From 1318 until 1337 Epirus was ruled by the Italian Orsini family, and, after a short Greek recovery, it was taken by the Serbs in 1348. Ioánnina and Arta were its main political centres. From 1366 to 1384 Ioánnina was ruled by Thomas Komnenos Palaeologus, also known as Preljubovic, the son of the caesar Gregory Preljub, who had been Serbian governor of Thessaly under Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. He was able to assert Serbian control over northern Epirus and fought with the Albanian lords of Arta (Ghin Bua Spata and Peter Ljoša) in the south, eventually defeating them with Ottoman help. In 1382 his title of despotes was confirmed by the Byzantine emperor at Constantinople. He was assassinated late in 1384, probably by members of the local nobility who objected to his rule. His widow, the Byzantine Maria Angelina Doukaina Palaiologina, married the Italian nobleman Esau Buondelmonti, who ruled as despotes until about 1411. Thereafter the despotate came under the Italian house of Tocco, whose rulers were able to recover Arta from the Albanians. But in 1430 the Ottomans took Ioánnina, and Arta fell to them in 1449. Thenceforth Epirus was to be part of the Ottoman Empire. Cephalonia was taken in 1479, but Venice seized it in 1500.