Byzantine navy

navy of the Byzantine Empire

17 dated entries naming Byzantine navy, drawn from 17 separate years between 508 CE and 1149 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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6th century

508Emperor Anastasius I formally recognizes Clovis I of the Salian Franks as ruler of Gaul. He sends a Byzantine fleet of 100 warships to raid the coasts of Italy.source
539Belisarius, still besieging Ravenna, negotiates a treaty with Theodebert I (whose forces are suffering from dysentery), and the Franks retreat to Gaul. The Byzantine fleet controls the Adriatic Sea and blockades the port of the capital from supplies.source
551Autumn – Battle of Sena Gallica: The Byzantine fleet (50 warships) destroys the Gothic naval force under Indulf near Sena Gallica (Senigallia), some 17 miles (27 km) north of Ancona. It marks the end of the Gothic supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea.source

7th century

678Autumn – Siege of Constantinople: Emperor Constantine IV confronts the Arab besiegers in a head-on engagement. The Byzantine fleet, equipped with Greek fire, destroys the Muslim fleet at Sillyon, ending the Arab threat to Europe, and forcing Yazid (a son of caliph Muawiyah I) to lift the siege on land and sea. The victory also frees up forces that are sent to raise the two-year siege of Thessalonica by the local Slavic tribes.source
687Emperor Justinian II negotiates a peace treaty with the Umayyad Caliphate (resulting in caliph Abd al-Malik paying tribute). He removes 12,000 Christian Maronites, who continually resist the Arabs, from Lebanon. Justinian reinforces the Byzantine navy on Cyprus, and transfers cavalry troops from the Thracesian Theme in Anatolia to the Theme of Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula.source
698Spring–summer – Arab forces under Hasan ibn al-Nu'man capture Carthage, ending Byzantine rule in North Africa. The defeated Byzantine fleet revolts and proclaims Tiberios III, who deposes Leontios after a brief siege of Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor.source

8th century

703Musa ibn Nusayr, governor of Ifriqiya (western Libya), builds a Muslim fleet to harass the Byzantine navy and conquer the islands of Ibiza, Mallorca, and Menorca (approximate date).source
717September 1 – A Muslim armada, consisting of 1,800 ships commanded by Admiral Suleiman, sails into the Sea of Marmara and drops anchor below the sea walls of Constantinople, to supply their forces ashore. Leo III orders the Byzantine fleet to sally forth from their protected harbors with Greek fire, setting alight the thickly-packed Muslim ships. Many vessels burst into flames, while others collide with each other before sinking.source
727A revolt breaks out in Greece against the religious policies of Emperor Leo III (see 726). A rebel fleet under Agallianos Kontoskeles sets out for Constantinople with Kosmas, an anti-emperor, but is destroyed by the Byzantine fleet through the use of Greek fire.source
746Arab–Byzantine Wars – Battle of Keramaia: The Byzantine navy scores a crushing victory over the Umayyad Egyptian fleet.source

9th century

809A Byzantine fleet lands in the Venetian Lagoon, and attacks a Frankish flotilla at Comacchio, but is defeated. Doge Obelerio degli Antenori marries a Frankish bride, Carola; she becomes the first dogaressa of Venice.source
829October – Battle of Thasos: Saracens from the newly founded Emirate of Crete almost annihilate the Byzantine fleet at Thasos, close to the coast of Thrace. The Cyclades and other islands in the Aegean Sea are pillaged.source
876At the invitation of Benevento, the newly-restored Byzantine fleet appears in the waters off Otranto. On the orders of Emperor Basil I, the Byzantines sail up the Adriatic Sea and reconquer part of southern Italy. The city of Bari is occupied in the name of the Byzantine Empire. Instead of holding it for his 'ally' Adelchis of Benevento, Basil makes it the capital of the new Byzantine Theme of Longobardia.source

10th century

915Summer – Battle of Garigliano: The Christian League, personally led by Pope John X, lays siege to Garigliano (a fortified Arab camp in the area of Minturno), which is blockaded from the sea by the Byzantine navy. After three months of siege, plagued by hunger, the Saracens decide to break out of Garigliano and find their way back to Sicily by any means possible. Christian hunting parties fall on the fleeing Arabs, and all are captured and executed.source
919March 25 – Romanos Lekapenos, admiral (droungarios) of the Byzantine navy, seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople. He is named megas hetaireiarches (head of the imperial guard). Lekapenos consolidates his position and becomes regent of Emperor Constantine VII. He marries his 9-year-old daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine and assumes the new title of basileopator (one of the highest offices in the Byzantine Empire).source
965Battle of the Straits: The Byzantine attempt to recover Sicily fails, when the Byzantine fleet is annihilated by the Fatimids. The last Byzantine stronghold on the island, Rometta, surrenders. The population is massacred, and the survivors are sold into slavery. Caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah completes the conquest of Sicily, and establishes naval superiority in the Western Mediterranean.source

12th century

1149April – King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine sail homeward in separate Sicilian ships. While the fleet rounds the Peloponnese (southern Greece) it is attacked by ships of the Byzantine navy. Louis gives orders to raise the French flag and is allowed to sail on. But the ships containing many of his followers and his possessions are captured and taken as a war-prize to Constantinople.source