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 222 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES III 
from Romeo de Bellarbre in Athens, William of Almenara and the municipality
of Livadia, and the dispossessed authorities of Thebes, who had taken refuge
in Salona and Livadia. 192 On September 13 (1379) the king officially appointed
Dalmau "our vicar, viceroy, and lieutenant in the said duchies and all the
lands adjacent to them," defining in ample detail the manifold duties of
his new office. 193 Until emissaries from the duchies had sworn fealty to
the king, however, and until the new vicar-general could reach Greece, Louis
Fadrique was to continue to hold the vicariate. Bernard Ballester and Francis
Ferrer had given a good account of Louis's government. 194 
 It is not clear how vigorously, if at all, king Peter IV had been prepared
to press his claims to Athens and Neopatras until the Navarrese invasion
threw the Catalan inhabitants of the duchies into his arms. Their view was
that Peter might conceivably assist them, while Maria of Sicily obviously
could not, and he certainly kept the clerks in the Aragonese chancery busy
issuing scores of documents relating to Greek affairs. Many of the inhabitants
of Thebes, both Frankish and Greek, had taken refuge on the Venetian island
of Euboea, and on October 19, 1379, the king expressed his gratitude to the
Venetian officials for this kind reception given to his distraught vassals
and subjects. He asked the Venetian colonial government to continue to show
them its favor and to allow them freely to return to Thebes with their wives,
children, and goods when the Catalans should have regained the city. Bernard
Ballester was conveying the royal letter to Negroponte, and would explain
further his majesty's intentions concerning his newly acquired Greek dominions.
195 
 Toward the end of the year 1380 or early in 1381 the castle of Livadia also
fell to the Navarrese, who as previously at Thebes received aid from traitors
within the walls. Some of the inhabitants fled to Negroponte, 196 others
to Salona, whose "count," Louis 
 192. Dipl., doc. CCCLXXXIII, p. 464, and cf. docs. CCCLXXVI, CCCLXXXII.
193. Dipl., doc. CCCLXXIV, pp. 455—456, and cf. docs. CCCLXX V—CCCLXXX.
 194. Dipl., doc. CCCLXXXII, pp. 462—463, dated September 30, 1379;
Rubió i Lluch, Los Navarros, doc. XVI, pp. 228—229. But in the
instructions given to Bailester, who was returning to Greece as the royal
ambassador, the barons and officials of the municipalities were to be asked
to send the king the names of "three or four barons of his kingdom," from
whom he would choose a vicar! (Dipl., doc. CCCLXXXIII, p. 464, presumably
dated September 30, 1379). 
 195. Dipl., doc. CCCLXXXIV, p. 465, and note doc. CCCLXXVIII, p. 459, dated
September 13, 1379, to the doge of Venice on behalf of the refugees from
Thebes. The doge is said "already to know" (iam scitis) that Peter IV has
succeeded "by just title" to the Greek duchies. Cf., ibid., doc. CcCLXXX,
pp. 460—461, also dated September 13, to the bailie and captain of
Negroponte. 
 196. Dipl., doc. CDLIX, p. 527, dated April 31 [sic], 1381.