Stephen Zaccaria was the youngest brother of the last

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 ...

Centurione II Zaccaria Centurione II Zaccaria (died 1432), scion of a powerful Genoese merchant family established in the Morea, was installed as Prince of Achaea by Ladislaus of Naples in 1404 and was the last ruler of the Latin Empire not under Byzantine suzerainty ...

, and

Latin Archbishop of Patras The Latin Archbishopric of Patras is the see of Patras in the period in which its incumbents belonged to the Latin or Western Church. This period began in 1205 with the installation in the see of a Catholic archbishop following the Fourth Crusade. ...

from 1404 until his death in 1424.

Life

Stephen was the youngest of the four sons of

Andronikos Asen Zaccaria Andronikos Asen Zaccaria de Damala or Asanes (died 1401) was a Genoese lord of the Principality of Achaea in southern Greece. Life Andronikos Asen Zaccaria was the son of Centurione I Zaccaria, member of the Genoese Zaccaria dynasty, and a woman ...

, Grand Constable of Achaea and Baron of

Chalandritsa Chalandritsa ( el, Χαλανδρίτσα) is a town and a community in Achaea, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Erymanthos, of which it is the seat of administration. Chalandritsa is si ...

and

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

. In 1404, he was elected as

. In April 1404, Stephen's elder brother

succeeded in replacing his aunt,

Maria II Zaccaria Maria II Zaccaria (14th century – after 1404) was a Princess of Achaia. She was daughter of Centurione I Zaccaria, Lord of Veligosti–Damala and Chalandritsa. She succeeded her spouse Pedro de San Superano in 1402 as regent for their son. I ...

, as ruler of the Principality of Achaea. Despite their kinship, Centurione and Stephen were not always aligned: in 1406–07, Stephen allied himself with

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, in the latter's unsuccessful attempts to overthrow Centurione and capture his domains. In 1408 Stephen, threatened by mounting Ottoman raids in the Peloponnese and faced with financial difficulties, decided to lease the administration of Patras to 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, ...

for five years, in exchange for an annual fee of 1,000

ducat The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

s. This move suited the strategic interests of the Republic, as together with Lepanto, Patras gave it control of the entrance to the

Corinthian Gulf The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf ( el, Κορινθιακός Kόλπος, ''Korinthiakόs Kόlpos'', ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isth ...

. In 1418, threatened by the advances of the Byzantines in

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...

, Stephen once again turned to Venice for protection, calling on Venice to send troops from Negroponte to garrison Patras. The Republic accepted, but the Venetian troops had to withdraw in 1419 due to the opposition of the Pope, who was concerned lest Patras, a possession of the Church, fall permanently under Venetian control. Faced with renewed offensives by the Byzantines, in early 1422, both Centurione and Stephen contacted 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 ...

, offering to surrender their domains to them, but the Hospitallers refused to become involved, citing their commitments against the Ottomans in the southeastern Aegean. Venice then tried to intervene and buy the entire Peloponnese from the various local rulers, or at least organize an effective league against the Ottoman threat, but the negotiations in 1422–23 failed to achieve any result. On 8 January 1424, on his deathbed, Stephen placed Patras under the protection of Venice, but the Pope, who continued to oppose the growing Venetian influence in the area, named Pandolfo Malatesta as Stephen's successor instead of a Venetian cleric. Five years later, Patras would fall to the Despot of the Morea,

Constantine Palaiologos Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, ''Kōnstantînos Dragásēs Palaiológos''; 8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453) was the last Roman (Byzantine) e ...

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaccaria, Stephen 14th-century births 1424 deaths 15th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Greece Latin archbishops of Patras

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

Year of birth unknown

15th-century people of the Principality of Achaea