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Triarchy of NegroponteNigropont
1204–1470
Negroponte and the other Greek and Latin states of southern Greece, ca. 1210
Status	Protectorate of the Republic of Venice (1209-1390) Colony of the Republic of Venice (1390-1470)
Capital	Chalkis
Common languages	Venetian officially, Greek popularly
Religion	Roman Catholic officially, Greek Orthodox
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Principality established	1204
• Ottoman Conquest	1470
Area
• Total	3,660 km (1,410 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Byzantine Empire Ottoman Empire

The Triarchy of Negroponte was a crusader state established on the island of Euboea (Venetian: Negroponte) 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 (Venetian: Reame di Negroponte o Signoria di Negroponte).

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 (Italian: terzero del Rio), the southern, ruled from Karystos (Italian: terzero di Caristo) and the central portion, ruled from Chalkis (Italian: terzero della Clissura). 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

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.

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.

Notes

1. The barony of Karystos was a separate territory from the namesake triarchy. Cf. Rodd (1907)
2. Othon supported the island's occupation of the Achaean prince in 1256, and this fact may have spared the barony from said occupation.
3. According to 1216 rules, Marino would be the legitimate heir of his brother Rizzardo. However, Rodd argues that, around 1236, Marino renounced his brother's hexarchy and took his aunt Isabella's, ceded by his cousin Berta.
4. It's undisputed that, at least at the time of her death in 1255, Carintana was ruling her father's hexarchy.
5. Rodd refers that Carintana may have taken Berta's hexarchy after her death. This way, Marino and his niece Carintana controlled two hexarchies each, in different triarchies.
6. Carintana appointed a vice-hexarch to Berta's hexarchy, and the chosen was Berta's widower, Michele.
7. According 1216 rules, it's very likely that Narzotto took his cousin Carintana's southern hexarchy, but didn't do the same in the northern one, to which he and Guglielmo da Verona I had nominated Grapello dalle Carceri (da Verona).
8. Albeit part of da Verona family, Grapello appears often as dalle Carceri.
9. After Carintana's death, the vacancy led the other two triarchs to nominate a new one: Grapello, son of the triach of Chalkis Alberto da Verona, and nephew of the triarch Guglielmo
10. He probably didn't use the title of triarch, but Guillaume occupied the island in 1256. It's known that he ordered the arrest of the triarchs Guglielmo and Narzotto.
11. Othon, lord of the barony of Karystos, supported the occupation of the Achaean prince, and the latter nominated the former as governor of the namesake triachy.
12. It is unknown when Felicia ended her regency.
13. Absent from the island, Grapozzo appointed his cousin Leone to rule in his place.
14. Absent from the island, Gaetano appointed his cousin Leone to rule in his place.
15. Bonifacio reestablished the barony in 1296.
16. Beatrice was also widow of her uncle, the triarch Grapozzo.
17. Probably absent from the island, Beatrice appointed her mother to rule in her place, as long as she lived.
18. The numbering II is from the familiar counting of the name. Bartolomeo Ghisi I was his grandfather, father of Giorgio Ghisi I.
19. It is unknown when Balzana ended her regency.
20. It's likely that, with the redistribution of powers in the island, the barony merged with the triarchy.
21. Also Duke of the Archipelago (1371-1383).
22. Fiorenza was also Duchess of the Archipelago (1362-1371), title that she passed to her son. It is unknown when she ended her regency.

References

1. Setton 1976, p. 80.
2. Fine 1994, p. 190; Setton 1976, p. 426.
3. Bury (1886), pp. 321ff.
4. Bury (1886), pp. 319–321
5. ^ Rodd 1907.
6. Longnon 1973, p. 77.
7. Setton 1976, p. 418.
8. Loenertz 1975, p. 36.
9. Setton 1976, pp. 418, 426.

Sources and bibliography

• Bury, John Bagnell (1886). "The Lombards and Venetians in Euboia (1205–1303)". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 7: 309–352. doi:10.2307/623649. JSTOR 623649. S2CID 166238367.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1887). "The Lombards and Venetians in Euboia (1303–1340)". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 8: 194–213. doi:10.2307/623457. JSTOR 623457. S2CID 163172908.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1888). "The Lombards and Venetians in Euboia (1340–1470)". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 9: 91–117. doi:10.2307/623661. JSTOR 623661. S2CID 162986159.
• Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1994) . The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
• Koder, Johannes (1973), Negroponte: Untersuchungen zur Topographie und Siedlungsgeschichte der Insel Euboia während der Zeit der Venezianerherrschaft (in German), Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ISBN 3-7001-0020-5
• Miller, William (1908). The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece (1204–1566). London: John Murray. OCLC 563022439.
• Loenertz, Raymond-Joseph (1975). Les Ghisi, dynastes vénitiens dans l'Archipel (1207-1390) (in French). Florence: Olschki.
• Longnon, Jean (1973). "Les premiers ducs d'Athènes et leur famille". Journal des Savants (in French). 1 (1): 61–80. doi:10.3406/jds.1973.1278. ISSN 1775-383X.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6.
• Rodd, Rennell (1907). The Princes of Achaia and the Chronicles of Morea: A Study of Greece in the Middle Ages. London: E. Arnold.
• Setton, Kenneth M. (1976). The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume I: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-114-0.

v t e Crusader states
List of Crusader states
Levant	Kingdom of Jerusalem vassals Principality of Antioch Antioch County of Edessa Marash County of Tripoli Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Kingdom of Cyprus
Greece	Latin Empire of Constantinople Duchy of Philippopolis Kingdom of Thessalonica Principality of Achaea Duchy of Athens Duchy of Neopatras Duchy of the Archipelago Triarchy of Negroponte County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos Lordship of Argos and Nauplia Venetian Stato da Màr Knights Hospitaller Hospitaller Rhodes Genoese colonies
Prussia and Livonia	State of the Teutonic Order* Teutonic Order Livonian Order Livonian Brothers of the Sword* Archbishopric of Riga Bishopric of Courland Bishopric of Dorpat Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek Dobrzyń Land Order of Dobrzyń Free City of Riga
Military orders Crusading movement Crusades

v t e Stato da Màr of the Republic of Venice
Adriatic Sea	Istria (10th century – 1797) Dalmatia (11th century – 1797) Durazzo (Durrës) (1205–1213, 1392–1501) Venetian Albania (1420–1797)
Ionian Islands and dependencies	Cerigo (Cythera) and Cerigotto (Anticythera) (1363–1797) Corfu and Paxos (1386–1797) Parga (1401–1797) Zante (Zakynthos) (1479–1797) Cephalonia (1500–1797) Ithaca (1500–1797) Santa Maura (Leucas) (1684–1797) Vonitsa (1684–1797) Preveza (1717–1797)
Mainland Greece	Modon and Coron (1207–1500) Negroponte (Euboea) (1209/1390–1470) Pteleos (1322–1470) Napoli di Romania (Nafplio) (1388–1540) Argos (1394–1463) Lepanto (Nafpaktos) (1407–1540, 1687–1699) Patras (1408–1413) Athens (1395–1402) Thessalonica (1423–1430) Navarino (1417–1500) Monemvasia (1463–1540) Kingdom of the Morea (1687–1715)
Aegean Islands	Hydra (1204-1566) Samothrachi (1204-1355) Spezia (1220-1460) Crete (1205–1669), then only Souda, Gramvousa and Spinalonga (until 1715) Mykonos (1390–1537) Duchy of the Archipelago (1383–1537/79), then only Sifnos (1383–1617) and Tinos (1390–1715) Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos and Skyros (1453–1538) Aegina (1451–1537, 1687–1715) Poros (1484–1715)
Other	Constantinople (1204–1261) Gallipoli (1204–1235) Rodosto (1204–1235) Soldaia (Sudak) (13th century – 1365) Cyprus (1489–1571)
Related articles	Fourth Crusade Partitio Romaniae Podestà of Constantinople Frankokratia Ottoman–Venetian wars Venetian–Genoese wars Venetian navy Fall of the Republic of Venice

v t e Frankokratia (1204–1797)
History	Fourth Crusade Constantinople 1203 Constantinople 1204 Partitio Romaniae Kountouras Grove Treaty of Nymphaeum Constantinople 1235 Genoese occupation of Rhodes War of the Euboeote Succession Pelagonia Constantinople 1260 Constantinople 1261 Treaty of Viterbo Prinitza Makryplagi Settepozzi Neopatras Demetrias Revolt of Alexios Kallergis Hospitaller conquest of Rhodes Halmyros Manolada Byzantine–Genoese War Revolt of Saint Titus Echinades Rhodes 1444 Vlastos' conspiracy 1st Ottoman–Venetian War Rhodes 1480 2nd Ottoman–Venetian War Rhodes 1522 3rd Ottoman–Venetian War 4th Ottoman–Venetian War 5th Ottoman–Venetian War Siege of Candia 6th Ottoman–Venetian War 7th Ottoman–Venetian War Fall of the Republic of Venice Treaty of Campo Formio
Major centres	Cities Constantinople Thessaloniki Glarentza Patras Athens Islands Crete Chios Lesbos Rhodes Naxos
States and territories	Latin Empire Kingdom of Thessalonica Principality of Achaea Akova Arcadia Argos and Nauplia Bodonitsa Chalandritsa Estamira Geraki Gritzena Kalavryta Karytaina Nikli Passavant Patras Veligosti and Damala Vostitsa Duchy of Athens Salona Duchy of Neopatras County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos Lordship of Chios Maona of Chios and Phocaea Catalan Company Navarrese Company Hospitaller Rhodes Triarchy of Negroponte Duchy of the Archipelago Stato da Màr of the Republic of Venice Crete Ionian Islands Modon and Coron Kingdom of the Morea Lepanto Parga Preveza
People	Latin Emperors Latin Empresses Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople Princes of Achaea Princesses of Achaea Baillis of Achaea Archbishops of Patras Archbishops of Corinth Tocco Carlo I Acciaioli Antonio I Angevins Charles I of Naples Gattilusi Pallavicini family Villehardouin family Geoffrey I William II Marco I Sanudo Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat Knights Hospitaller Pierre d'Aubusson Juan Fernández de Heredia Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam Foulques de Villaret Roger de Flor Zaccaria Benedetto I Martino Centurione II
Cultural impact	Chronicle of the Morea Chronicle of the Tocco Assizes of Romania Catholic Church in the Middle East Latin Church in the Middle East Latins Catholic Church in Greece Cretan school Cretan literature Heptanese school (painting) Cuisine of Greece
Monuments	Frankish Argyrokastro Castle Chlemoutsi Exomvourgo Fortifications of Rhodes Grand Magne Isova Old Navarino castle Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes Platamon Castle Zaraka Monastery Genoese Castle of Chios Castle of Mytilene Venetian Arkadi Monastery Bourtzi Castle Frangokastello Fortezza of Rethymno Fortifications of Chania Fortifications of Heraklion Gouverneto Monastery Koules Fortress Toplou Monastery New Fortress, Corfu Old Fortress, Corfu Palamidi

• Triarchy of Negroponte
• States of Frankish and Latin Greece
• Kingdom of Thessalonica
• Former countries in the Balkans
• 1204 establishments in Europe
• States and territories established in 1204
• 1470 disestablishments in Europe
• Former monarchies
• States and territories disestablished in 1470
• Stato da Màr