Triarchy of Negroponte
| Triarchy of Negroponte | ||||||||||
| Nigropont | ||||||||||
| Client state* | ||||||||||
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 Negroponte and the other Greek and Latin states of southern Greece, ca. 1210
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| Capital | Chalkis (Negroponte) | |||||||||
| Languages |
Venetian officially, Greek popularly |
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| Religion |
Roman Catholic officially, Greek Orthodox popularly |
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| Political structure | Client state | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Principality established | 1204 | ||||||||
| • | Ottoman Conquest | 1470 | ||||||||
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| * The duchy was nominally a vassal state of, in order, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Latin Empire (from 1209), the Principality of Achaea (from 1236), but effectively, and from 1390 also de jure, under Venetian control | ||||||||||
The Triarchy of Negroponte was a crusader state established on the island of Euboea (Italian: Negroponte) after the partition of the Byzantine Empire following the Fourth Crusade. Partitioned into three baronies (terzieri, "thirds") (Chalkis, Karystos and Oreos) run by a few interrelated Lombard families, the island soon fell under the influence of the Republic of Venice. From circa 1390, the island became a regular Venetian colony as the Kingdom of Negroponte (Regno di Negroponte).
According to the division of Byzantine territory (the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae), Euboea was awarded to Boniface of Montferrat, King of Thessalonica. Boniface in turn ceded the island as a fief to the Flemish noble Jacques II of Avesnes, who fortified the capital Chalkis.
After his death in mid-1205 however, the island was ceded to three Veronese barons: Ravano dalle Carceri, Giberto dalle Carceri and Pecoraro da Mercanuovo. They divided the island into three triarchies (terzieri, "thirds"): the northern, based at Oreos (Italian: terzero del Rio), the southern, ruled from Karystos (Italian: terzero di Caristo) and the central portion, ruled from Chalkis (Italian: terzero della Clissura). The city of Chalkis or Negroponte (città de' Lombardi, "city of the Lombards") however was not under the latter's control, but served as overall capital of the island and joint residence of the Lombard rulers and their families. By 1209 however, Ravano had established himself as sole master of Euboea, styling himself as dominus insulae Nigropontis.
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