Anthony le Flamenc (, , , ; ) was an early 14th-century

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

knight and lord of Karditsa (now

Akraifnio Akraifnio (), before 1933 known as Karditsa (), is a village in Boeotia, Greece. It was the seat of the former municipality Akraifnia, which is a municipal unit of the municipality Orchomenus (Boeotia), Orchomenos since the 2011 local government r ...

) in the region of

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

, in the

Duchy of Athens The Duchy of Athens (Greek language, Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during ...

Life

Anthony le Flamenc was of

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

ancestry (as his surname indicates), and his forefathers had long been settled in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

before he rose to prominence in

Frankish Greece The Frankish Occupation (; anglicized as ), also known as the Latin Occupation () and, for the Venetian domains, Venetian Occupation (), was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French ...

. The eminent 19th-century scholar of the Frankish rule in Greece, Karl Hopf, suggested that he was the husband and co-ruler of

Isabella Pallavicini Isabella Pallavicini (died 1286), sometimes Jezebel, was sovereign marchioness of Bodonitsa from 1278 to 1286. She succeeded her brother Ubertino and also inherited her elder sister Mabilia's Italian possessions in Parma. The three were the onl ...

, lady of the March of Bodonitsa until her death in 1286, after which he disputed the succession to the march with her cousin

Thomas Pallavicini Thomas Pallavicini () was the marquess of Bodonitsa following a disputed succession in 1286. He was the grandson of Rubino, younger brother of Guy, the first margrave. In 1286, the marchioness Isabella, Guy's daughter, died childless and the marq ...

. However, as William Miller pointed out, this was pure conjecture lacking any basis in contemporary sources. Le Flamenc is mentioned for the first time in 1303, when the French version of the ''

Chronicle of the Morea ''The Chronicle of Morea'' () is a long 14th-century history text, of which there are four extant versions: in French, Greek (in verse), Italian and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the ''Chronicle'' narrates events of the Franks' estab ...

'' records that the

Duke of Athens The Duchy of Athens (Greek language, Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during ...

Guy II de la Roche Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an unin ...

appointed him as his deputy (''

bailli A bailiff (, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his bailiwick ...

'') over

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, a territory which had come under Guy's protection after its Greek ruler, Guy's uncle Constantine Doukas, died and left his underage son

John II Doukas John II Doukas, also Angelos Doukas ( Latinized as Angelus Ducas) (), was ruler of Great Vlachia (Thessaly) from 1303 to his death in 1318. John II Angelos Doukas was the son of Constantine Doukas of Thessaly by his wife Anna Euagionissa. He s ...

under Guy's tutelage. Anthony's son John, also received a post in Thessaly. Miller comments that it was possibly their experience with the

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

of the region that recommended them for such an important assignment. Anthony is also known to have had estates at nearby Koroneia and Patricio, possibly to be identified with the modern village of

Ypsilantis The House of Ypsilantis or Ypsilanti (; ) was a Greek Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in Constantinople during the last centuries of Ottoman Empire and gave several short-reign '' hospodars'' to the Danubian Principalities ...

, where a medieval tower is located. Anthony was apparently held in high esteem: the ''Chronicle of the Morea'' calls him not only "the wisest of the duchy", but "one of the wisest men in Romania atin Greece. Indeed, he is the sole member of the lower nobility of the Duchy of Athens to be mentioned in the sources. He was a loyal follower of

Matilda of Hainaut Matilda of Hainaut (French language, French: ''Mathilde de Hainaut''; November 1293 – 1331), also known as Maud and Mahaut, was Prince of Achaea, Princess of Achaea from 1316 to 1321. She was the only child of Isabella of Villehardouin and Flor ...

, the wife of Guy II. In 1305 he was among the witnesses to a deed relating to her property in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

(from which both of them hailed) and he was present with his son at her second engagement with

Charles of Taranto Charles of Taranto (1296 – 29 August 1315) was the eldest son of Philip I, Prince of Taranto and titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople, and his wife, Thamar Angelina Komnene, daughter of the Despot of Epirus, Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas. ...

Thebes Thebes or Thebae may refer to one of the following places: *Thebes, Egypt, capital of Egypt under the 11th, early 12th, 17th and early 18th Dynasties *Thebes, Greece, a city in Boeotia *Phthiotic Thebes Phthiotic Thebes ( or Φθιώτιδες Θ ...

on 2 April 1309. In 1308, the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

accused Anthony, Guy, Rocaforte, and

Boniface of Verona Boniface of Verona (, died late 1317 or early 1318) was a Lombard Crusader lord in Frankish Greece during the late 13th and early 14th century. A third son from a junior branch of his family, he sold his castle to equip himself as a knight, bec ...

of plotting to seize the Venetian colony of Negroponte. On 15 March 1311, Anthony fought in the

Battle of Halmyros The Battle of Halmyros, known by earlier scholars as the Battle of the Cephissus or Battle of Orchomenos, was fought on 15 March 1311, between the forces of the Frankish Greece, Frankish Duchy of Athens and its vassals under Walter V of Brienn ...

against the

Catalan Company The Catalan Company or the Great Catalan Company (; , , , or ) was a company of mercenaries led by Roger de Flor in the early 14th century and hired by Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos to combat the increasing power of the Anatolian b ...

and was one of the few survivors, though he was captured and held for ransom, as implied by the presence of his name in a list of correspondents of the Venetian authorities in 1313. Anthony built the Church of Saint George at Karditsa soon after his return from captivity, as attested by a donor's inscription, probably, as Miller suggests, commissioned by Anthony in fulfilment of a vow taken before the battle.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flamenc, Anthony Le 13th-century births 14th-century deaths Christians of the Crusades Medieval Thessaly Medieval Boeotia People from the Duchy of Athens People of Flemish descent Lords of the Crusader states