Margaret of Passavant
Gentle Principality of Achaia, Kalavryta Baron, Baron of Akova, Baron of Mitopolis
Margaret of Nully (French: Marguerite de Nully) also known as Margaret of Passavant, was the hereditary Lady of Passavant, Akova and Mitopoli in the Principality of Achaea, in Frankish Greece, from 1276.
Life
Margaret, born some time before 1240, was a daughter of John of Nully, Baron of Passavant and Marshal of Achaea, and of a sister of Walter of Rosières, the Baron of Akova. Since Walter of Rosières was childless, she was the joint heiress of both baronies. Her first marriage was to Guibert of Cors, who was killed at the Battle of Karydi in 1258.
In 1261 she was sent as a hostage to the Byzantine court of Constantinople, in exchange for the release of Prince William II of Villehardouin and the majority of his nobles, who had been captured at the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259. Margaret remained in the Byzantine court until ca. 1275, during which time Passavant was lost to the Byzantines, and her uncle Walter died (ca. 1273).
On her return to the Principality, she tried to claim her uncle's inheritance but was denied, since by Achaean feudal law, any heir had to bring his claim within at least two years and two days from the death of the last holder, or the claim was forfeit. As Margaret had delayed her arrival, Prince William had already confiscated the Barony of Akova.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Margaret of Passavant” is gentle Principality of Achaia, Kalavryta Baron, Baron of Akova, Baron of Mitopolis. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Margaret, Passavant and Gentle, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “gentle Principality of Achaia, Kalavryta Baron, Baron of Akova, Baron of Mitopolis” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6523336. VIAF identifies the subject as 23615096. The Library of Congress control number is n86027656. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1276, 1240, 1258 and 1261.
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This entry incorporates text from “Margaret of Passavant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.