Siege of Shkodra
Siege of Shkodra | |
---|---|
Part of Albania Veneta 42°02′47″N 19°29′37″E / 42.0465°N 19.4935°E | |
Result |
Ottoman Victory
|
Territorial changes | Shkodra was ceded to the Ottoman Empire |
Lordship of Zeta
- Mehmed II
- Koca Davud Pasha
- Mustafa Bey
- Gedik Ahmed Pasha
Modern estimations: 62,000[3]
Contemporary Ottoman and Shkodran chronicles: 150,000—350,000 soldiers[4]
Unknown number of forces outside the garrison
8,000 albanian warriors[8]
Allegedly one-third of the Ottoman forces on July 27[6]: 364
200 sailors and 2 galleys from Lezhë
300 captives from Drisht
The siege of Shkodra took place from May 1478 to April 1479 as a confrontation between the
Background
: 305Sultan Mehmed II had already
The Venetians and the Ottoman Empire had been
Shkodra was so important to the Empire's aims that, shortly after the siege, Ottoman chronicler
Meanwhile, Mehmed II had demanded that Venice surrender Kruja, Shkodra, and other Albanian towns in exchange for peace, and added leverage to this demand by instructing Iskender Bey, the
Forces involved
The Republic of Venice was intent on defending Shkodra.[26]: 121 Expecting the new Ottoman attack, the Venetians prepared vigorously, sending their expert engineers to reinforce the fortifications according to the most modern techniques[20]: 614 and maintaining a garrison of about 800 mercenaries in the city.[27] In late 1477, as the new Ottoman threat grew imminent, many Venetian mercenaries deserted Shkodra. Therefore, the Venetian Senate finally approved the locals' requests for arms and gave permission for the recruitment of warriors from the surrounding villages.[20]: 612 The city of Shkodra would be defended by its strong walls and a mixed garrison of locals and the remaining Venetian mercenaries.[28]
In the spring of 1478, Mehmed II dispatched both the beylerbey of
When the Ottomans approached Shkodra in May 1478,
Rozafa Fortress and the siege
The Rozafa Fortress was the focal point of the siege, the natural position and architectural reinforcements of which allowed the vastly outnumbered garrison to withstand bombardment and successive ground attacks by the besiegers. The castle (as it is sometimes called) was considered the central leg of a trivet (or tripod) including Zabljak, Drisht, and Lezhë.[32] The city of Shkodra had been burned and rampaged by the Turks in 1467, so from that time the citizens had moved into the fortress for greater security.[33]
The fortress was a natural bastion above
Foreseeing siege warfare, in 1458, Venetian architects Andrea and Francesco Venier and Malchiore da Imola drew plans for the citadel's reinforcements and a cistern system designed to collect rain water.[37]: 170 Additionally, the Venetians added a barbican and extra gate to reinforce what they (correctly) forecast to be the main point of conflict.[37]: 166 In the failed Ottoman siege of 1474, the outer walls were damaged significantly.[6]: 336 According to Barleti's firsthand account, the citizens rebuilt the walls, but when they sensed that the Ottomans were approaching again with an even stronger attack, they constructed secondary fortifications and redoubts made of wood and earth.[38]: 47
The siege
In the Spring of 1478, Mehmed II sent out advance scouts and then his commanders to march on Shkodra, inducing panic across the countryside. On May 14, the first soldiers arrived in Shkodra: 8,000 Ottoman akinci led by Ali Bey, 4,000 horsemen led by Iskender Bey, and 3,000 horsemen led by Malkoch (Malkoçoğlu). The citizens intensified their work to fortify the citadel, adding secondary defenses in anticipation of seeing the outer walls demolished by the Ottoman cannonade. The Ottomans set fire to surrounding villages and many citizens of the Shkodra region fled to safer haven.[6]: 361–362
Five days later, the pasha of Rumelia, Davud Pasha, arrived and set up camp on the hill due north of the castle, known as "Pasha's Hill," where much of the Ottoman cannonade would be positioned (at approximately the same altitude as the fortress). The defenders were stationed on all sides but concentrated their resources on the main gate area where the Ottomans focused their attack.[38]: 54–56, 78
Around June 5, Davud Pasha climbed St. Mark's Mountain (today's Mt. Tarabosh, opposite the castle to the west) to survey the positions and strategize. Several days later, the pasha of Anatolia (Mustafa Bey) arrived bringing approximately 46,000 cavalry. On June 15, about 5,000 of the sultan's
Ottoman soldiers continued to flow into Shkodra throughout the latter half of June.[30]: 39–51 Around June 18, a small delegation of Ottoman leaders demanded the Shkodrans surrender, offering peace and rewards if they chose to comply and threatening torture and execution if they chose to resist. On behalf of all the Shkodrans, Peter Pagnanus refused the offer with threats of his own.
On June 22, the first two Ottoman cannons were installed and began to fire on the city. By July 11, eleven cannons were being employed, as well as two mortars whose projectiles exploded upon impact. Babinger records artillery of enormous caliber and "incendiary rockets, balls of rags impregnated with wax, sulfur, oil, and other inflammable materials" being "used for the first time".[6]: 363–64 The besieged also had cannons of their own. The Shkodran priest Marin Barleti recorded a daily tally of incoming cannon fire, with the total reaching over 3,200 shots. Von Hammer gives a figure of 2,534 total shots.[13]: 565–66
On July 11, the sultan launched the first of five ground attacks. The climb proved difficult for the Ottoman soldiers, who were repulsed in every attack. On July 27, the Ottomans launched their fifth and final assault. Shkodran
On July 30, the sultan gathered his general council desiring to plan a sixth ground attack, but was persuaded to halt attacks on the Shkodrans who, according to Ottoman historian Kivami, were fighting "like tigers on the mountaintops".[29] The sultan accepted this counsel at the end of August and ordered his commanders to attack the smaller fortresses nearby who were aiding Shkodra. Žabljak, "where Ivan Crnojevic (1465–1490), 'lord of the Zeta,' had established his court, surrendered to the governor of Rumelia almost without a blow (not by Crnojević but by his cousin and small number of men).[41] Drisht, however, ... resisted bravely,"[6]: 365 but the Ottomans captured it easily on 1 September 1478, using their artillery.[42] 300 captives from Drisht were taken to Shkodra and executed in the sight of the besieged.[30]: 165 Then the Ottomans marched on Lezhë but found it nearly completely abandoned; on the Drin River they captured two Venetian galleys with 200 sailors, who were taken near the walls of Shkodra and killed in front of the people of Shkodra.[43] Mehmed II ordered bridges to be built on the Bojana River to prevent Venetian ships from coming to Shkodra's aid via the Adriatic Sea. He ordered a siege force to remain in Shkodra—led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha and said to have contained between 10,000 and 40,000 soldiers[6]: 365 —to starve the city into surrender.[12]: 135 Then, "disappointed at the outcome of his Albanian campaign, Mehmed started the return journey" to Constantinople, "with 40,000 men".[6]: 365
Conclusion
In November 1478, as the siege wore on and as the besieged had resorted to eating mice and rats, Antonio Da Lézze (the
Casualties
Franz Babinger claims that the Ottomans lost "12,000 of their best troops" on the attack of July 22 alone, then describes a further one-third of the Ottoman army being lost on July 27; the Shkodran garrison is said to have lost 400 on July 22.[6]: 364 Ottoman historian Kemal Pashazade (1468–1534) recorded that "hundreds of the infidels and Muslims died each day and hundreds more escaped with wounded heads … swollen with lumps and craters like the surface of the moon."[29]: 213–215 Another Ottoman historian, Tursun (ca. 1426–1491), recorded "A great war unfolded and an unmerciful bloodshed that had never before been seen in history".[29]: 107 Marin Barleti recorded thousands of Ottoman casualties and hundreds of Shkodran casualties. Albanian historian Aleks Buda, in his analysis of Venetian chronicles of the event, concludes that of the approximately 1,600 Shkodran men and women who fought in the citadel, approximately 450 men and 150 women survived.[7]: 15
Significance
After the fall of Shkodra in 1479, the Ottomans effectively controlled the entire territory of Albania and could focus on advancing to Italy. Ottoman chronicler Ashik Pashazade (ca. 1400–1481) claimed "Shkodra has been conquered, a fortress near land and sea ... the hope of passage to Italy!"
In Shkodra and other parts of northern Albania, the Ottomans transformed churches into mosques and promoted conversion to Islam. According to the Albanologist Robert Elsie, an estimated thirty to fifty percent of the population of northern Albania eventually converted by the early seventeenth century. They "converted … mainly not for theological reasons, but primarily to have the right to bear weapons, to have access in the Ottoman state high ranks, to make career in the military and to avoid higher taxes". Franciscan missionary activity helped to stem this tide; nevertheless, conversions "continued unabated throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries".[47] According to Albanian historian and Osmanolog Dritan Egro many high ranking Ottoman Albanians would push other Albanian to convert in Islam in order to fill Ottoman ranks and create an Albanian pyramid of power inside the Empire. It is not a confidence that the 2 Pashas that were send to take Shkodra, Ghedik Pasha and Davut Pasha were both Albanian.
Shkodra became an administrative and military center known as a sanjak and it was one of the main Ottoman cities in the Balkans. The city became famous for its artisan weapon manufacturing by the locals for the Albanian mercenaries to use in battle or show as a sign of power.
In between the 1750s to 1830s the city was the centre of the semi-independent Pashalluk of Shkodra led by the powerful Albanian Bushati family who would expand its power in large areas of western Balkans.
In 1867 it merged with the sanjak of Skopje to form the
Art and literature
The siege of Shkodra is depicted in several works of European literature and art. The façade of the former School of the Albanians in Venice contains a relief[48] created by an unknown sculptor and placed there in 1532 (it has been erroneously attributed to Vittore Carpaccio). Sultan Mehmed II is depicted with his Grand Vizier below a cliff on which the Rozafa Castle is perched. The hero commanders of both the 1474 and 1478 battles — Antonio Loredan and Antonio da Lézze—are honored by the inclusion of their coats-of-arms.[49] The Latin inscription means: “The people of Shkodra put up this everlasting monument of their outstanding loyalty toward the Republic of Venice and of the Venetian Senate's extraordinary beneficence.”
In 1503, Marin Becikemi wrote and published a panegyric about the siege, in praise of the Republic of Venice.
In 1504, Marin Barleti's The Siege of Shkodra (De obsidione Scodrensi) was published in Venice. It is a firsthand account the siege presented to the Venetian Senate. It was republished several times and translated into other European languages in the sixteenth century (and later into Albanian and English). In 2018 Venetian scholar Lucia Nadin discovered a manuscript of Marin Barleti, dated ca. 1500, presumed to be the original manuscript of De obsidione Scodrensi (scholars have begun to study this manuscript).[50]
In 1585,
In 1860, Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri depicted the great battle of July 27 with an etching entitled I Turchi respinti da Scutari.
Citations
- ^ Shpuza, Gazmend (1969), "Lufta per mbrojtjen e Shkodrës në vitet 1474 dhe 1478–1479" in Konferenca e Dytë e Studimeve Albanologjike, Instituti i Historisë dhe i Gjuhësisë, p. 214,
Porse interesimi dhe angazhimi i Venedikut për mbrojtjen e Shkodrës përcaktoheshin vetëm nga interesat e ngushta të Republikës. Të vetmit që ishin të interesuar për ta mbrojtur deri në fund Shkodrën qenë shqiptarët."
- ^ Zamputi, Injac (1969), Dokumenta të sheullit XV për historinë e Shqipërisë, Instituti i Historisë dhe i Gjuhësisë, pp. 33–34,
El se rosono de soa libera volonta ne la cita de Scutari 350 Albanesi del contado de la dicta terra i qual romaxeno nel assedio, tra i qual ne sono rimasti solamente 110 vivi, la probita, gagliardia, constantia, virilita e fede de i qual non e necessario explicar, che la esperientia ne ha ben dechiarita e mostrata (from Venetian Archive Arch. St. Ven., Sen. Mar, R° 11, c. 22).
- ^ {{Fatih Sultan Mehemmed Han (Ciltli) İki Karanın Sultanı, İki Denizin Hakanı, Kayser-i Rum Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık | TÜRKİYE İŞ BANKASI KÜLTÜR YAYINLARI}}
- ^ Barletius, Marinus (1504). De Obsidione Scodrensi (in Latin). Venice: Bernardinus Venetus de Vitalibus. pp. 58–59.
Ex quo rerum periti, & qui alias cum ipso Meumethe militauerant, censuerunt ccc.[trecenta] & quinquaginta millia Barbarorum in castris fuisse. Quae tam innumera pene multitudo fidelissimos Christianos ad contemplationem & admirationem sui traxit.
- ^ Bešić 1970, pp. 314, 315
Говорећи о турским снагама, хроничари, по обичају, наводе огромне бројке, које достижу 150.000, па чак и 300.000 војника. Помињу и 10.000 камила. Може се претпоставити да је ту било неколико десетинахиљада бораца...Отприлике у исто вријеме султан је напустио бојиште. Повео је са собом већи дио војске, тако да је, према хроничарима, остало око 8.000 људи да чувају заузете положаје и наставе са опсадом
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Babinger, Franz. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Buda, Aleks. "Hyrja" published in Barleti, Marin. Rrethimi i Shkodrës. Tiranë: Instituti i Historisë, 1967.
- ^ Grand Turk John Freely
- ^ L. Nadin, Migrazioni e integrazione. Il caso degli Albanesi a Venezia (1479-1552), Bulzoni, Contesti Adriatici
- ^ Archives of Venetian Senate, Sen. Mar, Rº 11, c. 22, 08 May 1479. Documented in Zamputi, Injac. Dokumenta të shekullit XV për historinë e Shqipërisë, vol. 4, pt. 1. Tirana: Akademia e Shkencave të Shqipërisë, 1967.
- ^ Kemal Pashazade (ca. 1520) cited from Ibn Kemal, Tevarih-i al-i 'osman, def. VII (Ankara 1957), cited in Pulaha, Selami. Lufta shqiptaro turke në shekullin XV: burime osmane. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, 1968. p. 207
- ^ a b c d Kinross, John Patrick Douglas Balfour. The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.
- ^ a b c Von Hammer, Joseph. Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches, Grossentheils aus bisher unbenützten, Handschriften und Archiven. Pest: C.A. Hartlenben's Verlage, 1828.
- ^ a b Shpuza, Gazmend. “La Lutte pour la défense de Shkodër dans années 1474 et 1478–1479,” in Studia Albanica, VI, 1968, pp. 181–90.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6.
- ^ a b Prifti, Kristaq, et al. Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime, vol. 1. Tirana: Toena, 2002.
- ^ Vickers, Miranda. The Albanians: A Modern History. pp. 8-9.
- ISBN 978-3-7917-2229-0. Archived from the originalon 2011-07-23.
- ^ a b Pitcher, Donald Edward. An historical geography of the Ottoman empire from earliest times to the end of the sixteenth century. Leiden, Brill, 1972, [1973].
- ^ a b c Schmitt, Oliver (translated by Ardian Klosi). Arbëria Venedike (1392-1479), Tirana: K&B, 2002.
- ^ Ashik Pashazade (ca. 1480) cited in Pulaha, Selami. Lufta shqiptaro turke në shekullin XV: burime osmane. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, 1968. p. 72
- ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5,
The second Ottoman wave of 1477 overran much of Zeta, taking Žabljak and the late in 1477 or early 1478 meeting and defeating John Crnojevićs main army.
- ^ Ukrainian Quarterly Volumes 46-47, 1990, p. 72,
Ivan Crnojevic, a nephew of Scanderbeg, attacked Žabljak, which had fallen to the Ottomans in 1477, and recovered the fortress.
- ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5,
The Ottomans then concentrated their forces at Skadar.
- ^ Bešić 1970, p. 313
Међу скадарским становништвом било је људи који су сматрали да град треба предати Турцима и на које се сумњало да с њима одржавају везе.
- ^ Nadin, Lucia. Shqiptarët në Venedik: Mërgim e integrim 1479–1552. Tirana: Shtëpia Botuese "55", 2008.
- ^ Srejović 1981, p. 409
Млечани су очекивали нов турски напад на своје градове у северној Албанији. У међувремену су поправљали зидине и набављали нове залихе хране, а у Скадар слали нове најамнике у жељи да их у сваком тренутку буде око осам стотина.
- ^ Schmitt, Oliver (2010). Ben Andoni (ed.). "Skënderbeu duhet ri-interpretuar". Revista MAPO. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
Shkodra nuk ishte shembulli i një qyteti, që e ruante garnizoni venedikas, por është mbrojtur nga vetë popullsia lokale dhe nga mercenarët venedikas. (Shkodra was not an example of a city that was guarded by the Venetian garrison, but it was defended by the local population itself and by Venetian mercenaries).
- ^ a b c d e Pulaha, Selami (ed.). Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime osmane. Tiranë: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968
- ^ a b c d Barleti, Marin. Rrethimi i Shkodrës. Tiranë: Instituti i Historisë, 1967,
- ^ Srejović 1981, p. 410
Уз помоћ Дубровчана људи Ивана Црнојевића су крстарили језером и ноћу нападали турске шаторе. Иванов син је у свом завештању из 1499. године навео како је његов отац "цара против себе разјаривао и храну му отимао"
- ^ Kivami (Ottoman Chronicler, ca. 1426–1491), cited in Pulaha, Selami (ed.). Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime osmane. Tiranë: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968
- ^ Kamsi, Vili. "Shtrirja e qytetit të Shkodrës në kohën e lashtë dhe të mesme" in Monumentet: materialet e sesionit III të institutit të monumenteve të kulturës, 11. Tirana: Instituti i Monumenteve të Kulturës, 1967. p. 122.
- ^ Ceka, Neritan. The Illyrians to the Albanians in the Dawn of Albanian History. Tiranë: Migjeni, 2006
- OCLC 556839252,
Dhe në të vërtetë kjo qytezë, për natyrë që ka, bie krejt thik nga të katër anët me pëijashtim të asaj ane që asht nga veriu, aty zbret si të thuesh me nji farë pjerrësie dhe aty afer, me distancë sa hjedh nji shigjetë, ndodhet nji kodër plot vneshta e ullishta ... Pastaj ne na mbron vetë pozicioni i vendit që vjen shumë nalt e thik. Atyne, tue u ngjitë përpjetë, do t'u dridhen e do t'u kputen kambët, do t'u dalë shpirti, do t'i kapë frika sikur të ishin fëmijë, do të heqin mundim të madh për të ardhë këtu nalt, sepse kodra asht mjaft e rrëpinët.
- ^ Tursun (ca. 1426-1491), text cited in Pulaha, Selami. Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime Osmane. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror, 1962, p. 105.
- ^ a b Kamsi, Vili. “Kështjella e Shkodrës dhe Restaurimi i Saj” in Monumentet, 1 (ed. Gani Strazimiri). Tiranë: Ministria e Arsimit dhe e Kulturës, 1971
- ^ a b Barleti, Marin (trans. Henrik Lacaj). Rrethimi i Shkodrës. Tirana: Instituti i Historisë, 1967.
- ^ Barletius, Marinus (1504), De obsidione Scodrensi, Venice: Bernardino de Vitalibus, p. 122,
... prae sagittis infixis cernebantur: adeo, ut Scodrenses per integru mensem nullis aliis lignis ad conficiendos ignes usi sint...
- ^ Smedley, Edward (1832), Sketches from Venetian History, New York: J. & J. Harper, pp. 134–135
- ^ Bešić 1970, p. 315
Сулејман је повео чамцима преко језера јаничаре и азапе на Жабљак. Тамо нису ни затекли Ивана Црнојевића. Тврђаву је бранио неки његов рођак с малим бројем људи, који нису ни помишљали да се одупру турској сили.
- ^ Bešić 1970, p. 315
Анадолски беглербег Мустафа кренуо је најприје на Дриваст,који је пред артиљеријском ватром 1. септембра 1478. год. лако пао.
- ^ Bešić 1970, p. 315
Затим је узео Љеш, у коме више готово никога није ни било. На Дриму је заробио двије млетачке галије, покупио с њих двјеста морнара, довео их под скадарске зидине и наредио да се ту сасијеку пред очима уплашених Скадрана.
- OCLC 5845972,
...После турско-млетачког рата који је имао за последицу и предају Скадра Турцима 1479, Млечани су се морали сложити са губицима и жртвовати савезника Ивана Црнојевића. Он није ни укључен у мир па је напустио Зету и склонио се у Италију."
- ^ Pulaha, Selami, ed. Defteri i regjistrimit të Sanxhakut të Shkodrës i vitit 1485. Tirana: Akademia e Shkencave e R. P. të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Historisë, 1974. pp. 3, 8.
- ^ Goffman, Daniel. The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 148
- ^ Elsie, Robert. A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture. London: Hurst & Company, 2001, pp. 51–52
- ^ File:Venezia - Ex Scola degli albanesi (sec. XV) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 12-Aug-2007 - 11 - Maometto II assedia Scutari.jpg#Summary Summary
- ^ Brown, Patricia Fortini. Venetian Narrative Painting in the Age of Carpaccio. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988
- ^ "Përmbyset historia e "Rrethimit të Shkodrës": Luçia Nadin zbulon në Paris dorëshkrimin më të hershëm të Barletit". MAPO. 23 June 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
References
- Babinger, Franz. (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01078-6.
- Pulaha, Selami. (1968). Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV. Burime Osmane [Albanian-Turkish Wars in the Fifteenth Century: Ottoman Sources]. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror.
{{cite book}}
: External link in
(help)|title=
- Von Hammer, Joseph. (1828). Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches, Grossentheils aus bisher unbenützten, Handschriften und Archiven. Pest: C.A. Hartlenben's Verlage. pp. 154–171.
{{cite book}}
: External link in
(help)|title=
- OCLC 456125379
- Bešić, Zarij M. (1970), Istorija Črne Gore, Volume 2, Part 2 (in Serbian), Titograd: Redakcija za istoriju Črne Gore, retrieved 17 January 2012
Primary sources
- Barletius, Marinus. De obsidione Scodrensi [The Siege of Shkodra]. Venice: B. de Vitalibus, 1504.
- Barleti, Marin (trans. David Hosaflook). The Siege of Shkodra. Tirana: Onufri Publishing House, 2012.
- A. Pashazade, Tursun, et al., in Pulaha, Selami (ed.). Lufta shqiptaro-turke në shekullin XV: Burime osmane [Albanian-Turkish Wars in the Fifteenth Century: Ottoman Sources] (a compendium of Ottoman chronicles including Kivami, Bidlisi, Tursun, A. Pashazade, K. Pashazade, etc., in both the original languages and Albanian translations). Tiranë: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1968.
- Zamputi, Injac (ed.). Dokumenta të shekullit XV për historinë e Shqipërisë v. IV (1479-1506) [Documents of the Fifteenth Century about the History of Albania, v. IV (1479–1506)] (containing archival documents). Tiranë: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë, 1967.
Further reading
- ISBN 3-486-56569--9