Battle of Nicotera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle of Nicotera | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Crown of Aragon Kingdom of Sicily |
 Kingdom of Naples | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
Crown of Aragon: James of Aragon Pedro de Queralt Ramon de Cortada |
Angevin Naples:  Arrighino de’ Mari | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| 15–22 galleys | 48 ships | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| Light |
Heavy; around 20 Angevin ships captured Many crews and embarked troops captured (contemporary chronicles list between 4,000 and 6,000 prisoners—though numbers this high are likely an exaggeration) | ||||
The Battle of Nicotera was a 13th-century naval engagement, fought between an Aragonese–Sicilian fleet and the Angevin Kingdom of Naples during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. Fought along the coastline of Southern Italy, most notably off of the town of Nicotera, the battle resulted in an Aragonese-Sicilian victory.
The battle took place in the aftermath of a failed attempt by an Angevin army to besiege the Sicilian city of Messina. The failure of the siege of Messina attritted the strength of the Angevin fleet operating off of Sicily, and the collapse of the siege forced the Angevins to put the fleet into port for repairs. When the Angevin fleet attempted to disperse to its home ports for the winter, it was intercepted and defeated by the Aragonese–Sicilian fleet.
Nicotera was the first direct battle between Angevin and Aragonese forces during the Vesperan conflict. While both fleets suffered from low preparedness and organizational issues, the Aragonese victory at Nicotera set the trend of Aragonese naval supremacy that would mark much of the rest of the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
In the spring of 1282, the island of Sicily rebelled against the rule of the Charles I of Anjou, king of the Angevin Kingdom of Naples, who had controlled the island since 1266. Starting in Palermo, the rebellion spread across Sicily, resulting in a major threat to Angevin rule over Sicily. Eager to crush the revolt, in June Charles amassed an army of 31,000 men in Catona, from where the army could making a crossing of the straits of Messina into Sicily. The Angevin army made a successful crossing of the strait in early July and began a protracted siege of Messina. Supporting the siege was a large Angevin fleet made up of ships levied from Charles' lands in Southern France, Italy, and Greece. These ships were supplemented by mercenary ships from the Italian city-states of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice.[1]
While Charles and the Angevin army laid siege to Messina, the Sicilian rebels maneuvered politically; a Sicilian parliament was convened to represent the individual Sicilian cities, while envoys were sent to various foreign leaders and the papacy. The parliament came to the conclusion that Sicily lacked the resources to fight Angevin Naples by itself, and so sought out a foreign protector against the Angevins. In June, the Sicilian parliament contacted Peter II of Aragon, who had a claim to the now-vacant throne of Sicily by way of his wife, Constance of Sicily. Peter accepted the Sicilian offer, arriving in Sicily in late August an army. A relief force of Aragonese and Sicilian soldiers was dispatched to Messina, where it reinforced the city against the Angevin siege. Peter's intervention in the Sicilian conflict also brought Aragon's powerful navy into Sicilian waters, where it posed a serious threat to the Angevin fleet supporting the siege of Messina.[1]
Facing the new Aragonese threat, Charles of Anjou chose to lift the siege of Messina in mid-September, wary of being cut off from his power base in Calabria by the newly arrived Aragonese navy. Charles conducted a costly-but-ultimately successful Angevin withdraw back across the strait of Messina in September 1282, and by October no Angevin forces remained on Sicily. However, the evacuation took a toll on the Angevin navy; numerous small watercraft had been lost during the siege of Messina, and many of the Angevin ships needed to be repaired after months of military use. Charles' naval commander, Genoese admiral Arrighino de' Mari, was cautious about facing the Aragonese navy in combat with his motely collection of galleys, transports, and converted merchant ships, and so advised Charles to have the Angevin fleet put in to the port town of Reggio for refit.[1]
Despite the relative safety of Reggio, many of the Angevin and mercenary captains feared being blockaded in the port by the Aragonese. In addition, many captains hoped to return their ships to their home ports before the onset of winter. Tensions arose in the fleet, most notably between Genoese and Pisan mercenary captains, as service contracts expired. Such tensions, coupled with disease and generally poor morale, led to high rates of desertion in the fleet; by October, many of the ships in the fleet were badly undermanned.[1]
While the Angevin fleet lay moored in Reggio, the Aragonese fleet stationed itself in Messina, where it joined 15 Sicilian galleys. Under the command of Peter of Aragon's second son, James of Aragon, the Aragonse-Sicilian fleet remained in Messina, cautiously observing the Angevin fleet in Reggio. Like the Angevin fleet, the allied fleet faced logistical and organizational challenges, as the Aragonese fleet had only arrived in Sicily the month before and had yet to fully incorporate the Sicilian fleet into its ranks.[1]