Leonardo II Tocco(1375/76 – 1418/19) was a scion of theTocco familyand lord ofZakynthos,who played an important role as a military leader for his brother,Carlo I Tocco,in early 15th-century westernGreece.
Biography
editLeonardo was the second son and youngest child ofLeonardo I Tocco,theCount palatineof the islands ofCephaloniaandZakynthosand lord ofIthacaandLeucas,and his wife, Maddalena dei Buondelmonti. His older siblings wereCarlo I Toccoand Petronila, wife of Nicola Venier, theVenetianbailliofNegroponte.[1][2]
Leonardo's father died while he was still an infant,[1]and for the next few years, his mother acted as regent for both her sons.[3]His brother Carlo I gave the island of Zakynthos to him as anappanagein 1399, and Leonardo also received lands in thePrincipality of Achaeaby PrincePedro de San Superano.[4]Little is known of him otherwise until ca. 1404–1406, when he took part in Carlo's attacks on theEpirotemainland aroundArta.Leonardo's and Carlo's exploits over the next decades are the main subject of theChronicle of the Tocco.[2]In 1407, Leonardo attacked the new Prince of Achaea,Centurione II Zaccaria,who had seized his fiefs in theMoreain 1404, and conqueredGlarentza,the principality's main town.[1][5]
In 1411 Carlo took possession ofIoanninain Epirus following the death of theDespot of EpirusEsau de' Buondelmonti;[2]Leonardo too joined his brother there, and in the same summer he conquered and razed theAlbanian-held fortress of Lachanokastron. In the next year, however, he was defeated by the Albanians at Kranea nearMesopotamon.[1]In 1413, warfare between the Tocchi and Centurione Zaccaria resumed, and this time the latter prevailed. Leonardo campaigned against Zaccaria in 1413, but in summer 1414, he was sent by Carlo toCorinth,where theByzantine emperorManuel II Palaiologossupervised repairs to theHexamilion wall.The emperor awarded Leonardo with the high court dignity ofmegas konostaulos,but enjoined both brothers to seek peace with Zaccaria. The brothers appealed toVenice,and with her mediation concluded three-year truce was agreed which left Glarentza once again under Achaean control.[1][6]
Carlo now appointed his brother as governor over the Tocco-ruled islands as well asAcarnaniawithVonitsa.[1]On 4 October 1416, Leonardo conquered the town ofRogoi.This was followed soon after by the capture of Arta by his brother, and Leonardo was appointed the city's governor.[1]In 1418, he fought against the attacks of theOttoman Turks,and visited KingLadislaus of Naples.He died soon after at Zakynthos.[1]
Family
editThe name and identity of Leonardo's wife is unknown, but he had several children:[1][2]
- Carlo II Tocco,who succeeded his uncle Carlo I
- Creusa[7][8]Tocco,who in 1429 married theDespot of the Morea(and future last Byzantine emperor),Constantine XI Palaiologos
- Angelica Tocco, who married Giacomo de Ariano
- Magdalene[9]Tocco, who married John Asen Zaccaria.[10][11]
References
edit- ^abcdefghiPLP 29008
- ^abcdTalbot (1991), pp. 2090–2091
- ^Setton & Hazard (1975), p. 302
- ^Setton & Hazard (1975), pp. 161, 806
- ^Setton & Hazard (1975), p. 161
- ^Setton & Hazard (1975), p. 162
- ^Genealogists' Magazine, December 2011.
- ^Stathakopoulos, Dionysios (2018).Sister, Widow, Consort, Bride. Four Latin ladies in Greece (1330–1430).Routledge. pp. 245, 247.
- ^Archivio storico per le province napoletane.1902. p. 834.ISBN0366670484.
- ^Zečević, Nada (2014).The Tocco of the Greek Realm: Nobility, Power and Migration in Latin Greece (14th – 15th centuries).Makart. p. 179.ISBN978-86-87115-11-8.
- ^Sphrantzes, Georgios (2006).Short History(in Greek). Athens: Kanakis. pp. 113, 115.ISBN960-7420-94-2.
Sources
edit- Fine, John V. A. Jr.(1994) [1987].The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest.Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.ISBN0-472-08260-4.
- Setton, Kenneth M.;Hazard, Harry W., eds. (1975).A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN0-299-06670-3.
- Talbot, Alice-Mary(1991). "Tocco". InKazhdan, Alexander(ed.).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 2090–2091.ISBN0-19-504652-8.
- Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Kaplaneres, Sokrates; Leontiadis, Ioannis (1994). "29008.Τόκκω, Λεονάρδος ΙΙ. Κατακουζηνᾶτος δὲ".Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit(in German). Vol. 12. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.ISBN3-7001-3003-1.
- Zečević, Nada (2014).The Tocco of the Greek Realm: Nobility, Power and Migration in Latin Greece (14th-15th centuries).Belgrade: Makart.ISBN978-86-919441-0-0.