Meanwhile, his uncle, the Marquess, had lost all but his barren title.
Though the Turks had evacuated Boudonitza, and the castle had been
repaired, he felt so insecure that he sent his bishop as an emissary to
Venice, begging for aid in the event of a fresh Turkish invasion and for
permission to transport back to Boudonitza the serfs whom he had sent
across to Karystos a few years before[367]. His fears proved to be well
founded. In vain the Republic gave orders that he should be included in
her treaty with the new Sultan, Mohammed I. On June 20, 1414, a large
Turkish army attacked and took the castle, and with it many prisoners,
the Marquess, so it would seem, among them—for in the following year we
find his wife, an adopted daughter of the Duke of Athens, appealing to
Venice to obtain his release from his Turkish dungeon[368]. He recovered
his freedom, but not his Marquisate. In the treaty of 1416, Boudonitza
was, indeed, actually assigned to him in return for the usual tribute;
but nine years later we find Venice still vainly endeavouring to obtain
its restitution[369]. He continued, however, to hold the title of
Marquess of Boudonitza with the castle of Karystos, which descended to
his son, the “Marchesotto,” and his son’s son[370], till the Turkish
conquest of Eubœa in 1470 put an end to Venetian rule over that great
island. Thence the last titular Marquess of Boudonitza, after governing
Lepanto, retired to Venice, whence the Zorzi came and where they are
still largely represented.