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Struggle for the Strait

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Mapping Pre-Modern Sicily

Part of the book series: Mediterranean Perspectives ((MEPERS))

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Abstract

The Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, barely two miles wide at its narrowest point, was arguably the most contested waterway in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Despite real and imagined hazards to maritime navigation like Scylla and Charybdis of Homer’s Odyssey, a number of geographic and meteorological circumstances made the strait, situated at the middle of the “Middle Sea” astride the primary east-west shipping lanes, the most strategic transit point of the age. Accordingly, a host of powerful protagonists sought to hold sway over this vital waterway throughout the medieval era. This chapter details their attendant struggles for control of the strait, while examining the long-term impacts on the medieval maritime history of Western civilization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Michael Pitassi, The Navies of Rome (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2009), 51; John Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War, Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediterranean 649–1572 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 13–5, 92–3.

  2. 2.

    Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Walter Shewring (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), Bk. XII, 145.

  3. 3.

    Homer, Odyssey, Bk. XII, 148.

  4. 4.

    Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. Rex Warner (London: Penguin, 1972), Bk. 4, para 24, 278–9.

  5. 5.

    Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, trans. Roland Broadhurst (London: Goodword, 1952), 336.

  6. 6.

    Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War, 19–20.

  7. 7.

    Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War, 92.

  8. 8.

    John Morrison, Greek and Roman Oared Warships 399-30 B.C. (Oxford: Oxbow, 1996), 316–7; John Pryor and Elizabeth Jeffreys, The Age of ΔPOMΩN (Dromōn), the Byzantine Navy ca 500–1204 (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 123–8; Charles Stanton, Norman Naval Operations in the Mediterranean (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2011), 228.

  9. 9.

    Pryor and Jeffreys, Dromōn, pp. 255–6, 357, 390; Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2015), 2–5; Norman Naval Operations, 2–6.

  10. 10.

    John Dotson, ‘Naval Strategy in the First Genoese-Venetian War, 1257–1270’, American Neptune, 46 (1986): 84–90, especially 84–6; Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War, 90–3.

  11. 11.

    Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War, pp. 20–4; Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 6–8, 114.

  12. 12.

    Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Bk. 6, para 3, 410. See also John Julius Norwich, Sicily, An Island at the Crossroads of History (New York: Random House, 2015), 3–4.

  13. 13.

    David Abulafia, The Great Sea, A Human History of the Mediterranean (London: Allen Lane, 2011), 89–90.

  14. 14.

    Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Bk. 6, para 4, 411.

  15. 15.

    Homer, Odyssey, Bk. XII, 143–8.

  16. 16.

    Herodotus, The Histories, trans. Robin Waterfield (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), Bk. 6, 22–3, 359–60.

  17. 17.

    Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Bk. 6, para 4, 411.

  18. 18.

    Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Bk. 3, paras 86–90, 245–8. See also Abulafia, Great Sea, 144–5; Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War (New York: Penguin, 2003), 118–22; William L. Rodgers, Greek and Roman Naval Warfare (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1937), 139.

  19. 19.

    Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, trans. George Booth, 2 vols. (London: Edward Jones, 1814), Bk. XIV, ch. 7, 618–47. See also Richard Miles, Carthage must be destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (London: Penguin, 2010), 126–9; Rodgers, Greek and Roman Naval Warfare, 196–205.

  20. 20.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 176–7; Miles, Carthage, 157–65; Pitassi, Navies of Rome, 36.

  21. 21.

    Polybius, The Histories, trans. Robin Waterfield (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), chs 7–12, 7–12. See also Abulafia, Great Sea, 178–80; Miles, Carthage, 171–80; Pitassi, Navies of Rome, 51–4.

  22. 22.

    Polybius, Histories, chs 20–2, 19–21. See also Abulafia, Great Sea, 180–2; J.F. Lazenby, The First Punic War, A Military History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), 68–70; Miles, Carthage, 180–2; Pitassi, Navies of Rome, 54–7; Rodgers, Greek and Roman Naval Warfare, 275.

  23. 23.

    Polybius, Histories, ch. 23, 21–2. See also Lazenby, First Punic War, 67–72; Pitassi, Navies of Rome, 56–9; Rodgers, Greek and Roman Naval Warfare, 276–7.

  24. 24.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 188–96; Pitassi, Navies of Rome, 156–7.

  25. 25.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 198–209.

  26. 26.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 230–3; Norwich, Sicily, 54–5.

  27. 27.

    Procopius, History of the Wars, trans. H.B. Dewing, 4 vols. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916), II, Bk. III, chs 10–1, 99–107; ch. 16, 130–1. See also Abulafia, Great Sea, 235; Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare, 16.

  28. 28.

    Procopius, History of the Wars, III, Bk. V, ch. 5, 43–9. See also Norwich, Sicily, 57; Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare, 16–7.

  29. 29.

    Pryor and Jeffreys, Dromōn, 25; Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare, 24; Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 318–20.

  30. 30.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, ed. Michele Amari, 2 vols. (Turin: Arnaldo Forni, 1880–1881), I, 364–74. See also Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 10–1.

  31. 31.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 374.

  32. 32.

    Ibn Idari, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, II, 12.

  33. 33.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 379–81. See also Aziz Ahmad, A History of Islamic Sicily (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1975), 13.

  34. 34.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 385.

  35. 35.

    John Skylitzes, A Synopsis of Byzantine History 811–1057, trans. John Wortley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), Basil I, para. 37, 152–3.

  36. 36.

    Cambridge Chronicle, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 279. See also Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare, 35.

  37. 37.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 393–4; Skylitzes, Synopsis of History, Leo VI, para. 21, 175. See also Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 12–3.

  38. 38.

    Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 13–4, 20–3.

  39. 39.

    Ibn al-Athir, Biblioteca Arabo-Sicula, I, 425–9; Leo the Deacon, The History of Leo the Deacon, trans. Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis Sullivan (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2005), Bk. V, chs 7–8, 115–7; Skylitzes, Synopsis of History, Nikephoros II Phocas, para. 9, 256. See also Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 27–8.

  40. 40.

    Amatus of Montecassino, Storia de’ Normanni, ed. Vincenzo de Bartholomaeis (Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per Il Medioevo, 1935), Bk. II, chs 8–9, 68–70; Geoffrey Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae comitis e Roberti Guiscardi ducis fratris eius, ed. Ernesto Pontieri (Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli, 1927–1928), Bk. I, chs 7–8, 10–12; Skylitzes, Synopsis of History, Michael IV, paras 11–20, 374–83; William of Apulia, Geste de Robert Guiscard, trans. Marguerite Mathieu (Palermo: Istituto siciliano di studi bizantini e neoellenici, 1961), Bk. I, vv 196–221, 108–11. See also Graham Loud, The Age of Robert Guiscard, Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest (Harlow: Longman, 2000), 78–9.

  41. 41.

    Amatus, Storia de’ Normanni, Bk. V, chs 13–8, 234–7; Mataterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, Bk. 2, chs 1, 4–10, 29–32. See also Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 34–8.

  42. 42.

    Amatus, Storia de’ Normanni, Bk. V, ch. 18, 237. See also Ferdinand Chalandon, Histoire de la Domination Normande en Italie et en Sicile, 2 vols. (Paris: Picard, 1907) I, 195.

  43. 43.

    Matalerra, De rebus gestis Rogerii, Bk. 3, ch. 32, 77.

  44. 44.

    Rocco Pirro, Sicilia sacra, ed. Antonino Mongitore, 2 vols. (Palermo: Coppula, 1733), II, 952.

  45. 45.

    Pirro, Sicilia sacra, II, 771. See also Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 63–4.

  46. 46.

    Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 67.

  47. 47.

    Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 114–5.

  48. 48.

    Al-Idrisi, La première géographie de l’Occident, trans. Pierre Jaubert, ed. Henri Bresc and Annliese Nef (Paris: Flammarion, 1999), Prologue, 60.

  49. 49.

    Al-Idrisi, La première géographie de l’Occident, IV, 2, 312–3.

  50. 50.

    Gervase of Tilbury, Otia Imperialia, eds S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 332–5; Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, ed. M.R. James (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), 368–71.

  51. 51.

    Stanton, Norman Naval Operations, 114–27.

  52. 52.

    Chronica Ignoti Monachi Cistercienses S. Mariae de Ferraria, ed. Augustus Gaudenzi (Naples: Francisci Giannini, 1888), anno 1151, 26–7.

  53. 53.

    Ibn al-Athir, The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh, The years 541–589/1146–1193, trans. D.S. Richards (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), Part 2, 76–7, 103–6.

  54. 54.

    Ambroise, Estoire de la Guerre Sainte, trans. Marianne Ailes, 2 vols. (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), I, lines 714–817, 12–4; II, 41–2; Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, in Chronicles and Memorials of the Reign of Richard I, ed. William Stubbs, 2 vols., Rolls Series (London: Longman, 1864), I, Bk. II, chs 15–16, 158–164.

  55. 55.

    Camillo Manfroni, Storia della Marina Italiana, 3 vols. (Livorno: Regio Accademia navale, 1899), I, 293–5.

  56. 56.

    Saba Malaspina, Rerum Sicularum Historia, in Cronisti e scrittori sincroni napoletani, ed. Guiseppe del Re, 2 vols. (Naples: Napoli Stamperia dell’Iride, 1868), II, Bk. III, ch. X, 253–5; Giovanni Villani, Nuova Cronica, ed. Francesco Dragomanni, 4 vols. (Florence: Sansone Coen, 1845), I, Bk. VII, chs 7–9, 329–32.

  57. 57.

    Malaspina, Rerum Sicularum Historia, Bk. IV, chs 9–12, 275–80; Villani, Nuova Cronica, Bk. VII, chs 26–7, 352–6.

  58. 58.

    Jean Dunbabin, Charles I, of Anjou (London: Longman 1998), 102–7; Steven Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 211–4.

  59. 59.

    Bartolomeo di Neocastro, Historia Sicula(1250–1293), in Cronisti e scrittori sincroni napoletani, II, ch. XIV, 428–30.

  60. 60.

    Neocastro, Historia Sicula, ch. XXIV, 439. See also Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, 217–9.

  61. 61.

    Stanton, Roger of Lauria (c. 1250–1305), ‘Admiral of Admirals’ (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2019), 85–9.

  62. 62.

    Bernat Desclot, Chronicle of the Reign of King Pedro III of Aragon, A.D. 1276–1285, trans. F.L. Critchlow (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1928), chs 18–9, 61–6.

  63. 63.

    Ramon Muntaner, Chronicle, trans. Lady Goodenough, 2 vols. (London: Hakluyt Society, 1920), I, chs 62–7, 139–45.

  64. 64.

    Stanton, Roger of Lauria, 99–103.

  65. 65.

    Neocastro, Historia Sicula, chs 79–82, 501–4. See also Giovanni Amatuccio, Storia Militare della Guerra del Vespro (1282–1302) (Bologna: CreateSpace, 2012), 76–80.

  66. 66.

    Muntaner, Chronicle, II, ch. 196, 474. See also Stanton, Roger of Lauria, 290–4.

  67. 67.

    Stanton, Medieval Maritime Warfare, 291.

  68. 68.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 355.

  69. 69.

    Abulafia, Great Sea, 367–9; Hannah Barker, “Laying the Corpses to Rest: Grain, Embargoes, and Yersinia pestis in the Black Sea, 1346–1348,” Speculum 96 (2021): 97–126; Ole J. Benedictow, The Black Death 1346–1353 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2004), 70–3.

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  1. Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Charles D. Stanton

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  1. Department of History, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, Bayside, NY, USA

    Emily Sohmer Tai

  2. Department of History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Kathryn L. Reyerson

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Stanton, C.D. (2022). Struggle for the Strait. In: Sohmer Tai, E., Reyerson, K.L. (eds) Mapping Pre-Modern Sicily. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04915-6_2

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