Product Code Database
Licario, called Ikarios () by the Greeks chroniclers, was a Byzantine Empire admiral of Italians origin in the 13th century. At odds with the Latin barons (the "triarchs") of his native Euboea, he entered the service of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282), and reconquered many of the Aegean islands for him in the 1270s. For his exploits, he was rewarded with Euboea as a fief and rose to the rank of megas konostaulos and megas doux, the first foreigner to do so.
Facing the persistent refusal of the island's barons to treat with him, desiring vengeance and eager for glory and wealth, Licario presented himself to Philanthropenos, offering his services. He, in turn, took him to the Emperor, who was eager to use the services of talented Westerners whenever he could, and had already bankrolled several Latin corsairs in his service. Licario became the Emperor's vassal according to Western feudal rules, and in turn was strengthened with imperial troops. Under the leadership of Licario, the Byzantine Greeks could now mount a serious attempt to conquer the island, while their forces were further augmented by many defections from the Greek population.
In 1272/73, the Byzantine forces, now under Licario's command, launched a campaign that took the fortresses of Larmena, La Cuppa, Clisura and Manducho. The Lombard triarchs then appealed to their liege-lord, Prince William II of Achaea, and to Dreux de Beaumont, marshal of the Angevin Kingdom of Sicily. William was able to recover La Cuppa, but de Beaumont was defeated in a pitched battle and was subsequently recalled by Charles of Anjou. Between then and 1275, according to the Venetian chronicler Marino Sanudo, Licario himself served in the Byzantine army in Asia Minor, where he scored a victory against the Turks.
For his successes, Licario was rewarded with the post of megas konostaulos, head of the Latin mercenaries, and eventually appointed as megas doux after Philanthropenos's death in ; the first foreigner to be thus honoured. He commanded the Byzantine navy in a series of expeditions against the Latin-held Aegean islands. The first to fall was Skopelos, whose fortress was believed to be impregnable. Licario, however, knew that it lacked water supplies. Thus, he attacked it during the hot and dry summer of 1277 and forced its surrender. Its lord, Filippo Ghisi, was captured and sent to Constantinople; his other possessions, the islands of Skyros, Skiathos and Amorgos, were also taken soon after. After that, Licario went on to capture the islands of Kythera and Antikythera off the southern coast of the Morea, and later Kea, Astypalaia, and Santorini in the Cyclades. The great island of Lemnos was also captured, although its lord, Paolo Navigajoso, withstood a three-year siege before surrendering.
Finally, in late 1279 or early 1280, he returned to Euboea, landing in the northern town of Oreos and moving south towards Negroponte. His forces by now included many Spanish and Catalan people mercenaries (the first time the latter are mentioned in Greece) and even former adherents of Manfred of Sicily, who had fled to Greece after Manfred's defeat and death at the hands of Charles of Anjou. As he reached Negroponte, the triarch Giberto II da Verona, Felisa's brother, and John I de la Roche, the Duke of Athens, who were present at the city, rode out with their forces to meet him. The two armies met at the village of Vatondas, northeast of Negroponte. The battle resulted in a major victory for Licario: John de la Roche was unhorsed and captured, while Giberto was either killed (according to Sanudo) or captured and taken along with de la Roche as a prisoner to Constantinople, where, according to Nikephoros Gregoras, the sight of the hated renegade, moving triumphantly among the assembled Byzantine court, caused him to drop dead.
After Vatondas, Negroponte seemed about to fall into Licario's hands too. The city, however, was quickly reinforced by Jacques de la Roche, lord of Argos and Nauplia, who, along with the energetic Venetian bailo of Negroponte, Niccolo Morosini Rosso, led its defence. Facing determined resistance and possibly fearing an intervention of John I Doukas, ruler of Thessaly, Licario was forced to raise the siege. Licario then turned to reducing the remaining Latin strongholds on the island, becoming its total master except for the city of Negroponte itself, and ruling it from the fortress of Fillia. His fleet carried out further naval expeditions: the islands of Sifnos and Serifos were taken, and Licario's ships raided the Morea.
Licario himself sailed to Constantinople, presenting Emperor Michael VIII with his captives. Then, at the height of his fame and success in , Licario disappears from the sources, and his subsequent fate is unknown. Most likely he lived in Constantinople and died there.
|
|
