Topic
Berat, Siege of
The Siege of Berat in Albania by the forces of the Angevin Kingdom of Sicily against the Byzantine garrison of the city takes place in 1280–1281.
Berat is a strategically important fortress, whose possession would allow the Angevins access to the heartlands of the Byzantine Empire.
A Byzantine relief force arrives in spring 1281, and manages to ambush and capture the Angevin commander, Hugo de Sully.
The Angevin army panics and flees, suffering heavy losses in killed and wounded as it is attacked by the Byzantines.
This defeat ends the threat of a land invasion of the Byzantine Empire, and along with the Sicilian Vespers maks the end of the Western threat to reconquer Byzantium.