- Benedetto I Zaccaria
Benedetto I Zaccaria (c.1235–1307), Genoese
admiral , was the Lord ofPhocaea (from 1288) and firstLord of Chios (from 1304), the founder ofZaccaria fortunes in Byzantine and Latin Greece. He was, at different stages in his life, a diplomat, adventurer, mercenary, and statesman.Benedetto was the second son of
Fulcone Zaccaria and one of his wives: Giulietta or Beatrice. Benedetto assisted his brothers Manuele and Nicolino, his cousin Tedisio, and his son Paleologo in their commercial enterprises.Already by then a successful merchant, Benedetto first appeared as a Genoese ambassador to the Byzantine court in 1264. This was in response to Michael VIII's alliance with the
Republic of Venice . [Miller, 43.] After eleven years of negotiations which resulted in a renewed accord between the Empire and Genoa, Benedetto first appeared inConstantinople with his brother Manuele (Manel) in 1275, at imperial invitation. It was then that he was first appointed administrator of the mines of Phocaea. He built a plantation there, from which he traded with a number ofMediterranean and Asian cities, accumulating considerable wealth. In 1282, still in the emperor's service, he acted as an ambassador toPeter III of Aragon , counselling him to continue the war with Angevins over Sicily.Benedetto returned to Genoa in 1284 and was made an admiral. He was the principal commander of the Genoese fleet which defeated Pisa at the Battle of Meloria. He commanded a fleet of twenty
galley s, separate from the main Genoese fleet and initially hidden from sight. His surprise attack led to a decisive Genoese victory and the permanent decline of Pisa's military and mercantile power.He participated alongside the Castilians under Sancho IV in a victorious campaign against
Morroco . At about the same time, he servedPhilip IV of France as an admiral, blocking the English and Flemish ports.Before the
Ottoman Turks and the Venetians, theByzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus appealed for his aid. In 1296, the Venetian admiralRuggero Morosini razed Phocaea.In 1302, Benedetto was named admiral by Philip of France, in which capacity he conquered the island of
Chios (1304), which had thitherto been in the hands of Moslemcorsair s. At first, he gave the government of the isle over to his nephew Tedisio. In 1304, he also occupied Samos and Cos, which were almost completely depopulated, and the emperor conceded him sovereignty over those islands and Chios for two years, under Byzantine suzerainty. It is from this date that Benedetto is accounted Lord of Chios and begins his career as a statesman and ruler. In 1306, Tedisio occupiedThasos , then a refuge of Greek pirates.Benedetto died in 1307 and his brother Manuele in 1309. His son Paleologo succeeded him in Chios and the rest of his possessions. Benedetto's wife was an unnamed woman of some relation to the
Palaeologi .Notes
ources
*Miller, William. " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4269(1911)31%3C42%3ATZOPAC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C The Zaccaria of Phocaea and Chios (1275-1329).] " "The Journal of Hellenic Studies", Vol. 31. (1911), 42-55.
*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.
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/LATIN%20LORDSHIPS%20IN%20GREECE.htm#BenedettoIZaccariadied1307B Foundation for Medieval Geneaology: Latin Lordships of Greece — Chios, Zaccaria.]
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