Prince of Achaea

The prince of Achaea was the ruler of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. The principality witnessed various overlords during its more than two centuries of existence, initially, Achaea was a vassal state of the Kingdom of Thessalonica under Boniface I of house Montferrat, then of the Latin Empire of Constantinople under the houses of Flanders-Courtenay, which had supplanted the Byzantine Empire, and later of the Angevin Kingdom of Naples. During the Angevin period, the princes were often absent, represented in the Principality by their baillis, who governed in their name. After 1404 the principality became sovereign as the Genoese Centurione II Zaccaria bought from the Neapolitan crown the princely rights.
The principality was one of the longest-lasting of the Latin states in Greece, outliving the Latin Empire itself by 171 years. It did not come to an end until 1432, when the Byzantine prince Thomas Palaiologos inherited the last remnants of the Principality through marriage to the daughter of the last prince, Centurione Zaccaria. With the Principality gone, the title of Prince of Achaea became vacant. However, in 1453 during the great Morean revolt of 1453-1454, John Asen Zaccaria, son of Centurione revived the Principality. He was confirmed as Prince by the Kingdom of Naples, the historical overlords of the Principality since 1267 and by Venice, though in 1455 John was forced to exile.
A title of the same styling, but not to be confused with the original sovereign princely title, was created almost two centuries later to honour the descent of Antonio di Tocco. Antonio was a descendant of Thomas Palaiologos and Catherine Zaccaria from a female line, twice broken. For this and several other reasons, he did not have a legal claim to the original title. Though in 1642, he successfully petitioned the King of Spain to exchange his patrimonial titles for a titular honour in the same styling of Prince of Achaea within the Neapolitan nobility. This titular honour was carried on with a sequence of titular princes that began with Antonio di Tocco and lasted until the death of his descendant Maria Maddalena Capece Galeota in 1933, whereafter the Neapolitan title became extinct.

List of princes of Achaea, 1205–1432/54

Champlitte dynasty (1205–1209)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	William I of Champlitte	1160s Dijon	Knight of the Fourth Crusade, appointed by Boniface I, King of Thessalonica after the conquest of the Peloponnese	1205 – 1209	4 years	1209 Natural causes

After a brief tenure as prince, William I received news that his brother Louis in Burgundy had died and decided to return home to France to claim the family lands. To govern the principality of Achaea, he left his old friend Geoffrey of Villehardouin as bailiff. William I died on his journey home in 1209. Champlitte had stipulated before his journey home that any lawful heir of his would have to claim the principality within a year and a day in the event of his death, or their claims would be forfeit. After his death, news reached Villehardouin that a cousin of William, Robert of Champlitte, was on his way to claim the principality. Wishing to claim the principality for himself, Villehardouin, with the assistance of Venice, placed various obstacles in Robert's way, including ensuring that he had to wait in Venice for two months before embarking, and once Robert reached Achaea, the time window stipulated by William had passed. Having obtained the principality through legal quibbles and fraud, Villehardouin was then proclaimed as the new Prince of Achaea.

Villehardouin dynasty (1210–1278)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Geoffrey I of Villehardouin	1169	Bailiff of Achaea under William I, seized power in the aftermath of William I's death	1210 – 1229	19 years	1229 Natural causes
	Geoffrey II of Villehardouin	1195	Son of Geoffrey I	1229 – 1246	17 years	1246 Natural causes
	William II of Villehardouin	1211 Kalamata	Son of Geoffrey I	1246 – 1 May 1278	32 years	1 May 1278 Natural causes

Angevin domination (1278–1396)

House of Anjou (1278–1289)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Charles I of Anjou	1226–1227	King of Naples. Charles's line was designated as heirs by the sonless William II after the marriage of William's daughter Isabella of Villehardouin and Charles's son Philip of Sicily. Philip of Sicily predeceased Charles, which made Charles the heir.	1 May 1278 – 7 January 1285	6 years, 8 months and 7 days	7 January 1285 Illness
	Charles II of Naples	1254	King of Naples and son of Charles I	7 January 1285 – 16 September 1289	4 years, 8 months and 10 days	5 May 1309 Natural causes

Houses of Villehardouin, Avesnes and Savoy (1289–1307)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Isabella of Villehardouin	1260–1263 Achaea	Daughter of William II of Villehardouin. Conferred the principality by Charles II, together with her husband Florent of Hainaut, upon their marriage in 1289.	16 September 1289 – 1307	18 years	23 January 1312 Natural causes
	Florent of Hainaut ––	1255 Hainaut	Husband of Isabella of Villehardouin	16 September 1289 – 23 January 1297	7 years, 4 months and 8 days	23 January 1297 Died during a military campaign
	Philip I of Savoy ––	1278 Piedmont	Husband of Isabella of Villehardouin, invested as Prince of Achaea by Charles II upon their marriage in 1300	1300 – 1307	7 years	25 September 1334 Natural causes

In 1307, Charles II revoked the position of Isabella and Philip I, on the grounds that their marriage having happened without his consent and Philip's refusal to assist Charles II in the king's campaigns against the Despotate of Epirus. Isabella and Florent had been granted the principality in 1289 on the condition that Isabella did not remarry without Charles II's consent in the event of Florent's death and Philip's refusal to aid Charles II constituted a gross breach of the feudal code. Isabella's eldest daughter, Matilda of Hainaut, may have unsuccessfully attempted to claim the principality in the immediate aftermath of her parents' deposition but was blocked from doing so by the local nobility, who awaited orders from Naples. Instead of seizing Achaea for himself once more, Charles bestowed it on his favorite son, Philip of Taranto, who soon after arrived in Achaea and received the allegiance of the local barons. To ensure that Isabella and Philip did not attempt to reclaim Achaea, their claims were also purchased and the couple were promised to County of Alba on the shores of the Fucine Lake as compensation.

House of Anjou (1307–1313)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Philip II of Taranto	10 November 1278 Naples	Son of Charles II, invested as Prince of Achaea by his father	1307 – July 1313	6 years	1331–1332 Natural causes

In 1313, Philip II married Catherine of Valois, the titular Latin Empress, who had up until their marriage arrangements been betrothed to Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy. In order to compensate the House of Burgundy, it was arranged that Louis of Burgundy, Hugh V's younger brother, would marry Matilda of Hainaut, the eldest daughter of Isabella of Villehardouin, and that the two would then be granted the Principality of Achaea. After marriage, however, Louis and Matilda delayed in travelling to Greece and in the meantime, the usurper Ferdinand of Majorca seized control of the principality.

House of Barcelona (1315–1316)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Ferdinand of Majorca	1278 Perpignan	Married Isabella of Sabran, granddaughter of William II of Villehardouin, took control of the principality using a band of Italian and Aragonese mercenaries	June/July 1315 – 5 July 1316	1 year	5 July 1316 Killed at the Battle of Manolada

Houses of Avesnes and Bourbon (1316–1321)

Image	Name	Birth	Succession	Tenure	Length of tenure	Death	Ref
	Matilda of Hainaut	29 November 1293 Achaea	Daughter of Isabella of Villehardouin and Florent of Hainaut, granted Achaea in 1313 but only took control in 1316.	5 July 1316 – 1321	5 years	1331 Natural causes
	Louis of Burgundy ––	1297 Burgundy	Husband of Matilda, conferred the principality by Philip II together with his wife	5 July 1316 – 2 August 1316	29 days	2 August 1316 Possibly poisoned

After she was widowed in 1316, King Robert of Naples ruled that Matilda should marry his younger brother, John of Gravina, as part of a scheme to once more return the principality to the House of Anjou. Matilda however refused, and there was also protest from Odo IV of Burgundy, the brother and designated heir of Louis. Matilda was however brought to Naples by force and in 1318 compelled to go through with the marriage ceremony to John. Still defiant, the princess was brought before Pope John XXII at Avignon and there ordered to obey. Even when forced to marry by the pope, Matilda refused and replied that she had already married the Burgundian knight Hugh de La Palice, whom she was very attached to. This secret marriage gave Robert the excuse to revoke her position as Princess of Achaea, as she had not been allowed to marry without his consent per the agreements that preceded her elevation to the position. After a brief forced marriage to John, Matilda was imprisoned and the principality was simply bestowed upon John directly.