Corfu

Lore & Background

Ancient Korkyra took part in the Battle of Sybota, a catalyst for the Peloponnesian War, and was one of the three great naval powers of Greece in the fifth century BCE, along with Athens and Corinth. Ruins of ancient Greek temples and other archaeological sites of the ancient city of Korkyra are located in Palaiopolis. From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island was part of the Republic of Venice since 1204, successfully repulsed the Ottomans during several sieges, and became one of the most fortified places in Europe. In November 1815 Corfu came under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1864 was ceded to modern Greece under the Treaty of London.

Reader's Guide

Corfu's significance lies in its long history as a strategic naval and military stronghold. In antiquity, its fleet rivaled those of Athens and Corinth, and its conflict with Corinth helped spark the Peloponnesian War. Under Venetian rule, its fortifications protected the Adriatic from Ottoman expansion, earning it recognition as a bulwark of European states. The island is also the origin of the Ionian Academy, the first university of the modern Greek state, and the Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, the first Greek theatre and opera house. Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of independent Greece, was born in Corfu. In 2007, the city's old town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the 1994 European Union summit was held there. Today, Corfu is a popular tourist destination.

Did You Know?

• Corfu's Greek name Kerkyra derives from the nymph Korkyra, abducted by Poseidon.
• The island's capital is the only city in Greece surrounded by two medieval castles, earning it the official designation 'kastropolis'.
• Corfu was the site of the first university of the modern Greek state, the Ionian Academy.
• The highest temperature recorded on Corfu was 42.8 °C on 24 July 2007.

The Franco-Ottoman Gambit and Venice's Precarious Neutrality

The siege emerged from a broader Franco-Ottoman alliance. In 1537, France and the Ottoman Empire agreed on combined operations: the Ottomans would strike Charles V's southern Italian territories under Hayreddin Barbarossa, while Francis I would attack his northern Italian holdings with 50,000 men. Suleiman marched 300,000 troops from Constantinople to Albania, with a fleet of 250 galleys gathering at Avlona, accompanied by the French ambassador Jean de La Forêt. They landed in Castro, Apulia by late July, and Barbarossa devastated the Otranto region, enslaving roughly 10,000 people. However, Francis I broke his commitment, attacking the Netherlands instead. Venice, though functionally neutral after rejecting an alliance with Charles V against the Ottomans, grew alarmed as relations with both Francis and Suleiman soured. Their Senate ordered Admiral Girolamo Pesaro to keep his fleet ready. Tensions escalated when Venetian ships clashed with Barbarossa's expanded fleet of 320 sails. Meanwhile, Andrea Doria defeated an Ottoman fleet at Antipaxos but let the Turks capture a forged letter suggesting a Venetian alliance. By August 14, Suleiman abandoned southern Italy and turned his attention to the Venetian republic.

Bombardment, Plague, and the Emperor's Withdrawal

In August 1537, the Ottoman fleet of 320 ships redirected from southern Italy toward Corfu, while Suleiman departed Avlona on August 19. The bombardment began on August 26, and 25,000 Ottoman troops made landfall on the island. The French Admiral Baron de Saint-Blancard, who had sailed from Marseille on August 15 with 12 galleys, arrived in early September. He attempted to persuade the Ottomans to resume raiding the coasts of Apulia, Sicily, and the March of Ancona, but his diplomatic efforts proved futile. The siege stretched through September under increasingly difficult conditions. Suleiman's camp was ravaged by bad weather, and plague swept through his troops. On September 15, the Ottoman emperor made the decision to withdraw his fleet back to Istanbul without having captured the island. The siege thus ended not through a decisive military victory by the defenders, but through a combination of disease, weather, and strategic reassessment by the besieging force.

The Grand Army That Never Came

As the siege dragged on, the Venetian Senate scrambled to assemble a coalition. On September 11, they appealed to Pope Paul III for the Papal armada and the Knights Hospitaller. They ordered Admiral Pesaro to rendezvous with reinforcements at Brindisi, while still refraining from sailing against the massive Ottoman fleet. They also summoned Andrea Doria to bring the imperial armada. The grand plan envisioned a combined force of Venice, the emperor, and the Pope. Yet Doria, possibly simply not informed in time, failed to appear at Brindisi where all available Venetian ships waited. Two days after Suleiman's withdrawal on September 15, Doria finally arrived near Corfu with 100 ships, including the Hospitaller squad and the great carrack Santa Anna, only to find the siege already lifted. He was subsequently accused of deliberately dragging his feet, an accusation rooted in the ancient rivalry between Genoa and Venice. The episode left a bitter stain on Venetian-Genoese relations and raised questions about the reliability of allied commitments in moments of crisis.

Realignment: The Truce of Nice and the End of an Alliance

The siege's conclusion triggered a dramatic reshuffling of Mediterranean alliances. The French ambassador Jean de La Forêt fell seriously ill and died around that time. Francis I finally made his long-delayed penetration into Italy, reaching Rivoli on October 31, 1537. Saint-Blancard's fleet wintered in Chios until February 17, 1538, when three ships were dispatched to Constantinople while the remainder returned to France. In Constantinople, the French galleys were received by ambassador Charles de Marillac, with Barbarossa covering their expenses. They finally departed on April 11, 1538, sailing to Nice via Monastir. Most significantly, the siege compelled Venice to abandon its careful neutrality. The Republic formed an alliance with the Pope and Charles V against the Ottomans. On June 18, 1538, Francis I signed the Truce of Nice with Charles V, effectively and temporarily dissolving the Franco-Ottoman alliance that had precipitated the entire crisis. The siege thus served as a turning point that reconfigured the balance of power across the Mediterranean.