February 12, 1332 Tsunami: Constantinople, Turkey

Possibly 1331. An earthquake accompanied by huge sea waves took place. Listed as possible tsunami (reference #2130).

The waves beat the city walls of Istanbul, seriously damaging many of the dwellings therein; huge waves not necessarily of a tsunami but a by product of the storm in Istanbul; a large sea wave covered and destroyed the coastal walls of Byzantium up to their foundation. Listed as probable tsunami (reference #9275)

AD 1332 Jan 17, Constantinople. This earthquake was followed on 12 February by violent thunderstorms and heavy seas, which caused some damage to the sea walls. The winds caused substantial damage, toppling the column which stood in front of the church of All Saints and carrying away many crosses from churches […] This was followed by a lunar eclipse, and then. on St Anthony's day, an earthquake occurred in the evening. Andronicus died in the evening of 12 February 1332, and on that day there was a thunderstorm and violent sea waves, which burst through part of the sea defences and brought down some of the houses and statues in the city. The feast of St Anthony the Great fell on 17 January. This event is also mentioned by (pseudo-) Phrantzes, who attributes the destructive effects of the storm to the earthquake. (reference #9116)

1332 Jan 17 This earthquake was felt very strongly in Constantinople and was followed by violent thunderstorms and heavy seas which caused serious damage to buildings and the sea walls. The shock itself caused no damage. (reference #14000)

Note: date of described earthquake event and ‘tsunami’ event are different as the descriptions imply the waves impacting on 12 Feb while earthquake was on 17 Jan