Siege of Bursa

1317–1326 capture of the Byzantine city of Prusa by the Ottoman Empire

Siege of Bursa

Part of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars

Gate of Bursa castle
| Date| 1317 – April 6, 1326[1]

|

Location|

Prusa, Byzantine Empire (modern-day Bursa, Turkey)

Result|

* Ottoman victory

* The Ottomans capture Bursa and establish their first capital.
* Bursa becomes the first official capital of the Ottoman Beylik.

Belligerents
Ottoman Beylik|  Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Osman Ghazi #
Orhan Ghazi
Köse Mihal|  Saroz
Strength
Unknown|  Unknown

* v
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Byzantine–Ottoman wars

* Kulaca Hisar
* İnegöl
* Bapheus
* Dimbos
* Catalan campaign
* Bursa
* Pelekanon
* Nicaea
* Nicomedia
* Gallipoli
* Savoyard crusade
* Adrianople
* 1st Thessalonica
* Philadelphia
* 1st Constantinople
* 2nd Constantinople
* 3rd Constantinople
* 2nd Thessalonica
* 4th Constantinople
* Morea
* Trebizond

The siege of Bursa occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326,[1] when the Ottoman Turks deployed a bold plan to seize Prusa (modern-day Bursa, Turkey). The Ottomans had not captured a city before; the lack of expertise and adequate siege equipment at this stage of the war meant that the city fell only after six or nine years.[2]

The historian, Laonikos Chalkokondyles, notes that the Ottomans took advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 to capture the city: "Andronikos decided that he should hold the throne himself, as his grandfather had already grown old, and so they fell out with each other. He was too stubborn to submit and caused endless trouble. He brought in the Serbs and allied himself with the leading Greeks in his struggle for the throne. As a result they could do nothing to prevent the Turks from crossing over into Europe. It was at this time that Prusa was besieged, starved out, and taken by Osman, and other cities in Asia were captured."[3]

According to some sources Osman I died of natural causes just before the fall of the city,[2] while others suggest that he lived long enough to hear about the victory on his death-bed[1][4][5] and was buried in Bursa afterwards.

## Aftermath

[edit]

After the fall of the city, his son and successor Orhan made Bursa the first official Ottoman capital and it remained so until 1366, when Edirne became the new capital.[2] As a result, Bursa holds a special place in Ottoman history as their founding city, and also as the birthplace of Ottoman architecture (Bursa Grand Mosque (1399), Bayezid I Mosque (1395), Hüdavendigar Mosque (1385), and Yeşil Mosque) (1421).[6] During his reign Orhan encouraged urban growth through the construction of buildings such as imarets, Turkish baths, mosques, inns and caravanserais,[7] and he also built a mosque and a medrese in what is now known as the Hisar district,[8] and after his death was buried there in his türbe (mausoleum) next to his father.[6] The Moroccan Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta who visited Bursa in 1331 was impressed by the sultan and found Bursa an enjoyable city[6] "with fine bazaars and wide streets, surrounded on all sides by gardens and running springs."[9]

## Importance

[edit]

Paul K. Davis writes, "The capture of Bursa established Osman I (Othman) and his successors as the major power in Asia Minor, beginning the Ottoman Empire."[10]

## See also

[edit]

* Siege of Kulaca Hisar

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Rogers, Clifford (2010). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Vol. 1\. Oxford University Press. p. 261\. ISBN 9780195334036.
2. ^ a b c Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Vol. 1\. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 100–101\. ISBN 9780313337338.
3. ^ Kaldellis, Anthony. (2014). The Histories. Vol. 1\. Dumbarton Oaks. p. 25\. ISBN 978-0-674-59918-5.
4. ^ Hore, A. H. (2003). Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek Church. Gorgias Press LLC. p. 455\. ISBN 9781593330514.
5. ^ Pitcher, Donald Edgar (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. Brill Archive. p. 37.
6. ^ a b c Dumper, Michael R. T.; Stanley, Bruce E. (2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 101\. ISBN 9781576079195.
7. ^ Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 105\. ISBN 9781438110257.
8. ^ Levine, Lynn A. (2010). Frommer's Istanbul (2 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 238\. ISBN 9780470915790.
9. ^ Finkel, Caroline (2007). Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. Basic Books. p. 13\. ISBN 9780465008506.
10. ^ Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 151.

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Major sieges involving the Ottoman Empire by century

13th-14th|

* 1285 Kulaca Hisar
* 1326 Bursa
* 1328–1331 Nicaea
* 1333–1337 Nicomedia
* 1360s Adrianople
* 1385 Sofia
* 1393 Tarnovo
* 1394–1402 Constantinople

15th|

* 1411 Constantinople
* 1422 Constantinople
* 1422–1430 Thessalonica
* 1428 Golubac
* 1440 Belgrade
* 1440–41 Novo Brdo
* 1448 Svetigrad
* 1450 Krujë
* 1453 Constantinople
* 1455 Berat
* 1456 Belgrade
* 1461 Trebizond
* 1462 Mytilene
* 1463 Jajce
* 1464 Jajce
* 1466–67 Krujë
* 1467 Krujë
* 1470 Negroponte
* 1474 Scutari
* 1477–78 Krujë
* 1478–79 Scutari
* 1480 Rhodes
* 1481 Otranto
* 1484 Chilia

16th|

* 1500 Cephalonia
* 1517 Cairo
* 1521 Belgrade
* 1522 Knin
* 1522 Rhodes
* 1529 Peñón of Algiers
* 1529 Vienna
* 1531 Diu
* 1532 Güns (Kőszeg)
* 1532 Maribor
* 1533–34 Coron
* 1534 Tunis
* 1534 Baghdad
* 1537 Klis
* 1537 Corfu
* 1538 Diu
* 1539 Castelnuovo
* 1541 Buda
* 1543 Nice
* 1543 Esztergom
* 1548 Aden
* 1548 Van
* 1551 Tripoli
* 1552 Muscat
* 1552 Hormuz
* 1552 Temesvár
* 1552 Eger
* 1556 Oran
* 1559 Bahrain
* 1563 Oran
* 1565 Malta
* 1566 Szigetvar
* 1570–71 Famagusta
* 1574 Tunis
* 1578 Gvozdansko
* 1592 Bihać
* 1593 Sisak
* 1596 Eger

17th|

* 1601 Nagykanizsa
* 1621 Khotyn
* 1603 Tabriz
* 1606 Ganja
* 1607 Shamakhi
* 1616 Erivan
* 1624 Baghdad
* 1625–1626 Baghdad
* 1630 Baghdad
* 1635 Erivan
* 1636 Erivan
* 1638 Baghdad
* 1663 Uyvar
* 1664 Novi Zrin
* 1648–1669 Candia
* 1672 Kamenets
* 1683 Vienna
* 1684 Buda
* 1684 Santa Maura
* 1685 Érsekújvár
* 1686 Buda
* 1686 Pécs
* 1688 Negroponte
* 1688 Belgrade
* 1690 Belgrade
* 1695 Azov
* 1696 Azov

18th|

* 1711 Brăila
* 1715 Nauplia
* 1716 Corfu
* 1716 Temeşvar
* 1717 Belgrade
* 1733 Baghdad
* 1734–35 Ganja
* 1737 Ochakov
* 1739 Belgrade
* 1788 Ochakov
* 1788 Khotin
* 1789 Belgrade
* 1789–90 Izmail
* 1799 El Arish
* 1799 Jaffa
* 1799 Acre

19th|

* 1801 Cairo
* 1806 Belgrade
* 1821 Patras
* 1821–22 Acropolis
* 1821 Tripolitsa
* 1822 Missolonghi
* 1823 Missolonghi
* 1825–26 Missolonghi
* 1826–27 Acropolis
* 1828 Kars
* 1828 Varna
* 1854 Calafat
* 1854 Silistra
* 1854–55 Sevastopol
* 1855 Kars
* 1877 Plevna

20th|

* 1912–13 Scutari
* 1912–13 Adrianople
* 1915 Van
* 1915–16 Kut
* 1916–1919 Medina

Ottoman defeats shown in italics.

40°11′00″N 29°04′00″E﻿ / ﻿40.1833°N 29.0667°E﻿ / 40.1833; 29.0667
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