Siege of Negroponte (1470)

Siege of Negroponte
Part of the First Ottoman–Venetian War
The Venetian-era tower of the Castle of Negroponte in the late 19th century
Date 14 June - 12 July Location Chalcis, Euboea Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Republic of Venice
Commanders and leaders
Mehmed the Conqueror Mahmud Pasha Gedik Ahmed[1] Rum Mehmed Pasha	Paolo Erizzo  Nicolò Canal Zuan Longo  Zuan Tran
Strength
70,000 men 200 small transport boats[2]	Unknown army force under Nicolò 80 big ships[3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	More than 6,000

The siege of Negroponte was fought between the forces of the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Mehmed II in person, and the garrison of the Venetian colony of Negroponte (Chalcis), the capital of the Venetian possession of Euboea in Central Greece. The Ottoman sultan Mehmed II laid siege to the fortress at Negroponte. It lasted for almost a month, and despite great Ottoman casualties ended in the capture of the city and the island of Euboea by the Ottomans.

Naval battle and siege

The Sultan started preparations to respond to the destruction caused by the Venetian navy on the islands and Enez, and to capture this island, which was considered an outpost of the Venetians. However, these preparations were kept very secret and the expedition was presented as if it would be on Rhodes. Finally, a large fleet under the command of Mahmud Pasha set out from Gallipoli in 1470, captured the island of Shira on the way, and then besieged Negroponte. Because Nicolò Canal could not prevent the Turkish fleet from entering the Negroponte canal on June 14, 1470.^[4] The leader of the Venetian relief force was Nicolò Canal, known as "a man of letters rather than a fighter, a learned man readier to read books than direct the affairs of the sea."^[5]

On the other hand, Sultan Mehmed himself came across Negroponte by land with a force of 70 thousand people. Sultan gathered his ships on the part of the island closest to the land and built a bridge connecting the land and the island for 3 days. In this way, cannons were transported to the island by horses, pedestrians. The sultan even crossed this bridge and set up his tent near the walls.

Now the castle was surrounded by both sea and land. Only one side of the sea route was open. Surrounding this place with ships would only be possible by passing in front of the castle. This was a very difficult and dangerous job. For this reason, as was done in Istanbul, some of the ships were transported from land to the other side of the castle and thus that road was also closed.

The first attack on the castle started from the shore. But the castle did not look like it would be taken easily. Because the towers of the castle were very high. In addition, its walls were built of chipped

Although those on land did not take advantage of the incoming fleet, they did not lose their courage and fought very heroically. However, nothing could change the fate of the castle. After a close siege of 20 days, the attack started on the night of Wednesday, July 11, 1470, and continued until the morning, and the castle fell on Thursday, July 12.^[7]

Aftermath

Because the city had refused to surrender and was taken "by the sword", as was customary, the conquering Ottoman troops were given three days to plunder, loot, and pillage. The Christian men were slaughtered, while women and children were enslaved, and Venetian soldiers were executed. More than 6,000 Venetians and Greeks died in defense of Negroponte. Only 30 known survivors made it back to Venice, consisting of 15 women, 12 children, and 3 men. There are various legends that the garrison commander, bailo Paolo Erizzo, was sawn in half. In fact, the prisoner of the siege Giovanni Maria Angiolello states that Paolo died in the first attack: "Pollo Erizzo, Bailo of the city, who was killed in the first onslaught, that is, at the defense of the Bourkos."^[8] Canal was tried, fined, stripped of his rank, and exiled to Portogruaro. Most of these stories are fictitious, though the suffering of the civilians in a city taken by force was quite real. For this reasons, many places, like Athens, chose capitulation over resistance.

References

38°28′N 23°16′E / 38.467°N 23.267°E / 38.467; 23.267

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