Maria dalle Carceri was the wife of Albert Pallavicini

Albert Pallavicini

Albert Pallavicini was the fifth margrave of Bodonitsa from his father's death until his own in 1311. His father was Thomas, a great nephew of the first margrave Guy. Albert married Maria dalle Carceri, a Venetian noblewoman from Euboea. He even obtained a sixth of that island with the official...

 who succeeded to half of the marquisate of Bodonitsa on his death in 1311. While she avoided submitting her principality to the Catalan Company

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...

, she could not avoid paying an annual tribute of four destrier

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....

s.

Maria was descended from a Lombard

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 family of Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

 that had come to Greece on 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...

. She was a daughter of Gaetano dalle Carceri and heiress of a sixth of Euboea

Euboea

Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...

. She married Albert and their daughter Guglielma

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...

 split the inheritance with her. Considering the recent Catalan victory at Halmyros

Battle of Halmyros

The Battle of Halmyros, of Orchomenos, or of the Cephissus was fought on 15 March 1311 between the Frankish Greek forces of Walter V of Brienne and the mercenaries of the Catalan Company, resulting in a devastating victory for the Catalans....

, Maria desired to marry again quickly to a man who would protect hers and her daughter's possessions. She married Andrea Cornaro

Andrea Cornaro

Andrea Cornaro of the House of Cornaro, was the husband of Maria dalle Carceri, widow of Albert Pallavicini. He married Maria in 1312 and co-governed her half of the marquisate of Bodonitsa until his death....

and Guglielma inherited the whole marquisate on his death.

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.
• Miller, W. "The Marquisate of Boudonitza (1204-1414)." Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 28, 1908, pp 234-249.
• Latin Lordships of Greece: Boudonitza.