Decline of Pisa's Maritime Power

Timeline

1. 1284–1290Meloria reef · Ligurian SeaIn the 1284 Battle of Meloria, the Pisan fleet was heavily defeated by Genoa; commander Ugolino della Gherardesca perished, and Pisa lost control of Sardinia and Corsica. By the 1290s, its maritime colonial network had shrunk and trade revenue continued to decline.
2. 1290–1299Pisa · TuscanyInfighting between noble and popular factions weakened civic stability, and Pisa's room for diplomatic maneuvering among the papacy, the Angevins, and Florence narrowed. In 1299, Pope Boniface VIII transferred the Archbishopric of Pisa to Florence, further striking at Pisa's spiritual and political standing.
3. 1290–1300Tyrrhenian Sea · Tyrrhenian SeaThe size of Pisa's merchant fleet and its network of routes continued to shrink in the 1290s, while ports such as Livorno rose in importance; through its landward expansion, Florence gained control of Pisa's foreign trade channels. By the early 14th century, Pisa had become a vassal of Florence, and its former status as a maritime republic on par with Venice and Genoa was gone.