| Tocco | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms of the family | |
| Country | Kingdom of Sicily (Naples) Despotate of Epirus Papal States Holy Roman Empire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Kingdom of Italy |
| Founded | 11th/12th century (Noble family) 14th century (Greek branch) |
| Founder | Ugolino Tocco (Noble family) Guglielmo Tocco (Greek branch) |
| Final ruler | Leonardo III Tocco |
| Final head | Carlo III di Tocco Cantelmo Stuart |
| Titles | List
|
| Traditions | Roman Catholicism |
| Dissolution | 1884[n 1] |
| Deposition | 1479 |
The House of Tocco (pl. Tocchi, ‹See Tfd›Greek: Τόκκος, translit. Tókkos pl. Τόκκοι, Tokkoi) was an Italian noble family from Benevento that came to prominence in the late 14th and 15th centuries, when they ruled various territories in western Greece as Counts Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos and Despots of Epirus. During their brief period of rule in Greece, they were one of the most ambitious and able Latin dynasties in the region, and they were one of the few to leave descendants lasting until modern times.
The earliest known members of the family are recorded in the 12th century in Benevento, though Tocco family genealogies claimed that they originated much earlier, with forged connections to ancient Gothic kings Theodoric the Great and Totila, as well as to the ancient Epirote king Pyrrhus. Members of the family held various prominent offices during the rule of the Hohenstaufen and Angevin dynasties in the Kingdom of Sicily. As a result of the family's loyalty to the Angevin princes in Greece, such as the titular Latin emperors Philip I of Taranto and Robert of Taranto, Leonardo I Tocco was rewarded c. 1357 with the grant of the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, islands off the western coast of Greece.
Leonardo I's son and successor, Carlo I Tocco, became Despot of Epirus in 1411 as the favored successor of the previous despot, Esau de' Buondelmonti. Through a series of military campaigns, Carlo I reunified Epirus, which had been politically fragmented due to invasion by the Serbian Empire and Albanian tribes in the previous century and subsequent infighting by local Albanian princes. Most of Carlo I's conquests were lost during the reign of his successor, Carlo II Tocco, due to invasions by the Ottoman Empire. The Tocchi lost the despotate and their other holdings in Greece in 1479, during the reign of Carlo II's successor Leonardo III Tocco. Leonardo III was one of the last independent Latin rulers in Greece, and the last to hold lands on the Greek mainland.
Leonardo III escaped into exile in the Kingdom of Naples, where he unsuccessfully attempted to gain support for a military expedition to recover his lands in Greece. His descendants continued to claim the title of Despot of Epirus until the 17th century, when it was abandoned and substituted by the title of Prince of Achaea.
This occurred when Antonio Tocco requested to be granted the title of Prince of Achaea in 1642. He did this in exchange for his patrimonial titles as Despot of Epirus and Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.[5] This was not the same princely title held by rulers of the Principality of Achaea, but a recreated Neapolitan nobility title that was granted to the Tocco family and succeeded by their Tocco Cantelmo Stuart, and Capece Galeota heirs before their own extinctions in the first half of the 20th century.[6]
Over the following centuries, the Tocchi once more became part of the Italian nobility, gaining various titles through marriages and purchases. From the 17th century onwards, the title most commonly used by the heads of the family was Prince of Montemiletto. The family went extinct with the death of its last member, Carlo III di Tocco Cantelmo Stuart, in 1884.
- ^ Miller 1921, p. 513.
- ^ Zečević 2014, p. 142.
- ^ Miller 1908, p. 489.
- ^ Shamà 2013, p. 74.
- ^ Stornaiolo Silva, Ugo Stefano (2024). Achaean Disputes: Eight Centuries of Succession Conflicts for the Title of Prince of Achaea. p. 73.
- ^ Stornaiolo Silva, Ugo Stefano (2024). Achaean Disputes: Eight Centuries of Succession Conflicts for the Title of Prince of Achaea. p. 98.
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