Francesca Acciaioli

Francesca Acciaioli or Acciajuoli (died 1430) was the wife of Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.

Early life


Francesca was the younger of the two daughters of Nerio I Acciaioli and Agnes de' Saraceni. Nerio Acciaioli—a scion of a prominent banking house of Florence—moved to Frankish Greece in the 1360s. Initially, he acted on behalf of his powerful kinsman, Niccolò Acciaioli, who adopted him as his son. Nerio seized large domains in the Principality of Achaea: Niccolò's son, Angelo, mortgaged Corinth to him and Nerio captured Megara by force. Francesca's maternal grandfather, Saraceno de' Saraceni, was a Venetian citizen in Negroponte. Nerio and Agnes get married before 1381.

Negotiations about Francesca's marriage with a son of Felipe Dalmau, the vicar-general of the Duchy of Athens, were futile in 1382. Plans about Francesca's marriage with Angelo Acciaioli's son did not materialize either in 1388. By 1388, Nerio became the actual ruler of the Duchy of Athens.

Countess
Francesca was given in marriage to Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos between 1388 and 1393. Carlo I's mother, Maddalena de' Buondelmonti, had arranged the marriage, expecting that Francesca was to inherit parts of her father's domains, because she had no legitimate brothers. According to canon law, the marriage was incestuous, because Maddalena was Niccolò Acciaioli's niece, but its legality was never questioned.