The French Chronicle of London, detailing events from 1259 to 1343, provides one of the best accounts of the naval battle of Sluys, and the siege of Tournai by Edward III in 1340. Continue reading
The Aegean Sea became a new theatre of warfare between Crusaders and the Turks in the early fourteenth-century. In the following document, the papal camera contracts four fully equipped galleys for service in the first naval league against the Turks. The contract is dated March 7, 1334. Continue reading
Salimbene de Adam provides this account of a naval battle between Genoa and Pisa, followed by the sad fate of the Pisan prisoners. Continue reading
Ships and Fleets in Anglo-French warfare, 1337-1360 Timothy J. Runyan American Neptune: v.46 (1986) The most consuming military and naval conflict of later medieval Europe was the Hundred Years’ War. Beginning in 1337 and continuing until 1453 this struggle involved … Continue reading
Foundations of Venetian Naval Strategy from Pietro II Orseoto to the Battle of Zoncho, 1000-1500 John E. Dotson Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies v.32 (2001) For Venetians during the Middle Ages the sea was life. The prosperity, the very existence, … Continue reading
Military Intelligence in Arabo-Byzantine Naval Warfare Vassilios, Christides To empolemo Byzantino – Byzantium at War:(Athens: Institute for Byzantine Studies, 1997) Abstract During the long Arab-Byzantine struggle for supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea from the Seventh to the fourteenth century an … Continue reading
After the Crusader’s disastrous defeat at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the Christian forces regrouped under Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, and Conrad, marquis de Montferrat, and went back on the offensive. In 1189, the crusaders laid siege … Continue reading
The following are two accounts of the invasion of Cyprus by Richard I in 1191. The Seljuk Turk under Saladin had recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and Cyprus’ geographical position placed her on the route of the Crusaders from Western Europe … Continue reading
