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David Jacoby, The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World, 1355–1462, by Christopher Wright, The English Historical Review, Volume 131, Issue 548, February 2016, Pages 164–166, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cev329
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Extract
The unity of the Byzantine Aegean was shattered by developments following the Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople to the Latins in 1204. It was replaced by a fragmented space and numerous political entities, open to competing Byzantine, Western and Turkish forces, until its unity was restored under the Ottoman Turks shortly after 1460. The intervening period was one of instability, wide diversity, and continuous interaction between the major forces active in the region. Rather than studying these forces, Christopher Wright focuses on some lesser entities in the region ruled by members of the Genoese Gattilusio family, yet wisely examines them in a wider setting in an attempt to determine thereby the nature of the Aegean region as a whole.
Chapter One deals with the background to the establishment of the Gattilusio rule in the Aegean by Byzantium in 1355, at a crucial time which witnessed the beginning of Ottoman expansion in the Balkans and the death of the Serbian emperor Stefan Dusan. The Genoese pirate Francesco Gattilusio assisted the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos in the seizure of Constantinople from his father-in-law, co-emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, and was rewarded with marriage to the sister of John V and with possession of the island of Lesbos in the north-eastern Aegean. At times the members of the Gattilusio family ruled over some additional small islands and two continental possessions, the port of Ainos in eastern Thrace and Old Phokaia on the western Anatolian coast, at a short distance from Lesbos. The author reconstructs the political development of these various possessions within the regional context until their occupation by the Ottomans, completed by 1462. Chapters Two and Three examine the two components that had the greatest impact on the Gattilusio lordships: Byzantium and Genoa. Byzantium provided the political foundation of their rule. The family relationship with the Byzantine emperors and the dynastic struggles among the latter enabled both the establishment and expansion of Gattilusio dominion and provided it with legitimacy. The Gattilusio remained integrated in a loose and informal fashion in the Byzantine sphere in return for the alienation of imperial resources in their favour, a reflection of the Empire’s growing weakness. Genoa provided the ruling family’s social and cultural background, the major economic influence on their regime, and the predominant element among the Latin settlers in their territories. Although the Gattilusio were Genoese citizens, their lordships were not subordinated to Genoese authority. They maintained their own interests and connections, yet the exploitation of alum and their integration within the Genoese network of maritime trade strengthened their links with other Genoese in the Aegean. Moreover, the Gattilusio lent support to Genoa’s efforts to block Venetian expansion in the Aegean. The growing Ottoman danger in the 1450s led to a loose integration of their lordships within the Genoese political network.
