Siege of Bursa

Coordinates: 40°11′00″N 29°04′00″E / 40.1833°N 29.0667°E / 40.1833; 29.0667
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Siege of Bursa
Part of the
Byzantine-Ottoman wars

Gate of Bursa castle
Date1317 – April 6, 1326[1]
Location
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
Orhan I
Köse Mihal
 Saroz
Strength
Unknown Unknown

The siege of Bursa occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326,

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

After the fall of the city, his son and successor

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

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

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780195334036
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780313337338
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-674-59918-5
    .
  4. 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. ^
    ISBN 9781576079195
    .
  7. ISBN 9781438110257
    .
  8. ISBN 9780470915790
    .
  9. 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.

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

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