Triarchy of Negroponte

The Triarchy of Negroponte was a crusader state established on the island of Euboea (Template:Langx) after the partition of the Byzantine Empire following the Fourth Crusade. Partitioned into three baronies (terzieri, "thirds") (Chalkis, Karystos and Oreos) run by a few interrelated Lombard families, the island soon fell under the influence of the Republic of Venice. From circa 1390, the island became a regular Venetian colony as the Realm of Negroponte (Template:Langx).

History

Establishment

According to the division of Byzantine territory (the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae), Euboea was awarded to Boniface of Montferrat, King of Thessalonica. Boniface in turn ceded the island as a fief to the Flemish noble Jacques II of Avesnes, who fortified the capital Chalkis.

After his death in mid-1205 however, the island was ceded to three Veronese barons: Ravano dalle Carceri, Giberto dalle Carceri and Pecoraro da Mercanuovo. They divided the island into three triarchies (terzieri, "thirds"): the northern, based at Oreos (Template:Langx), the southern, ruled from Karystos (Template:Langx) and the central portion, ruled from Chalkis (Template:Langx). The city of Chalkis or Negroponte (città de' Lombardi, "city of the Lombards") however was not under the latter's control, but served as overall capital of the island and joint residence of the Lombard rulers and their families. By 1209 however, Ravano had established himself as sole master of Euboea, styling himself as dominus insulae Nigropontis.

Having allied himself with an unsuccessful Lombard rebellion against the Latin Emperor, Henry of Flanders, Ravano was eager to find a powerful protector. Thus, in March 1209, he signed an alliance with Venice, which recognized Venetian overlordship and gave the Venetians significant commercial privileges. In May, however, in an act of political balancing, Ravano also acknowledged his vassalage to the Latin Empire.

Succession disputes

File:Negroponte by Giacomo Franco.jpg

Depiction of the city of Negroponte (Chalkis) by the Venetian cartographer Giacomo Franco (1597)

However, already after the death of Ravano in 1216, his heirs disagreed over the succession, allowing the Venetian bailo to intervene as a mediator. He partitioned the three baronies in two, creating thus six hexarchies (sestieri). The northern triarchy of Oreos was divided between Ravano's nephews, Marino I and Rizzardo; the southern triarchy of Karystos was divided between his widow, Isabella, and his daughter, Bertha; and the central triarchy was divided between Giberto's heirs, Guglielmo I and Alberto. Provisions were also made that in the case someone among the sestieri died, his inheritor would be the other sestiere of the respective triarchy, and not his children. In fact, most sestieri were succeeded by their brothers, sons or nephews, keeping the baronies within the tight circle of the original Lombard families.

In 1255 however, the death of Carintana dalle Carceri, hexarch of Oreos, led to the so-called "War of the Euboeote Succession", which involved the Principality of Achaea and Venice. William II of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea and nominal overlord of Negroponte, asserted his authority as overlord, while the Lombard barons were unwilling to concede it. On 14 June 1256, Guglielmo of Verona and Narzotto dalle Carceri, the other two triarchs, repudiated their allegiance to William and pledged themselves to Venice. William responded by capturing Chalkis, which the Venetians retook in early 1258. The war ended in the battle of Karydi in May/June 1258, where William defeated the Duke of Athens, Guy I de la Roche, who had allied himself with the rebellious triarchs. Finally, in 1259, Doge Reniero Zeno negotiated a peace, followed by a treaty in 1262, which recognized William's suzerainty over the island.Template:Sfn

Byzantine interlude

By that time, however, the Empire of Nicaea had established itself as the foremost power in the area of the former Byzantine Empire, reconquering several territories from the Latins. Its successes culminated in the recapture of Constantinople in 1261 and the reestablishment of the Byzantine Empire, whose energetic ruler, Michael VIII Palaeologus, sought to reconquer the remaining Latin principalities in southern Greece. To this end, he accepted the services of Licario, an Italian renegade, who had his base near Karystos. Under Licario's command, Byzantine troops soon conquered most of Euboea, except Chalkis.

After the departure of Licario sometime after 1280 however, with Venetian aid, the island gradually returned to Latin control. By 1296, Boniface of Verona had completely expelled the Byzantines from Euboea.

Later history

In 1317 however, Karystos fell to the Catalan Company of Don Alfonso Fadrique, royal vicar-general (governor) of the duchy of Athens and illegitimate son of Frederick III of Sicily. In 1319, a peace treaty was signed between Venice and Don Alfonso, whereby he retained Karystos, which the Venetians acquired in 1365.

When the last triarchs, Niccolò III dalle Carceri and Giorgio III Ghisi, died in 1383 and 1390 respectively, they left their territories to Venice, which thus established complete predominance over the island. Nevertheless, the triarchic system was maintained, with Venetian families appointed to the positions of terzieri, while the Venetian podestà (magistrate) resided at Chalkis.

Venice's rule lasted until 1470, when, during the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1463–1479, Sultan Mehmed II campaigned against Chalkis. With the fall of the city on 12 July, the whole island came under Ottoman control. The city's fall is the subject of the Rossini opera Maometto II.

List of rulers of Negroponte

Note: The sequence of rulers during the 13th century, as well as the familial relations between them, are not very clear, as information about Euboea's internal history is scarce to non-existent, especially for the period 1216–1255. According to the rules of succession laid down on the island's division into thirds and sixths in 1216, on the death of a hexarch, he was succeeded in his domain by his fellow hexarch within their third, and not by the former's heirs.

Barony of KarystosTemplate:NoteTag	Karystos Southern Triarchy		Chalkis Central Triarchy		Oreos Northern Triarchy
	Jacques d'Avesnes (1204–1205)
Ravano dalle Carceri (1205-1208)			Giberto da Verona I (1205-1208)		Pecoraro da Mercanuovo (1205-1209)
Ravano dalle Carceri (1208-1209)
Ravano dalle Carceri (1209-1216)
Felicia dalle Carceri (1216-1278),Template:Sfn with Othon de Cicon (1216-1264)Template:NoteTag, (jure uxoris) or Othon de Cicon (1250Template:Sfn-1264) with his wife Agnese GhisiTemplate:Sfn Guy de Cicon (1264-1278), under his mother's regency, Agnese Ghisi (1266-1269).Template:Sfn He was made prisoner in 1278.Template:Sfn	Berta dalle Carceri (1216-1240), daughter of Ravano.	Isabella dalle Carceri (1216-1220), widow of Ravano.	Guglielmo da Verona I (1216-1220), son of Giberto I, recovered his father's triarchy.	Alberto da Verona (1216-1220), son of Giberto I, recovered his father's triarchy.	Marino dalle Carceri I (1216-1247), nephew of Ravano.	Rizzardo dalle Carceri (1216-1220),Template:Sfn nephew of Ravano.
		Berta dalle Carceri (1220-1236Template:Sfn/1240) and/or Marino dalle Carceri I (1220/1236Template:Sfn-1247)	Guglielmo da Verona I (1220-1256)			Marino dalle Carceri I (1220-1236Template:Sfn/1247)Template:NoteTag or Carintana dalle Carceri (1220/1236Template:Sfn/1247 -1255Template:NoteTag)
	Carintana dalle Carceri (1240-1255)Template:SfnTemplate:NoteTag Vice-hexarch: Michele MorosiniTemplate:SfnTemplate:NoteTag	Narzotto dalle Carceri (1247-1255),Template:Sfn son of Marino.			Narzotto dalle Carceri (1247-1256)Template:Sfn
	Narzotto dalle Carceri (1255-1256)Template:SfnTemplate:NoteTag					Grapello dalle Carceri (da Verona)Template:NoteTag (1220-1256Template:Sfn/1247).Template:NoteTag
	Guillaume II de VillehardouinTemplate:NoteTag (1256-c.1260Template:Sfn) Vice-triarch in Karystos: Othon de CiconTemplate:SfnTemplate:NoteTag
	Narzotto dalle Carceri (1260-1264),Template:Sfn restored to his triarchy.		Guglielmo da Verona I (1260-1263),Template:Sfn restored to his triarchy.		Grapello dalle Carceri (da Verona) (1260-1264),Template:Sfn restored to his triarchy.
	Marino dalle Carceri II (1264-1278),Template:Sfn son of Narzotto, under regency of his mother, Felicia da Verona.Template:NoteTag		Guglielmo da Verona II (1263-1275)Template:Sfn		Grapozzo dalle Carceri (da Verona) (1264-1278),Template:Sfn nephew of Guglielmo II da Verona. Vice-hexarch: Leone da VeronaTemplate:SfnTemplate:NoteTag	Gaetano dalle Carceri (da Verona) (1264-1278),Template:Sfn nephew of Guglielmo II da Verona. Vice-hexarch: Leone da VeronaTemplate:SfnTemplate:NoteTag
			Giberto da Verona II (1275-1278)Template:Sfn
Occupation of the Nicaean Empire (1278-1285/96) Vice-governor: LicarioTemplate:Sfn
Agnès de Cicon (1296-1317),Template:Sfndaughter of Guy, with Bonifacio da Verona,Template:NoteTag (jure uxoris)	Alicia dalle Carceri (1285-1313),Template:Sfn daughter of Narzotto, with Giorgio Ghisi I (1299-1311, jure uxoris)		Beatrice da VeronaTemplate:Sfn (1285-1328), daughter of Giberto II,Template:NoteTag with Jean de Noyers (1303-1326, jure uxoris) Vice-triarch: Maria NavigajosoTemplate:SfnTemplate:NoteTag		Maria dalle Carceri (da Verona) (1285-1323),Template:Sfn daughter of Gaetano, with: Alberto Pallavicini (1285-1311, jure uxoris) Andrea Cornaro (1311-1323, jure uxoris )
Marulla da Verona (1317-1326)Template:Sfn, daughter of the previous, with Alfonso Fadrique of Sicily (1317-1338, jure uxoris)	Bartolomeo Ghisi IITemplate:NoteTag(1313-1341), son of the previous.		Pietro dalle Carceri (1285/1323Template:Sfn-1340), son of Grapozzo and Beatrice, recovered in 1323 his father's triarchy and united it to his mother's after her death in 1328.
Bonifacio Fadrique of Sicily (1338-1365),Template:Sfn son of the previous. In 1365 he sold the barony to the Republic of Venice.	Giorgio Ghisi II (1341-1358)		Giovanni dalle Carceri (1340-1358),Template:Sfn son of the previous, under regency of his mother, Balzana Gozzadini.Template:NoteTag
Part of the Republic of VeniceTemplate:NoteTag	Bartolomeo Ghisi III (1358-1384) Giorgio Ghisi III (1384-1390)		Niccolò dalle Carceri (1358-1383),Template:SfnTemplate:NoteTag son of the previous, under regency of his mother, Fiorenza Sanudo.Template:NoteTag
	Between 1370 and 1380, Venice gained even more influence over the island's government, to the point that, in this period, Venice redistributed the powers on the island, returning to it the original triachy form of government. Venice appointed new families for the Northern and Southern Triachies, where its ruling families had been extinguished, and kept the central triarchy to Maria Sanudo, maternal half-sister of Niccolò dalle Carceri.
Michele Giustiniani, Andrea Giustiniani, and Giovanni Giustiniani (1390-1402) Antonio Giustiniani (1402-1406)			Maria Sanudo II (1383-1426),Template:Sfn with Gaspare Sommaripa (1383-1402, jure uxoris)		Januli I d'Aulnay (1385–1394) Niccolò d'Aulnay (1394-c.1425) Januli II d'Aulnay (c.1425–1434) Goffredo d'Aulnay (1434–1446) Januli III d'Aulnay (1446–1470)
Niccolò II Zorzi (1406-1436) Niccolò III Zorzi (1436-1440) Jacopo Zorzi (1440-1447) Antonio Zorzi (1447-1470)			Crusino I Sommaripa (1426-1462) Domenico Sommaripa (1462-1466) Giovanni Sommaripa (1466-1468) Crusino II Sommaripa (1468-1470)

Sources and bibliography

• Template:The Late Medieval Balkans
• Template:The Latins in the Levant
• Template:The Last Centuries of Byzantium
• Template:The Papacy and the Levant