Roger of Lauria
Roger of Lauria, or
de Llúria in
Catalan (
c. 1245 – 17 January 1305), was an Italian
admiral, who was the commander of the fleet
of
Aragon during the
War of the Sicilian Vespers. He
was probably the most successful and talented naval tactician of
the medieval period. He is known as
Ruggero or
Ruggiero di Lauria in Italian.
Ruggero di
Lauria was born at Lauria
or Scalea
in southern
Italy, the son of Richard of
Lauria, Great Justicer of the Kingdom of Naples, and Donna Bella, a
nurse of Constance of
Hohenstaufen. His father had served under King Manfred of Sicily; when the last member of
that family, Conradin of Swabia,
was beheaded at Naples in 1268, he took refuge with other Ghibelline exiles at Barcelona
(Aragon
) with his
mother.
Later King
Peter III of Aragon,
who had married Constance of Hohenstaufen, made him knight together
with
Corrado Lancia, who was to be a
fellow of Roger in many of his enterprises. In 1282 Roger was named
commander of the Aragonese fleet, keeping this charge under Peter's
successors
James II and
Frederick III.
Roger of Lauria commanded the Aragonese fleet during the campaign
to capture
Sicily from the
Angevins after the
Sicilian Vespers revolt in 1282, which made
the Aragonese rulers of Sicily. He fought and won six naval galley
battles in total. On
8 July 1283 (
Battle of Malta)
he defeated the Angevins in the Grand Harbour of Malta. On
5 June 1284 (
Battle of Castellammare), he
defeated the Neapolitan fleet and even captured the enemy
commander, Charles of Salerno (the future
Charles II of Naples).
On
4 September 1285
(Battle of Les Formigues)
during the Aragonese Crusade, he
defeated the French near Barcelona, which destroyed for a long time
the Franch naval power in the Mediterranean
. Within days, he had landed and took part in
the Battle of the Col de Panissars
. On
23 June 1287 (
Battle of the
Counts) he again defeated the Angevins near Naples, despite his
fleet consisting of only forty ships against the enemys' eighty.
After this victory, without any authorisation from King James, he
sold a truce with the Neapolitans. Observers noted that this truce
probably deprived the Aragonese-Sicilians of the victory also on
the mainland.
When
Frederick III was elected King of Trinacria (Sicily), Roger
received in reward of his victories the fief of Aci
and the
annexed castle, stripped from the bishops of Catania
.
However,
the relationship between the admiral and the young King soon turned
bad; when the former passed to the Angevins, Aci was besieged and
captured by Frederick, and Roger took refuge at his summer
residence in Castiglione di Sicilia
. Again besieged and defeated, he was arrested
and brought to Palermo
.
However he managed to escape and left Sicily, while all his
fiefs were confiscated. Roger therefore passed
to the service of
Edward I of
England, to fight against the French. But, in spite of his
promises, he returned to Italy, where, on
4
July 1299 (
Battle of Cape Orlando), he defeated
the Sicilians near Sicily, capturing eighteen enemy galleys.
He had another victory on
14 June 1300 (
Battle of Ponza),
in which he defeated and captured king Frederick himself. After the
Peace of Caltabellotta, he
submitted to Frederick and received a whole pardon.
He retreated to
Cocentaina
, where he died in 1305.
Tactics
Roger was successful in naval warfare because of several skillful
tactics. He tried to lure enemy fleets out of defended ports,
pretending to retreat and getting them to chase him until they
became disorganized, then turning in formation to attack. He had
much more control over his captains than the enemies did. His crews
were made up of specialized troops, instead of the more generic
types used by his enemies. His
Catalan archers were used initially, while
his oarsmen and/or
almogàvers (unarmored and highly mobile
troops armed with two javelins, a lance and a dagger) stayed under
cover. When the galleys closed, often from the sides of the enemy
galleys (which damaged their oars), these
almogàvers were
much more agile than the heavily armored knights with swords his
enemies often used, especially on the moving deck of a galley at
sea. He used trickery to disguise the size of his force. In
addition, he sometimes kept some of his galleys hidden, to attack
the rear of the enemy after the battle had started.
Roger was also infamous for the ruthless sackings and the
devastations of his actions, often driven only by greed and
personal advantage. On the other side, his reputation alone
possibly caused some enemies to lose heart during a battle.
References
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