Crusades and Crusaders in Medieval Greece 39
nations”.39 This was actually the first time the Turks were mentioned as targets
of a crusade indulgence, though in the context of a traditional defence of Latin
Romania against the “schismatics”. A few months later, however, the Turks
were the only enemies named in the crusade indulgence for the defence of the
domains of Martino Zaccaria, the Genoese lord of Chios.40 At the end of his
pontificate, John xxii would give his support to an anti-Turkish League which
included Byzantium and would invoke the Turkish threat as an argument to
convince the Byzantine emperor, Andronikos iii, to work for Church Union.41
Venice led the way in this initiative. There were discussions for the forma-
tion of an anti-Turkish league (societas contra Turchos) already in 1325, and in
1327 the Senate commissioned the Venetian authorities in Romania to make
contact with the Byzantine emperor, with the Hospitallers of Rhodes, and with
Martino Zaccaria, all of whom had already come to blows with the Turks.42
Venice intensified its diplomatic efforts in the early 1330s, and extended its
calls also to the duke of the Archipelago, as well as to King Robert of Naples.43
The Serenissima’s efforts bore fruit and the first naval league was created on 6
September 1332.44 The original signatories were Venice, the Hospitallers, and
Andronikos iii; in early 1334 they were joined by the pope and the kings of
Cyprus and France. The final agreement stipulated a fleet of 40 galleys: 10 by
the Hospitallers, 10 by Venice, 6 by the king of Cyprus, at least 6 by the Greek
emperor, and the final 8 by the pope and the king of France, scheduled to meet
in Negroponte in May 1334.45
The alliance with the Byzantines was not necessarily striking in itself.
Religious differences were not an insurmountable obstacle to political under-
standing in the constantly shifting circumstances in Romania, even when that
entailed alliances with the “enemies of the faith” against coreligionists. In
39 Mollat, Jean xxii, no. 16672; full text in Michael Carr, “Motivations and Response to
Crusades in the Aegean: c. 1300–1350” (unpublished doctoral thesis, Royal Holloway,
University of London, 2011), p. 274.
40 Mollat, Jean xxii, no. 16977 (and 22117); full text in Ludovico Gatto, “Per la storia di Martino
Zaccaria, signore di Chio,” Bullettino dell’ “Archivio Paleografico Italiano”, n.s. 2–3, part 1
(1956–57), 325–45 at 344–45.
41 Tautu, Acta Ioannis xxii, nos. 134–36. See in general: Gottfried Dürrholder, Die
Kreuzzugspolitik unter Papst Johann xxii. (1316–1334) (Strasbourg, 1913).
42 Roberto Cessi and Paolo Sambin, eds., Le deliberazioni del Consiglio dei Rogati (Senato),
2 vols. (Venice, 1960–61), 1:296, Book 8, no. 175; and 1:341, book 10, no. 194; Laiou, “Marino
Sanudo Torsello,” pp. 379–81.
43 Thomas, Diplomatarium, 1: no. 113; Thiriet, Régestes, nos. 13, 15, 20, 23.
44 Thomas, Diplomatarium, 1: no. 116.
45 Thomas, Diplomatarium, 1: nos. 126–27.