The Portuguese expedition to Otranto in 1481, which the Portuguese call the Turkish Crusade ( pt, Cruzada Turca), arrived too late to participate in any fighting. On 8 April 1481,

Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...

issued the papal bull ''Cogimur iubente altissimo'', in which he called for a

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 ...

against the Turks, who occupied Otranto in southern Italy. The Pope's intention was that, after recapturing Otranto, the crusaders would cross the Adriatic and liberate

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foo ...

(Valona) as well. Portugal decided to send a squadron into Otranto under command of the bishop of Évora, Garcia de Meneses. In a letter dated 27 August 1481 to Cardinal

Paolo di Campofregoso Paolo di Campofregoso (1427 – 22 March 1498) was an Italian Catholic archbishop who was three times doge of Genoa. Biography The son of doge Battista Fregoso, he was convinced by Pope Nicholas V to study ecclesiastical matters at Pavia. In 14 ...

, Sixtus wrote, "From Portugal there are twenty caravels and a cargo ship that we expect on the day at St Paul's, whose leader is a venerable brother Garcia, bishop of Évora." On 7 September he wrote to King

Ferdinand I of Naples Ferdinando Trastámara d'Aragona, of the Naples branch, universally known as Ferrante and also called by his contemporaries Don Ferrando and Don Ferrante (2 June 1424, in Valencia – 25 January 1494, in Naples), was the only son, illegitimate, of ...

, informing him that "a fleet which we sent for proceeds to Otranto from Portugal. . . We hope it will be of great use in the assault on Otranto. . ." On 14 September, the very day the Ottomans surrendered Otranto, the Pope was writing from

Bracciano Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake (Lake Bracciano, Lago di Bracciano or "Sabatino", the eighth largest lake in Italy) and for a particularly well-preserved medie ...

to his vice-chamberlain, who had informed him of the slow progress of the Portuguese fleet. Sixtus was suspicious of Garcia's intentions. The next day (15 September), he wrote to the bishop, praising him for his diligence and caution, but urging him to take his fleet to Vlorë to oust the Turkish garrison there to do "something worthy of the Christian religion and your honor and that of your king", referring to the recently deceased King

Afonso V Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Afric ...

. He also urged Garcia to take

Andreas Palaiologos Andreas Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἀνδρέας Παλαιολόγος; 17 January 1453 – June 1502), sometimes anglicized to Andrew, was the eldest son of Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea. Thomas was a brother of Constantine& ...

, the deposed despot of Morea, back to Greece to begin the reconquest of his lands.All quotations from Sixtus' letters can be found in By the time the Portuguese reached

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, the Ottomans had already withdrawn, because on May 3 the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,

Mehmed II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

, had died, and quarrels about his succession ensued.

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