Geoffroy de Thoisy
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Geoffroy de Thoisy, ''chevalier seigneur de Mimeure'', was a Burgundian naval commander and
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of the
Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...
involved in
Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
’s
Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
endeavors in the 1440s.


Biography

He commanded a Burgundian flotilla organized by Philip III the Good,
Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...
() in May 1441 at the request from the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
to help defend
Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
against the
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
Sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally i ...
. The duke went in person to
Sluis Sluis (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Sluus ; french: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January ...
to see off his flotilla. Throughout 1442, de Thoisy's force was based at Rhodes, harassing the Muslim shipping and coastline. Having refitted at Villefranche, it was again in action off the
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
n coast and Rhodes in 1444. When a second Mamluk fleet assailed the island, the Burgundians helped the Hospitallers lift the
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of the town of Rhodes which lasted for forty days. Next, in response to the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
appeal for help against the Ottoman advance, Philip instructed de Thoisy to lead his squadron to reinforce a squadron of four galleys built or hired at
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
and
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, commanded by Waleran de Wavrin, to join
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's planned Crusade. De Wavrin's four galleys sailed in July 1444 but failed to stop
Murad II Murad II ( ota, مراد ثانى, Murād-ı sānī, tr, II. Murad, 16 June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1444 and again from 1446 to 1451. Murad II's reign was a period of important economic deve ...
's
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n army from crossing the
Bosporus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern T ...
. De Thoisy joined de Wavrin's squadron at
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 (" ...
, where the latter had gone to spend the winter. In the meantime, the crusading army led by Wladyslaw III of Poland (Ulaszlo I as
king of Hungary The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...
) and
Janos Hunyadi John Hunyadi (, , , ; 1406 – 11 August 1456) was a leading Hungarian military and political figure in Central and Southeastern Europe during the 15th century. According to most contemporary sources, he was the member of a noble family of ...
had been severely defeated by the united Anatolian and
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n armies of Murad II, on 10 November 1444, on the plain before
Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...
, on the coast of the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
. In the spring of 1445, de Wavrin sailed to the
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to join the Hungarians in the continuing Crusade, while de Thoisy took his ships along the south coast of the Black Sea. He engaged in piracy there, plundering both ships and coastal settlements, covering the expenses for the re-equipment of his ships at Trebizond with five slave-women, worth in all 164
ducat The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...
s. Then, de Thoisy decided to continue to the coast of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, hoping to capture vessels carrying silk. Although the
Emperor of Trebizond The Trapezuntine emperors were the rulers of the Empire of Trebizond, one of the successor states of the Byzantine Empire founded after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1461. All but two of the Trapezuntine ru ...
warned him that the people of Georgia were Christians, de Thoisy went ahead with his campaign, claiming that his orders were to fight all
schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
atics who did not obey the
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. However, some
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from Trebizond informed the Georgians who, when they saw the galley coming, took up arms and waited in ambush. As soon as Thoisy landed at the port of Vaty (
Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...
), the ambushers attacked, killing many of his men and taking him captive. The ones who managed to escape fled to the Genoese port of
Caffa uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe , official_name = () , settlement_type= , image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa , image_shield = Fe ...
(modern
Feodosiya uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe , official_name = () , settlement_type= , image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa , image_shield = Fe ...
,
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) and reported to de Wavrin who dispatched the Hospitaller knight Sir Regnault de Confide to ask the Emperor of Trebizond to mediate for Thoisy's release. The Emperor was quick to send to Georgia and, by these means, Sir Geoffrey was set free. He was put safely on board the galley and sailed to Caffa, capturing on the way two Greek vessels with cargoes of fish. Eventually, de Thoisy's piracy led to a protest from the government of Genoa to the Duke of Burgundy. This forced de Thoisy to return to Constantinople, where he was invited by de Wavrin to join the forthcoming expedition with the Hungarians and
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. He preferred to return with his ships to Nice and Villefranche, however. Later, in the 1450s, de Thoisy wrote memoranda of advice to the new Crusade endeavor planned (but never materialized) by Philip III.Housley, Norman (1992), ''The Later Crusades'', pp. 92-3, 108.
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, .


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thoisy, Geoffroy de 15th-century French people Knights of the Golden Fleece People from Côte-d'Or History of Burgundy 15th century in the Kingdom of Georgia Christians of the Crusade of Varna Medieval admirals Medieval pirates