Richard Orsini

Richard Orsini
Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, Count of Gravina, Captain-General of Corfu, Bailli of the Principality of Achaea for the Kingdom of Naples
Seal of Richard Orsini
Reign	1238/ca. 1260 – 1303/4
Predecessor	Matthew Orsini[] (?)
Successor	John I Orsini
Died	1303 or 1304
Wives	unknown Margaret of Villehardouin
Italian	Riccardo Orsini
Father	Matthew Orsini (?)
Religion	Roman Catholic

Richard Orsini (Italian: Riccardo Orsini) was the Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from before 1260 to his death in 1303/4, and also Captain-General of Corfu in 1286–90, Count of Gravina in 1284–91. He also served as the Angevin bailli in the Principality of Achaea from 1297 to 1300.

Richard is generally thought to be the son of Matthew Orsini^[], Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, and a daughter of the sebastokrator John Komnenos Doukas. However, given the long period between the beginning of Matthew's reign in the first years of the 13th century and the attested date of Richard's death, it is possible that another character is to be intercalated between Matthew and Richard, perhaps the "count Theodore" referred to in a document from 1264 (possibly Matthew's son and Richard's father).

It is unclear when exactly Richard became Count palatine; he is not specifically recorded by name in a document until 1264. However, according to the testimony of the later chronicler Marino Sanudo Torcello, he was still a minor around 1262, when William II of Villehardouin assumed the regency for the county after his return from Byzantine captivity. Some authors date his accession as early as 1238, the date of the last document referring to Matthew Orsini, often assumed as the date of his death. If so, Richard was then perhaps the "Count of Cephalonia" referred to in a Venetian attempt to form an alliance of the Frankish rulers of Greece in aid of the beleaguered Latin Empire of Constantinople.