Roger, Archbishop Of Patras
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Roger was the
Latin Archbishop of Patras The Latin Archbishopric of Patras was the see of Patras in the period in which its incumbents belonged to the Latin Church. This period began in 1205 with the installation in the see of a Catholic archbishop following the Fourth Crusade. The Lat ...
and ruler of the
Barony of Patras The Barony of Patras was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the northwestern coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the town of Patras. It was among the twelve original baronies of the Principali ...
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 ...
from 1337 until ca. 1347. Roger succeeded William Frangipani on the latter's death in 1337. William, an energetic and capable man, had made the See of Patras effectively independent from 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 ...
. Upon his death, and until Roger's arrival from Italy, the ''
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 ...
'' of the Principality, Bertrand of Les Baux, laid siege to Patras hoping to reduce it to obedience. In the event,
Pope Benedict XII Pope Benedict XII (, , ; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was a cardinal and inquisitor, and later, head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death, in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope and reformed monasti ...
reacted by declaring the city "land of the Holy Roman Church" and placed the Principality under the
interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...
. The mother and regent of the Prince,
Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of King Charles VI of France, she married King Henry V of England and was the mother of King Henry VI. Cath ...
, arrived in the Principality herself and confirmed the independence of the Archbishop. This independence was utilized by Roger and his successors, who henceforth played a crucial role in the internal feuds and plots of the Principality. Thus, faced with the repeatedly manifest inability of the
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
-based Angevin Princes to defend the interests of Achaea, in 1341 Roger participated along with other Achaean magnates in a conspiracy to offer control of the principality to
John Kantakouzenos John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (; ;  – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byza ...
, the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
regent; these plans were foiled, however, by the outbreak of the
Byzantine civil war This is a list of civil wars or other internal civil conflicts fought during the history of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire (330–1453). The definition of organized civil unrest is any conflict that was fought within the borders of the By ...
. A few years later, in October 1344, at the Council of Roviata Roger headed another group of powerful barons who requested from
James III of Majorca James III ( – ), known as James the Rash (or the Unfortunate), was King of Majorca from 1324 to 1344. He was the son of Ferdinand of Majorca and Isabella of Sabran. Life James was born in Catania, Sicily. Margaret of Villehardouin, Jame ...
, a descendant of the
Villehardouin family The Villehardouin family was a noble dynasty that originated in Villehardouin, a former commune of the Aube department, now part of Val-d'Auzon, France. It is most notable as the ruling house of the Principality of Achaea, a Frankish crusader sta ...
that had founded the Principality of Achaea, to take over its governance. This appeal too came to nothing, as James was engaged in wars against the
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
ese and was killed in 1349.Topping (175), p. 130


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* * {{authority control 13th-century births 14th-century deaths Latin archbishops of Patras Barons of the Principality of Achaea Roman Catholic archbishops in the Duchy of Athens Medieval Achaea