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 226 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES 
 the lands which the Navarrese had seized. Peter was to answer, when he ratified
or rejected the various articles of the petition at Lerida on the following
September 1, that he was sending Philip Dalmau, viscount of Rocaberti, as
his vicar-general to Greece, and that Dal mau would be accompanied by forces
strong enough to restore the territorial integrity of the duchies and reëstablish
a peaceful life within them. When preparing their petition in May, however,
the Catalans had informed the king that if he could not immediately send
them the strong governor they needed, they would be pleased to have "as our
official and governor of Athens the most honored Don Romeo de Bellarbre,
who knows the desperate conditions in the said city and the poverty and anxiety
of its people." Indeed, they had hoped it would please his majesty to give
Bellarbre a lifetime appointment to the post. Peter replied that he had conferred
upon Dalmau all the offices in the two duchies, both castellanies and captaincies,
but he did bestow upon Bellarbre a lifetime command of the Acropolis as well
as certain estates confiscated from those who had been guilty of treachery
during the Navarrese invasion. Bellar bre's Greek mistress, Zoe of Megara,
by whom he had had children, was granted the Catalan franchise with the customary
rights of acquiring and disposing of property.1 
 The petitioners sought king Peter's approval of the agreements which we
have seen made (about 1376—1377) "between the magnifi cent Don Louis
of Aragon, the vicar [general], and the municipalities of Thebes and Livadia
on the one hand and, on the other, the noble Don Galcerán of Peralta,
formerly the governor of Athens, together with the said city of Athens. .
. ," agreements which had established the virtual independence of Athens.
But Peter realized that if the magnates had not been quarreling among themselves
in the period just before the Navarrese attacks, they might have successfully
de fended Thebes, and so he refused the request. All divisions and dissensions
of times past must cease, he said, and Dalmau must rule as vicar-general
over the united duchies. 
 The Articles of Athens also affirmed the long dedication of the Greek notary
Demetrius Rendi to the sacra corona d'Aragd, request- 
 1. The text of the Articles of Athens may be found in Rubió i Lluch,
Los Navarros en Grecia (Barcelona, 1886), doc. XXXII, pp. 241—25 1,
and in the Diplomatari, doc. CCCXCI, pp. 473—479. At Lerida on September
1, 1380, king Peter IV also confirmed the requests contained in the "Articles
of Salona," which had been prepared on May 31, 1380, on behalf of Louis Fadrique,
lord of Salona and count of Malta. The Articles of Salona are still extant
(Rubió, Los Navarros, doc. XXXIX, pp. 256—259, and Dipl., doc.
CCCXCII, pp. 480—482). Cf. in general Setton, Catalan Domination, pp.
15 8—164, and Loenertz, Arch. FF. Praed., XXV, nos. 167—172,
175—177, pp. 143—145, 171—172.