Holy League (Merveilles du Monde Map Game)

The Holy League (Latin: Liga Sancta, Italian: Lega Santa) was a coalition of Catholic nations that was arranged by Pope Clement V and his successors in response to the advance of the Ottomans in East Thrace and their conquest of Çimpe Castle in 1352. This event marking the first time that a muslim nation conquered a territory in Europe since the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom to the Umayyad Caliphate in 726. Originally, the League had the intention to expel the Turks from Thrace, but after a serie of victories the League was able to completely annihilate the Ottoman Sultanate in the Siege of Bursa in 1357. Its members were:


 * Papal States
 * Latin Empire of Romania
 * Polonia-Lithuania
 * Kingdom of Cyprus
 * Knights of Rodes
 * Teutonic Order
 * Swiss Confederacy
 * Federation of Padinia
 * Republic of Venice
 * Kingdom of Thessaloniki
 * Duchy of Neopatria

The Holy League also received the help of the Byzantine Empire and of the Voivodeship of Wallachia. Emperor John V Palaiologos accepted to participate after he reached an agreement with Pope Innocent VI where all the lands taken from the Ottomans would be returned to Byzantine control. This agreement was respected after the Fall of Bursa and the Byzantines recovered control over the Theme of Bythinia.

In commemoration to the victory of the Holy League, Pope Innocent VI stablished the feast of Our Lady of Victory in 7 October, the day that Bursa was conquered.