John I Orsini

John I Orsini was the count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1303 or 1304 to his death in 1317. Married to an Epirote princess, John spent a decade at the Epirote court before succeeding his father, Richard Orsini, as count palatine. As a vassal of the Principality of Achaea, he was involved in its domestic affairs and especially the dynastic dispute between the infante Ferdinand of Majorca and Princess Matilda of Hainaut in 1315–16, and participated in a number of Latin campaigns against Epirus, which he aspired to rule. A year after his death, his son and heir Nicholas Orsini seized Epirus and brought it under the Orsini family's rule. Life John was the only son of Richard Orsini, count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, who in turn is held to have been the son (or possibly grandson) of Count Matthew Orsini, and a daughter of the John Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Thessalonica. In 1292, he was wed to Maria, the daughter of Despot Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Epirus. Maria had been sent as a hostage to Cephalonia to ensure Nikephoros' loyalty to the Latin princes when Richard and forces from the Principality of Achaea campaigned in Epirus to help raise the Byzantine siege of Ioannina. After the Byzantines were repelled, Richard, without consulting Nikephoros, arranged for John's marriage to Maria. This aroused the indignation of Nikephoros, who was not mollified until 1295, when the young couple came to live at his court. There John won his father-in-law's affection, to the extent that he granted him possession of the island of Leucas—Richard had promised to, but probably never did, cede the nearby island of Ithaca to the couple as well. John and Maria remained at the Epirote court until the accidental death of Count Richard in 1303 or 1304. After Richard's death, John was immediately engaged in a legal battle with his stepmother, Richard's second wife Margaret of Villehardouin, over his inheritance: Margaret claimed the fief of Katochi in Epirus, as well as mobile property to the sum of 100,000 gold from Richard's possessions. Initially, John's suzerain, the Prince of Achaea Philip of Savoy, found in his favour, especially after John paid him a "gift" of 3,656 pounds when he swore fealty to him on 7 April 1304. Margaret then sought the assistance of the powerful Marshal of Achaea, Nicholas III of Saint Omer, who was always ready to oppose the authoritarian government of Philip.