Argos and Nauplia | |||||
Lordship in fief of the Principality of Achaea (de facto autonomous) | |||||
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Arms of the Brienne family |
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Capital |
Nauplia 37°36′N 22°46′E / 37.600°N 22.767°ECoordinates: 37°36′N 22°46′E / 37.600°N 22.767°E |
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Government | Feudal lordship | ||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
• | Established | 1212 | |||
• | Sold to Venice | 1388 |
Arms of the Brienne family
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos (Greek: Άργος, French: Argues) and Nauplia (modern Nafplion, Ναύπλιον; in the Middle Ages Ἀνάπλι, in French Naples de Romanie) formed a separate lordship within the Frankish-ruled Morea in southern Greece.
The cities were granted as a fief, following their conquest in 1211–1212, to Otto de la Roche, Duke of Athens, by Geoffrey I of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea. The lordship remained in the possession of the de la Roche and the Brienne Dukes of Athens even after their expulsion from Athens in 1311, and those Dukes continued to be recognized there. Walter VI of Brienne was largely an absentee lord, spending most of his life in his European domains, and the lordship was inherited by his sixth son, Guy of Enghien. It then passed to his daughter Marie of Enghien when he died in 1376. In 1377, she married Peter Cornaro, who would also reside there until his death in 1388. Shortly after his death, Marie sold the two cities to Venice and retired there, but Argos was seized by the Despot Theodore I Palaiologos, while Nauplia by his ally, Nerio I Acciaioli. Nauplia was soon taken over by Venice, but Argos remained in Byzantine hands until 1394.