| Battle of Pallene | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Smyrniote crusades | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of Venice  Knights Hospitaller  Kingdom of Cyprus  Papal States | Turks | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 24 ships | 52 or 60 ships | ||||||
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.
The battle is known through the chronicle of the Paduan jurist Guglielmo Cortusi, and the history of the Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–1354). [1] Cortusi supplies the date, Ascension Day (13 May 1344), and records that the Christians destroyed 52 Turkish vessels. [1] According to Kantakouzenos, the Christian fleet numbered 24 galleys, and it forced the Turks to abandon their ships, 60 in number, at an inlet called Longos on the Pallene Peninsula. The Christians then proceeded to burn the abandoned Turkish vessels. [1]
The identity of the Christian fleet is not revealed by the sources, but since on 25 July, Pope Clement VI congratulated the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, Helion de Villeneuve, for his contributions to the crusade organized by the papal legate Henry of Asti, [2] the fleet was probably the same as that organized for the Smyrniote crusade, comprising four vessels each from the Pope and the King of Cyprus, six Hospitaller vessels, and the remainder probably made up by Venetian ships, which had assembled at Negroponte in November 1343. [3] [4]
The Crusader fleet then went on to capture the port and lower city of Smyrna on 28 October, but the citadel remained in the hands of the Aydinid Turks. The Aydinid ruler, Umur Bey, in turn besieged the Crusaders, and in a surprise attack on 17 January managed to kill the Crusader leaders. [3] [5] Nevertheless, albeit with great difficulty and being constantly harassed by the Turks, Smyrna remained in Latin hands until it was captured by Tamerlane in 1402. [6]
The 1340s were a Julian calendar decade in the 14th century, in the midst of a period in human history often referred to as the Late Middle Ages in the Old World and the pre-Columbian era in the New World.
Year 1344 (MCCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a lordship within the Frankish-ruled Morea in southern Greece.
The Aydinids or Aydinid dynasty, also known as the Principality of Aydin and Beylik of Aydin, was one of the Anatolian beyliks and famous for its seaborne raiding.
Martino Zaccaria was the Lord of Chios from 1314 to 1329, ruler of several other Aegean islands, and baron of Veligosti–Damala and Chalandritsa in the Principality of Achaea. He distinguished himself in the fight against Turkish corsairs in the Aegean Sea, and received the title of "King and Despot of Asia Minor" from the titular Latin Emperor, Philip II. He was deposed from his rule of Chios by a Byzantine expedition in 1329, and imprisoned in Constantinople until 1337. Martino then returned to Italy, where he was named the Genoese ambassador to the Holy See. In 1343 he was named commander of the Papal squadron in the Smyrniote crusade against Umur Bey, ruler of the Emirate of Aydin, and participated in the storming of Smyrna in October 1344. He was killed, along with several other of the crusade's leaders, in a Turkish attack on 17 January 1345.
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Year 1345 (MCCCXLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. It was a year in the 14th century, in the midst of a period in human history often referred to as the Late Middle Ages.
The Smyrniote crusades (1343–1351) were two Crusades sent by Pope Clement VI against the Emirate of Aydin under Umur Bey which had as their principal target the coastal city of Smyrna in Asia Minor.
The Genoese occupation of Rhodes refers to the period between 1248 and late 1249/early 1250 during which the city of Rhodes and parts of the namesake island were under Genoese control. The Genoese took possession of the city and island, a dependency of the Empire of Nicaea, in a surprise attack in 1248, and held it, with aid from the Principality of Achaea, against Nicaean attacks until 1250.
Henry of Asti was the titular Latin Catholic patriarch of Constantinople from 1339 and bishop of Negroponte in Frankish Greece. His fame rests on his leadership of the first Smyrniote crusade (1342–45), on which he died.
The Battle of Chios was a naval battle fought off the shore of the eastern Aegean island of Chios between a Latin Christian—mainly Hospitaller—fleet and a Turkish fleet from the Aydinid emirate. The Christian fleet was victorious, but for the Aydinids, who had been engaging in piracy since the collapse of Byzantine power, it was only a temporary setback in their rise to prominence.
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The Battle of Megara occurred in 1359 between an alliance of the Christian states of southern Greece, and of a Turkish raiding fleet. The battle was a victory for the allies.
The Battle of Adramyttion occurred in autumn 1334 between the fleets of a Christian naval league, headed by the Republic of Venice and the Knights Hospitaller, and of the Turkish beylik of Karasi. The battle was a Christian victory.
The Battle of Imbros occurred in spring 1347 between the fleets of a Christian naval league formed as part of the Smyrniote crusades, and of a Turkish raiding fleet, possibly from the beyliks of Aydin and Sarukhan. The Turks abandoned their ships and landed on the island of Imbros, where most were captured.
In 1320, the Turks of Menteshe launched an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the island of Rhodes from the Knights Hospitaller.