§ 2.

CHAP. X. in defence of Phokaa, in which the Greeks were aided by the emirs of Savoukhan and Aïdin. The duke was at last slain in the unsuccessful attempt made by the Genoese admiral, Martin Zacharia, to raise the siege of Smyrna, when it was attacked by Morbassan in 1345.1 He left an only daughter, Maria, who was married to Gaspard Sommariva, signor of Paros.

Nicholas III. dalle Carceri now succeeded to his mother's duchy. He formed an alliance with Manuel Cantacuzenos despot of Misithra, with the Franks of Achaia, and the Catalans of Athens, in order to defend their possessions against the Seljouk pirates. But the great naval warfare of the Venetians and Genoese, that commenced in 1348, soon engaged universal attention, and filled the Levant with its effects. The duke Nicholas III., with the other Frank princes in the East, joined the Venetians. The consequence was that the Genoese admiral, Pisani, took and plundered Negrepont, the capital of the hereditary principality of the Dalle Carceri, and pillaged Keos (Zea), one of the islands then annexed to the dukedom of the Archipelago. The duke could only hope for vengeance by serving with the Venetian fleet, which he joined, and with which he partook of all the varying fortune of the war. In the great battle off Sapienza in 1354, when Pagan Doria destroyed the Venetian fleet, the duke escaped capture by gaining the port of Modon, from which he fled to Skyros, where he fortified himself as in a safe retreat, for he feared the Genoese might pursue him to Naxos. While engaged in putting Skyros in a state of defence, that island was invaded by a squadron of Turkish pirates, who expected to turn the defeat of the Venetians to advantage by ravaging the Archipelago with impunity. Nicholas attacked them when they little expected to encounter any resistance. He captured six of their galliots, with a valu

1 Daru, Histoire de Venise, i. 532.

able supply of money, arms, and provisions. When peace was concluded between Venice and Genoa, Nicholas III. returned to Naxos, where he devoted his attention to restore the prosperity of the island, which had suffered much during the war. In the midst of his schemes, he was assassinated at a hunting-party by his relation Francis Crispo, the signor of Melos, who was on a visit to his court, and who had formed a conspiracy to render himself master of the duchy by means of the Greeks. This happened about the year 1381.

A. D.

1381.

SECT. III.-DUKES OF THE FAMILY OF CRISPO.

Francis Crispo was successful in seizing the duchy after the assassination of the duke Nicholas III. He appears to have been the grandson of that Crispo who married Florence Sanudo, the daughter of Mark signor of Melos; for as Mark was the son of duke William, who was born in the year 1243, and died in 1285, and the duke Francis Crispo died in 1414, it seems impossible to suppose that he was the son of Florence.1 The children of Maria Sanudo daughter of Nicholas III., Spezzabanda and the duchess Florence, were the lawful heirs to the dukedom; but Francis Crispo excluded them from the succession by means of his popularity with the Greeks, whose support he had secured by his lavish promises of sympathy and protection, and by publicly boasting of his Greek descent. He had already, as signor of Melos, formed a close alliance with the Venetian republic. There was therefore no enemy powerful enough to dispute

1 Père Sauger, Histoire Nouvelle des Anciens Ducs, &c., p. 185; Sir J. E. Tennent, History of Modern Greece, i. 181; and Buchon, Recherches et Matériaux, Table des Geneal. vii. ;-all agree in making duke Francis the son of Florence, daughter of Mark signor of Melos; but Florence seems not to have been born later than 1307, and may have been born much earlier. Now, as Francis died in 1414, aged seventy, this would make his mother at least thirty-seven years' old at the time of his birth.

$3.

CHAP. X. his usurpation; but both he and his son James I. passed the greater part of their lives in guarding their possessions against the hostile projects of their relations, whom they had deprived of their legitimate rights. They were also exposed to plots caused by the ambition of individuals of their own family, who, from that want of morality and honourable principle which marks the society of the Levant, whether Greek or Frank, during this age, were ever ready to intrigue against their nearest relatives. Francis I. died about the year 1414 -his son, James I., in the year 1438, without leaving any children.

John III., the second son of duke Francis I., purchased tranquillity in his own family by dividing the duchy with his younger brothers. Nicholas was appointed prince of Thera or Santorin; Mark, of Ios and Therasia; and William, of Anaphe. Mark found the island of Ios almost depopulated, from the uncultivated state in which it had been left for many years in consequence of the repeated ravages of piratical squadrons. In order to restore the land to cultivation, he transported a colony of Albanian families into the island from the Morea, and paid so much attention to their wellbeing, that in a short time Ios was again in a flourishing condition. Of John III., duke of Naxos, history has nothing to record. His son, James II., was officially recognised as a friend and ally of the republic of Venice by Mohammed II., in the treaty he concluded with the republic after the taking of Constantinople. The Venetian

government, however, began now to regard the dukes of Naxos, on account of their diminished wealth and power, rather in the light of subjects than of allies. James II. died in 1454, and his uncle, William, prince of Anaphe, assumed the regency of Naxos.

John James was the name of the posthumous child of James II. This infant died, after holding the ducal title

for little more than a year. William II., who was acting as regent, proclaimed himself duke, to the exclusion of his nephew, Francis, prince of Santorin, who was the lawful heir; but, on the death of William II., Francis II. recovered his rights, and mounted the throne of Naxos. Both these dukes were compelled, by the power of the Othoman sultan, to act as subjects of Venice, and attach themselves closely to the fortunes of the republic both in war and peace-suffering on one side from their exposure to the attacks of the Turks, and on the other from their subjection to the commercial monopolies of Venice. James III., the son and successor of Francis II., was included in the peace between the Venetians and Mohammed II. in 1478; but the expenses into which he had been plunged, by the naval armaments that Venice called upon him to maintain during the war, had ruined his finances. In order to raise money to pay his debts, he was compelled to pledge the island of Santorin to his cousin, the prince of Ios. His weakness, as well as the policy of the Venetian republic, made him an inactive though anxious spectator of the siege of Rhodes by Mohammed II., when it was successfully defended by the knights under the grandmaster D'Aubusson.

James III. was succeeded by his brother, John IV., who levied such heavy taxes on the inhabitants of Naxos, in order to redeem the island of Santorin, that the Greeks broke out in rebellion, drove the Latins from the open country, and besieged the duke in the citadel. Duke John IV. was in imminent danger of being forced to surrender at discretion to his infuriated subjects, when he was saved from ruin by the accidental arrival of the general of the galleys of Rhodes in the port of Naxos with a small squadron of ships. This force enabled the general to offer an effectual mediation. The Greeks, fearing that the knights might unite their forces with the duke, were persuaded to submit to the greater part of the

A. D.

1285.

§ 3.

CHAP. X. duke's pecuniary demands; and he, on his part, promised to bury in oblivion all memory of the insurrection. The people, as is usually the case, observed their word better than their prince: they fulfilled their engagements-he violated his. Francis III., his son, served the Venetians in person during the war with the Turks that commenced in 1492. When peace was concluded in 1504, he retired to Naxos, in order to restore his affairs by economy.

John V., son and successor of Francis III., was again compelled to remain neuter, by the political interests of his Venetian protectors, when Rhodes was besieged and taken by sultan Suleiman II. The republic, however, was shortly after involved in hostilities with the Othoman empire; and the duke of Naxos having been detected sending information to the Venetians concerning the movements of the Turks, the celebrated admiral, Barbarossa, availed himself of the circumstance to put an end to the independence of the duchy, or perhaps we might say, more correctly, to transfer the suzerainty from the Venetian republic to the Othoman empire. Barbarossa appeared before Naxos with a fleet of seventy galleys, from which he landed a body of troops, and took possession of the town and citadel without meeting with the slightest resistance. The duke, seeing the immense force of the Turks, hastened on board the admiral's ship the moment it anchored, and declared his readiness to submit to any terms Barbarossa, as capitan pasha, might think fit to impose. From the deck of the Turkish ship, where he was obliged to remain three days, Duke John V. saw his capital plundered by the Turkish troops, and all his own wealth, and even the furniture of his palace, transported into the cabin of Barbarossa. He was at length allowed to return on shore and resume his rank of duke, after signing a treaty acknowledging himself a vassal of the Sublime Porte, and engaging to pay an annual tribute