-stub