Secondotto, Marquess of Montferrat

Who was Secondotto, Marquess of Montferrat?

Secondotto Palaeologus was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1372 to his death, the third of the Greek Palaeologan dynasty. His name Secondotto may derive from his being the second Otto to rule Montferrat in his own right, though he would really be Otto III. More probably it is derived from Saint Secundus, the patron saint of Asti, which his father treated as the capital of the marquisate. The Otto may be in honour of Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, a close ally of his father.

He was born around 1360 as the first son of John II and Isabella of Majorca. In December 1361, as part of a peace deal made between John and Galeazzo II Visconti, co-lord of Milan, he was betrothed to the latter’s four year old daughter Maria. The city of Asti, on which Galeazzo had also had designs, was to count as part of Maria’s dowry, and Montferrat would be allowed to retain control of it. The peace was short-lived, however, as Maria died in the May of the following year.

He succeeded as a child of around 12, and ruled originally under the co-regency of his uncle Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, and Amadeus VI of Savoy. His father’s will had stipulated that he should remain under his uncle’s tutelage until the age of 25; however Otto left for Naples in 1376 to marry Queen Joan I.