Martino Zaccaria

Martino Zaccaria
King and Despot of Asia Minor (titular), Lord of Chios, Baron of Veligosti and Chalandritsa
Silver grosso minted by Martino Zaccaria
Lord of Chios
Reign	1314–1329
Predecessor	Paleologo Zaccaria
Successor	Byzantine reconquest
Co-ruler	Benedetto II Zaccaria (until ca. 1325)
Baron of Veligosti–Damala
Reign	after 1311 – 1345
Predecessor	Renaud de la Roche
Successor	Centurione I Zaccaria
Baron of Chalandritsa
Reign	ca. 1316–1345
Predecessor	Aimon of Rans
Successor	Centurione I Zaccaria
Died	17 January 1345 Smyrna
Spouse	Jacqueline de la Roche
Issue	Bartolommeo Zaccaria, Centurione I Zaccaria
House	Zaccaria
Father	Nicolino Zaccaria
Religion	Roman Catholic

Martino Zaccaria was the Lord of Chios from 1314 to 1329, ruler of several other Aegean islands, and baron of Veligosti–Damala and Chalandritsa in the Principality of Achaea. He distinguished himself in the fight against Turkish corsairs in the Aegean Sea, and received the title of "King and Despot of Asia Minor" from the titular Latin Emperor, Philip II. He was deposed from his rule of Chios by a Byzantine expedition in 1329, and imprisoned in Constantinople until 1337. Martino then returned to Italy, where he was named the Genoese ambassador to the Holy See. In 1343 he was named commander of the Papal squadron in the Smyrniote crusade against Umur Bey, ruler of the Emirate of Aydin, and participated in the storming of Smyrna in October 1344. He was killed, along with several other of the crusade's leaders, in a Turkish attack on 17 January 1345.

Martino Zaccaria was a scion of the Genoese Zaccaria family. Through his father, Nicolino Zaccaria, he was a nephew to Benedetto I Zaccaria, lord of Chios and of Phocaea on the Anatolian coast. Benedetto I had captured Chios from the Byzantine Empire in 1304, citing the island's vulnerability to Turkish raids. His occupation was acknowledged by the impotent Byzantine emperor, Andronikos II Palaiologos, initially for a period of 10 years, but which was then renewed at five-year intervals. Benedetto died in 1307 and was succeeded in Chios by his son, Paleologo Zaccaria. When he died childless in 1314, the island passed to Martino and his brother, Benedetto II. Chios was a small but wealthy domain, with an annual income of 120,000 gold hyperpyra. Over the next few years, Martino made it the core of a small realm encompassing several islands off the shore of Asia Minor, including Samos and Kos.