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Knights Hospitaller invasion of Despotate of Arta

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Invasion of the Despotate of Arta by the Knights Hospitaller

The Knights Hospitaller invasion of the Despotate of Arta was a military campaign conducted by the Knights Hospitaller, led by Grand Master Juan Fernández de Heredia. The campaign targeted the Despotate of Arta, ruled by Gjin Bua Shpata. The invasion was sanctioned by Pope Gregory XI.

Knights Hospitaller invasion of Despotate of Arta
Date27 March – 23 August 1378
LocationDespotate of Arta, (Modern-day Epirus and Western Greece)
Result Albanian victory
Belligerents
Coat of arms of Despotate of Arta Despotate of Arta Knights Hospitaller
Coat_of_arms_of_the_Principality_of_Achaea Principality of Achaea
Supported by:
Flag_of_the_Papal_States_(pre_1808) Papal States
Commanders and leaders
Coat of arms of Despotate of Arta Gjin Bua Shpata Juan Fernández de Heredia (POW)
Richard Overton †
Niccolò Strozzi †
Ruggiero Sansone †
Berardo Aquaviva †
Strength
Coat of arms of Despotate of Arta unknown unknown
    • 800 Knights (reinforcements after capturing Vonitsa)

Background

In 1376–1377, Gjin Bua Shpata led a campaign to capture Nafpaktos (known as Lepanto in Italian), the last Angevin stronghold in Epirus. This action angered the Knights Hospitaller, as it threatened their interests in the region.

Invasion

On March 27, 1378, Grand Master Juan Fernández de Heredia, accompanied by senior Hospitallers, condottieri, and their troops, set out, crossing Acarnania. They captured Nafpaktos (Lepanto), which had been taken by Gjin Bua Shpata the previous year, and then advanced toward the town of Vonitsa, which had been besieged by Albanian forces. Upon arriving, Heredia asserted the Knights Hospitaller's claim over the territory and waited for four months, expecting reinforcements from Spain, France, and northern Italy. However, these reinforcements never arrived, likely due to the death of Pope Gregory XI, who had originally sanctioned the invasion. His successor, Pope Urban VI, also failed to dispatch the needed reinforcements. During this time, only 800 knights managed to join Heredia's forces.

On August 23, Grand Master Heredia marched toward the Despotate’s capital, Arta, with a small group of Hospitallers. However, somewhere between Arta and Vonitsa, his forces were ambushed by Gjin Bua Shpata. The Hospitaller army was nearly annihilated, and many key commanders were killed. Heredia was captured and held for ransom. Afterward, Shpata recaptured Nafpaktos and sent a bishop named Matthew of Kernitza to the emperor and patriarch in Constantinople to inform them of his triumph. Vonitsa, however, remained under the control of the Tocco family, standing as the last surviving Latin foothold in Epirus.

Aftermath

After capturing Heredia, Gjin Bua Shpata ransomed him to the Ottomans in the spring of 1379, receiving 8,000 florins.

References

  1. Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1999). Hospitallers: The History of the Order of St. John. Hambledon Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-85285-196-5.
  2. Μαλτέζου, Χρύσα Α; Schreiner, Peter (2002). Βυζάντιο, Βενετία και ο ελληνοφραγκικός κόσμος (13ος-15ος αιώνας): πρακτικά του διεθνούς συνεδρίου που οργανώθηκε με την ευκαιρία της εκατονταετηρίδας απο τη γέννηση του Raymond-Joseph Loenertz o.p., Βενετία, 1-2 Δεκεμβρίου 2000 (in French). Hellēniko Institouto Vyzantinōn kai Metavyzantinōn Spoudōn Venetias. p. 50. ISBN 978-960-7743-22-0. the Hospitaller expedition was decisively defeated by local Albanian forces in 1378.
  3. Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1999). Hospitallers: The History of the Order of St. John. Hambledon Press. ISBN 978-1-85285-196-5.
  4. Gallagher, Philip F. (1988). Christians, Jews, and Other Worlds: Patterns of Conflict and Accommodation : the Avery Lectures in History. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-8191-6894-8.
  5. Revue Mabillon (in French). Abbaye Saint-Martin. 1992. p. 125. ISBN 978-2-503-50321-9.
  6. Fine (jr.), John V. A.; Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.
  7. Lock, Peter (2014-01-14). The Franks in the Aegean: 1204-1500. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-89971-6.
  8. Fine (jr.), John V. A.; Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.
  9. Triposkoufi, Anna; Tsitouri, Amalia (2002). Venetians and Knights Hospitallers: Military Architecture Networks. Hellenic Ministry of Culture. p. 116. ISBN 978-960-214-535-7. In 1378 the Albanian Ghino Boua Spata captured the city
  10. Luttrell, Anthony (1982). Latin Greece, the Hospitallers, and the Crusades, 1291-1440. Variorum Reprints. ISBN 978-0-86078-106-6.
  11. Luttrell, Anthony (1982). Latin Greece, the Hospitallers, and the Crusades, 1291-1440. Variorum Reprints. ISBN 978-0-86078-106-6.
  12. Abercrombie, Gordon Ellyson (2024-04-30). "VIII Heredia-Caraciola 1377-1495". The Hospitaller Knights of Saint John at Rhodes 1306-1522. Pen and Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-3990-4802-6.
  13. Ζαχαριάδου, Ελισάβετ Α (1993). The Ottoman Emirate (1300-1389): Halcyon Days in Crete 1 : a Symposium Held in Rethymnon 11-13 January 1991. Crete University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-960-7309-58-7. In 1378 a pathetically small group of Hospitallers was ambushed and defeated near Arta by its Christian Albanian ruler, Ghin Boua Spata.
  14. Gillespie, Alexander (2016-12-01). The Causes of War: Volume II: 1000 CE to 1400 CE. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78225-955-8.
  15. Abercrombie, Gordon Ellyson (2024-04-30). The Hospitaller Knights of Saint John at Rhodes 1306-1522. Pen and Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-3990-4802-6.
  16. Setton, Kenneth Meyer; Hazard, Harry W. (1975). The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-06670-3.
  17. Иванов, Владислав (1 November 2013). "Terra Balcanica - между Изтока и Запада: Fr. Juan Fernandes de Heredia's Crusade in Greece (1376-1379)". Terra Balcanica - между Изтока и Запада. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  18. Иванов, Владислав (26 August 2011). "Terra Balcanica - между Изтока и Запада: The "Greek" project of the Order of St. John". Terra Balcanica - между Изтока и Запада. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
  19. Nicol, Donald M. (1984). The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-26190-6.
  20. Zečević, Nada (2015-01-01). The Tocco of the Greek Realm: Nobility, Power and Migration in Latin Greece (14th – 15th centuries). Central European University Press. ISBN 978-86-919441-0-0.
  21. Luttrell, Anthony (1982). Latin Greece, the Hospitallers, and the Crusades, 1291-1440. Variorum Reprints. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-86078-106-6.
  22. Nicol, Donald M. (1984). The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-521-26190-6.
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