Sardinia, April 1323
Hugh II, Judge of Arborea agreed to become a vassal of the kingdom of Aragon. in June an Aragonese expedition under crown prince Alfonso would land in Sardinia and put the Pisan garrison in Villa di Chiesa under siege. After a delay of a quarter century the Aragonese conquest of Sardinia had finally begun.
Palermo, April 1323
Crown prince Peter had been proclaimed co-king two years before by the Sicilian parliament. Now he was married to Elizabeth of Carinthia. It was unclear what the house of Barcelona hoped to gain by this match. Of course Elizabeth's father was a half-brother of Conradin from the second marriage of his mother, but that connection carried rather little influence by now.
Sicily, June 1323
A new Angevin army marched out of Trapani, to invade Frederick's lands. The scale of the invasion was manageable, after all the Angevins were still heavily committed in fighting in mainland Italy and king Robert was away to France since 1319, with his son Charles running Naples, but it still meant Frederick had to fight a two front war. It was not the best prospect for a country that had already lost a seventh of its population over the last seven years...
Trikala, August 1323
The town accepted an Epirote garrison, under despot John II Orsini. With Gabriilopoulos army smashed up by Fadrique the only other alternative was surrendering to the Catalans. The Catalans were actually getting quite a bit of support from Thessaly's aristocrats who were rather suspicious of the Lascarids. After all what did it matter if Theodore and his brother were fellow Greeks if it meant they would have to their highly centralized state with a tradition of supporting the lower classes? Alfonso, particularly in his current weakened state where he absolutely needed their support was preferable.
Argos, September 1323
Larissa, the citadel of Argos finally surrendered to the soldiers of Alexios Philanthopenos. Nauplion cut off from land and sea had fallen quickly. But the commander of Argos had held out for fifteen months before surrendering. In doing so it had tied down the despotate for most of the campaign season giving Demetrios some breathing space. How much that would help with Constantinople failing to provide any reinforcements was anyone's guess.
Salona, December 1323
The town still held up as Andronikos Asen even with the support of local volunteers had insufficient numbers to cut it of from supply. The county of Salona was a fief directly controlled by Alfonso Fadrique and even with his army defeated in Corinth and Aliartos he had made certain the castle, one of the strongest in Greece, was well provisioned and garrisoned. But Andronikos was a capable man. He would keep grinding down of the Franks till Phokis had been recovered.
Brindisi, January 1324
John Count of Gravina led a fleet of 25 galleys east accross the Adriatic. The dowry of his sister was just the principality of Achaea. Nothing said that the rest of Greece had to pass to house Lascaris, even if it was allied and had given fealty tp Robert instead of more worthy members of the House of Anjou. Like himself.
Avignon, February 1324
Robert I, after four years finally begun the journey back to Naples. But his journey would not begin with good news, as in the end of the month Galeazzo Visconti would defeat the papal army that was threatening Milan.
Philadepheia, June 1324
The city surrendered to the Turks that had been besieging it since the start of the year. No help had been sent to it by any of the three emperors. Neither the Lascarids or Zaccaria or the Hospitallers were in a position to aid a city so deeply inland. The sole thing Theodore and Ioannis had been able to do had been to pay for the safe passage of any of the citizens that did not want to remain under the Turks. Ioannis would settle them in the outskirts of Syracuse.
Arta, July 1324
John of Gravina had first landed in Corfu, securely held be the Angevins for the past half century. From there he had moved against Arta, in hopes of restoring the Angevin claim on Epirus. But once more the despotate's capital was proving too tough a nut to crack even under the leaderships of someone as questionable as John Orsini. The siege went on but John was starting to get frustrated. After all he had to keep his mercenaries paid and fed and the money he had received from Nicholas Acciajuoli were not inexhaustible.
Didymoteichon, October 1324
Andronikos III was of two minds of the news he was receiving from the south. His grandfather despite the peace between them had refused his calls to come to terms with Theodore. Instead he had sent Manuel to take command of Laconia. Theodore was tacitly avoiding to attack his holdings, Lemnos which had proclaimed for himself back in 1322 would had been an easy target, for the Lascarid navy otherwise. But the Morea was a different matter. There Alexios Philanthopenos was systematically demolishing Manuel fort by fort, he suspected the only thing saving his brother was the better part of Theodore's army being tied down against the Catalans, without either side making any headway. Which on one had meant that Theodore was removing his rival for himself. But on the other meant the empire was going to lose her Moreor possessions. One more great success for his grandfather...
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