Battle of Meloria (1241)

The naval battle of Giglio was a military clash between a fleet of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and a fleet of the Republic of Genoa in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It took place on Friday, May 3, 1241 between the islands of Montecristo and Giglio ( Tuscan Archipelago ) and ended with the victory of the imperial fleet.

The attack was the imperial fleet to which the Genoese, the capture of a high-ranking church dignitary travel company to the destination, which were on their way to a council convened by the Pope in Rome.

Background

In the spring of 1239 was between Pope Gregory IX. and Emperor Frederick II erupted in the question of the imperial claim to rule over the cities of the Lombard League, an open conflict that culminated in the second excommunication of the emperor on March 20, 1239. From then on both sides not prepared to compromise carried the military conflict against each other, in which particularly the Emperor arrived in the Papal States to some successes, which increasingly threaten the position of the Pope. In the fall of 1240 was issued by the Pope to the Church princes of Italy, Sicily, Germany, France and Spain, the invitation to a council which should be addressed at Easter 1241 in Rome with the next steps of the church against the Emperor. In his capacity as King of Sicily Frederick II could easily suppress participation of the Sicilian prelates, but the clergy of other countries took place in the following months in northern Italy, in order to travel on to Rome, which the emperor, however, sought to prevent.

The fight

The Emperor by land through the present central Italy controlled and Rome so that sections of northern Italy, the council travelers gathered in Nice, where they were first transported by a fleet of the Ligurian Republic of Genoa, which was led by a propäpstlichen Government in whose port. The two cardinal legate and the informal leader of the council travelers, James of Palestrina and Otto of San Nicola, negotiated with Genoa 's position of 32 armed galleys for the further transport by sea to Rome, and as soon as the embassies of the Lombard cities had embarked, the journey should be started. When Frederick II learned of this plan, he ordered in March 1241 its prevailing in Lombardy vicars, Marino di Ebulo and Oberto Pallavicini, Genoa attack from land. Their devastation campaign in the surrounding areas of the Republic, however, has produced no lasting effect, after which the emperor had to upgrade its Sicilian fleet to set the Genoese from the sea under pressure. 27 ships with his son Enzio, standing under the command of Admiral de Mari Ansaldo, he sent to the Maritime Republic of Pisa, the arch rival of Genoa and therefore his natural allies.

On April 25, the Genoese fleet sat in her hometown solemnly sailing, but first headed to nearby parts of Portofino, where they anchored one or two days. When the crews learned there from an attack on the Pallavicini belonging to the Republic Zolasco, they intended the city to come to the rescue, but the two cardinal legate they kept it off by successfully pushing for a quick drive to Rome. In another stopover in Porto Venere, they learned of the Association of Sicilian fleet with that of Pisa in the harbor. Although they now had an enemy between them and their goal, the Genoese towards Rome decided again to set sail for an unknown price, without waiting for them already a nachreisende of Genoa gain of seven galleys. They managed to drive to Pisa over, but probably not go unnoticed by the enemy, since this could still intercept between the islands of Montecristo and Giglio yet.

In the now following Kaperkampf the imperial fleet of the Genoese showed superior. Especially the numerous passengers and their luggage exuberant disabled the Genoese in the adequate defense of their ships, which could therefore provide only weak resistance to escape the threat of sinking. The Imperial succeeded 22 galleys to hijack successfully and to capture their teams and especially their passengers. Contradictory are the traditions concerning three sunken ships. In her later written for the Pope report the Genoese claimed that they had sunk three ships of the Imperial. The opposite side again saw three ships sunk Genoese for what is more likely. Ultimately, could only seven Genoese vessels escaped to their home city, including the flagship.

Follow

The hijacking of the Genoese fleet was a great success for the Emperor Frederick II. Almost all the high dignitaries of the council travelers got into his captivity. These included the two cardinal legate and another legate. The archbishops of Rouen, Bordeaux and also the bishops of Carcassonne, Agde, Nimes, Tortona, Asti and Pavia, the abbots of Citeaux, Clairvaux, Cluny, Fécamp, Mercy- Dieu and Foix, continue the diplomatic envoys of England, Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, Genoa and Bologna. They were first brought to Pisa and San Miniato, later to Naples. On the ships that save themselves and were able to escape capture, there were mainly the prelates of the Iberian Peninsula. These included the Archbishops of Santiago de Compostela, Braga, Tarragona and Arles, the bishops of Salamanca, Astorga, Porto, Orense and Plasencia. The only council travelers, who died on this day, was the Archbishop of Besançon ( Gottfried ), who had gone in the fray overboard and drowned in the sea. Emperor Frederick II made ​​up his victory as God's judgment, which have revealed the illegality of his persecution by the Pope. While the Emperor was able to prevent this act of violence by the convocation of the Council, but he thus contributed to the hardening of mutual positions.

Only the surprisingly fast with death of Pope Gregory IX. in August 1241 the situation seemed at first to relax. As a sign of his accommodation by the Emperor, the two cardinal legate was in August 1242 and in May 1243 released to make way for the election of a new pope free. The newly elected Innocent IV, however, should prove to be an equally intransigent opponents as its predecessor. In 1244 he took his seat in exile safe Lyon, where this time the convocation of a council (First Council of Lyons ) was achieved, which formally deposed the emperor.