Francesca Acciaioli or Acciajuoli (died 1430) was the wife of

Carlo I Tocco Carlo I Tocco was the hereditary Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1376, and ruled as the Despot of Epirus from 1411 until his death on July 4, 1429. Life Carlo I was the son of Count Leonardo I Tocco of Cephalonia and Leukas by M ...

Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos The County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos existed from 1185 to 1479 as part of the Kingdom of Sicily. The title and the right to rule the Ionian islands of Cephalonia and Zakynthos was originally given to Margaritus of Brindisi for his ser ...

Early life

Francesca was the younger of the two daughters of

Nerio I Acciaioli Nerio I Acciaioli or Acciajuoli (full name Rainerio; died 25 September 1394) was the ''de facto'' Duchy of Athens, Duke of Athens from 1385 to 1388, after which he reigned uncontested until his death in 1394. Born to a family of Florentine bankers ...

and Agnes de' Saraceni. Nerio Acciaiolia scion of a prominent banking house of Florencemoved to

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 ...

in the 1360s. Initially, he acted on behalf of his powerful kinsman,

Niccolò Acciaioli Niccolò Acciaioli or Acciaiuoli (1310 – 8 November 1365) was an Italian noble, a member of the Florence, Florentine banking family of the Acciaioli. He was the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and count of Melfi, Count of Malta, Ma ...

, who adopted him as his son. Nerio seized large domains in the

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thes ...

: Niccolò's son, Angelo, mortgaged

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

to him and Nerio captured Megara by force. Francesca's maternal grandfather, Saraceno de' Saraceni, was a

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetians might refer to: * Masters of Venetian painting in 15th-16th centuries * ...

citizen in Negroponte. Nerio and Agnes get married before 1381. Negotiations about Francesca's marriage with a son of Felipe Dalmau, the vicar-general of the Duchy of Athens, were futile in 1382. Plans about Francesca's marriage with Angelo Acciaioli's son did not materialize either in 1388. By 1388, Nerio became the actual ruler of 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 ...

Countess

Francesca was given in marriage to Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos between 1388 and 1393. Carlo I's mother, Maddalena de' Buondelmonti, had arranged the marriage, expecting that Francesca was to inherit parts of her father's domains, because she had no legitimate brothers. According to canon law, the marriage was incestuous, because Maddalena was Niccolò Acciaioli's niece, but its legality was never questioned.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acciaioli, Francesca

Francesca Francesca is an Italian female given name, derived from the Latin male name ''Franciscus'' meaning 'the Frenchman' It is widely used in most Romance languages, including Italian, French and Catalan, and place of origin is Italy. It is derived ...

County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos Tocco family 14th-century births Year of birth unknown 1430 deaths People from Frankish and Latin Greece