margraviate · Greece and the Aegean

Marquisate of Bodonitsa

1204 CE – 1414 CE · capital Bodonitsa

Frankish frontier march guarding the pass of Thermopylae, which outlived most crusader states in Greece until the Ottomans took it in 1414.

Origins

In 1204 Boniface of Montferrat granted the strategic castle of Bodonitsa, above the Thermopylae pass, to the Italian knight Guido Pallavicini. The marquisate was intended as a buffer protecting the Frankish lands of southern Greece from attack from the north.

Rule and society

Bodonitsa was a small feudal state centred on its hill fortress, whose ruins still stand. Its marquesses were vassals first of the Kingdom of Thessalonica and later of the Principality of Achaea, with some ties to the Latin Empire. The Pallavicini line was followed in 1335 by the Venetian Zorzi family through marriage, which brought Venetian protection.

Decline and legacy

Catalan, Byzantine and Turkish pressure reduced the marquisate. The Ottomans briefly took it in 1393 and finally captured Bodonitsa in 1414, ending the state. The Zorzi family kept the title in exile.

Connections (3)

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Marquisate of Bodonitsa. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/marquisate-of-bodonitsa
MLA
“Marquisate of Bodonitsa.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/marquisate-of-bodonitsa. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Marquisate of Bodonitsa.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/marquisate-of-bodonitsa.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Marquisate of Bodonitsa’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/marquisate-of-bodonitsa (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻