Before his death, Francis had ceased to pay annual tribute to the Duchy of Athens, though he remained a peer of the Principality of Achaea.
Lamia and Neopatria were captured and Pharsala and Domokos were abandoned by the Serbs, whose leader was Jacob's brother-in-law.
In 1403, 1408, and 1409, he was party to the treaties between Venice and the Ottoman prince Süleyman Çelebi and in the first of these succeeded in ridding himself of his obligations of payment of tribute.
By a treaty of 1405 between Venice and Antonio I Acciaioli of Athens, he was included to secure his southern border and relieve him of worry there.
He moved many citizens and with livestock to Karystos, the Euboean stronghold of his brother Nicholas, in an attempt to protect them from Turkish assaults, but he was content enough himself to remain in Bodonitsa and bid for Tenos and Mykonos, two islands which Venice was auctioning off in 1406.