Crusades and Crusaders in Medieval Greece 41
after the fleet departed from the Aegean the Turkish raids resumed with ever
increasing intensity.
The revival of Turkish naval power led to another significant expedition by
the allied Christian powers in the Aegean: the Crusade of Smyrna. The first calls
for this campaign were made by King Hugh iv of Cyprus and the Hospitallers in
- Venice agreed to join a new league since the peace concluded in 1337 with
the beyliks of Aydin and Menteshe had failed to provide security for Venetian
trade in the area. Pope Clement vi (1342–52) eagerly backed the coalition, and
made contacts with Latin powers in Italy and Romania as well as with the
Greeks (even though Byzantine participation proved impossible as the empire
was in a civil war). According to the final agreements, in 1343, the four main
participants were to prepare a fleet of 20 galleys: 4 from Cyprus, 6 from Venice,
6 from the Hospitallers, and 4 from the papacy.49 Clement vi ordered for the
crusade to be preached throughout Christendom, and for funds to be raised
through taxation of ecclesiastical revenues and donations of the faithful. The
crusading force attacked Smyrna in October 1344 and succeeded in capturing
the port and its castle as well as the lower quarter of the city, but it failed to
wrest control of the upper city and Smyrna’s citadel from the Turks. The cru-
sade stalled there as neither side was able to make decisive gains against the
other. Humbert ii, dauphin of Vienne, led a second wave from the West in 1346.
However, little was achieved under his rather ineffectual command. Although
operations went on for a while, the stalemate persisted and Smyrna remained
split between Latins and Turks for over half a century, until its conquest by
Tamerlane in 1402. Despite the lack of any further progress, by seizing Smyrna’s
port the crusade succeeded in neutralising the naval power of Aydin. The emir
of Smyrna opened negotiations for a truce with the Latins but eventually it was
not possible to reach an agreement. Plans for a new alliance against the Turks
in 1350–51 came to nothing as Cyprus was hesitant and Venice was embroiled in
a new war with Genoa.50 The ravages of the Black Death throughout Europe at
the same time caused widespread disruption and hampered further crusading
49 Augustin Theiner, ed., Vetera monumenta historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia, 2 vols.
(Rome, 1859–60), 2:658–62, nos. 985–86 [= Norman Housley, ed. and trans., Documents
on the Later Crusades, 1274–1580 (London, 1996), no. 22, pp. 78–80]; Thiriet, Régestes, 1:
nos. 142, 149, 155, 158, 160.
50 For the Crusade of Smyrna in general, see: Lemerle, L’émirat d’Aydin, pp. 180–203; Norman
Housley, The Avignon Papacy and the Crusades, 1305–1378 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 32–39, 120–22;
Setton, Papacy, 1:182–223; Zachariadou, Trade and Crusade, pp. 41–62; Jules Gay, Le Pape
Clément vi et les affaires d’Orient (1342–1352) (Paris, 1904), pp. 32–80; Alain Demurger, “Le pape
Clément vi et l’Orient: ligue ou croisade?,” in Guerre, pouvoir et noblesse au Moyen Âge,
ed. Jacques Paviot and Jacques Verger (Paris, 2000), pp. 207–14; see also Jürgen Sarnowsky,