Chapter Summaries

Venice sent a powerful fleet into the Aegean Sea, but Fabius avoided a decisive battle and used smaller ships to raid Venetian trade. Vitus responded to the effects on Greek fishermen and Constantinople’s supplies while preparing for a prolonged war of attrition.

• Venice reinforced Crete with warships, armed merchant vessels, and more than ten thousand mercenaries, then Marcello Canal sailed into the Aegean Sea seeking the Greek fleet.
• Fabius withdrew from battle and sent nimble cruising vessels to attack enemy trade routes, preserving the main fleet but devastating fishing and commerce in the Aegean.
• Vitus convened the Cabinet and allocated grain to fishermen and others affected by the war.
• The Patriarch told Vitus that Constantinople’s citizens feared a Venetian attack through the Dardanelles, and Vitus said he welcomed a land battle against the mercenaries.
• Vitus heard that grain, fish, livestock, and wool supplies remained stable, while olive, wine, and copper prices had risen; he ordered copper purchases from Hungary and priority for the arsenals.
• Vitus judged that the war would last for years and that Venice’s dependence on trade would make it more vulnerable to prolonged attrition than the agrarian Eastern Roman Empire.

Vitus agreed to investigate claims against Jean Coeur’s shipping insurance business, while Coeur planned to shift trade to the Black Sea. In Candia, Giovanni Loredan and Marcello Canal planned a mercenary raid on western Greece as the Venetian fleet struggled to meet its orders.

• Vitus learned that shipowners were demanding insurance refunds for war losses, examined Jean Coeur’s agreements, and sent an official to investigate the company.
• Jean Coeur decided to focus his shipping business on the Black Sea route between Constantinople and Chersonesus.
• Giovanni Loredan wrote to Venice requesting two hundred thousand Ducats to buy grain for Crete’s growing population and military burden.
• Giovanni Loredan met Marcello Canal and discussed the order to cripple the Eastern Roman fleet within six months.
• Giovanni Loredan persuaded Marcello Canal to plan raids on the western coast of Greece, with two thousand mercenaries supported by Venetian ships.

Venetian mercenaries raided three coastal villages, but their pursuit of plunder left them vulnerable to Eastern Roman cavalry. Boranov and the Dragoons caught the fleeing raiders, while Boranov recognized that his men still needed better riding training.

• Venetian officers on Cephalonia divided the troops into small groups and sent them to raid coastal villages for supplies and loot.
• A mercenary captain led three hundred soldiers to a fishing village, where most residents had fled after a clergyman warned them of the approaching Venetians.
• The soldiers searched two more villages, seized goods, and spent the night in the second village before setting out with their plunder at dawn.
• The captain heard approaching hoofbeats, but his men scattered when they realized they could not form a defensive wagon enclosure.
• Boranov led more than a hundred Dragoons in pursuit and cut down several fleeing mercenaries, then reflected that his troops needed more riding drills.

After driving a Venetian transport fleet from a fishing village, Boranov escorted its displaced residents to Agrinion and worried about how the town would support the growing number of refugees. Days later, a shepherd’s warning led him to a sea cliff, where he witnessed a Roman cruiser battling six Venetian warships around a fleet of transports.

• Boranov pursued the mercenaries to a fishing village, drove the transport fleet away with gunfire, and promised the villagers an escort to Agrinion.
• Boranov brought the refugees to Agrinion, assessed the town’s capacity to support them, and sent a detailed combat report to brigade headquarters.
• After three days of rest, Boranov followed coastal signal fires and learned from a shepherd that a Venetian fleet was heading south.
• Boranov reached a sea cliff and saw six Venetian warships closing on an isolated Roman cruiser as it attacked the transport fleet.

The stranded Roman cruiser Scala’s crew joined Boranov’s Dragoons to ambush Venetian marines trying to plunder the ship. The marines fled, but the Venetian fleet destroyed the Scala with cannon fire before withdrawing.

• The Roman cruiser rammed and sank a galley, damaged two more, then ran aground on the southeastern beach after taking heavy damage.
• Boranov met Felix and the surviving crew of the Scala in the woods, gave them supplies, and agreed to help recover the ship’s cargo.
• When Venetian longboats approached the beach, Boranov told Felix to lure the sailors toward the woods while the Dragoons prepared an ambush.
• Felix’s crew fired on the landing party, then retreated into the woods as Venetian marines pursued them under cover of cannon fire.
• Boranov led 105 Dragoons in a foot charge against the marines, and Felix’s crew joined the attack, routing the Venetians.
• The marines escaped to their ships, and the Venetian fleet abandoned its plundering attempt and bombarded the Scala until it was beyond repair.

Felix and the surviving Scala crew salvaged what they could, traveled to Constantinople, and reported to the Admiralty for an inquiry into their mission. As they waited, Felix noticed officer candidates and suspected the navy had launched new warships that needed officers.

• Felix and his crew salvaged the Scala’s cannons and supplies before abandoning the ship and returning to Agrinion with Boranov’s help.
• Felix received orders to report to Constantinople for a new assignment, and Boranov reassured him that the crew’s accomplishments outweighed the loss of the Scala.
• Felix and the surviving crew traveled overland to Constantinople and entered the city after the guards checked their orders.
• The Admiralty summoned Felix and the surviving officers for a routine inquiry, and they arrived at headquarters on December 26.
• Felix saw four officer candidates studying in the waiting room and suspected the Admiralty needed officers for newly launched warships.

Felix chose to remain a cruiser captain, received a new crew, and took command of a rebuilt warship named Scala. Meanwhile, Marcello rejected Venice’s plan to attack Cyprus unless more troops were sent to defend Crete.

• Felix chose to command a cruiser rather than serve as first officer, and accepted the reassignment of some of the Scala’s crew.
• Felix welcomed ninety recruits, assigned them duties alongside his experienced sailors, and led them to the mess hall.
• Felix took delivery of the new Scala, which had an improved hull, copper sheathing, and thirty nine-pounder guns.
• Felix ordered his first officer to collect supplies before the ship began its two-month readiness workup in the Sea of Marmara.
• Foscari read Marcello’s report, in which Marcello refused to attack Cyprus without additional troops to defend Crete.

The Governor worried that Venice’s naval war against the Palaiologos was draining its supply of Venetian sailors, while Jacob gauged public resentment over war taxes and the fleet’s performance. In January 1446, Vitus exercised at Blachernae Palace and recalled his swordsmanship training and the implausible rumors about his battlefield exploits.

• The Governor calculated that Venice might need a second public bond issue and feared its dwindling Venetian manpower would weaken the fleet against the Palaiologos.
• The Governor asked Jacob to find out what people thought of the public bonds, and Jacob went by gondola to listen to residents around a small square.
• Jacob heard that residents disliked the war tax and that some questioned why Venice’s larger fleet had not defeated the enemy; he judged that the enemy was avoiding a decisive sea battle.
• At Blachernae Palace in early January 1446, Vitus exercised while Agnes slept and recalled learning swordsmanship from Phil Di Maggio and an instructor.
• Vitus wondered whether rumors of his personal cavalry charges were meant to diminish his command or praise his bravery.

Vitus listened to ministers argue over wartime shortages before reviewing the Eastern Roman Empire’s finances, fleet, and borders. The Nogai Khanate’s new defenses caught his attention, and he considered a northern campaign, though the prime minister expected him to wait until the war with Venice ended.

• Vitus practiced archery, then told Agnes he had no way to make money for the annual meeting.
• Ilya and the naval, trade, and foreign affairs ministers argued over rising grain prices and delayed copper shipments while Vitus listened outside the Cabinet chamber.
• Vitus reviewed the 1445 accounts and learned that donations had limited the empire’s deficit to 74,000 florins despite falling revenue and high expenditure.
• Vitus read that the navy had lost ships and was building seven heavy two-deck warships as Venice also developed new vessels.
• Vitus examined reports of stable borders and the Nogai Khanate’s defenses in Sarai, and he mused about campaigning north to hunt along the Volga River.
• The prime minister judged that a northern war would lose money and expected Vitus to postpone it until after the war with Venice.

Fabius reviewed Volos’s defenses and received word that the Venetian Fleet was heading north to blockade the harbor. Worried that criticism from officials could weaken Emperor Vitus I’s trust in him, he went to the cathedral to pray for Rome and for a chance to defeat the enemy.

• Fabius recommended sending newly commissioned ships to raid Venice’s increasingly busy trade route and inspected Volos’s fortified harbor.
• Fabius assessed Volos as the best long-term naval base, noting its defensible bay and advantages over other ports.
• A messenger from Attica reported that the Venetian Fleet’s main force was heading north after pursuing the Ephesus near Crete.
• Fabius ordered coastal towns to remain vigilant and worried that complaints about his refusal to fight could turn the emperor against him.
• Fabius went to Volos’s Cathedral and prayed that Vitus I would continue to trust him and that he could defeat the Venetian Fleet.

Venetian forces attacked the bay’s defenses with fireships and then fought floating batteries three and four in a prolonged cannon exchange. After losing ships and the element of surprise, Marcello judged victory unlikely and ordered the fleet to withdraw from the bay.

• Thirty fireships approached the first defensive line under cover of darkness, but a galley crew spotted them and raised the alarm.
• The fireship crews ignited their vessels and escaped; one burning fireship struck a galley, which caught fire and exploded after its crew abandoned ship.
• The burning galleys sank and opened a gap in the first defensive line, allowing Venetian warships to attack floating batteries three and four.
• Floating batteries three and four endured the Venetian bombardment and held their positions, while several Venetian two-deckers withdrew with damage.
• Marcello rejected using fireships against the prepared defenses and later estimated Venice had less than a forty percent chance of victory.
• At two in the morning, Marcello ordered the Venetian fleet to withdraw from the bay.

Fabius inspected the badly damaged floating battery three and reorganized the defenses after the Venetian Fleet withdrew. The Venetians then reconnoitered the Dardanelles, bombarded its coast for five days, and left after Admiral Marcello judged the fortified strait impossible to force.

• Fabius found that battery three had suffered heavy casualties and was still taking on water, so he ordered it to be towed to the harbor's dry dock for repairs.
• Fabius assigned the Smyrna to replace the damaged batteries and spent the day restoring two defensive lines at the bay's entrance.
• Reports showed that the Venetian Fleet had sailed north toward Lemnos to rest and refit before returning to Crete.
• Three Venetian warships entered the Dardanelles to scout its defenses but turned back after coming under fire from shore cannons.
• Admiral Marcello ordered the Venetian Fleet to bombard coastal settlements instead of attacking the fortified strait, then blockaded its western entrance for five days.
• Marcello concluded that modern heavy cannons and the Empire's fortifications had made the Dardanelles and Bosphorus impossible for Venice to force.

Marcello returned to Crete to find Venetian officials investigating the navy’s losses, but their report cleared him even as the Great Council dismissed him. His successor, Lucca Soranzo, took command and concluded that the Palaiologos navy outclassed Venice in ships and personnel, leaving him determined to force a decisive battle.

• Marcello returned to Crete and learned that ten Venetian merchant ships had been lost while fourteen warships needed repairs.
• Marcello declined to bribe the six investigators, and their report found no evidence of misconduct or disloyalty.
• The Great Council dismissed Marcello and appointed Lucca Soranzo, who arrived in Candia on May 10.
• Marcello chose to retire to a country estate near Rome, and the duke approved of his plans.
• Soranzo questioned veteran captains and learned about the Palaiologos fleet’s armored ships, experienced crews, and Navy School.
• Soranzo judged that Palaiologos held the advantage in ship design and personnel, and resolved to force its navy into a decisive battle.

Lucca Soranzo tried to persuade Venice’s leaders to attack Cyprus, but the mercenaries refused to risk the operation. He abandoned the plan and returned to the city regretting that he had opposed Marcello’s proposal for a standing army.

• Lucca Soranzo proposed attacking Cyprus, but the duke and Vettore Cappello initially opposed the plan.
• Soranzo spent three days arguing that Venice had to act before the enemy fleet grew stronger, and the duke began to be persuaded.
• Rumors of the Cyprus attack spread through the mercenary camp, where soldiers feared the operation and began raising an uproar.
• Cappello and Soranzo met with the mercenary officers, and Michele Attendolo argued that landing and besieging Cyprus would expose the troops to heavy losses.
• Most mercenary leaders agreed with Attendolo, leaving only three commanders willing to fight with a force of five thousand men.
• Soranzo and Cappello abandoned the attack, and Soranzo regretted opposing Marcello’s proposal for a standing army.

Soranzo’s raids and Venetian diplomacy brought the Mamluks into conflict with the Palaiologos, though the sultan chose to attack Antioch rather than join Venice’s plan to seize Cyprus. After Vitus learned of a suspected arms shipment to Egypt, he appointed Romanus to command at Konya and ordered him to hold the eastern frontier.

• Soranzo persuaded Duke Capello to send Elion Daltino to Egypt to seek the sultan’s support against the Palaiologos.
• Elion met the sultan, who rejected Venice’s proposal to occupy Cyprus and chose instead to attack Antioch for his own gain.
• A mercenary commander warned Elion that the newly trained Mamluk soldiers were inferior to mercenaries.
• Vitus received word that transport ships from Crete had carried suspected firearms to Egypt, and Romanus volunteered to command the Konya Legion.
• Vitus approved Romanus’s appointment and advised him to build experience against an easier opponent while holding the frontier and avoiding a deep advance.

Andronikos Palaiologos learned that the Mamluk army was approaching Antioch, while Damien prepared the Eastern Roman forces to defend the border and counterattack if reinforcements arrived. When the Mamluks reached Karak Fortress, the sultan abandoned ineffective cannon bombardment and ordered siege trenches dug before an assault.

• Andronikos visited the rebuilding site of the Church of Saint Peter, then hurried to the border army headquarters after hearing rumors of a Mamluk invasion.
• Damien told Andronikos that the Eastern Roman army would defend its trace italienne forts and counterattack if reinforcements arrived.
• On August 25, the Mamluk army reached the border and the sultan inspected Karak Fortress.
• An Ottoman officer explained the use of trench-digging siege tactics, and Elion denied that Venice had withheld short-barreled cannons.
• The sultan rejected a direct charge and stopped the ineffective cannon bombardment of Karak Fortress.
• The sultan ordered the Mamluks to dig siege trenches toward the walls before launching an assault.

The Sultan’s Mamluk army struggled to besiege the trace italienne, suffering heavy losses while trying to capture an outwork and dig trenches. After realizing the Ottoman officers’ copied siege plan did not account for the fortress’s irregular layout, the Sultan considered their proposal to mine and blast the walls.

• The Mamluks failed to dig a trench through a flooded lowland and lost more than two hundred men in their first assault on the hilltop outwork.
• The Mamluks’ second attack on the outwork was stopped by musket fire and grapeshot, so the Sultan ordered the army to bypass it and focus on the main fort.
• The Mamluks drained the flooded ground, while the Sultan reviewed his army’s composition and noted the practical value of its camel guns.
• The Sultan saw defenders’ cannon fire inflicting casualties on soldiers digging communication trenches and summoned the Ottoman officers to explain the losses.
• The Ottoman officers admitted the trenches exposed their troops to the trace italienne’s oblique fire, and the Sultan rebuked them for copying a plan unsuited to the fortress.
• The Ottoman officers proposed digging a tunnel under the wall, filling it with gunpowder, and blasting a breach for an infantry assault.

Romanus took command of the Eastern Roman army at Antioch and, after consulting senior officers, planned a surprise attack on the Mamluks besieging Karak Fortress. As the army marched toward the battlefield, reports of fighting and the decision to leave heavy guns behind forced Romanus to hasten his advance; by noon, he was studying the area map during a brief halt.

• On September 16, Romanus arrived with the Konya Legion, bringing the Eastern Roman army at Antioch to thirty-two thousand men.
• Romanus chose to attack the next day, and the headquarters staff prepared a battle plan after senior officers advised him.
• Romanus spent the night anxious about commanding his first army-scale battle and resolved to seek advice before decisions.
• The cavalry and mountain infantry advanced along the Orontes River, while the Attica and Konya Legions followed with auxiliary troops behind them.
• After mountain infantry requested reinforcements and Damien left heavy cannons behind to speed the march, Romanus committed more troops and ordered the army to quicken its pace.
• At noon, Romanus halted with his headquarters in a village, ate little, and studied a map of the area around Karak Fortress.

Romanus relieved Karak Fortress and drove the Mamluks to retreat, but judged that supply limits prevented a deeper campaign. In Constantinople, Fabius requested ten capital ships to attack Venice during winter and reclaim the Aegean Sea.

• Romanus advanced toward Karak Fortress after the Attica Legion reported fighting the Mamluks near the hills.
• Romanus captured the lightly defended enemy camp north of the fortress and entered Karak Fortress.
• Romanus saw that the Mamluks were withdrawing, while the sultan escaped with his new army and most of his cavalry.
• Romanus decided that overland supply limits made a prolonged campaign impractical and reported the situation to Constantinople, requesting permission to remain in Anatolia and fight mercenaries.
• At a September 20 cabinet meeting, the minister of the navy read Fabius's request for ten capital ships to launch a winter offensive against Venice.

Vitus sent the Eastern Roman Empire’s assembled fleet to Volos and instructed Fabius to choose the moment for a decisive battle against Venice. After weeks of coordinated fleet drills, Fabius led the warships out of the Pagasetic Gulf toward the southern Aegean Sea.

• Vitus approved Fabius’s plan to fight in winter and ordered the fleet to prioritize its strength over responding to enemy raids.
• Vitus inspected the twenty warships departing the Golden Horn and gave Cohen an imperial decree allowing Fabius to delay the decisive battle until summer if needed.
• Cohen and the fleet reached Volos, where Fabius read the decree, inspected the new warships, and met their captains.
• Fabius drilled the fleet in formation sailing, signal communication, and simulated engagements against small galleys standing in for Venetian galleasses.
• After the training lasted longer than expected, Fabius led the fleet out of the Pagasetic Gulf on November 15 toward the southern Aegean Sea.