Martino Zaccaria

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Martino Zaccaria
King and Despot of Asia Minor, Lord of Chios, Baron of Veligosti-Damala and Chalandritsa
Bartolommeo Zaccaria, Centurione I Zaccaria
HouseZaccaria
FatherPaleologo Zaccaria
ReligionRoman Catholic

Martino Zaccaria was the

Emirate of Aydin, and participated in the storming of Smyrna
in October 1344. He was killed, along with several other of the crusade's leaders, in a Turkish attack on 17 January 1345.

Life

Lord of Chios and wars against the Turks

Martino Zaccaria was a scion of the

Asia Minor, including Samos and Kos.[5][6]

As lord of Chios, Martino and Benedetto fought with distinction against the

Mamluks of Egypt—and proposed that the Zaccaria be given command of the Latin fleets in the Aegean.[2]

Martino's prestige rose further when he also became one of the most important

Ikaria, Tenedos, Oinousses and Marmara Island. This award was mostly symbolic, as except for the first three, which the Zaccaria already controlled, the others were in the hands of the Byzantines or the Turks. In exchange, Martino promised to aid with 500 horsemen in Philip's hoped-for, but never to be realized, expedition to recover Constantinople from the Byzantines.[5][15][14]

Byzantine recovery of Chios

Map of the Aegean Sea

If these ties to the Latin Emperor provoked displeasure at the Byzantine court, for the time being relations remained good: the lease of Chios was renewed in 1324, and in 1327 Martino took part in alliance negotiations between the Byzantines and the Republic of Venice.[16] At the same time, however, Martino's behaviour became increasingly assertive: c. 1325 he ousted his brother as co-ruler of Chios and began minting coins in his own name.[17][18] In 1328, the rise of a new and energetic emperor, Andronikos III Palaiologos, to the Byzantine throne, marked a turning-point in relations.

Nikephoros Gregoras mentions that Martino was "one of the most distinguished Latins in wealth and glory" and calls him "an energetic man", "of great intelligence". Ιt was this prosperity that made Constantinople suspicious that he wouldnt stay for long a vassal of the Palaiologoi.[12]

One of the leading Chian nobles,

Duke of Naxos, Nicholas I Sanudo—and sailed to Chios.[17]

Even after the imperial fleet reached the island, Andronikos III offered to let Martino keep his possessions in exchange for the installation of a Byzantine garrison and the payment of an annual tribute, but Martino refused. He sank his three galleys in the harbour, forbade the Greek population to bear arms and locked himself with 800 men in his citadel, where he raised his own banner instead of the emperor's. His will to resist was broken, however, when Benedetto surrendered his own fort to the Byzantines, and when he saw the locals welcoming them, he was soon forced to surrender. The emperor spared his life, even though the Chians demanded his execution, and took him prisoner to Constantinople. Martino's wife and relatives were allowed to go free with their movable wealth, while most of the Zaccaria adherents chose to stay on the island as imperial officials. Benedetto was offered the island's governorship, but he obstinately demanded to receive it as a personal possession in the same way as his brother had held it, a concession the emperor was unwilling to grant. Benedetto retired to the Genoese colony of Galata, from where a few years later he made an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim Chios; he died soon after. Andronikos III appointed Kalothetos as the new governor of Chios, and followed up his success by sailing to Phocaea, forcing it to acknowledge his suzerainty.[6][19]

Later life and the Smyrniote crusade

Martino was released in 1337 at the intercession of the Pope and

Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, Henry of Asti. In view of Zaccaria's character, the Pope expressly warned Henry of Asti not to allow him to divert the crusade in a bid to recover Chios, and authorized Henry to replace Zaccaria if he deemed it necessary.[20][21] The crusade scored a swift and unexpected success: Umur Bey was caught off guard, and the crusaders recaptured the lower town of Smyrna on 28 October 1344. The citadel remained in Turkish hands, however, and the crusaders' position remained precarious. With Venetian aid, they fortified the lower town to enable them to resist Umur's counterattack. The emir bombarded the lower town with mangonels, but the crusaders managed to sortie and destroy them, effectively breaking the siege. To celebrate this feat, Henry of Asti decided, against the advice of the other crusader leaders, to hold mass in the city's former cathedral, which lay in the no-man's-land between the citadel and the crusader-held lower town. The Turks attacked during the service, on 17 January 1345, and killed Zaccaria, Henry of Asti and other crusader leaders present.[20][22]

Family

Latin Greece

Martino Zaccaria married, probably some time before 1325, Jacqueline de la Roche.[23] An earlier conjecture of Karl Hopf about a first marriage to a daughter of George I Ghisi, heir to the lordship of Tinos and Mykonos, has since been discarded.[24]

From his marriage, Martino had two sons:

References

  1. ^ Domenico Promis, "La Zecca di Scio durante il Dominio dei Genovesi", Torino, 1865, p 19
  2. ^ a b c d Miller 1921, p. 289.
  3. ^ Nicol 1993, p. 113.
  4. ^ a b Miller 1921, pp. 287–289.
  5. ^ a b c d Topping 1975, p. 120.
  6. ^ a b Nicol 1993, pp. 171–172.
  7. ^ İnalcık 1993, pp. 312–315.
  8. ^ Nicol 1993, pp. 142–144.
  9. ^ Nicol 1993, p. 143.
  10. ^ Luttrell 1975, p. 288.
  11. ^ Miller 1921, pp. 289–290, 291.
  12. ^ a b Gregoras, Nikephoros (1997). Roman History (1204-1341). Athens: Livanes. pp. 391–92.
  13. ^ Bon 1969, pp. 195–196, 205, 235–236.
  14. ^ a b c Miller 1921, p. 290.
  15. ^ Nicol 1993, p. 171.
  16. ^ Miller 1921, pp. 290–291.
  17. ^ a b Miller 1921, p. 291.
  18. ^ a b Trapp et al. 1978, 6495. Zαχαρίας Μαρτῖνος.
  19. ^ Miller 1921, pp. 292–294.
  20. ^ a b c Miller 1921, p. 293.
  21. ^ Setton 1976, pp. 186, 191.
  22. ^ Setton 1976, pp. 191–192.
  23. ^ Bon 1969, pp. 236, 708.
  24. ^ Loenertz 1975, pp. 107–108.
  25. ^ Bon 1969, pp. 241, 708.

Sources

Preceded by Baron of one half of Chalandritsa
c. 1316–1345 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Baron of Veligosti–Damala
after 1311 – 1345
Preceded by Lord of Chios
1314–1329
with Benedetto II Zaccaria (1314–c. 1325) 		Reconquest by the Byzantine Empire
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