The Zaccaria family was an ancient and noble Genoese dynasty that had great importance in the development and consolidation of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

in the thirteenth century and in the following period. The Zaccarias were characterized by, according to scholarly handwritten documents of the time, having broad intelligence and their effective way of maintaining political power through manipulation.

History

The Zaccaria family was a very prominent family in the Republic of Genoa. Also following the Treaty of Nymphaeum of 1261,

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

granted the Genoese the commercial exploitation of the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

, as a reward for the help received in the recovery of the

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

, and, more generally, in an anti- Venetian function. In this scenario, the Zaccaria family, in 1275 , assumed the lordship of

Phocaea Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northern ...

, first with Manuele then with his son Tedisio and, then, with

Benedetto I Zaccaria Benedetto I Zaccaria (c. 1235 – 1307) was an Italian admiral of the Republic of Genoa. He was the Lord of Phocaea (from 1288) and first Lord of Chios (from 1304), and the founder of Zaccaria fortunes in Byzantine and Latin Greece. He was, at di ...

. Phocaea was an important commercial port, with its hinterland rich in alum, mineral at the time used for the tanning of leathers and fabrics. In Genoa, they established intense relationships with the most important families of the aristocracy through marriages: * Orietta Zaccaria married Reinaldo Spinola * Velocchia Zaccaria married Nicoloso Doria * Palaeologus Zaccaria married Giacomina Spinola * Argentina Zaccaria married Paolino Doria * Eliana Zaccaria married Andreolo Cattaneo della Volta The Zacharias controlled all the alum trade: from extraction to transport to its transformation and sale mainly in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

. After alternating events that saw the Zaccarias lose, at the hands of the Venetians, and reconquer Phocaea and the island of

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...

, they also took possession of the island of

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

. Benedict II, known as the Palaeologus, son of Benedetto Zaccaria, on his death in 1307, assumed the title of lord of Phocaea and Chios. He was succeeded in the title by his two sons,

Martino Zaccaria Martino Zaccaria was the Lord of Chios from 1314 to 1329, ruler of several other Aegean islands, and baron of Veligosti–Damala and Chalandritsa in the Principality of Achaea. He distinguished himself in the fight against Turkish corsairs in ...

and Benedetto III, a lordship that was reconfirmed with the dominion of Samo, Tenedo, Marmora,

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...

and Martino's investiture as King and Despot for himself and all his descendants. After various events, he married in 1320 with Jacqueline de la Roche, the last heir of the

Dukes 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 t ...

, receiving as a dowry the baronies of Veligosti 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 ...

and Damala in Argolide, he died in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

in 1345. His son

Centurione I Zaccaria Centurione I Zaccaria (1336–1376) was a powerful noble in the Principality of Achaea in Frankish Greece. In 1345 he succeeded his father, Martino Zaccaria, as baron of Damala and lord of one half of the Barony of Chalandritsa, and in 1359 he ac ...

inherited the title of Baron of Damala. Centurione was married to the daughter of

Andronikos Asen Andronikos Asen (? - 1322?) was the ''epitropos'' ("steward, overseer") of the Byzantine province of the Morea between 1316 and 1322. Life Andronikos Asen was the son of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen III and Irene, who was the sister of Byzantine e ...

, the son of

Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria Ivan Asen III ( bg, Иван Асен III, also Йоан Асен III, ''Ioan Asen III'', and in English ''John Asen III''), ruled as tsar of Bulgaria 1279–1280. Ivan Asen III was the son of Mitso Asen of Bulgaria and Maria of Bulgaria, a daught ...

and Irena Palaeologus, daughter of

. Centurione assumed the office of Balio of

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 Ottoman ...

which he kept until his death in 1382.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaccaria Family Republic of Genoa families

History

See also

References