The Republic of Genoa was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, it was one of the major financial centers in Europe.
Marco Sanudo was the creator and first Duke of the Duchy of the Archipelago, in Italian: "Duca del Mare Egeo e Re di Candia", Barone delle Isole di Nasso, Pario, Milo, Marine ed Andri, duchy granted by the Republic of Venice to him and all his descendants, after the Fourth Crusade his lineage became named Sanudo de Candia.
The War of Chioggia was a conflict between the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice which lasted from 1378 to 1381, from which Venice emerged triumphant. It was the last major conflict of the Venetian–Genoese Wars. The war had mixed results. Venice and her allies won the war against their rival Italian states, but lost the war against King Louis the Great of Hungary, which resulted in the Hungarian conquest of the Dalmatian city-states.
The maritime republics, also called merchant republics, were Italian thalassocratic port cities which, starting from the Middle Ages, enjoyed political autonomy and economic prosperity brought about by their maritime activities. The term, coined during the 19th century, generally refers to four Italian cities, whose coats of arms have been shown since 1947 on the flags of the Italian Navy and the Italian Merchant Navy: Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. In addition to the four best known cities, Ancona, Gaeta, Noli, and, in Dalmatia, Ragusa, are also considered maritime republics; in certain historical periods, they had no secondary importance compared to some of the better known cities.
The Byzantine–Ottoman wars were a series of decisive conflicts between the Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks and their allies that led to the final destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Byzantines, already having been in a weak state even before the partitioning of their Empire following the 4th Crusade, failed to recover fully under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty. Thus, the Byzantines faced increasingly disastrous defeats at the hands of the Ottomans. Ultimately, they lost Constantinople in 1453, formally ending the conflicts.
The Venetian–Genoese Wars were a series of struggles between the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice, at times allied with other powers, for dominance in the Mediterranean Sea between 1256 and 1381. There were four bouts of open warfare, in which the fighting between the two republics took place largely at sea. Even during periods of peace, incidents of piracy and other minor outbreaks of violence between the two trading communities were commonplace.
Pietro Gradenigo was the 49th Doge of Venice, reigning from 1289 to his death.
The Palaiologan army refers to the military forces of the Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty, from the late 13th century to its final collapse in the mid-15th century. The army was a direct continuation of the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, which itself was a fractured component of the formidable Komnenian army of the 12th century. Under the first Palaiologan emperor, Michael VIII, the army's role took an increasingly offensive role whilst the naval forces of the empire, weakened since the days of Andronikos I Komnenos, were boosted to include thousands of skilled sailors and some 80 ships. Due to the lack of land to support the army, the empire required the use of large numbers of mercenaries.
The Massacre of the Latins was a large-scale massacre of the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, by the Eastern Orthodox population of the city in April 1182.
The Treaty of Nymphaeum was a trade and defense pact signed between the Empire of Nicaea and the Republic of Genoa in Nymphaion in March 1261. This treaty would have a major impact on both the restored Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Genoa that would later dictate their histories for several centuries to come.
The Nicaean–Venetian Treaty of 1219 was a trade and non-aggression defense pact signed between the Empire of Nicaea and the Republic of Venice, in the form of an imperial chrysobull issued by Emperor Theodore I Laskaris. This treaty provided the Venetians freedom of trade and imports without customs duties throughout the Empire, in exchange for not supporting for the newly created Latin Empire.
The Byzantine–Venetian War of 1296–1302 was an offshoot of the second Venetian–Genoese War of 1294–1299.
The Byzantine–Genoese War of 1348–1349 was fought over control over custom dues through the Bosphorus. The Byzantines attempted to break their dependence for food and maritime commerce on the Genoese merchants of Galata, and also to rebuild their own naval power. Their newly constructed navy however was captured by the Genoese, and a peace agreement was concluded.
The Peace of Turin of 1381, ended the War of Chioggia (1376–81), in which Venice, allied with Cyprus and Milan, had narrowly escaped capture by the forces of Genoa, Hungary, Austria, Padua and the Patriarchate of Aquileia. Venice had overcome this crisis, forcing the surrender of the Genoese fleet at Chioggia, fighting a second Genoese fleet to a standstill in the Adriatic, and turning Austria against Padua, thus forcing its most threatening landward opponent into retreat. However, the war had been extremely costly for Venice, and it was only able to secure peace by making major concessions to its opponents.
The Battle of Settepozzi was fought in the first half of 1263 off the Greek island of Settepozzi between a Genoese–Byzantine fleet and a smaller Venetian fleet.
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.
The Genoese navy was the naval contingent of the Republic of Genoa's military. From the 11th century onward the Genoese navy protected the interests of the republic and projected its power throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It played a crucial role in the history of the republic as a thalassocracy and a maritime trading power.
In 1268, the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice agreed to temporarily end hostilities which had erupted after the Byzantine recovery of Constantinople by Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261.
The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 was an agreement between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice that renegotiated and extended for two years the previous 1268 treaty between the two powers. The agreement was beneficial for both sides: Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos kept the Venetians and their fleet from participating in the attempts of Charles of Anjou to organize an anti-Byzantine crusade, while the Venetians were able to retain their access to the Byzantine market, and even augment their trading privileges by gaining direct access to the Black Sea and the right to their own quarters in Constantinople and Thessalonica. Furthermore, they were able to stop the Byzantine reconquest of Venetian-aligned territories in the Aegean, although the treaty explicitly allowed both sides to continue fighting for control of the island of Euboea (Negroponte). Nevertheless, the agreement's short duration made clear that for both parties, it was a temporary expedient. After the treaty expired, the Venetians allied with Charles of Anjou, but their plans were thwarted by the outbreak of the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, forcing Venice once more to renew the peace with the Byzantines in 1285.
The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1285 was an agreement between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice that restored peaceful relations between the two powers. Venice had had troubled relations with the Byzantines after their reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, but treaties in 1268 and 1277 had allowed Venetians to conduct profitable commerce in the Empire, while safeguarding the Byzantines from attacks by the powerful Venetian navy. This had changed in 1281, when Venice sided with Charles I of Anjou in his designs against the Byzantines. After the outbreak of the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, Charles' ambitions to capture Constantinople were dealt a fatal blow; with economic troubles arising from her exclusion from the commerce and grain shipping from the Black Sea, in 1283 Venice began negotiations for a treaty with the new Byzantine emperor, Andronikos II Palaiologos. After much back-and-forth, the treaty was concluded in June 1285 in Constantinople, and ratified at Venice shortly after. It repeated the terms of the two previous treaties, often verbatim, but had a much longer duration of ten years. It restored the right of Venetians to trade in the Empire, with direct access to the Black Sea and the right to their own quarters in Constantinople and Thessalonica, recognized the position of Venice's rivals, the Republic of Genoa, in the Empire, and bound both sides to not enter into alliances with powers hostile to the other. As part of the deal, Andronikos paid over a lump sum to satisfy Venetian claims for compensation for breaches of the previous treaties. Following the treaty, Andronikos II disbanded the Byzantine navy, with disastrous long-term consequences. The peace between Venice and the Byzantines lasted until the outbreak of the War of Curzola against Genoa, when Venetians attacked Genoese in Byzantine waters, bringing Byzantium into the war. It was not until 1302 that another Byzantine–Venetian treaty was concluded, ending the conflict.
Republic of Venice 
Republic of Genoa 
Byzantine Empire (1295)
