Francis Zorzi (1337–1388), called Marchesotto, was the Margrave of Bodonitsa

Margrave of Bodonitsa

The margraviate or marquisate of Bodonitsa , today Mendenitsa, Phthiotis , was a Frankish state in Greece following the conquests of the Fourth Crusade. It was originally granted as a margravial holding of Guy Pallavicini by Boniface, first king of Thessalonica, in 1204...

, a member of the Venetian Zorzi

Zorzi

The Zorzi or Giorgi was a family of Venetian origin. They throve in the Late Middle Ages, especially in the remnants of the Latin Empire in Greece, where they controlled the Margraviate of Bodonitsa and through marriage the Duchy of Athens until the Ottoman conquest.Under Nicholas I they took...

 family, from 1345 to his death.

Francis was the son of Guglielma Pallavicini

Guglielma Pallavicini

Guglielma Pallavicini , the Lady of Thermopylae, was the last Pallavicino heir to rule in Bodonitsa. She was but an infant when she succeeded her father Albert in 1311...

 and her husband Nicholas

Nicholas I Zorzi

Nicholas I Zorzi was the Margrave of Bodonitsa, first member of the Zorzi family of Venice to hold the post, from 1335 to his death...

, the first Zorzi lord of Bodonitsa. His parents were embroiled in a dispute when Nicholas died in 1354 and Guglielma raised Francis to co-rule with her. The Republic of Venice

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 was pleased that one of its own was again ruling Bodonitsa and happily negotiated for Francis and his mother with the Catalan

Catalan Company

The Catalan Company of the East , officially the Magnas Societas Catalanorum, sometimes called the Grand Company and widely known as the Catalan Company, was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in the early 14th-century...

 Duchy of Athens

Duchy of Athens

The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....

.

Francis was a vassal of the Duke of Athens, to whom he was obligated to send an annual of tribute of four armed horses

Destrier

The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the Great Horse, due to its size and reputation....

. Francis tried to maintain his independence from the Catalan vicar general

Vicar general

A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...

 of Athens and resisted the attempts of Peter IV of Aragon

Peter IV of Aragon

Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...

 to establish his authority in Greece. He also supported Maria of Sicily against Peter for the Trinacrian throne. Indeed, through inheritance and "mercantile venture" he had obtained "a very fine estate" and great wealth, being the most important of Mary's princely supporters. Francis even made overtures to the Navarrese mercenaries

Navarrese Company

The Navarrese Company was a company of mercenaries, mostly from Navarre and Gascony, which fought in Greece during the late 14th century and early 15th century, in the twilight of Frankish power in the dwindling remnant of the Latin Empire...

 of Juan de Urtubia

Juan de Urtubia

Juan de Urtubia was a Navarrese royal squire who led first a contingent of fifty men-at-arms on an expedition...

 before his death, perhaps encouraging their sack of Thebes

Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...

. He took part in the Council of Thebes on 1 October 1373.

He died around 1388 and was succeeded by his eldest son Jacob

Jacob Zorzi

Jacob Zorzi was the Margrave of Bodonitsa from 1388 to 1410. He was the last true ruler of Bodonitsa.Jacob was the eldest son of Francis Zorzi, of Venetian origin, and Euphrosyne Sommaripa, of the Cyclades. He succeeded his father around 1388 on the latter's death and under the regency of his mother...

 under the regency of his widow Euphrosyne Sammoripa of the Cyclades

Cyclades

The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...

. He had a daughter whom he married to a Serbian

Serbs

The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

 lord in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

 after the Serbs had established themselves there (under Dušan

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty , was the King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks until his death on 20 December 1355. Dušan managed to conquer a large part of Southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs in his time...

).

Sources

• Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume III — The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Harry W. Hazard, editor. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, 1975.
• Setton, Kenneth M. Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380. Revised edition. Variorum: London, 1975.
• Miller, W. "The Marquisate of Boudonitza (1204-1414)." Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 28, 1908, pp 234–249.
• Latin Lordships of Greece: Boudonitza.