Sack of Thessalonica (1185)

Sack of Thessalonica
Part of the third Norman invasion of the Balkans
Date 9–24 August 1185 Location Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece) Result Sicilian victory Thessalonica sacked
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire, Alan and Georgian mercenaries	Kingdom of Sicily
Commanders and leaders
David Komnenos † John Maurozomes † Theodore Choumnos	Count Baldwin Count Richard of Acerra Count Tancred of Lecce
Strength
Unknown	80,000 men 200 ships
Casualties and losses
7,000 soldiers and civilians	3,000 soldiers

The sack of Thessalonica in 1185 by Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily was one of the worst disasters to befall the Byzantine Empire in the 12th century.

Siege

David Komnenos, the governor, had failed to prepare for the siege and banned defenders from disrupting Norman siege works, hindering the city's defense.The Byzantine relief armies failed to coordinate their efforts, and only two forces, under Theodore Choumnos and John Maurozomes, actually came to the city's aid. In the event, the Normans undermined the city's eastern wall, opening a breach through which they entered the city. They slaughtered the defenders and proceeded to sack the city. The conquest degenerated quickly into a full-scale massacre of the city's inhabitants, with estimates suggesting that around 7,000 to 8,000 corpses were found afterwards. The siege is extensively chronicled by the city's archbishop, Eustathius of Thessalonica, who was present in the city during and after the siege.

Aftermath

The Normans occupied Thessalonica until mid-November, when, following their defeat at the Battle of Demetritzes, they evacuated it. After emperor Andronikos Komnenos's massacre of the Latins in Constantinople in 1182, the massacre of the Thessalonians deepened the rift between the Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. It also directly led to the deposition and execution of the unpopular Emperor Andronikos and the rise to the throne of Isaac II Angelos.

Sources

• Brand, Charles M. (1968). "The Norman Threat: 1185". Byzantium Confronts the West, 1180–1204. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 160–175. LCCN 67-20872. OCLC 795121713.
• Magoulias, Harry J., ed. (1984). O City of Byzantium. Annals of Niketas Choniates. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 164–171, 175–176. ISBN 0-8143-1764-2.
• Stephenson, Paul (2000). "The Norman Invasion, 1185–1186". Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 284–288. ISBN 0-521-77017-3.