Siege of Klis
| Siege of Klis Battle of Klis | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Klis Fortress, Kingdom of Croatia within Habsburg monarchy (today's Croatia) 43°33′36″N 16°31′26″E / 43.56000°N 16.52389°E | |
| Result | Ottoman victory |
Kingdom of CroatiaReinforcements:
Kingdom of Croatia
Holy Roman Empire
Papal States
Ottoman EmpireReinforcements:
Ottoman EmpireNiccolo dalla Torre
Jacomo Dalmoro d'Arbe
The siege of Klis or Battle of Klis (
After the decisive Ottoman victory at the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493, and especially after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Croats continued defending themselves against the Ottoman attacks. The Ottoman conquest during the early years of the 16th century prompted the formation of the Uskoks, which were led by Croatian captain Petar Kružić, also called Prince of Klis. As a part of the Habsburg defensive system, Uskoks used the base at Klis as an important defensive position. They fought almost alone against the Ottomans, and for more than two decades defended the fortress against the Ottoman attacks.[2]
After the final battle, which resulted in an Ottoman victory and in Petar Kružić's death, the Klis defenders, who were lacking in water supplies, finally surrendered to the Ottomans in exchange for their freedom on 12 March 1537. Citizens fled the town, while the Uskoci retreated to the city of Senj, where they continued fighting the Ottoman army. Klis became an administrative centre or sanjak (Sanjak of Klis) of the Bosnia Eyalet, and would remain so for a century.
Background
After the fall of the
On 29 August 1526, at the
Owing to its location, Klis Fortress was an important defensive position during the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans.[8] The fortress stands along the route by which the Ottomans could penetrate the mountain barrier separating the coastal lowlands from around Split, from Ottoman-held Bosnia.[8] The Croat feudal lord Petar Kružić gathered together a garrison composed of Croat refugees, who used the base at Klis both to hold the Ottomans at bay, and to engage in marauding and piracy against coastal shipping.[8] Although nominally accepting the sovereignty of the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand, who obtained the Croatian crown in 1527, Kružić and his freebooting Uskoks were a law unto themselves.[8]
Siege
Failed attempts
From 1513,
In 1534, the Ottomans under Mihalbegović laid a months-long siege with a constant concentrated cannonade.[2] Ferdinand urged the Pope to send ships to relieve the Ottoman siege.[14] Although the Ottomans eventually lifted the siege, Ferdinand was displeased that the Pope had provided no assistance in the defense of the fortress.[15] In 1535, the Ottomans tried to seize the fortress by treachery, and again in 1536, but they failed on both occasions.[2] During that year the Ottomans started a new siege which would last until the final fall of the fortress.[2]
When a large Ottoman force threatened the fortress, Kružić appealed to Ferdinand for help, but the Emperor's attention was diverted by an Ottoman attack in Slavonia.[8] Kružić led the defense of Klis, and with his soldiers fought almost alone against the Ottomans, as they repeatedly hurled armies against the fortress.[2] No troops from the Hungarian king arrived, as they were slaughtered by the Ottomans at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, and the Venetians baulked at sending any help.[2] Only the pope was willing to provide some men and money.[2]
Final battle
The attempts to relieve the citadel ended in farce.
Aftermath
During the
Months after the fall of Klis, the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1537-1540 started, and in that war, as well as the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570-1573, the Ottomans took much of the Dalmatian hinterland near Šibenik and Zadar.[21] On 7 April 1596, Split noblemen Ivan Alberti and Nikola Cindro, along with Uskoci, Poljičani, and Kaštelani irregulars, organized a liberation of Klis.[2] Assisted by dissident elements of the Ottoman garrison, they succeeded.[2][22] Mustafa-beg responded by bringing more than 10,000 soldiers under the fortress.[2] General Ivan Lenković, leading 1,000 Uskoci, came in relief of the 1,500 Klis defenders.[2] During the battle, Ivan Lenković and his men retreated after he was wounded in battle, and the fortress was lost to the Ottomans on 31 May.[2] Nevertheless, this temporary relief resounded in Europe and among the local population.[2]
The Venetians fought for decades before they finally managed to re-take Klis.[2] During the Cretan War of 1645-1669, the Venetians in Dalmatia enjoyed the support of the local population, particularly the Morlachs (Morlacchi).[2] Venetian commander Leonardo Foscolo seized several forts, retook Novigrad, temporarily captured the Knin Fortress, and managed to compel the garrison of Klis Fortress to surrender.[23][24]
See also
Notes
- Footnotes
- Citations
- ^ a b c Quataert, Donald, 1941 Manufacturing In The Ottoman Empire And Turkey, 1500-1950
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Listeš, Srećko. "Povijest Klisa". Official website - klis.hr (in Croatian). Municipality of Klis. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
- ^ a b Ágoston and Alan Masters (2009), pp. 163-164
- ^ Turnbull (2003), p. 49
- ^ Turnbull (2003), pp. 49–51.
- ^ Corvisier and Childs (1994), p. 289
- ^ R. W. Seton-Watson (1911). The southern Slav question and the Habsburg Monarchy. p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e Singleton (1989), pp. 60–62.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
- ^ Perojević (1931), p. 35
- ^ Perojević (1931), p. 45
- ^ Spandouginos (1997), p. 72.
- ^ a b Spandouginos (1997), p. 105.
- ^ Schutte (1977), p. 63.
- ^ Schutte (1977), p. 80.
- ^ a b c d e f g Setton (1984), p. 421.
- ^ a b Spandouginos (1997), p. 75.
- ^ a b c Bousfield (2003), p. 313.
- ^ Perojević (1931), p. 198
- from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
- ^ from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ^ Setton (1984), p. 9.
- ^ Fraser (1854), pp. 244–245.
- ^ Setton (1991), pp. 148–149.
References
- Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9780816062591.
- Bousfield, Jonathan (2003). The Rough Guide to Croatia. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843530848.
- Corvisier, André; Childs, John (1994). A Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9780631168485. Archivedfrom the original on 12 March 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- Fraser, Robert William (1854). Turkey, Ancient and Modern. A History of the Ottoman Empire From the Period of Its Establishment to the Present Time. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black – Harvard University. ISBN 978-1-4021-2562-1.
- Perojević, Marko (1931). Petar Kružić, kapetan i knez grada Klisa (in Croatian). Matica hrvatska.
- Schutte, Anne Jacobson (1977). ISBN 9782600030724.
- Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1984). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571: The Sixteenth Century, Vol. III. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-161-2.
- Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991). Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century. Philadelphia: Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-87169-192-2.
- Singleton, Frederick Bernard (1989). A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521274852.
- Spandouginos, Theodōros (1997). On the Origin of the Ottoman Emperors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521585101.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2003). The Ottoman Empire, 1326-1699. New York (USA): Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781841765693.
Further reading
- Listeš, Srećko (1998). Klis: Prošlost, Toponimi, Govor (in Croatian). Klis: Hrvatsko društvo Trpimir. ISBN 9789539675132.
- Historical Unit Kliški uskoci - Petar Kružić
External links
- Historical Unit Kliški uskoci
- Musulin, Nedjeljko (4 November 2009). "Kliška tvrđava, najveći muzej na otvorenome, pristupačnija turistima - Kliški uskoci opet čuvaju puteve do Dalmacije" [Klis fortress, the largest museum in the open, more accessible to tourists - Uskoci of Klis guard the roads of Dalmatia once again] (PDF). Vjesnik (in Croatian). Retrieved 13 March 2011.