Andrea Barozzi

Andrea Barozzi (fl. 1245–1278) was a Venetian nobleman. He was hereditary lord of Santorini in the Cyclades, and served as official and military commander for the Venetian Republic.

Andrea was the firstborn son of Iacopo Barozzi, lord of Santorini and Therasia. He succeeded his father upon his death c. 1245.[1]

Unlike most Venetians who had established petty principalities in the Aegean in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, the Barozzi remained loyal to the Republic, and often served in various public offices.[1] In 1252, the Venetian authorities ceded Andrea Barozzi two knightly fiefs in the Venetian colony of Crete.[1] In 1258–59 he held the high office of Bailo of Negroponte. At that time, he negotiated a treaty to end the War of the Euboeote Succession, between the Triarchs of Negroponte, who had been backed by Venice, and William II of Villehardouin, the Prince of Achaea.[1][2] Barozzi also renewed the 1256 treaty with the Triarchs in terms advantageous to Venice.[1]

In 1264, he was placed in command of a fleet of c. 50 ships to prevent the Genoese from raiding the annual trade convoy to the Levant.[1] He was tricked, however, by the Genoese commander, Simone Grillo: Grillo spread rumours that he intended to head due east to the Levant, whereas in reality he took up station at Malta. When Barozzi took the bait and moved east to pursue Grillo with his much larger fleet, the latter was free to attack the Venetian convoy off Saseno, and capture it almost in its entirety; only the giant merchant ship Roccafortis escaped.[3][4] In the meantime, Barozzi was pressing on eastwards, searching in vain for Grillo's fleet.[5] Arriving before Tyre on 2 September, he encountered a Genoese merchantman carrying 11,000 bezants worth of silk, the Oliva, in the harbour. With the Genoese fleet nowhere in sight, Barozzi resolved to seize the ship, despite the warnings of the city's lord, Philip of Montfort, a Genoese ally, that he would confiscate double the amount in Venetian properties if they did so. Barozzi did not hesitate long: he not only captured the Oliva, but also began a siege of Tyre itself, in the hopes of depriving Genoa of access to this, the second-most important port city of the Levant. The Venetians had to interrupt the siege after a few days, however, when news of the events at Saseno reached them. Instead, Barozzi hurried to Acre to escort the previous year's returning convoy back to Venice.[6][7]

In the mid-1270s, he lost his lordship of Santorini, which was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire under the admiral Licario.[1] Andrea Barozzi is attested for the last time in 1278, and likely died soon after.[1]