Smyrniote Crusade, 1320s

Timeline

1. 1317–1326Smyrna · Aegean coastThe Aydın beylik began a prolonged siege of Smyrna in 1317, first seizing the castle from the Zaccaria family that year, though the lower town remained under Latin control. The siege continued through the 1320s; the Zaccaria family, led by Martino Zaccaria, held out with a thousand infantry and a standing galley fleet until the lower town fell in 1329.
2. 1326–1329Port of Smyrna · Aegean coastBetween 1326 and 1329, Umur Bey completed the conquest of Smyrna's lower town and harbor, developing it into the core base for Aegean piracy and ghazi raids. The Aydın fleet thereby threatened Chios, Rhodes, Cyprus, and Venetian Aegean islands, compelling the Latin powers to appeal to the papacy and providing a direct pretext for the later crusade.
3. 1327–1330Avignon and Rhodes · FranceIn the late 1320s, Pope John XXII, Philip VI of France, Venice, and the Hospitaller Hélion de Villeneuve began planning a naval crusade against the Aydın pirates. Around 1330 the parties reached a preliminary agreement to form a league of some 20 galleys; an anti-Turkish treaty was signed at Rhodes in 1332, and the First Smyrna expedition of 1333–1334 grew directly out of this prelude.