Guy, Guido, or Galdo Pallavicini (also Pallavicino), called Marchesopoulo by his Greek subjects, was the first 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...

 in Frankish Greece

Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...

 from 1204 to his death in 1237. The original purpose of the margraviate was to guard the pass at Thermopylae

Thermopylae

Thermopylae is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs. "Hot gates" is also "the place of hot springs and cavernous entrances to Hades"....

 for the kingdom of Thessalonica

Kingdom of Thessalonica

The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands.- Background :...

.

He was the second son of the Marquis Guglielmo Pallavicino (also known as Pelavicino), a descendant of the Obertenghi

Obertenghi

The Obertenghi were a family of Italian nobility descended from Count Obert I of Luni, the first margrave of Milan and Eastern Liguria, a march called the marca Januensis, marca Obertenga or march of Genoa....

 of Liguria

Liguria

Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...

, who ruled over a series of fiefs in the area between Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

 and Piacenza

Piacenza

Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...

 which were known collectively as the Pallavicino State.

After the death of the first Thessalonian king, Boniface

Boniface of Montferrat

Boniface of Montferrat was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade...

, in 1207, Guy became the chief counsellor and bailiff

Bailiff

A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...

 of Margaret

Margaret of Hungary

Margaret of Hungary was the Empress consort of Isaac II Angelos, Byzantine Emperor.- Family :Margaret was the eldest daughter of Béla III of Hungary and his first wife Agnes of Antioch. She was a younger sister of Emeric, King of Hungary. Her younger siblings were Andrew II of Hungary and...

, the widowed regent and queen-mother of the young Demetrius. However, Guy and his brother Rubino had sided with the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 under Oberto II of Biandrate

Oberto II of Biandrate

Oberto, Uberto, or Umberto II was the Count of Biandrate in Lombardy and a participant in the Fourth Crusade.Oberto was a companion of Boniface of Montferrat on the Fourth Crusade. After Boniface' elevation to King of Thessalonica and his death, Oberto became acting regent for his son Demetrius...

 and been forced to submit to the Emperor Henry

Henry of Flanders

Henry was the second emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut , and Margaret I of Flanders, sister of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders....

 in 1209. He refused to attend the parliament of Ravenika in May that year. At the same time of the year in 1210, however, he was present at the second parliament of Ravenika and signed the concordat

Concordat

A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...

 there agreed upon, though his reputation towards the church was one of violence and disregard.

Guy built a strong castle, Vriokastro, at Bodonitsa itself and successfully guarded the pass against the despot of Epirus, Theodore I Ducas, in 1224, even after Thessalonica fell. Along with 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....

 and 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...

, Bodonitsa was one of the few (mostly southern) fiefs of the kingdom to survive its capital's fall. In fact, it was to Guy that the duke of Athens owed his relative safety from Epirote assault.

On 2 May 1237, he made his will and he died soon thereafter. He had been one of the knights of the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

 and he was one of the last to die. Bodontisa was the northernmost Frankish holding in Greece at that time. He was succeeded by Ubertino

Ubertino Pallavicini

Ubertino Pallavicini was the son and successor of Guy as Margrave of Bodonitsa in 1237.Despite the fact that, since the fall of the Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1224, Bodonitsa was a vassal of the Principality of Achaea, Ubertino assisted his cousin Guy de la Roche, Duke of Athens, in war against...

, his son by the Burgundian Sibylla, a cousin of Guy I of Athens.

Sources

• Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, 1189 – 1311. Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, editors. University of Wisconsin Press: Milwaukee, 1969.
• Miller, W. "The Marquisate of Boudonitza (1204-1414)." Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 28, 1908, pp 234–249.
• Marquisate of Bodonitsa.
• Pallavicino from the Genealogie delle famiglie nobili italiane at sardimpex.com