Marquisate of Bodonitsa

The margraviate or marquisate of Bodonitsa (also Vodonitsa or Boudonitza; Greek: Μαρκιωνία/Μαρκιζᾶτον τῆς Βοδονίτσας), today Mendenitsa, Phthiotis (180 km northwest of Athens), was a Frankish state in Greece following the conquests of the Fourth Crusade. It was originally granted as a margravial holding of Guy Pallavicini by Boniface, first king of Thessalonica, in 1204. Its original purpose was to guard the pass of Thermopylae.

The marquisate survived the fall of Thessalonica after the death of Boniface, but it was made subservient to the Principality of Achaea in 1248. The marquisate further survived the coming of the Catalan Company in 1311, but it fell to two Venetian families in quick succession: Cornaro (till 1335) and the Zorzi. Among the eighteen Catalan vassals of the area in 1380-1 the Margrave of Bodonitsa ranks third below Count Demitre and the Count of Salona.[1] The Zorzi ruled the marquisate until the Ottoman Turks conquered it in 1414. Nicholas II continued to use the margravial title after that date, but the territory was never recovered.