War of Saint Sabas

Part of the Venetian–Genoese Wars

Date	1256–1270
Location	Levant
Result	Venetian victory

Belligerents

Republic of Genoa
supported by Philip of Monfort, John of Arsuf, and the Knights Hospitaller

Republic of Venice
supported by the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon and the Knights Templar

The War of Saint Sabas or San Saba (1256–1270) was a conflict between the rival Italian maritime republics of Genoa (aided by Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre, John of Arsuf, and the Knights Hospitaller) and Venice (aided by the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon and the Knights Templar), over control of Acre, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The war began when the Venetians were evicted from Tyre in 1256 and war grew out of a dispute concerning land in Acre then owned by Mar Saba but claimed by both Genoa and Venice. Initially Genoa had a clear upper hand, but its early successes were abruptly reversed when the Republic of Pisa, a former ally, signed a ten-year pact of military alliance with Venice.

In 1257 a Venetian admiral, Lorenzo Tiepolo, broke through Acre's harbour chain and destroyed several Genoese ships, conquered the disputed property, and destroyed Saint Sabas' fortifications; however he was unable to expel the Genoese, who were 800 men strong and armed with 50–60 ballistae, from their quarter of the city despite throwing up a blockade; there were also siege engines among the Venetians.

The famed Genoese crossbowmen took part in the fighting in Acre: the life of the Count of Jaffa was only spared by a chivalrous Genoese consul who forbade his crossbowman to shoot the Count from his tower. Pisa and Venice hired men to man their galleys in Acre itself during the siege: the average rate of pay of a Pisan- or Venetian-employed sailor on one of their galleys was ten bezants a day and nine a night. The blockade lasted more than a year (perhaps twelve or fourteen months), but because the Hospitaller complex was also near the Genoese quarter, food was brought to them quite simply, even from as far away as Philip of Montfort in Tyre.

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Wikipedia