| Damalas Δαμαλάς | |
|---|---|
 Armorial achievement of the House of Damalas | |
| Parent family | Palaiologos family Zaccaria family |
| Country |  Byzantine Empire Principality of Achaea_cropped.png){kind=small} Ottoman Empire Greece United States |
| Current region | United States, Greece |
| Founded | 1315 (title) 1498 (surname) |
| Founder | Martino Zaccaria (title) Antonio Damalà (surname) |
| Current head | Constantine Zaccaria-Damalà (b. 1992) |
| Titles | King and Despot of Asia Minor (titular) Prince of Achaea Marquis of Bodonista Baron of Damala Baron of Veligosti (titular) Baron of Chalandritsa Baron of Arcadia Baron of Estamira Lord of Lesbos (titular) Lord of Chios Lord of Samos Lord of Kos Lord of Ikaria (titular) Lord of Tenedos (titular) Lord of Oinousses (titular) Lord of Marmara (titular) |
| Traditions | Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy |
The House of Zaccaria-Damalà, most commonly known simply as Damalas, (pl. Damalas, or Damalades; Italian: Damalà, Greek: Δαμαλάς, pl. Δαμαλάδες) is a Greek noble family of Genoese and Byzantine extraction, established in the 14th century.[1]
The Damalas family originates as such as a branch of the Genoese Zaccaria during their rule in the island of Chios[2] as the result of the marriage between a sister of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos with Benedetto I Zaccaria.
Descendants of this Zaccaria de Chios branch would later acquire the Barony of Damala in the Principality of Achaea, taking their later name from this place, and would rise to become their last titled rulers, marrying in the process with other major houses ruling over Greek territories and in the Balkans, most notably, the Tocco, Asen and Palaiologos families.
The Zaccaria part of their name would be eventually dropped after the Ottoman conquest of Greece, and the family would later adopt a Hellenized spelling of it by the dawn of the XIXth century, hence becoming known as Damalas.
These Damalas descended from the Zaccaria dynasty share their name with other unrelated families bearing the names Damala and Damalas, who trace their ancestry as early as 1230 in the Thracesian Theme of the Eastern Roman Empire. Descendants of these families also settled in Chios as well as Kos[3], and are often linked together.
- ^ Δαμαλάς, Αντώνιος Σ. (1998). Ο οικονομικός βίος της Νήσου Χίου από έτους 992 Μ.Χ. μέχρι του 1566 (Tόμος Δ ed.). Αθηνα, Ελλάδα: Όμιλος Επιχειρήσεων Δαμαλάς. p. 1281. ISBN 960-85185-0-4. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- ^ Λαϊνάς, Δημήτρης (2001). Ιστορικές χιακές οικογένειες - Ράλληδες, Σκα ραμαγκάδες, Σκυλίτσηδες, Νεγρεπόντηδες, Ζυγομαλάδες, Δαμαλάδες (108 ed.). Χίος: Περιοδικό Χιόνη. p. 18.
- ^ Miklosich, Franz (1860–1890). Acta et Diplomata Monasteriorum et Ecclesiarum Orientis Tomus Primus. Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana. Vol. 4. Berlin: Vindobonae, C. Gerold. pp. 35, 94.