Hello!
I'm reading a book called The Latin Hegemonies of Medieval Europe by Constantine Cyprios, talking about all the Latin states established after 1204. In the chapter about the County of Cephalonia, the author states that Matteo Orsini, the count, came to be at odds with his suzerain, the king of Sicily. The author claims that in order for this to be solved, Orsini turned to the Pope who solved the issue in Orsini's favour. Afterwards, the author states that to please the Pope, Orsini was made to organise a crusade to Palestine called the Ionian Crusade. I have searched the internet for this and found nothing. Can anybody give me any sources? Thanks a lot!
Do you have any more information about this book? I can't seem to find anything about it, but I imagine it might be in Greek?
In any case, Matteo (or Maio) is a rather enigmatic figure. It's not clear that he was really an Orsini, or where he was from. He may have just been some random irate that took advantage of the Fourth Crusade to seize Cephalonia, Corfu, Ithaka, and Zakynthos. He took the side of whoever would support him, whether Genoa, the pope, or Venice. It's certainly possible that while he was under papal protection, the pope asked him to go on crusade to the Holy Land, but that doesn't necessarily mean he did, or that there would necessarily be any record of it if he did.
Does the book mention any medieval sources for this information?