The Siege of Chandax

 

My new chapter is called "The Siege of Chandax." This city, the capital of the Emirate of Crete (c. 924-961), was under siege by the Byzantine army between July 960 and March 961. Despite the numerical advantage, it took the general Nikephoros Phokas over seven months to take over the fortified location. 

It was a great victory since Crete, the erstwhile Roman enclave, was under Muslim domination for nearly 140 years. The island lay at the crossroads of routes connecting Greece, Anatolia, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt, i.e., the eastern Mediterranean. The Cretan navy endangered trade lanes in the Aegean, took control of several islands, and ravaged the mainland. 

The Emirate was a wealthy polity and a convenient way station for Egyptian and Syrian fleets poised against the East Roman Empire. 

There are many blank spots about Muslim Crete and the Byzantine recovery. I am trying to scramble through Byzantine and Arab sources to scribble a readable and trustworthy story. I will add the missing information from modern reports about the Roman and Arab armies. 

I have just uploaded a new article, "Sailing Ships in the Medieval Mediterranean," to Academia: https://www.academia.edu/107397680/Sailing_Ships_in_the_Medieval_Mediterranean

This is the second part of Chapter 1 of my research about shipping in the medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean. The first part is available at https://www.academia.edu/104456432/War_galleys_in_the_Medieval_Mediterranean

Sailing ships took advantage of winds, tides, and currents but struggled with impaired mobility in windless seas. Due to technological imperfections, medieval vessels could not run against the wind. The bigger versions had no trouble crossing deep waters and did not require frequent layovers in ports. The passengers sustained traumatic experiences during the squalls. The Mediterranean was not closed for shipping in the winter.