Niccolò Gattilusio

Niccolò Gattilusio (died Constantinople, 1462) was the last Prince of Lesbos (1458-1462).

He was a younger son of Dorino of Lesbos and Orietta Doria.

He deposed his elder brother Domenico of Lesbos, threw him in prison, and had him strangled. Sultan Mehmed II used this crime as his pretext to invade Lesbos. In truth he was angry with Niccolò for the latter's sponsorship of Catalan pirates in the region.

After the Turks almost completely demolished the capital city, Mytilini, and slaughtered many of the inhabitants, Niccolò surrendered. He was carried off to Constantinople as a captive, along with most of his family. There he converted to Islam and was briefly released. His sister Maria Gattilusio (widow of Alexander, a brother of Emperor David of Trebizond), who was called the most beautiful woman of her day, disappeared into the sultan's harem. Her son Alexios became a page, but seems to have been beheaded not long afterwards.

Then Mehmed II discovered that a favorite page of his, who had fled from him some time before, had become Christian and was included among the retinue of Prince Niccolò. This final indignity seems to have hastened Niccolò's death sentence. He was strangled to death with a bowstring.

Niccolò Gattilusio Gattilusio Born:  ? Died: 1462
Royal titles
Preceded by Jacopo	Lord of Lesbos 1458–1462	Succeeded by title extinct Island held by Mehmed II

External links

• Gattilusio family
• His listing along with his father and siblings in "Medieval lands" by Charles Cawley. The project "involves extracting and analysing detailed information from primary sources, including contemporary chronicles, cartularies, necrologies and testaments."
• "The Lesbian ancestors of Prince Rainier of Monaco, Dr. Otto von Habsburg, Brooke Shields and the Marquis de Sade" by William Addams Reitwiesner, an extensive article on the Gattilusio and their descedants

Persondata
Name	Niccolo of Lesbos
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1462
Place of death