The siege of the Castle of Saint George occurred from 8 November 1500 until 24 December 1500, when following a series of Venetian disasters at the hands of the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

, the Spanish-Venetian army under Captain

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515) was a Spanish general and statesman who led successful military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. His military victories and widespread p ...

succeeded in capturing the Turkish stronghold of

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

. Cephalonia, one of the Ionian Islands off the western coast of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, had been in the hands of the Italian

counts palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

of the

Tocco family The House of Tocco ( ''Tocchi'', grc-gre, Τόκκος, Tókkos Τόκκοι, ''Tokkoi'') was an Italian noble family from Benevento that came to prominence in the late 14th and 15th centuries, when they ruled various territories in western Gree ...

until 1479, when it was captured by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. With the exception of a brief period of Venetian control in 1482–83, the island remained in Ottoman hands until 1500. The

Second Ottoman–Venetian War The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

broke out in 1499 with the Ottoman attack on the Venetian port of Lepanto on the Greek mainland, which surrendered on 24 August 1499. The war continued to go badly for Venice, as the Ottomans shifted their attention to the

Morea The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottom ...

and stormed

Modon The Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones ( ar, الهيئة السعودية للمدن الصناعية ومناطق التقنية), also known simply as MODON ( ar, مُدُن) is a government organization created by the Go ...

on 9 August 1500, followed by the surrender thereupon of the neighbouring forts Coron and

Navarino Navarino or Navarin may refer to: Battle * Battle of Navarino, 1827 naval battle off Navarino, Greece, now known as Pylos Geography * Navarino, Wisconsin, a town, United States * Navarino (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, Unit ...

. On 17 August 1500, however, the Spanish captain-general,

, offered the forces at his disposal to the aid of Venice. Aided by the Spanish fleet, the newly appointed Venetian captain-general of the Sea, Benedetto Pesaro, landed on Cephalonia and after a siege took the island's capital, the Castle of St. George, on 24 December. The Spanish commander and his fleet returned to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

after that, but Pesaro went on to recover Santa Maura (

Lefkada Lefkada ( el, Λευκάδα, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas ( Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of G ...

) as well in August 1502. When a peace treaty was concluded in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

in December 1502, Cephalonia remained in Venetian hands, but Santa Maura was returned to Ottoman rule in 1503.Setton (1978), p. 523

Notes

References

* Freely, John. ''The Ionian Islands: Corfu, Cephalonia, Ithaka and Beyond'' (2008) * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Conflicts in 1500 1500 in Europe

Saint George Saint George ( Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

1500 in the Ottoman Empire Saint George Castle Saint George Castle Saint George Castle Ottoman–Spanish conflicts History of Cephalonia Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands