Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

in the Middle Ages may refer to the city

, (capital of

Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum The praetorian prefecture of Illyricum ( la, praefectura praetorio per Illyricum; el, ἐπαρχότης/ὑπαρχία �ῶν πραιτωρίωντοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ, also termed simply the Prefecture of Illyricum) was one of four ...

after 379 AD),

Thessalonica (theme) The Theme of Thessalonica ( el, Θέμα Θεσσαλονίκης) was a military-civilian province (''thema'' or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in the southern Balkans, comprising varying parts of Central and Western Macedonia and centre ...

or to the Latin

Kingdom of Thessalonica The Kingdom of Thessalonica () was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over conquered Byzantine lands in Macedonia and Thessaly. History Background After the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders in 1204, Bonifac ...

Sack of Thessalonica

The

Sack of Thessalonica (904) The Sack of Thessalonica refers to the capture, and subsequent sack, of the Byzantine city of Thessalonica by the Abbasid Caliphate in the year 904, led by Leo of Tripoli, a privateer and Muslim convert. Background The city, which is now in m ...

by the Muslim navy under the leadership of the Greek convert to Islam,

Leo of Tripolis Leo of Tripoli ( el, Λέων ὸ Τριπολίτης), known in Arabic as Rashīq al-Wardāmī (), and ghulam, Ghulām Zurāfa (), was a Byzantine Greeks, Greek renegade and fleet commander for the Abbasid Caliphate in the early tenth century. ...

Battles of Bulgarian-Byzantine wars

Battle of Thessalonica (996) The Battle of Thessalonica ( bg, Битката при Солун) occurred in 995 or earlier, near the city of Thessalonica, Greece. The battle was part of the long Bulgarian–Byzantine war of the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The Bulga ...

- Bulgarian victory over the Byzantines *

Battle of Salonica (1014) The battle of Thessalonica ( bg, Битка при Солун) was fought between the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empires in the summer of 1014 near the city of Thessalonica in contemporary northern Greece. The Bulgarian army under the command ...

- Byzantine victory over the Bulgarians *

Battle of Salonica (1040) The battle of Thessalonica ( bg, Битка при Солун) occurred in 1040 near the city of Thessalonica in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines. The battle ended with a Bulgarian victory. Origins of the Conflic ...

- Bulgarian victory over the Byzantines *

Battle of Salonica (2nd 1040) The battle of Thessalonica ( bg, Битка при Солун, el, Μάχη της Θεσσαλονίκης) took place in the fall of 1040 near the city of Thessalonica in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines. The b ...

- Byzantine victory over the Bulgarians

Kingdom of Thessalonica

After the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

Thessalonica (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Θεσσαλονίκη, ''Thessalonikē'') became the capital of the

created for

Boniface of Montferrat Boniface I, usually known as Boniface of Montferrat ( it, Bonifacio del Monferrato, link=no; el, Βονιφάτιος Μομφερρατικός, ''Vonifatios Momferratikos'') (c. 1150 – 4 September 1207), was the ninth Marquis of Montferrat ( ...

. In 1224 the city was taken by

Theodore Komnenos Doukas Theodore Komnenos Doukas ( el, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Δούκας, ''Theodōros Komnēnos Doukas'', latinisation of names, Latinized as Theodore Comnenus Ducas, died 1253) was ruler of Despotate of Epirus, Epirus and Thessaly#Late M ...

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

, whose family maintained itself in control until 1246. In that year Thessalonica was annexed to the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

and thus returned under

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 ...

rule. Nevertheless, the city and its environs became a special jurisdiction entrusted to the rule of various members of the imperial house from 1376 until its cession to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in 1423. During the intervening period Thessalonica successfully withstood the attacks of the

Catalan Company The Catalan Company or the Great Catalan Company (Spanish: ''Compañía Catalana'', Catalan: ''Gran Companyia Catalana'', Latin: ''Exercitus francorum'', ''Societas exercitus catalanorum'', ''Societas cathalanorum'', ''Magna Societas Catalanorum' ...

in 1308 and of

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

in 1334.

Zealots of Thessalonica

In the period 1342–1349 Thessalonica was a virtually independent commune in the hands of the

Zealots The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jew ...

Ottoman siege and conquest

The city fell to the Turks in 1387 after an attack begun in 1383. It was recovered for the Byzantine Empire by the terms of the treaty signed with 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) ...

in 1403. Unable to hold Thessalonica against the Turks, its ruler, the despot Andronikos Palaiologos ceded it to

in 1423, but the Venetians were unable to prevent its fall to the Turks in 1430.

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Photos of byzantine buildings in Thessaloniki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thessalonica Despotate of Epirus