Genoese occupation of Rhodes

Part of the Byzantine-Latin Wars

Date	1248–1249/1250
Location	Rhodes island, Greece
Result	Nicaean victory; Genoese evicted from Rhodes

Belligerents

Empire of Nicaea

Republic of Genoa

Principality of Achaea

Commanders and leaders

John Kantakouzenos
Theodore Kontostephanos

William II of Villehardouin

The Genoese occupation of Rhodes refers to the period between 1248 and late 1249/early 1250 during which the city of Rhodes and parts of the island were under Genoese control. The Genoese took possession of the city and island, a dependency of the Empire of Nicaea, in a surprise attack in 1248, and held it, with aid from the Principality of Achaea, against Nicaean attacks until 1250.

Rhodes and its nearby islands had been detached from the control of the central Byzantine government already since before the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Under the rule of the Caesar Leo Gabalas, the island became the center of a practically independent domain, although at times Gabalas seems to have acknowledged the suzerainty of the major Byzantine Greek successor state, the Empire of Nicaea. Leo's brother and successor, John Gabalas, who succeeded him probably in the early 1240s, was clearly in a less powerful position, as he is only mentioned as "Master of Rhodes".

In 1248, when John Gabalas was absent from the island in a Nicaean campaign against the Latin Empire, the Genoese exploited his absence and in a surprise night attack seized the city of Rhodes, the island's capital, and soon expanded their control over the remainder of the island. The Nicaean emperor, John III Vatatzes, reacted swiftly, sending a fleet to the island, led by the pinkernes and doux of the Thracesian Theme, John Kantakouzenos. Kantakouzenos, although he did not have many men, managed to recover the fortress towns of Lindos and Phileremos. As soon as reinforcements arrived, he moved against the island's capital, where he blockaded the Genoese.

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