Siege of Zadar (1345–1346)

Background

The siege arose from complex political relations between Zadar and Venice, and from the policy of Croato-Hungarian king Louis the Angevin after his accession in 1342. Louis sought full control over the Kingdom of Croatia, including Dalmatian cities held by Venice.

Siege

The Venetians began besieging Zadar and surrounding castles on 12 August 1345. The land army was commanded by Marco Giustiniani, the marine forces by Pietro de Canale. The siege had three phases. The first ended in late January 1346 when the Venetians broke the harbour chain, allowing their galleys to enter the port and approach the city walls.

Pietro Civrano then took supreme command as capitaneus generalis. In the second phase, King Louis' army attacked the Venetian fortress (bastida) near Zadar in late spring. Although reportedly up to 100,000 men, they were compressed between the fortress and the sea and came under fire from ships and ballistic devices. Their major attack on 1 July 1346 failed, and Louis retreated north.

In the third phase, Zadar's defenders, short of food and water and without supply lines, fought on until 21 December 1346, when Venetian troops entered and took control.

Aftermath

After the Venetians took Zadar, Bishop Nicolò Matafari fled and did not come back until the Hungarians regained the city. The Treaty of Zadar, signed on 18 February 1358, forced Venice to give up land from the Gulf of Kvarner to Durrës in favor of Louis. Zadar then governed itself under Croato-Hungarian rulers until 1409. That year, King Ladislaus of Naples, facing defeat by Sigismund of Luxembourg, sold his rights over Dalmatia—including Zadar—to Venice for 100,000 ducats.