Siege of Messina (1282) 1282
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1282 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the Sicilian Vespers | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Navy of the Crown of Aragon | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.1833, 15.5500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Messina (June–September 1282) was a 13th-century military engagement. Fought during the opening months of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, the engagement began when an Angevin army led by Charles of Anjou laid siege to the city of Messina, which had rebelled against Angevin rule. Hoping to secure Messina as a bridgehead to reconquer the rest of Sicily, Charles of Anjou conducted a successful naval crossing of the Strait of Messina, but several assaults on the city failed.
After five weeks of siege, the Messinese defenders were reinforced by an Aragonese relief force. Facing mounting casualties and supply issues, the Angevin army lifted the siege and made a costly withdraw back across the strait to Calabria. The victorious Aragonese–Sicilian forces followed up the siege with a series of military actions to harass the retreating Angevins, and the failure to take Messina was an early defeat for the Angevin Kingdom in the Vesperan war.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Messina (1282) (revision 1370743474), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Messina (1041) 1041 · 0 km
- Siege of Messina (1848) 1847 · 0 km
- Battle of Messene 397 BC · 0 km
- Siege of Messina (842–843) 842 · 0 km
- Battle of Messana 264 BC · 1 km
- Battle of the Strait of Messina 276 BC · 10 km
Other battles of the War of the Sicilian Vespers
- Battle of Nicotera 1282
- Battle of Malta (1283) 1283
- Battle of the Gulf of Naples 1284
- Battle of the Counts 1287
- Battle of Falconaria 1299
- Battle of Gagliano 1300
- Battle of Ponza (1300) 1300
All 8 battles of the War of the Sicilian Vespers →
Browse more: battles in Italy · Europe · Medieval battles