Pedro Bordo de San Superano
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French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Pierre de Saint-Superan; Pedro Bordo meaning "Peter the Bastard"; died 1402) was one of the captains of the Navarrese Company
Navarrese Company
The Navarrese Company was a company of mercenaries, mostly from Navarre and Gascony, which fought in Greece during the late 14th century and early 15th century, in the twilight of Frankish power in the dwindling remnant of the Latin Empire...
in the Morea
Morea
The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...
from 1379 until he was made Prince of Achaea in 1396, a post he held to his death.
After the remnants of the first Navarrese company moved from Durazzo to the Morea, probably in 1378, they appeared reorganised under three chiefs, captains, named Mahiot de Coquerel, Berard de Varvassa, and Pedro Bordo. In 1381, Mahiot, the chiefest of the three, was raised to the position of bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
of Achaea by the Latin Emperor
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
James of Baux
James of Baux
James of Baux , Duke of Andria, was the last titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1374 to 1383 and Prince of Achaea from 1382 to 1383....
, while Pedro and Berard appeared as his imperial captains. Following the death (1383) of James, his successors, Charles III of Naples
Charles III of Naples
Charles the Short or Charles of Durazzo was King of Naples and titular King of Jerusalem from 1382 to 1386 as Charles III, and King of Hungary from 1385 to 1386 as Charles II. In 1382 Charles created the order of Argonauts of Saint Nicholas...
and his son Ladislaus, failed to maintain control of their principality of Achaea and the Navarrese Company held the power in the region. The Company negotiated between competing claimants to the principality and the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
. Mahiot died in 1386 and Pedro succeeded him as the de facto ruler of the Company and the Morea. On 26 July 1387, Pedro, with the backing of both the secular and ecclesiastic authority in Greece, confirmed a treaty with Venice whereby she was ceded rights in the port of Navarino
Navarino
Navarino or Navarin may refer to:*Pylos , a Greek town, on the Ionian Sea**Battle of Navarino, 1827 naval battle off Navarino*Navarino, Wisconsin, a town, United States...
.
On 6 September that year, Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...
declared that as James of Baux's successors had forfeited their rights to the Holy See, the principality belonged to him and he devolved its government on Paul Foscari, the archbishop of Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, who in turn made Pedro vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
. Pedro was constantly at war with the Despotate of Morea
Despotate of Morea
The Despotate of the Morea or Despotate of Mystras was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its 100 years of existence but eventually grew to take in almost all the southern Greek peninsula, the...
, against whom he even used Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
pirates, and the Duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
under Nerio I Acciaioli
Nerio I Acciaioli
Nerio I Acciaioli was as Italian aristocrat from Florence who rose to power in Frankish Greece during the last decades of the fourteenth century, eventually becoming Duke of Athens....
. The latter was captured near Vostitsa on 10 September 1389 while trying to sit to talks with Pedro concerning Argos and Nauplia
Argos and Nauplia
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a separate Lordship within the Frankish Principality of Achaea in southern Greece....
. He had to buy his freedom with concessions to the Navarrese ally, Venice. Late in 1394 or early in 1395, the Turkish general Evrenos Beg invaded the despotate and met Pedro's forces at Leonardi in Laconia
Laconia
Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti...
. Together the two besieged and took Akova
Akova
Akova is a settlement in the community and municipal unit of Argos, Greece. Akova is 4 km west of downtown Argos. There are an Agia Triada church and a rest area for those hikking around Larissa mountain.-Historical population:-Other:...
(28 February). After Evrenos returned to Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, Pedro was defeated by the Greeks and taken captive with the grand constable Andronico Asano Zaccaria, his brother-in-law. In December, Venice paid 50,000 hyperpers for the release of her allies.
Early the next year, Pedro agreed to pay 3,000 ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s to Ladislaus in return for the title Prince of Achaea. He was invested with the principality, but never did end up making his payments. In that year, Pedro cooperated with Venice to refortify the Hexamilion
Hexamilion wall
The Hexamilion wall is a defensive wall constructed across the Isthmus of Corinth guarding the only land route into the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece.- Early fortifications :...
and settle boundary disputes over Modon
MODON
frame|Established : 2001 Type : [[Public]]Category : [[Industrial district|Industrial cities]]Head Office : [[Riyadh]]Country : [[Saudi Arabia]]Website :...
and Coron
Coron
Coron can refer to the following things:* Coron, Palawan, a municipality in Palawan in the Philippines* Coron Island, under the jurisdiction of the municipality, Philippines* Coron, Maine-et-Loire, a commune in the Maine-et-Loire département in France...
. Following the Battle of Nicopolis
Battle of Nicopolis
The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied army of Hungarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German and assorted troops at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising of the siege of the Danubian fortress of Nicopolis and leading to the end of the...
, the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I
Bayezid I
Bayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...
turned his attention to reducing the remaining Christian states in Greece. This drew Pedro and the despot of Morea, Theodore I Palaeologus
Theodore I Palaiologos, Lord of Morea
Theodore I Palaiologos was despot in the Morea from 1383 until his death on June 24, 1407. He was the youngest surviving son of the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and his wife Helena Kantakouzene. His maternal grandfather was former Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos...
, into alliance. The Order of St John
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
was on board, but the Venetian senate refused to aid the Byzantines. In 1399, Pedro defeated an invasive Turkish army and received the titles of papal vicar and gonfalonier of Achaea from Boniface IX (15 February 1400). The Christian alliance did not last, however, and Pedro raided Byzantine Modon and Coron in 1401. Pedro died the next year, leaving Achaea with his infant son under the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of his wife, Maria II Zaccaria
Maria II Zaccaria
Maria II Zaccaria , was a sovereign Princess of Achaia, and titular Queen of Thessalonica.She was daughter of Centurione I Zaccaria, Lord of Veligosti, Damala and Chalandritsa. She succeeded her spouse Pedro Bordo de San Superano in 1402...
. Maria gave the regency to her nephew Centurione II
Centurione II Zaccaria
Centurione II Zaccaria , scion of Genoese powerful merchant family established in the Morea, was installed as Prince of Achaea by Ladislaus of Naples in 1404 and was the last ruler of the Latin Empire not under Byzantine suzerainty....
, who promptly paid the outstanding sum required by Ladislaus and received investment as prince.