The Vespers rebellion, begun in Palermo on Easter Monday, 30 March 1282, outside the Church of the Holy Spirit, spread quickly all over the island. Charles I of Anjou tried in vain to put down the uprising with the promise of many reforms. Finally he decided to intervene militarily. With 75,000 men and two hundred ships, in late May 1282 he landed between Catona and Gallico (north of Reggio), on the coast of Calabria opposite Messina, to begin the siege of Messina and to block the flow of support from Reggio to the Sicilian city. The city of the Strait was being governed by . He was made Captain of the People and organized the resistance in the city.