Battle of Manolada

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Manolada


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date=July 5, 1316
place=
result=Victory of Louis of Burgundy
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=Louis of Burgundy
commander2=Ferdinand of Majorca
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=
The Battle of Manolada was fought on July 5 1316 at Manolada, on the plains of Elis in the Peloponnese. The two leaders were Louis of Burgundy and the Infante Ferdinand of Majorca, both of whom claimed the Principality of Achaea in right of their wives. The defeat and death of Ferdinand ensured the continued Angevin supremacy over Achaea and checked the further movement of his allies, the Catalan Company then occupying the Duchy of Athens.

Background

By the terms of the Treaty of Viterbo, the Angevins of the Kingdom of Naples had inherited the Principality of Achaea upon the death of William II Villehardouin in 1278. They had, for some time, granted it to William's older daughter, Isabella of Villehardouin, to rule. However, they remained feudal overlords of the Principality and retook in 1307, due to the misgovernment of Isabelle's husband Philip of Savoy. In 1312, on the death of Isabelle, her younger sister, Margaret, claimed the Principality under the terms of her father's will, which conflicted with the Treaty of Viterbo.

The Angevins, as part of a complex marital pact and transfer of rights, arranged the marriage of Isabelle's eldest daughter, Margaret of Hainaut, to Louis of Burgundy in 1313, and invested the couple with the Principality. Margaret of Villehardouin, for her own part, arranged the marriage of her daughter, Isabelle de Sabran, to Ferdinand of Majorca, a member of the House of Aragon and hence an opponent of the Angevins.

Prelude

Ferdinand arrived in the Principality first, in 1315, and had already beaten troops under Margaret of Hainaut at the Battle of Picotin. After an unsuccessful attempt to capture the castle of Chalandritsa from Ferdinand, Louis moved to Patras, where his troops were reinforced by Greek forces sent by the governor of Mistra. Louis expected reinforcements from the Catalans in the Duchy of Athens and from Majorca, but rather than retreat to Glarentza to await their arrival, he determined to give battle.

Description

At the first onset, the Majorcan troops broke the first Burgundian line, commanded by John Orisini, count of Cephalonia. However, the second line, under Louis, crushed the Majorcan charge, and Ferdinand was knocked from his horse and inadvertently slain before he could be taken prisoner. The morale of his troops collapsed, and many fled towards Glarentza.

Aftermath

John II de Nivelet, Lord of Geraki had gone over to Ferdinand's side, and was executed on the field as a traitor by Louis. The head of Ferdinand was displayed before the gates of Glarentza, still held against Louis, the next day. The reinforcements sent by the Catalan Company had reached Vostitsa by the time of the battle, but returned to Athens on the news of Ferdinand's death. Troops from Majorca arrived by sea at Glarentza ten days later, and proposed holding the city in the name of Ferdinand's son James, but, with the aid of bribes, were eventually persuaded to surrender the city to Louis.

Had Ferdinand not been checked, the House of Aragon and its Catalan troops would have acquired Achaea, as well as Athens. His death, followed by the long minority and tumultuous career of James, would effectively end the threat posed to the Angevins by the claims of Margaret Villehardouin.

References

*cite book | editor=Hazard, H.W. (ed.) | title=The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (A History of the Crusades, vol. III) | url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.CrusThree | accessdate=2006-07-04 | origyear=1975 | publisher=University of Wisconsin Press | location=Madison, Wisconsin