| Battle of Megara | |||||||
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| Part of the Crusades | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of Venice  Knights Hospitaller | Turks | ||||||
The Battle of Megara occurred in 1359 between an alliance of the Christian states of southern Greece (the Despotate of the Morea, the Principality of Achaea, the Knights Hospitaller and the Republic of Venice), and of a Turkish raiding fleet. The battle was a victory for the allies.
Against the growing menace of Turkish raids in the Aegean Sea, a league was formed, probably at the initiative of Manuel Kantakouzenos, the Despot of the Morea. It comprised the Byzantines of the Morea, the bailli of the Principality of Achaea, Walter of Lor, the Signoria of the Republic of Venice, and the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes. [1]
According to the Aragonese version of the Chronicle of the Morea , the allies campaigned in the Megarid, where their navy, composed of Venetian and Hospitaller ships (the latter under the preceptor of Kos, Raymond Berenguer), attacked a Turkish corsair fleet. The allies destroyed 35 Turkish vessels, forcing the surviving Turks to retreat to their Catalan ally, Roger de Llúria, the ruler of the Duchy of Athens. [1] [2] The Chronicle of the Morea asserts that after the battle, the land contingents of the participants returned home, but according to the history of John VI Kantakouzenos, Manuel's father, the allies launched an invasion of Llúria's Boeotian possessions. [1]
In 1362, Roger de Llúria found himself embroiled in a dispute with the Venetian Bailo of Negroponte, Peter Gradenigo, that soon led to war. As a result, in early 1363 he allowed Turkish mercenaries to enter his capital, Thebes. There they remained until a peace with Venice was concluded in July 1365. [3] Accordingly, the battle was often dated to the summer of 1364, but various proposals have been made by modern scholars ranging from 1357 to 1364. The dating of the battle remains uncertain, but based on the bailliage of Walter of Lor, a date c. 1359 is most likely. [4] [5] With the revised chronology, it may be that the Turks Llúria allied himself with were the survivors of Megara. [5]
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a lordship within the Frankish-ruled Morea in southern Greece.
Robert II of Taranto, of the Angevin family, Prince of Taranto (1331–1346), King of Albania (1331–1364), Prince of Achaea (1332–1346), and titular Latin Emperor (1343/1346-1364).
Louis of Burgundy was a member of the Capetian House of Burgundy who ruled the Principality of Achaea and claimed the defunct Kingdom of Thessalonica.
Nerio I Acciaioli or Acciajuoli was the actual ruler of the Duchy of Athens from 1385. Born to a family of Florentine bankers, he became the principal agent of his influential kinsman, Niccolò Acciaioli, in Frankish Greece in 1360. He purchased large domains in the Principality of Achaea and administered them independently of the absent princes. He hired mercenaries and conquered Megara, a strategically important fortress in the Duchy of Athens, in 1374 or 1375. His troops again invaded the duchy in 1385. The Catalans who remained loyal to King Peter IV of Aragon could only keep the Acropolis of Athens, but they were also forced into surrender in 1388.
Pedro de San Superano was one of the captains of the Navarrese Company in the Morea from 1379 until he was made Prince of Achaea in 1396, a post he held to his death.
The Frankokratia, also known as Latinokratia and, for the Venetian domains, Venetokratia or Enetokratia, was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French and Italian states were established on the territory of the dissolved Byzantine Empire.
Maria II Zaccaria was a Princess of Achaia.
The Barony of Vostitsa was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the northern coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the town of Vostitsa.
The Barony of Patras was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the northwestern coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, centred on the town of Patras. It was among the twelve original baronies of the Principality of Achaea, but passed into the hands of the Latin Archbishop of Patras at about the middle of the 13th century. From 1337 on, it was an ecclesiastical domain independent of the Principality. It maintained close relations with the Republic of Venice, which governed the barony in 1408–13 and 1418. The barony survived until the Byzantine reconquest in 1429–30.
The Barony of Arcadia was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located on the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, and centred on the town of Arcadia, ancient and modern Kyparissia.
The Barony of Chalandritsa was a medieval Frankish fiefdom of the Principality of Achaea, located in the northern Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, and centred on the town of Chalandritsa south of Patras.
Aimon de Rans was the lord of half of the Barony of Chalandritsa in Frankish Greece from 1311 to ca. 1316. After his victory over Ferdinand of Majorca at the Battle of Manolada, Louis of Burgundy, the new Prince of Achaea, gave the entire vacant barony to two of his Burgundian followers, Aimon of Rans and his brother, Otho. Otho died soon after, and Aimon sold the domain to Martino Zaccaria, Lord of Chios, and returned to his homeland.
Bertrand of Les Baux was Lord of Courthézon in the Provence.
Matthew of Moncada was count of Aderno and Agosta, the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Sicily under Frederick the Simple.
The Battle of Pallene occurred in 1344 between the fleets of a Latin Christian league and Turkish raiders, at the Pallene Peninsula in northern Greece.
Maria of Enghien, also known as Marie of Enghien or d'Enghien, was the Lady of Argos and Nauplia in Frankish Greece from 1376 or 1377 to 1388. Because she was a minor when she inherited the lordship from her father, Guy of Enghien, his brother, Louis of Enghien, was appointed to be her guardian. Louis gave Maria in marriage to a Venetian patrician, Pietro Cornaro, in 1377. Maria moved to Venice, but she was involved in the administration of her lordship. After her husband died, she sold the lordship to the Republic of Venice for a regular income in 1388.
Nicolas de Joinville was a French knight who served as bailli of the Principality of Achaea for Prince John of Gravina from 1323, until the Prince's arrival in Achaea in January 1325. He was the great-grandson of the chronicler Jean de Joinville. Joinville was an able man, and was sent to Achaea as part of John of Gravina's preparations for an—ultimately unsuccessful—campaign against the Byzantine Empire.
Perronet de Villamastray served as bailli of the Principality of Achaea for Prince John of Gravina from November 1322 until 1323.
Frederick de Troys or Trogisio was a councillor of King Robert of Naples, who served as bailli of the Principality of Achaea from July 1318 until 1321.
Balthasar de Sorba was a Genoese knight, who served as admiral of Dalmatia to King Louis I of Hungary, and as bailli of the Principality of Achaea in 1370–1373, for Prince Philip of Taranto. In the latter post he became known for his brutality and arbitrariness, which provoked the ire of the Republic of Venice and of the local magnates; the Latin Archbishop of Patras, John Piacentini, even fled his see and offered to surrender it to Venice. This was foied only by the death of Prince Philip and the recall of his bailli.
