Domenico Gattilusio

Nervous negotiations followed, and Domenico only obtained title to his inheritance after surrendering the isle of Thasos and paying an increased tribute of 4000 gold pieces, instead of the 3000 previously given.

But that was not the only loss to Domenico's realm, for on the excuse of lèse-majesté the Turkish admiral Yunus Pasha sailed to Phocaea and seized it outright for the Sultan on 31 October 1455.

[3] After the Sultan's men captured the mainland town of Ainos (modern Enez in Turkey) on 24 January 1456 and annexed the islands of Samothrace and Imbros from Domenico's cousin Dorino later that year, a Papal fleet under the command of the Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan, Patriarch of Aquileia, arrived in the northern Aegean Sea in the autumn of 1456.

This fleet swiftly took the islands of Samothrace, Thasos, and Imbros from the Ottomans, but instead of returning them to the Gattilusio family, appointed governors to rule them in the name of the Pope.

Sultan Mehmed vented his resentment upon Domenico, whom he held responsible for these losses, by sending his admiral Ishmael in August 1457 to attack Lesbos.

Bronze denaro of Domenico Gattilusio, with a large "D" on the obverse, and the tetragrammatic cross of the Byzantine Empire on the reverse
Relief at the Castle of Mytilene , showing the eagle of the Doria family (far left), the family cypher of the Palaiologoi (center left), and the Gattilusi coat of arms (center right)