Times had greatly changed since the conquest of the Archipelago, nor
was a usurper like Crispo in a position to dispense with the protection
of Venice. He therefore begged the Republic to recognise him as the
rightful Duke, which the astute Venetians saw no difficulty in doing.
He further strengthened the bond of union by bestowing the hand of his
daughter upon the rich Venetian, Pietro Zeno, who played a considerable
part in the tortuous diplomacy of the age. Crispo did not hesitate to
rob Maria Sanudo of Andros in order to confer it upon his son-in-law,
and it was not for many years, and then only after wearisome litigation,
that it reverted to her son. She was obliged to content herself with the
islands of Paros and Antiparos, and to marry one of the Veronese family
of Sommaripa, which now appears for the first time in Greek history,
but which came into the possession of Andros towards the middle of the
fifteenth century, and still flourishes at Naxos. Sure of Venetian
support, Crispo indulged in piratical expeditions as far as the Syrian
coast, while he swept other and less distinguished pirates from the sea.
His son-in-law seconded his efforts against the Turks; yet, in spite
of their united attempts, they left their possessions in a deplorable
state. Andros had been so severely visited by the Turkish corsairs that
it contained only 2000 inhabitants, and had to be repopulated by Albanian
immigrants, who are still very numerous there; Ios, almost denuded of
its population, was replenished by a number of families from the Morea.
Although the next Duke, Giacomo I, was known as “The Pacific,” and paid
tribute to the Sultan on condition that no Turkish ships should visit his
islands, he was constantly menaced by Bayezid I. In his distress, like
the Emperor Manuel, he turned to Henry IV of England, whom he visited in
London in 1404. Henry was not able to assist him, though he had at one
time intended to lead an army “as far as to the sepulchre of Christ”;
but, when Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, made a pilgrimage to
Palestine in 1418, he was conveyed back to Venice on one of Pietro Zeno’s
galleys. This was, so far as we have been able to discover, the only
connection between England and the Duchy. In the same year Giacomo died
at Ferrara, on his way to see the Pope, the natural protector of the
Latins in the Levant.