Situation in Europe

With a new pope calling for a crusade and the Mamluk sultan threatening Outremer, the situation was dire. Among the European royalty, only France was actively pursuing various crusades after Acre. This situation would change some but not significantly over the next few decades.

The Mediterranean

A scene of the Sicilian Vesper by Francesco Hayez

A crusade was declared by Martin IV against Peter III of Aragon in 1284. The pope also deposed him as king and bestowed Aragon on Peter's nephew Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France. This was part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers which had begun in 1282.^[21]

Crusade of Nicholas IV

One of Nicholas' first actions as pope was to receive the Mongol ambassador Bar Ṣawma who, with Gobert de Helleville, left Rome in the late spring of 1288 with letters in support of a crusade to the Ilkhan court. The letters were vague and the pope unable to promise a definite date for any action. In 1289, Nicholas dispatched the Franciscan Giovanni da Montecorvino as papal legate to Kubilai Khan, Arghun, and other leading personages of the Mongol Empire.^[26]

A year after Nicholas assumed the papacy, Mamluk sultan Qalawun stuck at the Franks, causing the Fall of Tripoli in April 1289.^[27] Within days, Henry II of Cyprus came to Acre where he met with an envoy from Qalawun. Despite the attack on Tripoli, their 1283 truce was renewed, covering of Jerusalem and Cyprus for another ten years, ten months and ten days. Lucia of Tripoli and Leo II of Armenia soon joined the pact. Henry had little faith in Qalawun's word, but could not appeal to the Mongols as that would be breach of the truce. He returned to Cyprus in September, sending Jean I de Grailly west to impress upon the Europeans how desperate the situation was.^[28]

The West was shocked by the loss of Tripoli and the pope revived the plans for a crusade started by Gregory X that had never been totally abandoned. On 10 February 1290, he proclaimed a crusade with an objective of the total liberation of the Holy Land and support to the places at present held by Christians. The crusade was preached everywhere, including in the Holy Land. For those who took the Cross, the force against the clergy, support to the Sicilians, or visiting the Holy Sepulchre despite pontifical prohibition were sins that were absolved. All trade with the sultan, including pilgrimages, was prohibited. The departure date for the crusade was set at 24 June 1293.^[29]

The truce between Henry II and Qalawun had restored the peace at Acre. By summer of 1290, the merchants of Damascus were again sending their caravans to the coast and Acre was bustling. In August, crusaders from Italy arrived and immediately began causing trouble. Their commanders had no control over them. They had come to fight the infidel and began to attack the Muslim merchants and citizens. At the end of August, a riot flared and they began randomly killing Muslims. Deciding that every man with a beard was a Muslim, many Christians were also attacked. All that the authorities could do was do was to rescue a few of the Muslims and take them to the safety of the castle. The ringleaders were arrested, but the damage was done.^[30] Vowing to kill every Christian in Acre, Qalawun led his army from Cairo, but fell ill and died on 10 November 1290. He was succeeded by his son, al-Ashraf Khalil.^[31]

Fall of Acre

Matthieu de Clermont défend Ptolémaïs en 1291 by Dominique Papety.

Because of the weather, the Khalil's attack on the remaining Christians in the Holy Land was delayed. Finally, he set out from Cairo and on 5 April 1291, the Siege of Acre began.^[32] By 18 May, the walls of the city were breached and the Franks made a desperate stand to contain the incursion. The sack of the city soon began, with hundreds slaughtered as the Mamluks surged in. Desperate Franks tried to escape in any remaining boats. Some got away, including Henry II and Amalric, later accused of cowardice. Many took refuge in the fortified compounds of the Military Orders, holding out for days. The Templar citadel collapsed on 28 May, killing the knights within. Those under the Hospitallers' protection were promised safe conduct, only to be led out of the city to be slaughtered.^[33]

The fall of Acre was a fatal blow to the Latin Christians of Outremer. For the Muslims, the victory at Acre affirmed their faith's dominance over Christianity and their triumph in the war for the Holy Land. The siege of Acre was depicted in a painting displayed in the Salles des Croisades (Hall of Crusades) at the Palace of Versailles. The painting, Matthieu de Clermont défend Ptolémaïs en 1291, by French artist Dominique Papety (1815–1849) is displayed in the fourth room of the hall. Note that nineteenth century historians frequently referred to Acre as Ptolémaïs.^[34]

Decline of Byzantium

The Reconquest of Constantinople in 1261 led to a short-lived revival of Byzantine fortunes under Michael VIII Palaiologos, but the empire was ill-equipped to deal with the enemies that surrounded it. Rather than holding on to his possessions in Asia Minor, Michael chose to expand the empire, gaining only short-term successes. To avoid another sacking of the capital by the Latins, he forced the Church to submit to Rome. The former states of Frankokratia were also occupied in various local intrigues. Michael VIII's son Andronikos II Palaiologos became sole emperor in 1282 and would serve until 1328. His efforts, continued by his successors, marked the empire's last genuine attempts in restoring its former glory. The reign of Andronikos II has been described as turning Byzantium in to a second-rate power. The first Byzantine civil war fought from 1321–1328 between Andronikos II and his grandson Andronikos III Palaiologos would further contribute to the decline of the empire.^[35]

The Byzantine Empire in the late 13th century

Catalan Company

In order to counter the beyliks' increasing power, Andronikos turned to mercenaries. The signing of the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302 terminated the War of the Sicilian Vespers, leaving an Iberian fighting force, the almogavars, without immediate employment. James II of Aragon and his brother Frederick III of Sicily saw them as a threat to civil order. While some remained for the defense of Sicily, many of them were recruited into the Catalan Company, led by Italian condottiere and adventurer Roger de Flor, to be paid in Byzantine service.^[38]

Entry of Roger de Flor in Constantinople
by José Moreno Carbonero

The defeat at Bapheus was turned around with a Catalan victory that pitted the empire's mercenary Catalans against the Karasid Turks in the Battle of the Cyzicus in October 1303. The subsequent campaigns in Anatolia caused the Catalans to be seen as a growing danger. On 30 April 1305, Roger de Flor was murdered on the orders of co-emperor Michael IX Palaiologos. At the same time, orders to exterminate the company at a banquet organized by the emperor resulted in the loss of over 1000 men. The local population rose up against the Catalans in Constantinople and Michael IX ensured that as many as possible were killed before news reached the main force in Gallipoli. Some however escaped and carried the news of the massacre to Gallipoli. The Catalans then went on a killing spree of their own, killing all the local Byzantines.^[39]

The Catalans, under the command of Ramon Muntaner and Bernat de Rocafort, got their revenge at the Siege of Gallipoli on 21 June 1305, followed shortly by the Battle of Apros in July 1305. The Catalans proceeded to ravage the region for two years, before moving west to conquer the Duchy of Athens at the Battle of Halmyros on 15 March 1311. This resulted in the death of Walter V of Brienne.^[40][41]

Beylik of Menteshe

Anatolia in 1300

Menteshe was the first of the Anatolian beyliks founded after the decline of the Seljuks in the late 13th century. The founder's son Mesut Bey ruled until his death in 1319 and built the beylik into one of the great regional naval powers of their time. As the first seafaring beylik, they were known as the Sea Turks. The town of Aydın was captured by the Menteshe from the Byzantines in 1284. The city suffered extensive destruction, with much of its inhabitants massacred and over 20,000 inhabitants sold off as slaves.^[44] The Menteshe captured the port town of Ephesus on 24 October 1304.^[45] Contrary to the terms of the surrender, the Turks pillaged the Church of Saint John and deported most of the local population to Thyrea when a Byzantium-friendly revolt seemed probable. During these events many of the remaining inhabitants were massacred.^[46]

Aftermath: the Holy Land

The remaining Frankish cities soon met the same fate as Acre and Christian resistance in the Holy Land vanished. Within a month, the last outposts at Tyre, Beirut and Sidon had been abandoned by the Franks. The Mamluks ravaged the coastal lands, destroying anything of value to the Franks should they ever attempt another attack. Embittered by the long religious wars, the victorious Muslims had no mercy for the Christians. The Franks' reign over Outremer was over.^[47]

The Mamluks occupied Haifa without opposition on 30 July 1291 and destroyed the monasteries on Mount Carmel and slew their friars. There remained two Templar castles in the region, but neither was strong enough to withstand the Mamluks. Tortosa was evacuated on 3 August and Château Pèlerin on the 14 August. Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay continued to appeal to the West for troops and supplies to fortify the island. In November 1301, the Syrian island of Ruad was granted to the Templars, where they strengthened its fortifications, and installed a small force as a permanent garrison. They were under the command of the marshal Barthélemy de Quincy. Plans for combined operations between the Franks and the Mongols were made for the winters of 1301 and 1302.^[48]

In 1302, the Mamluks sent a fleet to Tripoli where they began the Siege of Ruad. The Templars fought hard against the invaders, but were eventually starved out. The Cypriots began assembling a fleet to rescue Ruad, but it arrived too late. The Templars surrendered on 26 September 1302, with they understanding that they could depart unharmed. However, most were executed, and the surviving Templar knights were taken as prisoners to Cairo, eventually dying of starvation after years of ill treatment.^[49]

Al-Ashraf Khalil

Qalawun died on 10 November 1290 and was succeeded al-Ashraf Khalil two days later. In the royal procession that followed Khalil's accession to the throne, he was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by his viceroy Turuntay. Turuntay was imprisoned in the Cairo Citadel, tortured and put to death shortly thereafter. Qalawun was buried two months later, the delay being caused either as a precaution to ensure his smooth succession or to wait until Qalawun's mausoleum was completed. Khalil co-opted his father's Mansuriyya, the most powerful mamluk regiment in the sultanate, by absorbing them into his Circassian corps, the Ashrafiyya.^[52]

Khalil was a strong leader like his predecessors but was disliked by many of the emirs. He started his reign by imprisoning some prominent emirs of his father, including Turuntay, Sunqur al-Ashqar and Hosam ad-Din Lajin, executing the first two. On 14 December 1293, he was assassinated by his viceroy Baydara al-Mansuri, who then proclaimed himself sultan. His reign was short-lived and was killed by the emirs al-Adil Kitbugha (a Mongol who had served in the army of Hulagu) and Baibars II al-Jashnikir, and his head was sent to Cairo. Lajin, also a future sultan, had participated in the plot, but fled before he was captured.^[53]

Al-Nasir Muhammad

Khalil was succeeded by his 9-year old brother al-Nasir Muhammad who served three non-contiguous reigns from 1293–1341. In his first reign, he served under the regency of Kitbugha. In 1294, Kitbugha deposed his young charge and became sultan, with Lajin as his viceroy. In 1296, Lajin attempted to assassinate the sultan but failed. Kitbugha feared for his life and removed himself from the sultanate, and Lajin became sultan. Lajin was murdered in 1299 by a group of emirs that including Baibars II and decided to return al-Nasir Muhammad to the sultanate. At 14 years of age, he was restored as sultan with Sayf al-Din Salar, an Oirat Mongol, as vice sultan and Baibars II, a Circassian, as ostadar (supervisor of the royal kitchen).^[54]

The second reign of al-Nasir Muhammad was from January 1299 – March 1309 and was characterized by two major battles with the Mongols. In the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar (Third Battle of Homs) in late December 1299, the Mamluk army was defeated by the Mongols, but it was not decisive. Three years later, the Battle of Marj al-Saffar in April 1303 was a disastrous defeat for the Mongols, putting an end to the Mongol invasions of the Levant. By 1309, the sultan was no longer willing to be dominated by his deputies and informed them that he planned a Hajj. Instead, he went to al-Karak and began building alliances within the Levant. In his absence, Baibars II installed himself as sultan with Salar as his deputy.^[55]

The rule of Baibars II lasted barely ten months. The people hated him and demanded the return of an-Nasir Muhammad, initiating his third reign. In March 1310, he was again sultan and Baibars II was soon executed. Salar was later arrested and died in prison. In 1310, an attempt was made to replace the sultan with his nephew, but the plot was discovered and conspirators punished. These plots contributed to the sultan's suspicious nature, demonstrated by his eventual exiling the caliph al-Mustakfi I to Qus. During the third reign, Egypt suffered from few external threats, as both the Franks and Mongols had been weakened by losses in battle and their internal conflicts. As Egypt's political power grew, foreign delegations visited Cairo frequently seeking help and cultivating friendship. Among these visits were envoys from John XXII, arriving in June 1327 pleading to protect the Christian holy places and to stop his attacks against Sis. In February 1330, Philip VI of France sent a delegation who appealed to an-Nasir Muhammad to grant their king Jerusalem and her surrounding areas. The delegation was rebuffed and ordered to leave Egypt.^[56]

Later Mamluk sultans

The Mamluk sultans after al-Nasir Muhammad were first his sons and then his grandsons. This was followed by the Burji dynasty in which the Circassians dominated, beginning with Sayf ad-Din Barquq from 1382–1399 and his son al-Nasir Faraj thereafter.^[57]

Ghazan

Stability was restored to the Ilkhanate when Arghun's son Ghazan took power in 1295, who converted to Islam to secure cooperation from other influential Mongols. Despite being a Muslim, Ghazan maintained good relations with his Christian vassal states including Ilkhanid Armenia and Georgia. Ghazan was praised by contemporaries including George Pachymeres^[58] for his bravery and virtue, and even his piety.^[59]

In 1299, Ghazan made the first of three attempts to invade Syria. As he launched his invasion, he sent letters to Henry II of Cyprus and the Grand Masters of the military orders inviting them to join him in his attack on the Mamluks in Syria. The Mongols successfully first took the city of Aleppo, and were there joined by their vassal Hethum II of Armenia whose forces participated in the rest of the offensive. The Mongols soundly defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar on 23 December 1299. The success in Syria led to rumors in Europe that the Mongols had successfully recaptured the Holy Land, but Jerusalem had been neither taken nor even besieged. There were some Mongol raids into Palestine in early 1300 going as far as Gaza. When the Egyptians advanced from Cairo in May 1300, the Mongols retreated without resistance.^[60]

Öljaitü

In 1303, the Mongols suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Marj al-Saffar, which marked the end of their incursions into Syria. Ghazan died on 11 May 1304 and was succeeded by his brother Öljaitü. In April 1305, Öljaitü sent an embassy led by Buscarello de Ghizolfi to the pope and kings of England and France in hopes of finally concluding a Franco-Mongol alliance. The West discussed a crusade, but nothing came of these talks. A memorandum drafted by the Hospitaller master Guillaume de Villaret concerning military plans for a crusade envisaged a Mongol invasion of Syria as a preliminary to a Western intervention by 1308.^[61]

Hethum II abdicated in favour of his sixteen-year-old nephew Leo III of Armenia sometime after 1303. Retiring as a Franciscan friar, he emerged in 1305 from his monastic cell to help Leo III defend Cilicia from a Mamluk raiding party, which was defeated in a mountain pass near Baghras. On 17 November 1307, both the current and former kings of Armenia met with Bilarghu, the Mongol representative in Cilicia, at his camp just outside Anazarba. Bilarghu, a recent convert to Islam, had sought to build a mosque in the capital city of Sis, but Hethum had blocked the move. Bilarghu murdered the entire Armenian party.^[62] Oshin of Armenia, brother of Hethum, immediately marched against Bilarghu to retaliate and vanquished him, forcing him to leave Cilicia. Bilarghu was executed for his crime at the request of the Armenians. Oshin was crowned new king of Cilician Armenia upon his return to Tarsus.^[63]

In 1312, Öljaitü decided to cross the Euphrates to attack the Mamluks. He laid siege to the heavily fortified town of Rahbat. After a month of fighting in which they suffered heavy casualties, the Mongols ultimately failed to take the town and withdrew due to the summer heat. This was to be the last major Mongol incursion into the Levant.^[64]

Abu Sa'id

Öljaitü died on 17 December 1316, having reigned for over twelve years. Physician and statesman Rashid al-Din Hamadani had served as vizier for both Ghazan and Öljaitü, and was accused of having caused his death by poisoning. He was executed in 1318, but fortunately his Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles) survived to provide a concise history of the Mongols. Öljaitü was succeeded by his son Abu Sa'id.^[65]

Abu Sa'id signed a commercial treaty with Venice in 1320, while also granting them to establish oratories throughout the empire. However, a final settlement with the Mamluks would only be found with the Treaty of Aleppo in 1323. Following the progressive conversion of the Ilkhanate to Islam, the Mongols finally were amenable to ceasing hostilities. Abu Sa'id was following the advice of his custodian Chupan when the treaty with the Mamluks was finally ratified. Following the treaty and a period of peace, the Ilkhanate further disintegrated, and effectively disappeared in the latter part of the 14th century.^[66]

Boniface VIII

Nicholas IV died on 4 April 1292, effectively ending the efforts towards any combined action in the Holy Land with the Mongols. Nicholas was succeeded by Celestine V after the 1292–1294 Papal Election. He resigning five months later and was succeeded by Boniface VIII who would serve as pope from 1294–1303. The papacy of Boniface was relatively uneventful, but he did oversee the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, and to prepare for a crusade, ordered an end to the Venetian-Genoese war. Nevertheless, they fought for three more years, and turned down his offer to mediate peace. He issued the bull Clericis laicos^[67] on 5 February 1296 which attempted to prevent the secular states of Europe from appropriating church revenues without the express prior permission of the pope.^[68] He also clashed with his enemy Philip IV of France, issuing the bull Ausculta Fili in December 1301, followed by Unam sanctam eleven months later.^[69]

In 1300, Guillaume de Nogaret, the Keeper of the Seal of France, was sent as embassy to Boniface. Three years later, he concocted a plan to kidnap the pope and on 12 March 1303 read a long series of accusations against Boniface, including black magic, sodomy, heresy and blasphemy, demanding that he be tried. In response, Boniface announced that he intended to place the kingdom of France under interdict. In September 1303, Guillaume de Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna led a force of 1600 men to arrest Boniface at his birthplace of Anagni. While the two managed to apprehend the pope, Sciarra reportedly slapped the pope in the face in the process, which was accordingly dubbed the Schiaffo di Anagni. The attempt eventually failed after a few days when locals freed the pope. Boniface VIII died on 11 October 1303, and France would dominate his weaker successors for years.^[70]

Benedict XI

Boniface VIII was succeeded by Benedict XI on 22 October 1303. The election of the timid Benedict was the beginning of the triumph of France that lasted through 1376. He was quick to release Philip IV from the excommunication that had been put upon him by Boniface. Benedict also arranged an armistice between Philip and Edward I of England. Early in 1304, Guillaume de Nogaret reported his activities to Philip, and was rewarded by gifts of land and money. He was then sent with an embassy to Benedict to demand absolution for all concerned in the struggle with Boniface. Benedict refused to meet Nogaret and, on 7 June 1304, issued the bull Flagitiosum scelus excommunicating him. Nogaret replied with apologies for his conduct, and when Benedict died on 7 July 1304, Nogaret pointed to his death as a witness to the justice of his cause.^[71]

Clement V

After the protracted 1304–1305 Papal Conclave, the period known as the Avignon Papacy was initiated under Clement V, beginning on 5 June 1305. Among his first actions were to explain away those features of the Clericis Laicos that might apply to Philip IV and withdrew Unam sanctam. Looking forward, Clement sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay^[72] and the Hospitaller Grand Master Foulques de Villaret^[73] to discuss the possibility of merging the two orders. Neither was amenable to the idea, but the proposal would soon be moot.^[74]

Military Orders

The kings of France regularly employed the Knights Templar in the royal treasury to oversee a variety of financial functions of the kingdom. There was little to indicate that Philip IV had less than full trust in their integrity. In 1299, the Templars loaned Philip a substantial sum in order to fight the Franco-Flemish War. The taxes imposed on the French to repay the loan led to an insurrection in Paris, and the Templars defended and gave the king refuge during the incident. But Philip had a history of seizing private property when it suited his needs, such as from the Lombards in 1291 and the Jews in 1306.^[80]

Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay, put to death in 1314

That same year, Clement invited the Grand Masters to France to discuss their merger. Jacques de Molay arrived first in early 1307, but Foulques de Villaret was delayed for several months. While waiting, they discussed criminal charges that had been made two years earlier by an ousted Templar that were being pursued by Philip IV. It was generally agreed that the charges were false, but nevertheless, Clement sent the king a written request for assistance in the investigation super statu templi (Latin: concerning the state of the Templars). Philip, who was already deeply in debt to the Templars, decided to seize upon the rumors for his own purposes. He began pressuring the church to take action against the order as a way of freeing himself from his debts. A week before his planned formal investigation, Clement received a surprising message that members of the order had been arrested, imprisoned and charged with heresy by an inquisition the pope had not convened.^[81]

Arrest of the Knights Templar

On 14 September 1307, all bailiffs and seneschals in the kingdom of France were sent secret orders from Philip IV directing preparations for the arrest and imprisonment of all members of the Knights Templar. At dawn on 13 October, French soldiers captured all Templars found in France. Clement V, initially incensed at this flagrant disregard for his authority, relented and on 22 November, issued the papal decree Pastoralis praeeminentiae ordering the monarchs of the Christian faith (in England, Iberia, Germany, Italy and Cyprus) to arrest all Templars and confiscate their lands. Jacques de Molay and Hugues de Pairaud, the collector of the royal revenues owed to the Templars, were both arrested, as were many other Templars in France. Philip's ministers Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny were tasked to bring the list of charges against the Templars. Other witnesses were said to have been made up of expelled Templar members, previously removed for their misdeeds. Under the orders of the French king, they were arrested and severely tortured. Soon after, the pope sent two cardinals to interview Jacques de Molay and Hugues de Pairaud. At that time, they recanted their confessions and told the other Templars to do the same.^[82]

Crusades of 1306–1310

From the beginning of his papacy, Clement V had dealt with heresy in Italy, in particular the Apostolics. In addition, he ordered the preaching of a crusade to be launched against the Mamluks in the Holy Land beginning in the spring of 1309. His original intention was to concentrate on a Hospitaller passagium particulare, but ended up supporting three crusades in 1309–1310: against the Egyptians in Syria, the Moors in Granada, and the Venetian soldiers in the papal city of Ferrara. It was the crusade against Venice which proved most successful, it used significant papal funds in a period of soaring military costs and growing suspicion about the real motives of crusading kings and princes. Clement came to believe that the papacy could best promote the cause of Christ by concentrating not on the Holy Land and Iberia, but the Christian West, the policy that was pursued by his successor.^[83]

Council of Vienne

Clement V issued the bull Faciens misericordiam on 12 August 1308 creating papal commissions to investigate the actions of the Templars. It also called for an ecumenical council to convene in 1310 to discuss urgent problems facing Christianity, including the organization of a new crusade. Faciens ordered the collection of depositions from Templars across Christendom, which would be gathered and brought for the pope to determine their fate at a council in 1310. The opening of the Council of Vienne was delayed until 16 October 1311, giving time to the Templars to answer the charges made.^[90] A second bull Regnans in coelis invited a large segment of cleric and secular leaders. Philip IV was the sole king to attend, coming later in the session in order to press his case against the Templars.^[91]

Charges of heresy

The alleged crimes of the Templars trace back to 1229 when Louis IX of France proclaimed the duty to eliminate heresy in the kingdom. At the same time, the Albigensian Crusade raged and Inquisitors were given special powers by Honorius III which allowed them to examine even the exempted and protected orders of the Templars, Hospitallers and Cistercians in cases where heresy was suspected. At the end of the Albigensian Crusade, these special powers were never revoked but simply forgotten. For the Templars, Philip IV's royal lawyers concentrated their charges on this one vulnerable exception, that of heresy, to an otherwise untouchable order that answered only to the pope. The charges of heresy against the Templars included sacrilege against the Church and sacred objects, indecent carnal relations, and idolatry.^[95]

The Inquisitional trials

The first of the Templar trials began on 19 October 1307 in Paris. A total of 138 prisoners gave a full testimony and almost all admitted guilt to one or more charges. Since torture was used to elicit these confessions, the reliability of their testimony before any of the inquisitional tribunals is suspect. A second important trial that was held at Poitiers on 28 June 1308 where at least 54 Templars testified before the pope and his commission of cardinals, with most defendants confessing to one or more of the charges. William of Paris, as inquisitor of France since 1303, led the campaign against the Templars. He was briefly replaced by the pope at the insistence of Edward II of England but was soon reinstated.^[96]

On 23 April 1310, the Templar lawyers went before the commission demanding full disclosure of their accusers and the evidence gathered. They also requested a ban on witnesses conversing with one another, and that all proceedings should be kept secret until they were sent to the pope. That May, the Archbishop of Sens took over the trial of the Templars from the original commission, with the pope directing that actual trials take place. Philip sought to thwart this effort, and had several Templars burned at the stake as heretics to prevent their participation in the trials. Two days after this change, 54 Templars were burned outside of Paris. When the papal commission met on 3 November 1310, they found the Templars had no defenders and adjourned until December 27. At this time the prisoners insisted on legal representation, but the priests that formed the defense team had been imprisoned.^[97]

The Burning of the Templars at Paris. Original owned by the British Library

Death of the Templar leaders

On 11 March 1314, the Templars, including Jacques de Molay, Geoffroi de Charney and Hugues de Peraud, who had been imprisoned nearly seven years were brought to Notre-Dame to receive their sentence, which was to be life imprisonment.^[98] The affair was supposed to be concluded when, to the dismay of the prelates and wonderment of the assembled crowd, de Molay and de Charney arose. They had been guilty, they said, not of the crime of heresy, but of betraying their order to save their own lives––the charges were fictitious and the confessions false. When the news reached Philip IV, he pronounced that they were both relapsed heretics to be burned without a further hearing. That same day a pile was erected on the Ile des Juifs, near the palace garden. There de Molay and de Charney were slowly burned to death, refusing all offers of pardon for retraction, and bearing their torment with a composure which won for them the reputation of martyrs among the people, who reverently collected their ashes as relics.^[99]

Templars in Iberia

The Military Order of Christ grew out of the former order of the Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. It was founded in 1319 under the protection of Denis of Portugal after the Templars were abolished by Clement V. Denis refused to pursue and persecute the former knights as had occurred in most of the other sovereign states under the political influence of the church. After the Templars were annihilated throughout Europe, Denis revived the Templars of Tomar as the Order of Christ, largely for their aid during the Reconquista and in the reconstruction of Portugal after the wars. They were based at the Convent of Christ, a 12th century Templar stronghold. Denis negotiated with the pope for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit the Templar assets and property. This was granted by the papal bull Ad ea ex quibus on 14 March 1319.^[100]

The Templars had been received with enthusiasm within Aragon from their foundation in 1128. Alfonso I of Aragon, having no direct heir, bequeathed his dominions to be divided among the Templars, Hospitallers, and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, but this bequest was annulled by his subjects in 1131. The Templars had to be contented with certain fortifications, including the Castle of Monzón. While the Aragonese branch of the order was pronounced innocent at the Templars' trial, the bull Vox in excelso was applied to them in spite of the protests of James II of Aragon in 1312. James II was finally allowed to regroup the Templar properties in Aragon and Valencia, and to create a new military order not essentially differing from that of the Templars, which should be charged with the defense of the frontier against the Moors and the pirates. This new Order of Montesa was approved on 10 June 1317 and given Cistercian rule.^[101]

Background

Shortly after becoming grand master In 1306, Foulques de Villaret began planning an attack on Rhodes. He was anxious to find a location where the Hospitallers would be unfettered by obligations to another power as it was in Cyprus. Independently, Clement V issued instructions for the preaching of a crusade to be launched against the Mamluks in the spring of 1309. This was to be a small, preliminary expedition led by the Hospitallers. After the inopportune Crusade of the Poor, Clement admitted in November 1309 what had long been suspected, that the Hospitaller expedition would not go to the Holy Land and that it was, in fact, a preparatory campaign to help defend Cyprus and enforce the prohibition on Catholics trading with Muslims.^[103]

Conquest of Rhodes

On 23 June 1306, Villaret and the Hospitaller force sailed from Limassol, first landing at Kastellorizo and Kos, hoping to use the islands as a base for reconnaissance. They then sailed to Rhodes. The first assault on the city of Rhodes by land and sea failed, but on 20 September, Feraklos Castle on the island's eastern coast was captured. Five days later they launched another unsuccessful attack on the city, but on 11 November, they took the citadel at Ialysos through the treason of a local Greek, massacring the entire Byzantine garrison.^[104]

The Hospitaller capture of Rhodes depicted in the Prise de Rhodes, 15 août 1310 by Éloi Firmin Féron.

This success encouraged the Hospitallers to resume the siege of the capital. The locals defended it with success, and asked for reinforcements from Constantinople. The responding Byzantines forced the lifting of the siege. In the spring of 1307, the Hospitallers sent envoys to the emperor, demanding that he hand over the city of Rhodes to them so that they would make it their base in their war against the beyliks. They promised to recognise the suzerainty of the emperor and support mutual military efforts. Andronikos II rejected their proposal, and began preparing further reinforcements. On 5 September 1307, the pope issued an act proclaiming the Hospitallers' ownership of the island. While Lindos was in Hospitaller hands, the city of Rhodes was guarded by Constantinople and the Hospitallers still did not control the entire island for nearly three more years.^[103]

The city of Rhodes was finally captured on 15 August 1310, not by force, but through a stroke of luck. A Genoese ship sent by the emperor with supplies for the besieged garrison was blown off course to Famagusta. The ship's captain was captured by a Cypriot knight who brought him to Rhodes before de Villaret. To escape execution, the captain convinced the garrison to surrender on the condition that their lives and property would be spared.^[104]

Hospitaller Rhodes

Following the completion of the conquest, the Hospitallers moved their convent and hospital from Cyprus to Rhodes in 1310, forming what became known as Hospitaller Rhodes. Efforts were made to attract Latin settlers, both to replenish the local population and to provide men for military service. They immediately began military operations in the area by enforcing the papal ban on trade with the Mamluks. This included capturing Genoese vessels that were defying the ban, despite the fact that the Genoese had aided the conquest. The Genoese then allied with the Beylik of Menteshe led by Mesut of Menteshe in an attempt to recapture Rhodes. This was stopped with naval victory at the Battle of Amorgos in 1312. Tensions rose with Venice at the same time, as the Hospitallers seized Karpathos and other Venetian-controlled islands, as well as the Byzantine-controlled port of Halicarnassus and the island of Kastellorizo. Eventually, the Hospitallers reached an agreement with both Italian maritime powers, and the seized islands were returned to Venice in 1316.^[105]

In 1317, some Hospitallers attempted a coup against de Villaret. They then elected Maurice de Pagnac as Grand Master in his place, notifying John XXII in July of their actions. The pope summoned both to his court at Avignon to settle the dispute and reappointed de Villaret so that he could tender his resignation formally. Hélion de Villeneuve was named as Master on 18 June 1319, the elderly de Pagnac having died in the meantime.^[106]

Battle of Chios

In October 1312, Albert of Schwarzburg was appointed Grand Preceptor of the Hospitallers and their representative to the Holy See and the courts of Western Europe. He returned to Cyprus in 1315 and was active in campaigns against the Turkish raiders near the new base at Rhodes. He worked with Martino Zaccaria, the lord of Chios, in countering the beyliks, scoring a major naval victory at the Battle of Chios on 23 July 1319. He also seized and fortified Leros whose Greek inhabitants had risen in revolt and rejoined the Byzantines. In 1320 he turned back an attempted Turkish invasion of Rhodes with great loss. The pope also granted Albert half of the preceptory of Cyprus, with the other half going to former grand master Maurice de Pagnac. He was also given the island of Kos, provided he could capture it. In 1320, he defeated a Turkish fleet of eighty vessels, preventing an invasion of Rhodes. With this success, Hospitaller control of the island was secured for the next century.^[107]

Achaea

One such Frankish state was the Principality of Achaea which controlled most of the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. Ruled by the princes of Achaea, it maintained some level of independence until 1266 when it was conquered by Charles I of Anjou. His son Charles II of Anjou ruled the principality until 1289 when he conferred it to Isabella of Villehardouin, daughter of William II. Isabella and her husbands ruled Achaea until 5 May 1306 when Charles II bestowed it directly upon his son Philip I of Taranto. In 1313, Philip in turn transferred it to Matilda of Hainaut, who was married to Louis of Burgundy, titular King of Thessalonica. Isabella's sister Margaret of Villehardouin claimed her rights to the principality in 1313 and, lacking success, then transferred them to her daughter Isabelle of Sabran, wife of Ferdinand of Majorca. Both Louis and Ferdinand vied for the principality in the names of their wives, and Louis defeated and killed Ferdinand at the Battle of Manolada on 5 July 1316. On 2 August 1316, Louis of Burgundy died under mysterious circumstances and Robert of Naples gave the principality to his brother John of Gravina, to whom Matilda was briefly married, under duress, before being imprisoned in the Castel dell'Ovo.^[111]

Frederick Trogisio, councillor to Robert of Naples, was installed as bailli from July 1318 until 1321. His tenure was troubled as Naples' control over the principality was contested and the threat remained with the Catalan Company that had recently conquered neighbouring Athens. Frederick and his army were defeated at the Battle of Saint George in September 1320, leaving part of the principality in Byzantine hands. In 1325, John launched a military expedition where he re-established his authority in Cefaphonia and Zante, but was unable to recapture Skorta.^[112]

In 1332, Philip I of Taranto died and was succeeded by his son Robert of Taranto, who became the new suzerain of Achaea. Not wishing to swear fealty to his nephew, John arranged to surrender Achaea to him in exchange for Robert's rights to the Kingdom of Albania.^[113]

Mystras and the Morea

In 1248, William II of Villehardouin, prince of Achaea, captured Monemvasia, the last remaining Byzantine outpost on the Morea. After taking Mount Taygetos, he built the fortress that came to be known as Mystras. In September 1259, William's forces were defeated at the Battle of Pelagonia, two years prior to the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire. In 1262, Mystras was established as the seat of government of Byzantine territories in the Morea. Soon, warfare broke out between the Byzantines and Franks. The first Byzantine attempts to subdue the Principality of Achaea were beaten back in 1263–1264 at the Battle of Prinitza and Battle of Makryplagi, but the Byzantines were firmly ensconced in Laconia. Mystras became a royal capital in 1349, when the Despotate of the Morea was established.^[114]

Andronicus Asen became the epitropos (overseer) of the Byzantine province Morea in 1316. Asen was the son of Tsar Ivan Asen III and Irene Palaiologina, and so was the nephew of emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. On 9 September 1320, Asen's forces defeated Achaea at the Battle of Saint George. This resulted in Arcadia, the heartland of the Morea, coming firmly under Byzantine control.^[115]

Athens

The Duchy of Athens was held by the family of De la Roche until 1308 when it passed to Walter V of Brienne. Walter hired the Catalan Company to fight against the Despotate of Epirus. When he tried to dismiss them and cheat them of their pay, they defeated the Athenians at the Battle of Halmyros on 15 March 1311 and annexed the duchy. Walter V died in that battle. In 1312, the Catalans recognized the suzerainty of Frederick III of Sicily, who appointed his son Manfred of Athens as duke. The ducal title remained in the hands of Aragon until 1388, but actual authority was exercised by a series of vicars-general, beginning with Alfonso Fadrique, illegitimate son of Frederick III, in 1317.^[116]

Over the next two years, Fadrique warred with the Republic of Venice and attacked the Triarchy of Negroponte after Boniface of Verona died. In 1318, John II Ducas, the sebastokrator of Neopatras, died and Fadrique invaded Thessaly. He took possession of his castles at Zetouni and Gardiki and conquered Neopatras, Siderokastron, Loidoriki, Domokos, and Pharsalus. He conquered the palace at Neopatras and took the title of Vicar-General of the Duchy of Neopatras. In 1319, a peace treaty was signed between Venice and Fadrique, whereby he retained Karystos.^[117]

Anti-Catalan Crusade

Walter VI of Brienne was the son of Walter V of Brienne and, after his father's death at Halmyros, became count of Brienne, Lecce, and Conversano. But he did not inherit the Duchy of Athens, except for Argos and Nauplia. After 1321, Walter had repeatedly announced his intention to recover the duchy, concluding a truce with the Catalans in 1328. In June 1330, a papal bull for the Anti-Catalan Crusade was issued by John XXII, pope since 1316. Robert of Naples also gave the crusade his support, and allowed his feudatories to join it. The Venetians, however, renewed their treaty with the Catalans in April 1331. Sailing from Brindisi in August, Walter attacked first Cephalonia and Zakynthos, and then the Despotate of Epirus, forcing them to recognize the overlordship of Robert. Walter had neither the troops to overwhelm the Catalans nor the money to sustain a prolonged war of sieges and attrition, and found no support among the native Greek population. By summer 1332, it was clear that the expedition had failed, and Walter returned to Brindisi, saddled with even more crippling debts.^[118]

Takeover of Gdańsk

By 1271, most of the Crusader strongholds had fallen into the hands of the Mamluk sultan Baibars, who then successfully besieged Montfort Castle. Due to prior negotiations between Baibars and the Crusaders, the latter were allowed to leave the castle with all of their belongings and return to Acre. In 1290, the District Commander of Austria Konrad von Feuchtwangen became the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Following the loss of Acre In 1291, he relocated the Orders' headquarters to Venice. Gottfried von Hohenlohe succeed him in 1296, serving as grand master until his abdication in 1303.^[120]

Siegfried von Feuchtwangen entering Malbork Castle, by Carl Wilhelm Kolbe the Younger (1825)

Siegfried von Feuchtwangen became the next grand master in 1303. On 13 November 1308, he oversaw the Teutonic takeover of Gdańsk. This was solidified with the Treaty of Soldin in 1309 and subsequently taking control of Pomerelia. This resulted in their becoming Poland's strongest enemy. Due to the pope dismantling the Knights Templar, von Feuchtwangen moved the headquarters of the Order from Venice to Malbork Castle in Pomesania, outside of the Holy Roman Empire.^[121]

Polish-Teutonic War

Werner von Orseln became grand master in 1324 and oversaw the Polish–Teutonic War which began in 1326 with the Raid on Brandenburg. The annexation and possession of Gdańsk (Danzig) and the surrounding region was consistently disputed by the Polish kings Władysław I Łokietek (the Elbow-High) and Casimir III the Great—claims that led to the six-year war. On 18 November 1330, von Orseln died after an assassination attempt and was succeeded by Lothar of Brunswick and the war continued, culminating on 27 September 1331 with the Polish victory in the Battle of Płowce. Lawsuits in the papal court in 1320 and 1333 were ruled in favor of Poland, but the Teutonic Knights did not comply and continued to occupy the annexed Polish territories. They again invaded Poland, briefly occupying the regions of Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land. A peace was not formalized until 8 July 1343 with the Treaty of Kalisz.^[122]

John XXII

Clement V died on 20 April 1314, and the papacy was followed by a sede vacante of two years. Frustrated by the inaction, Philip I of Poitiers, later king of France, summoned the ongoing Papal Conclave to Lyon in August 1316. Philip announced that none of the cardinals would be allowed to leave until they had chosen a new pope. This conclave elected John XXII on 7 August 1316, and he was crowned in Lyon. He set up his residence in Avignon rather than Rome, continuing the Avignon Papacy of his predecessor.^[127]

Mamluk sultan al-Naser Mohammed continued to ravage Christian Armenian Cilicia and John told the Armenians that he would call for a crusade to relieve tham. On 1 July 1322, he asked Mongol ruler Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan to intervene in Cilicia, reminding him of the alliance of his ancestors with Christians. Mongol troops were sent to Cilicia, but only arrived after a ceasefire had been negotiated.^[128]

Philip V of France

When Louis X died in 1316, his son John I of France was king for five days. Breaking a long tradition, Philip IV's second son Philip V of France became king, although disputed.^[129] John XXII set out his renewed desire to see fresh crusades. Philip IV had agreed to a joint plan for a new French-led crusade at the Council of Vienne, with Philip V taking the cross himself in 1313. Once king, Philip V was obligated to carry out these plans and asked John XXII for and received additional funds after 1316. Both Philip and John agreed that a French crusade was impossible while the situation in Flanders remained unstable. Nonetheless, John continued to assure the Armenians that Philip would shortly lead a crusade to relieve them, but instead turned his energies to what became the Crusade of Ludwig IV of Bavaria.^[130] An attempt to send a naval vanguard from the south of France under Louis I of Bourbon failed, with his forces being destroyed in a battle off Genoa in 1319. Over the winter of 1319–1320, Philip convened a number of meetings with French military leaders in preparation for a potential second expedition, that in turn formed William Durand's treatise Informatio brevis on crusading. By the end of Philip's reign, he and John had a falling out over the issue of new monies and commitments to how they were spent, and the attentions of both were focused on managing the challenge of the Shepherds' Crusade.^[131]

Charles the Fair

Philip V died on 3 January 1322. By the principle of male succession that was invoked in 1316, he was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles IV of France. The crusades remained a popular cause in France during Charles's reign. His father Philip IV had committed France to a fresh crusade and his brother Philip V had brought plans for a fresh invasion close to execution in 1320. Their plans were cancelled, however, leading to the informal and chaotic Shepherds' Crusade.^[132]

Charles entrusted Charles of Valois to negotiate with the pope over a fresh crusade. Charles, an enthusiastic crusader who took the cross in 1323, had a history of diplomatic intrigue in the Levant, once attempting to become the Byzantine emperor.^[133] The negotiations over the crusade floundered over the pope's concerns whether Charles IV would actually use any monies raised for a crusade for actual crusading, or whether they would be frittered away on the more general activities of the French crown. On 28 February 1301, Catherine of Courtenay became in the second wife of Charles of Valois, and thus Charles became titular Latin Emperor with Catherine on 11 October 1307.^[134] Charles of Valois's negotiations were also overtaken by the conflict with England in the War of Saint-Sardos.^[135]

After the death of Charles of Valois, Charles IV became increasingly interested in a French intervention in Byzantium, taking the cross in 1326. Andronikos II Palaiologos responded by sending an envoy to Paris in 1327, proposing peace and discussions on ecclesiastical union. A French envoy was sent in return with the pope's blessing later in the year. However, the first Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 precluded any serious negotiations.^[136]

Charles IV died on 1 February 1328 and no French intervention in Byzantium would be forthcoming. Charles was to die without a male heir, resulting ultimately in the claim to the French throne by Edward III of England and the subsequent Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Charles' cousin Philip VI of France would be crowned as king on 1 April 1328, the first of the House of Valois.^[137]

Shepherds' Crusade

The Shepherds' Crusade (the Pastoreaux) emerged from Normandy in 1320.^[138] The repeated calls for crusades by Philip V and his predecessors combined with the absence of large-scale expeditions ultimately boiled over into this popular and uncontrolled crusade. Philip's intent for a new crusade had certainly become widely known by the spring of 1320, and the emerging peace in Flanders and the north of France had left a large number of displaced peasants and soldiers. The result was essentially a violent mob threatening local Jews, royal castles, the wealthier clergy, and Paris itself. The movement was ultimately condemned by John XXII, who doubted whether the movement had any real intent to carry out a crusade. Philip V was forced to move against it, crushing the movement militarily and driving the remnants south across the Pyrenees into Aragon.^[139]

Proposals for the recovery of the Holy Land

Several independent treatises calling for the recovery of the Holy Land were also written in the 14th century.^[140] These include ones written by Majorcan Christian apologist Ramon Lull, French author Pierre Dubois, and Venetian statesman and geographer Marino Sanuto.^[141] French archbishop Guillaume Adam also wrote the influential treatise De modo sarracenos extirpandi between 1316 and 1317.^[142]

Ramon Lull

Scenes from the life of Raymond Lull, from a 14th-century manuscript

Ramon Lull was one of the luminaries of the schools of the Middle Ages and stands out as a latter apostle of the crusades.^[143] Lull viewed the teaching of the languages of the East as an effective means of annihilating Islam and the domination of its disciples. He made a pilgrimage to Palestine, travelled through Syria, Armenia, Egypt and Tunisia, and returned to Europe to describe the miserable treatment of Christians there. In 1305 and again in 1309, Lull wrote proposals for crusades to James II of Aragon. Both advised opening the Spain-to-Africa route to the Holy Land that required first a crusade against the Kingdom of Granada. With papal support, the Siege of Algeciras was launched by James II and Ferdinand IV of Castile in July 1309.^[144]

His view on Eastern languages was vindicated at the Council of Vienne, where the delegates from Aragon pushed for the creation of a places to teach different languages in order to more-widely preach the Gospel. As a result, the council pushed for the establishment of chairs the languages of the East at major Western universities. In 1314, Lull traveled again to Tunis, prompted by the correspondence between James II of Aragon and al-Lihyani, indicating that the caliph wished to convert to Christianity. Whereas Lull had been met with difficulties during his previous visits to North Africa, he was allowed to operate this time without interference from the authorities due to the improved relations between Tunis and Aragon.^[145]

Hugh IV of Cyprus

Henry II of Cyprus died on 31 March 1324 and was succeeded by his nephew Hugh IV of Cyprus. Hugh was crowned king of Cyprus on 15 April 1324 at the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Nicosia and would serve until 1358. He also received the crown of Jerusalem in Famagusta. Like his predecessors, Hugh was interested in reclaiming Jerusalem and his approach was to heal the rift with the Lusignans, the Ibelins, and the Capetian House of Anjou through arranged marriages. Toward that end, Hugh had his stepson Guy of Ibelin marry Maria of Bourbon, daughter of Louis I of Bourbon. Louis was heavily involved in the plans of Charles IV of France for a crusade to recover the Holy Land. Hugh hoped that the marriage would strengthen his chances of gaining control over the Holy Land, especially against the claims of the Capetians who had disputed the Lusignans' claim to the throne of Jerusalem since the 1270s. The outbreak of France's war with England in 1337 put an end to Louis' hopes to lead a crusade. Guy began taking part in state affairs in the late 1330s and was made constable of Cyprus, but died in 1343.^[149]

The Holy League

The Holy League was a military alliance of the chief Christian states of the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean against the mounting threat of naval raids by the Turkish beyliks of Anatolia.^[150] The alliance was spearheaded by Venice, the main regional naval power, and included the Hospitallers, Cypriots, and Byzantines. Begun in 1332, the Holy League conducted a short-lived crusade against the Aydinid Turkish fleet. The crusade was led by Pietro Zeno, serving as bailiff of Negroponte. That year, a Turkish armada under Umur Bey attacked Negroponte, and Zeno bought them off with a large tribute. As a result, Zeno was accused by Doge Francesco Dandolo with arranging an anti-Turkish alliance. Nevertheless, by the end of the year the Holy League, a union formed for the discomfiture of the Turks and the defense of Christianity, had been formally constituted. In 1334, Zeno took command of the league's fleet and defeated the fleet of Yakhshï Khān,^[151] the Beylik of Karasi, at the Battle of Adramyttion.^[152] Zeno later served as one of the leaders of the Smyrnaiote Crusade of 1344.^[153]

Philip VI of France

Philip VI of France, the cousin of Charles IV, was crowned as king on 1 April 1328.^[137] Between 1331 and 1336, one of Philip's chief ambitions was the recovery of the Holy Land. Despite the issues of succession of the French throne, Philip initially enjoyed relatively amicable relations with Edward III of England, and they planned a crusade together in 1332 which was never executed. However, the status of the Duchy of Aquitaine remained a sore point, and tension increased. Philip provided refuge for David II of Scotland in 1334 and declared himself champion of his interests, which enraged Edward. By 1336, they were enemies, although not yet openly at war.^[154]

Directorium ad passagium faciendum

The projected crusade, from a copy of Jean Miélot's translation

The Directorium ad passagium faciendum is an anonymous 24,000-word Latin treatise on crusading submitted to Philip VI sometime before 1332. The document proposed the conquest of the Holy Land, the Byzantine empire and Russia, and their subjection to the Catholic Church. It also outlines how this might be achieved and describes how the conquered territories could be administered. The French translation based on those by Jean de Vignay in 1333 and Jean Miélot in 1455 appears in RHC Documents arméniens.^[155]

Crusade of 1336

In 1329, John XXII called Peter Paludanus to Avignon, and consecrated him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. The same year, Paludanus journeyed into Egypt to negotiate with sultan al-Nasir Muhammad for the deliverance of Palestine to the West. The sultan was immovable. The accounts which the patriarch gave of the miserable condition of the native Christians and pilgrims harangued his Western audience to the necessity for attacking the Muslims and stopping the progress of their domination in the East. This led to the announcement of another crusade, but owing to apathy and dissensions among the Christian princes, the project failed.^[156]

Peter III Roger de Beaufort, then Archbishop of Rouen and later pope, was one of the Peers of France and he was a member of the embassy sent in 1333 by Philip VI to his son John II of France, then Duke of Normandy. The purpose of the embassy was to swear in their name to take the cross and serve in a crusade in the Holy Land. On 1 October 1333, the archbishop preached a crusading sermon before an assembly of noblemen in the presence of Philip in Paris at the Prés des Clercs.^[157] After the sermon, Philip again took the cross and vowed to go on a holy voyage overseas to restore the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Philip III of Navarre, John III of Brabant, Odo IV of Burgundy, John of Bohemia and Louis I of Bourbon all took the cross.^[158]

Philip gave orders that a fleet be assembled in the port of Marseilles to receive forty thousand crusaders. Edward III, to whom the crusade offered an easy means of imposing taxes, promised to accompany him with an army in the pilgrimage beyond the seas. Most of the republics of Italy, with the kings of Arragon, Majorca, and Hungary, were engaged to supply money, troops, and vessels for the expedition. In the midst of their preparations, John XXII died on 4 December 1334. This triggered the 1334 Papal Conclave, resulting in the election of Benedict XII on 20 December 1334.^[159]

In September 1335, the archbishop held a provincial council at the Priory of Nôtre-Dame-du Pré in Rouen. Two of his bishops were present, the other four were represented by procurators. The cathedral chapters of the province and the abbots of monasteries were invited as well. The council issued a dozen canons, urging the lower clergy to be diligent in their assigned duties. The most notable item was the encouragement given to bishops to facilitate the business of those who wished to join the king on crusade. The crusade was preached throughout the kingdom and it was planned that Philip VI would set out for the East in August 1336.^[154]

When the news of a new crusade reached the East, the local Christians, pilgrims and European merchants were exposed to renewed persecutions. The sultan of Cairo and several of his emirs began assembling armies for the purpose of resisting the crusaders, or to attack the Christians in the West. The caliph al-Mustakfi I directed all Muslims to take up arms. The aim of this Islamic "crusade" (or, more appropriately jihad), preached in the name of the prophet Muhammad, was to penetrate into Europe by the way of Gibraltar. The caliph's Holy warriors swore to annihilate Christianity and to convert all the Christian temples into stables. At the same time in Europe, the zeal of the princes and crusaders who had taken the cross to combat the enemies of Christ had dimmed. When Benedict XII succeeded John XXII, he found that hatred, mistrust and jealousies had taken the place of enthusiasm. Christians from the East continued to describe their persecutions and the preparations of Islam against the nations of the West.^[160]

Benedict XII continued his exhortations, but the possibility of a new crusade was met with indifference, and the populace lost interest in contending with the Muslims. It was then that a Brother Andrew of Antioch came to Avignon to plead for the aid of the pope and the nobles of the West. Philip VI had come to Avignon to inform the pope that the voyage into the East should be deferred. Andrew confronted the king, pressing his case for the deliverance of the Holy Land back to the Church. The king was surprised at this strange appeal and asked Andrew to accompany him to Paris. Andrew declined, saying he would return to Jerusalem, alone if necessary. Philip hastened home to deal with England.^[161]

Philip VI had assembled a large naval fleet off Marseilles as part of this ambitious plan for a crusade to the Holy Land. However, the plan was abandoned and the fleet, including elements of the Scottish navy, moved to the English Channel off Normandy in 1336, threatening England. Edward III had laid claim to the throne of the Capets, and his ambition was the signal for the Hundred Years' War. Philip, attacked by a formidable enemy, was obliged to renounce his expedition to the Holy Land, and employ the troops and fleets that he had collected for the defense of his own kingdom. The crusade was delayed indefinitely with papal approval on 13 March 1336.^[162]

Clement VI and the Smyrniote Crusades

Benedict XII died on 25 April 1342 and the 1342 Papal Conclave was convened shortly thereafter. On 7 May 1342, the Archbishop of Rouen was elected pope, taking the name Clement VI. The new pope went further than his predecessors on new crusades, but the resultant expeditions never made it past Anatolia.^[157] As one of his first papal actions, Clement proclaimed a crusade in 1343 which was the first of what became known as the Smyrniote Crusades.^[163] The Great Council of Venice elected Pietro Zeno as captain of the flotilla sent to assist the crusade against Aydinid-held Smyrna. Other crusader leaders included patriarch Henry of Asti.^[164]

Depiction of the death of Pietro Zeno, by Giuseppe Gatteri

The poet Petrarch, who was then at Avignon, proved one of the most ardent apostles of a new crusade. The poet sent letter to the Doge of Venice Francesco Dandolo to induce him to enter into a war against the Muslims.^[165] The states of Italy united their forces to make an expedition to the East. The crusade began with a naval victory of the Battle of Pallene on 13 May 1344 against Turkish raiders, and ended with an assault on Smyrna. On 29 October 1344, the combined forces of the Hospitaliers of Rhodes, the Republic of Venice, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Cyprus attacked the Beylik of Aydın.^[166] The governor Umur Bey was a close ally of John VI Kantakouzenos, later Byzantine emperor, and so they had support from that quarter.^[167] Zeno was killed by Umur Bey's forces in an ambush while he and other crusaders were attempting to celebrate mass in the no-man's land between the battle lines. The Western forces captured both the harbor and city from the Turks, which they held for nearly 60 years. The citadel fell in 1348 with the death of Umur Bey.^[168]

In May 1345, Humbert II, Dauphin of the Viennois, left Marseille leading a papal fleet called by Clement VI.^[169] This led to the second of the Smyrniote Crusades against the Aydınids, also known as the Crusade of Humbert II of Viennois. It was intended to assist the recaptured Frankish port of Smyrna by responding to a January 1345 attack during a time of truce by the Turkish garrison upon Christians worshiping in the demolished cathedral. While at sea, his fleet was attacked by the Genoa near Rhodes. He was also asked to intervene by Venice in the conflict between Bartolomeo Zaccaria and Guglielma Pallavicini over the Marquisate of Bodonitsa. Humbert's battle for control of Smyrna in 1346 led to 55 years of Christian rule over the city. Later, the fleet devastated a Turkish pirate fleet at the Battle of Imbros in 1347. The expedition is described in the Book of Chivalry by Geoffroi de Charny.^[170]

Crusade against Novgorod

In 1348, Magnus IV of Sweden led a crusade against Novgorod, marching up the Neva, forcibly converting the tribes along that river, and briefly capturing the fortress of Orekhov for a second time. The Novgorodians retook the fortress in 1349 after a seven-month siege, and Magnus fell back, in large part due to the ravages of the plague further West. While he spent much of 1351 trying to drum up support for further crusading action among the German cities in the Baltic States, he never returned to attack Novgorod.^[171]

The Crusades of Urban V

Clement VI died on 6 December 1352, having spent his later years dealing with the Black Death.^[172] Suspicion fell on the Jews for the plague, and pogroms erupted around Europe. Clement issued the papal bull Quamvis Perfidiam in 1348 which condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the Jews were guilty of a falsehood.^[173] After the 1352 Papal Conclave, the Avignon papacy continued under Innocent VI. He served for an uneventful ten years before dying on 12 September 1362.^[174] The Papal Conclave of 1362 began on 22 September and Urban V was elected pope on 28 September. He would successfully launch the Savoyard Crusade (described below) in 1366 in addition to an Italian crusade to recover papal lands and plan for an attack on the Turks in Anatolia.^[175]

Bologna had been conquered by archbishop Giovanni Visconti, the new lord of Milan. In 1362, Urban ordered a crusade to be preached throughout Italy against his nephew Bernabò Visconti for theft of the church's estate. In March 1363, Bernabò was declared a heretic, but Urban found it necessary to pursue peace the following year. Through the mediation of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, Urban lifted his excommunication against Bernabò and Bologna was returned to the papacy in 1363 through a lengthy negotiation by cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz.^[176]

Urban V's greatest desire was to lead of a crusade against the Muslims in Anatolia. In 1363, John II of France and Peter I of Cyprus came to Avignon and it was decided that there should be a war against the Turks.^[177] It was Urban and Peter who were most eager for the crusade, as the French were exhausted by recent losses in the Hundred Years' War, and some of their leaders were still being held prisoner in England. Urban held a special ceremony on Holy Saturday 1363, and bestowed the crusader's cross on the two kings and on cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand as well.^[178] John II was appointed Rector and Captain General of the crusade. Talleyrand was appointed apostolic legate, but he died on 17 January 1364, before the expedition could set out. Assembling the army proved an impossible task, and John returned to prison in England. He died in London on 8 April 1364.^[179]

Alexandrian Crusade

Peter I of Cyprus, disappointed by John II's return to captivity in England and the death of Talleyrand, collected whatever soldiers he could and launched an attack on Alexandria, Egypt. The Alexandrian Crusade of 1362–1365 resulted in the destruction of the city, but had little real impact. Its impetus was financial rather than religious, as Urban V had no influence on the expedition. Beginning in 1362, Peter amassed an army and sought financial support for his crusade to the Holy Land. When he learned of a planned Mamluk attack on Cyprus, he redirected his military ambitions against Egypt. He arranged for his fleet and army to assemble at Rhodes, where they were joined by a Hospitaller contingent. In October 1365, Peter set sail, commanding a sizable expeditionary force. Making landfall in Alexandria on 9 October 1365, over the next three days the army pillaged the city and killed and enslaved thousands.^[180]

Facing an untenable position with the Mamluk forces, the army withdrew three days later. Peter had wanted to stay and hold the city and use it as a beachhead for more crusades into Egypt, but his barons refused, wishing only to leave with their booty. Peter himself was one of the last to leave the city, only getting onto his ship when Mamluk soldiers entered the city. As a result of the attack, senior Mamluk emir Yalbugha al-Umari embarked on an ambitious ship-building program, completing 100 ships over the next year. Accounts of the crusade was given by Guillaume de Machaut in his La Prise d'Alexandre,^[181] and by Muslim historian and eyewitness to the crusade al-Nuwayrī in his Kitāb al-Ilmām.^[182]

Sack of Alexandria (1365), from manuscript of music by Guillaume de Machaut

Barbary Crusades: Mahadi, Tedelis, Bona

In the later 14th century, there were several crusades to North Africa. The Mahdia Crusade, also known as the Crusade of Louis II de Bourbon against Mahdia, was a Franco-Genoese military expedition in 1390 that led to the siege of Mahdia, a stronghold of the Barbary pirates. This is documented as part of Froissart's Chronicles.^[183] The Crusade of Tedelis was a major conflict within the overall struggle between Martin of Aragon and the Kingdom of Tlemcen in 1398.^[184] The Bona Crusade was a military campaign initiated by Martin of Aragon against the Hafsid sultanate, carried out in the summer of 1399.^[185]

Despenser's Crusade

The Great Schism within the Catholic Church from 1378–1417 led to a number of minor crusades.^[186] The best known of these is Despenser's Crusade of 1383, also known as the Norwich Crusade. This was a military expedition led by Henry le Despenser in order to assist Ghent in its struggle against the supporters of antipope Clement VII. The Siege of Ypres was unsuccessful, ending the crusade.^[187] In addition, a crusade was called after Charles III of Naples became king of Naples and titular king of Jerusalem in 1382 after having his cousin Joanna I of Naples strangled in jail. Clement VII granted crusade indulgences to Louis I of Anjou and others to dethrone Charles.^[188] A third example is that of John of Gaunt, who led an unsuccessful crusade against Henry of Trastámara to claim the throne of Castile by right of his wife Constance of Castile.^[189]

War of Chioggia

The Venetian–Genoese wars, begun in 1256, continued into the later 14th century. The War of Chioggia was the latest of these conflicts which lasted from 1378 to 1381.^[190] The war had mixed results. Venice and her allies won the war against their Italian rival states, however lost the war against Louis I of Hungary, which resulted in the Hungarian conquest of the Dalmatian cities. The Battle of Chioggia on 24 June 1380 resulted in a Venetian victory and the subsequent Treaty of Turin was signed by all parties on 8 August 1381.^[191]

Orhan

An estimation of the territory under the control of Osman.

Orhan succeeded his father upon his death around 1323. He oversaw the conquest of Bithynia's major towns, including Bursa in 1326. Bursa would become the first major capital city of the early Ottoman Empire, dangerously close to Constantinople. The first major military activity of Orhan was at the Siege of Nicaea, begun in 1328. Nicaea had been in Turkish hands since the First Crusade and had been in a state of intermittent blockade since 1301. The Ottomans lacked the ability to control access to the town through the lakeside harbour. As a result, the siege dragged on for several years without conclusion.^[192]

In 1329, Andronikos III Palaiologos attempted to break the siege. He led a relief force to drive the Ottomans away from both Nicomedia and Nicaea. After some minor successes, however, his forces suffered a reverse at the Battle of Pelekanon on 11 June 1329 and withdrew. When it was clear that no effective Imperial force would be able to restore the frontier and drive off the Ottomans, the city proper fell on 2 March 1331. Those inhabitants who wished to leave were permitted to do so, though few did. Nicea was left almost entirely ruined and depopulated.^[192]

Following the defeat at Nicaea in 1331, the loss of Nicomedia was only a matter of time for the Byzantines. Andronikos III attempted to bribe Orhan. In 1337, Orhan began the Siege of Nicomedia and it fell to the Ottomans. The second Byzantine civil war followed in 1341 with the death of Andronikos III and strife over his successor. Orhan's eldest son Süleyman Pasha commanded the Ottoman forces that led to the Fall of Gallipoli in 1354. After this, most Anatolian strongholds of Byzantium had been taken except Philadelphia, which was taken in 1390 after the Battle of Philadelphia. The civil war proved a critical turning point in the history of the empire and by the end of the third Byzantine civil war in 1357, Byzantium was an empire in name only.^[193]

Murad I

Süleyman Pasha was killed in a hunting accident in 1357, and so when Orhan died in 1362, his second son Murad I became the third sultan of the Ottoman Empire.^[194] Murad fought against the powerful Karamanids in Anatolia. To counter them, he married his son Bayezid I to the princess Devletşah Hatun, bringing Germiyanid territory under his control. He also battled against the Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians in Eastern Europe. In particular, the Serbian expedition to expel the Turks from Adrianople led by brothers Vukašin and Uglješa, was halted at the Battle of Maritsa on 26 September 1371.^[195] In 1385, the Siege of Sofia left the city in Ottoman hands. In 1386, Lazar of Serbia defeated an Ottoman force at the Battle of Pločnik. The forces of the Kingdom of Bosnia, led by Vlatko Vuković, and the Ottomans under the leadership of Lala Şahin Pasha, clashed in 1388. The Ottoman army first attacked Hum, the kingdom's southern region. After days of looting, the invaders clashed with the defending Bosnians at the Battle of Bileća, northeast of Dubrovnik. The battle, fought in August 1388, ended with an Ottoman defeat.^[196]

Murad's son Savcı Bey and Andronikos IV Palaiologos, the son of emperor John V Palaiologos, joined in a rebellion against their fathers, resulting in the fourth Byzantine civil war from 1373–1379. At the end of the rebellion, Murad had his son executed and Andronikos IV was blinded in one eye.^[197]

Battle of Kosovo

Battle of Kosovo, by Adam Stefanović (1870).

The Battle of Kosovo took place on 15 June 1389 between an army led by Lazar of Serbia and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the direct command of the sultan Murad I. The battle was fought on the Kosovo field in the territory ruled by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković. The army under Lazar consisted of his own troops, a contingent led by Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Branković ruled the District of Branković and other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord. The bulk of both armies were wiped out, and both Lazar and Murad were killed. However, Serbian manpower was depleted and had no capacity to field large armies against future Ottoman campaigns, which relied on new reserve forces from Anatolia. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, became so in the following years.^[200]

Bayezid I

In 1389, Bayezid I ascended to the throne following the death of his father Murad I, who was killed by Serbian knight Miloš Obilić at Kosovo. Immediately after obtaining the throne, he had his younger brother Yakub Çelebi strangled to avoid any potential coup as had been attempted by their brother Savcı Bey. In 1390, Bayezid took as his third wife princess Olivera Despina, the daughter of Lazar of Serbia, who also lost his life in Kosovo. Bayezid recognized Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, as the new Serbian leader with considerable autonomy. Shortly thereafter, Manuel II Palaeologus succeeded his father John V as Byzantine emperor.^[201]