Nerio Acciaioli I

Florentine merchant and statesman. He was born into a family of wealthy bankers. His family regularly loaned money to the kings of Naples, and additionally carried out administrative duties in Greece. Robert of Taranto and Nerio's second cousin Niccolo jointly took control of lands in Achaea. Niccolo ultimately chose to bequeath his lands to Nerio, since his own children were seemingly not up to the task. Through multiple inheritances, Nerio came to control the entirety of northwestern Achaea. He continued to expand his domains through military conquest. He skillfully intervened in a conflict between the Catalans and Sicilians, using this intervention as an excuse to occupy Athens. The Acropolis was taken on May 2, 1388, and Catalan rule in Greece was over. He was then drawn into conflict with the Venetians. He invaded the lordship of Argos in an attempt to keep the Venetians from occupying it. Under the pretext of negotiating with him, they took Nerio hostage and refused to release him until he agreed to cede some of his possessions to the Venetians and to abandon Argos. To make matters worse, the Ottomans invaded in 1393. But Nerio was very sick and tired by this time and instead of fighting back he agreed to pay tribute to the Ottomans.