Messina

Italian comune in Sicily

9 dated entries naming Messina, drawn from 9 separate years between 269 BCE and 1377 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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3rd century BC

269 BCEThe Mamertines, a body of Campanian mercenaries who have been employed by Agathocles, the former tyrant of Syracuse, capture the stronghold of Messana (Messina in north-eastern Sicily), from which they harass the Syracusans. The Syracusan military leader, Hieron, defeats them in a pitched battle at the Longanus River near Mylae, but Carthaginian forces intervene to prevent him from capturing Messana. His grateful countrymen then choose Hieron as their king and tyrant, to be known as Hieron II.source
264 BCEAppius Claudius Caudex leads his forces to Messina, and as the Mamertines have convinced the Carthaginians to withdraw, he meets with only minimal resistance. The Mamertines hand the city over to Appius Claudius, but the Carthaginians return to set up a blockade. The Syracusans, meanwhile, are also stationed outside the city.source

10th century

901March – Abu Abbas Abdallah resumes his Aghlabid campaign against the Byzantine enclaves of Sicily. He dispatches his fleet towards Messina, while bombarding the town walls of Damona.source

11th century

1061Summer – Norman forces led by Duke Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I invade Sicily. They land unseen during the night and surprise the Saracen army. Guiscard conquers Messina and marches into central Sicily.source

12th century

1135Summer – King Roger II lands with a Sicilian expeditionary force in Salerno. He splits his army, and conquers the cities of Aversa and Alife. Roger besieges Naples – but despite poor health conditions within the city, he is not able to take it, and returns again to Messina.source
1197September 28 – Henry VI dies of malaria at Messina (also possibly poisoned), while preparing an expedition against the Byzantine usurper Alexios III Angelos.source

14th century

1303September – Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, facing a possible siege of Constantinople by Ottoman-Turkish forces, seeks support from the European kingdoms. He makes Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer and nobleman, an offer of service. Roger with his fleet and army (some 7,000 men), now known as the Catalan Company, departs from Messina with 36 ships (including 18 galleys), and arrives in Constantinople. He is adopted into the imperial family, Andronikos appoints him as grand duke (megas doux) and commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army and fleet.source
1347October – Ships arrive in the Sicilian city of Messina, carrying people afflicted by the Black Death onboard.source
1377July 27 – Frederick the Simple, who has reigned as King Federico III of Sicily since 1355, dies in Messina at the age of 35 and is succeeded by his 14-year-old daughter, Maria of Aragon, who becomes the Queen of Sicily. The kingdom is administered by a regency of four "vicars", led by Artale I d'Alagona.source