S’assimiler pour régner ? Le cas des souverains italiens de l’Épire (xiv^e-xv^e siècles)

Various princes of Italian origin ruled Epirus at the end of the Middle Ages. The members of the dynasties of Cephalonia and Buondelmonti displayed a strong desire to assimilate to the Byzantine model, still powerful in the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century, however, the Tocco dynasty took care to preserve its Italian character and went to Italy to escape the Ottoman conquest. Nevertheless, some members of the Tocco family, probably descended from bastard branches, passed into the service of the sultan and remained in Epirus.