Maria Sanudo

Maria Sanudo (died 1426) was sovereign lady of the island of Andros in the Duchy of the Archipelago in 1372-1383, and sovereign lady of the island of Paros and of one third of Negroponte in 1383-1426 in co-regency with her spouse, Gaspare Sommaripa.

Maria Sanudo was a daughter of the Duchess of the Archipelago Florence Sanudo and her second husband Nicholas II Sanudo, and half-sister of Nicholas III dalle Carceri (r. 1371–1383), the last Duke of the Archipelago from the House of Sanudo.

After Florence Sanudo died, she was succeeded by her son Nicholas III. As he was still a minor, the regency was exercised for a time by Nicholas Sanudo. In December 1371, Maria received from her half brother (in reality from her own father in his capacity as regent) the island of Andros, the second largest island of the duchy after Naxos, as a fief. The grant stipulated that as feudatories of the Duke, Maria and her heirs were obliged to render personal military service for a three-month period each year, as well as send twenty marines for the ducal galleys for two months every year. Maria was also obliged to not marry without her half-brother's permission, as well as to look after her younger sister Lisia, and find her a suitable husband. In reality, as Maria too was under-age, the oath of fealty and the ceremony of investiture were probably undertaken by Nicholas Sanudo, who also exercised the governance of the island until his daughter's coming of age, as he is mentioned in contemporary documents as dominus insule Andre. In 1372, Maria also received a grant of the small island of Antiparos and the domain of Lichada on Euboea.

Nicholas III, probably again under the influence of his stepfather, later changed the terms of the grant from a feo to a censo, replacing the owed military service with an annual rent. Soon after coming of age himself and dispensing with his stepfather's regency, however, he tried to renege on the change. Nicholas Sanudo turned to the Republic of Venice, which in August 1373 ordered Nicholas III to redress the issue. At about the same time, the issue of Maria's marriage came to the fore following the failure of negotiations for her marriage to the son of Boniface Fadrique, lord of Salona, Lidoriki and Aigina. As had been the case for her mother, due to her possessions in Euboea, the affair was of great concern to Venice: the local Venetian bailo of Negroponte, Bartolomeo Querini, suggested a marriage to his son Zanino. Nicholas Sanudo went to meet the bailo at Negroponte and agreed, in exchange for assistance in the matter of his daughter's domains. The deal was kept a secret, and the unsuspecting Nicholas III gave his consent. Maria and her father travelled to Negroponte, but in the event the marriage fell through, for almost at the last minute, Nicholas III fell out with the bailo, perhaps suspecting his designs, and revoked his permission.

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