The Rape of Thessalonica took place in 1136 AD, perpetrated by the evil Prince Simon of Sicily. A mixture of cunning strategy and subterfuge allowed his army of elite mailed and feudal knights to overcome the numerically superior but weak-willed Byzantine garrisson, and with the city in his hands, the population was systematically exterminated and the buildings torched to avenge the unannounced Byzantine raids on Durazzo... and rapidly fill the coffers in Palermo.