The Kingship & Despotate of Asia Minor: The Case & Nature of a Unique Hereditary Dignity in Legal History & Contemporary Dynastic Law

Abstract

This paper provides an in-depth legal and historical examination of the title of King and Despot of Asia Minor, a unique hereditary dignity granted in 1325 by the Latin Emperor Philip II of Taranto to Martino Zaccaria, Lord of Chios. It explores the legal architecture of the grant, which established a royal dignity with sovereign implications independent of territorial control, designed for perpetual hereditary succession, and addresses the legal basis for the title's uninterrupted transmission within the House of Zaccaria de Damalà, and its status as a dynastic kingship existing by legal design, unaffected by conquest, deposition, or political recognition. Through a detailed examination of the legal principles governing the title, this study positions it as a unique example of royal status that remains legally valid in the present day, situating it within the broader context of dynastic law and rebutting common counterarguments against its existence, validity and transmission.