Gattilusio

   Family from Genoa who ruled Lesbos (qq.v.) from 1355-1462. Francesco Gattilusio was a Genoese buccaneer who had offered his services to John V Palaiologos (q.v.) and who helped the emperor (q.v.) seize Constantinople (q.v.) in 1354. For this, in the summer of 1355 John V gave him his sister Irene in marriage, and made him lord of Lesbos (q.v.). In 1366 Francesco joined Amadeo VI of Savoy (q.v.) in the recovery of Gallipoli (q.v.). The family's position was made secure by further imperial marriages. His son Francesco II (1384-1403) married his daughter Irene to John VII Palaiologos (q.v.), and Constantine XII Palaiologos's (q.v.) second wife was the daughter of Dorino Gattilusio. The family acquired other islands in the northern Aegean (q.v.) as well, including Ainos, Thasos, Samothrace, Lemnos, and Palaia Phokaia.