The expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the Levant and the Turkish threat to Chios. 1432-1453.

Back in 1426, the Mahonesi had armed galleys for service with the Turks and after the Venetian attack upon Chios in 1431 the Genoese sent a letter to the Duke of Milan describing in the best possible way the help they had received by the Turks during the siege. In the same year, the Pope Eugenius IV took the initiative to organize the Council of Ferrara and Florence in an attempt to assist the Byzantine Empire in its struggle for survival. The Council was discussing the union of the Churches under certain dogmatic prerequisites that had to be accepted by the Greek Orthodox Church represented by the Emperor John VIII Palaiologos and the Oecumenical Patriarch. When the decree for the unification of the Churches was published, the Pope sent four Venetian galleys and three hundred archers for the defense of the city of Constantinople, forces that were hardly enough for completing their task. Hence, he asked the Genoese to encourage the Mahonesi to arm some galleys that always kept ready for action in Chios and send them to Constantinople. The Genoese Doge realized that was not in the interests of the Mahonesi to support the Pope’s expedition and oppose the Turks that were preparing themselves for besieging the City. He found a very wise diplomatic compromise that was cleverly balancing the interests of the Mahonesi and Pope’s will to defend the Christian Greeks. He encouraged the Mahonesi to agree to the papal proposal and at the same time to re-assure the Turks that the galley to be sent was for the protection of the Genoese interests and population in Pera. The same order was sent to the Lord of Mitylene Dorino Gattilusio.

In the mean time, the agreement reached at the Council of Florence was cancelled by the opposition that the Greeks offered back in Constantinople to the dogmatic statements of the decree. At the same time it was very much hoped that a new era of military initiatives leading to a new Crusade had arrived. The expulsion of the advanced Turkish forces from Europe was required and the Pope Eugenius IV was intrigued by that prospect even though the funds available and the interest for such a venture from the Italian Republics and the other European States were not sufficient. In his newly organised mission of ‘the Cross against the Crescent’ he found some allies willing to contribute to the defence of the Fate and their own interests. Vladislav the King of Poland and Hungary, John Uriad of Transylvania and George Castriot (Scanderbeg) the Lord of Albania offered to participate in 1443.

Meanwhile, the Pope had prepared a Venetian fleet commanded by Luigi Loredano that promised to prevent Murad II from bringing reinforcements from Asia Minor to the Balkan Peninsula. While the fleet was still at sea on its way to Near East in 1444, the Doge of Genoa Raffaele Adorno wrote to the authorities of Chios regarding the arrival of the fleet and strongly recommended to offer a very cordial welcome, insisting to them that it was not possible to give them reinforcements, because they were afraid of the menace of the Turks. Actually, the Genoese had indirectly supported the Turks in their military preparations before the victorious battle for them in Varna in 1444 by transporting the Turkish Army across the straits of Hellespont near Gallipoli.  

After the death of Murad II on February 1451, his 21 year old son Mahomet II succeeded him in the throne. The new and young sultan was congratulated by envoys sent from Chios by the Mahonesi that were desperate for keeping good diplomatic relations with the Turks. The preparations for the conquest of Constantinople, by fortifying the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus had terrified the Genoese of Chios that they were doing their best to avoid friction with the Turks and a possible attack on the island. They sent two representatives (Giovanni Giustiniani di Campi and Giovanni Giustiniani Gabriele) to Genoa in an attempt to persuade the Republic to assist them with their preparations for the island’s defence. The request of the emissaries was approved by the Doge in July 1452 under the condition that the Mahonesi residents of Genoa must take an oath that all measures and actions employed would be for the sake of the security of the island.

The European States –for various reasons- were reluctant to help Pope Nicholas’ V efforts to assist the Greeks of the shrunk Byzantine Empire in their struggle for survival against the Turks. The idea of a new Crusade had clearly faded and Mahomet’s vigor and strong will seemed to be insuperable obstacles for the Christian defenders of the City that were disunited by dogmatic and political differences and outnumbered by the attacking Turkish hordes. The Mahonesi and the Greeks of Chios tried to contribute to the defence of the city of Constantine by sending two ships and four hundred well trained men under the commands of the Genoese Giovanni Giustiniani Longo. The spectacle of these ships entering the imperial harbor with 400 men on board in full armour was impressive.

Giustiniani was a very skillful and talented leader as well as a professional soldier, with excellent family credentials that had prepared this expedition at his own initiative and cost. He brought 700 well armed men in total, 400 recruited from Genoa and another 300 from Rhodes and the island of Chios that was the power base of the Giustiniani family. Constantine XI Palaiologos soon realized the capabilities of that man and appointed him to the command of all land forces and was rendered responsible for the most significant defensive points in the city including the Gate of Romanus. In exchange, he offered him the island of Lemnos if the Ottoman threat should be repulsed. Giustiniani was to play a fateful role in the defense of the city and the final outcome of the battle. Apart from him and his soldiers, three Genoese brothers Antonio, Paolo and Troilo Bocchiardo brought a small group of men. The Catalans supplied a contingent and a Castilian nobleman, Don Francisco of Toledo replied to the call for help.

Otherwise, the appeal to the Christian leaders of the West had brought nothing but ignorance and disagreement. A sense of insecurity and betrayal had spread among the Greek inhabitants of the City although the Pope had tried his best to organize a Christian expedition for the defense of Constantinople. ‘We had received as much aid from Rome as had been sent to us by the Sultan of Cairo’ said George Sphrantzes bitterly in an attempt to describe the situation regarding the Christian aid. The Turks -equipped with the most sophisticated and heavy artillery of that period- outnumbered the defenders and conquered the City on 29 May 1453 that was mercilessly pillaged by their troops driven by religious fanaticism and hatred (see map 4).     

The fall of Constantinople naturally caused the loss of the Genoese colony of Pera. The Genoese terrified by the events that followed the siege sent envoys to surrender their colony to the Sultan praising and congratulating him for his success and asking him to renew the agreement they had with the Byzantine Emperor, pointing out the old friendship between the Republic of Genoa and the Turks. The victorious Sultan Mahomet II received them angrily and with scorn, because of the participation that the Genoese had in the city’s resistance during the siege supporting the defending Greeks. He refused to recognize any former agreements and imposed new conditions to the Genoese.