The Republic of Venice was pleased that one of its own was again ruling Bodonitsa and happily negotiated for Francis and his mother with the Catalan Duchy of Athens.
Francis tried to maintain his independence from the Catalan vicar general of Athens and resisted the attempts of Peter IV of Aragon to establish his authority in Greece.
Indeed, through inheritance and "mercantile venture" he had obtained "a very fine estate" and great wealth, being the most important of Mary's princely supporters.
[1] Francis even made overtures to the Navarrese mercenaries of Juan de Urtubia before his death, perhaps encouraging their sack of Thebes.
He had a daughter whom he married to a Serbian lord in Thessaly (the Serbs had established themselves there under Dušan), Stephen, a son of Simeon Uroš.