Margaritus of Brindisi

Margaritos from Brindisi ( also Margaritone, Mega Reites ) was a Norman pirate in the service of William II of Sicily ( 1166-1189 ) and Tancred of Lecce ( 1189-1194 ). He was born in Brindisi and was perhaps Genoese origin. His life data are probably from 1149 to 1197.

Life

Margaritos did, among others, produced in 1185 at the capture of Thessaloniki. He was one of the most important allies of Isaac Comnenus, the Emperor of Cyprus and supported him against Isaac II Angelos, among other things, as this 1187 a fleet under Alexios Komnenos and John Kontostephanos sent to Cyprus. His base camp seems to have been at this time Palermo, where he spent any case his prisoners.

William appointed him Count of Malta and enfeoffed him with the 1185 stolen from Byzantium Ionian islands, with the Strophaden and with Durazzo and other territories in Illyria. He subsequently took the title "King of Epirus " to. Corfu soon fell back to Byzantine, but remained haunted by Norman pirates ( Castelvetrano ).

1194 defeated Henry VI. the Normans and conquered Naples and Palermo. These cities were incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. Henry VI. transferred after his victory the administration of Ithaca, Zakynthos and Kefalonia his son Maio I. Orsini, who eventually surrendered to Venice in 1209. Margaritos, who defended the fortress of Palermo until the surrender, was captured and blinded in 1194. He died about three years later in German captivity.