Siege of Nicaea (1328–1331)

Siege of Nicaea
	Part of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars
	; The Lefke Gate in Iznik, along the western ramparts of the city
Date	1328 to 1331
Location	Nicaea; (modern-day İznik, Bursa, Turkey)
Result	Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Ottoman Beylik
Commanders and leaders
Andronikos III	Orhan Ghazi
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The siege of Nicaea by the forces of Orhan I from 1328 to 1331, resulted in the conquest of a key Byzantine Greek city by the Ottoman Turks. It played an important role in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

Background

Following the reconquest of Constantinople from the Latins, the Byzantines concentrated their efforts on restoring their hold on Greece. Troops had to be taken from the eastern front in Anatolia and into the Peloponnese, with the disastrous consequence that what land the Nicaean Empire held in Anatolia was now open to Ottoman raids. With the increasing frequency and ferocity of raids, Byzantine imperial authorities pulled back from Anatolia.

Siege

By 1326, lands around Nicaea had fallen into the hands of Osman I. He had also captured the city of Bursa, establishing a capital dangerously close to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. In 1328, Orhan, Osman's son, began the siege of Nicaea, which had been in a state of intermittent blockade since 1301. The Ottomans lacked the ability to control access to the town through the lakeside harbour. As a result, the siege dragged on for several years without conclusion.

In 1329, Emperor Andronicus III attempted to break the siege. He led a relief force to drive the Ottomans away from both Nicomedia and Nicaea. After some minor successes, however, the force suffered a reverse at Pelekanon and withdrew. When it was clear that no effective Imperial force would be able to restore the frontier and drive off the Ottomans, the city proper fell on 2 March 1331.^[1] Those inhabitants who wished to leave were permitted to do so, though few did.^[2]

Aftermath

For a short period, the town became the capital of the expanding Ottoman Emirate,^[3] The large church of Hagia Sophia in the center of the town was converted into the Orhan Mosque,^[4] and a medrese (theological school) and hamam (bathhouse) were built nearby.^[5] The inhabitants of Nicaea were quickly and willingly incorporated into the growing Ottoman Empire, and many of them had already embraced Islam by 1340.^[6]

Patriarch John XIV of Constantinople wrote a message to the people of Nicea shortly after the city was seized. His letter says that "The invaders endeavored to impose their impure religion on the populace, at all costs, intending to make the inhabitants followers of Muhammad". The Patriarch advised the Christians to "be steadfast in your religion" and not to forget that the "Agarians [Turks] are masters of your bodies only, but not of your souls." ^[7]^[8]^[9]

The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta stayed in Nicaea at the end of 1331,^[10] According to Ibn Battuta, the town was in ruins and only inhabited by a small number of people in the service of the sultan. Within the city walls were gardens and cultivated plots with each house surrounded by an orchard. The town produced fruit, walnuts, chestnuts, and large sweet grapes.^[11]

Nicaea had been in Turkish hands before. It was reconquered by the First Crusade through Byzantine diplomacy in 1097. It had served as the capital of the Byzantine emperors during the period of the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261. It was the most important Asian city in the empire at the time of its fall to Osman. The Ottoman conquests continued apace and Nicomedia fell in 1337. Hence, this long-held history of Nicaea in the Greco-Roman hands irreversibly ended. It had been under Greco-Roman control since the conquest of Alexander the Great, and it was the seat of several milestone Christian councils.

References

^ A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Treadgold, W., Stanford Press, 1997
^ Norwich, J.J. (1995). Byzantium: The Decline and Fall. London: Viking. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-670-82377-2.
^ Raby, Julian (1989). "İznik, 'Une village au milieu des jardins'". In Petsopoulos, Yanni (ed.). Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandra Press. pp. 19–20
^ Tsivikis, Nikolaos (23 March 2007), "Nicaea, Church of Hagia Sophia", Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor, Foundation of the Hellenic World, retrieved 20 September 2014
^ St. Sophia Museum, ArchNet, retrieved 20 September 2014
^ Nicol, Donald M. (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780521439916. [1]
^ Revista de istorie. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. 1979.
^ Giese, Friedrich (1922). "Die altosmanischen anonymen Chroniken".
^ Miklosich, Franz; Ller, Joseph M. (22 March 2012). Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana. ISBN 9781108044547.
^ Dunn 1986, p. 158, note 20. Raby (1989, p. 20) suggests a date between 1334 and 1339.
^ Defrémery & Sanguinetti 1854, pp. 323–324; Gibb 1962, p. 453

Dunn, Ross E. (1986). The adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler of the 14th century. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520067436.
R.G. Grant, Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat, Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd, 2005. ISBN 0-7566-1360-4

40°35′00″N 30°08′00″E / 40.5833°N 30.1333°E / 40.5833; 30.1333

[1] A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Treadgold, W., Stanford Press, 1997

[2] Norwich, J.J. (1995). Byzantium: The Decline and Fall. London: Viking. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-670-82377-2.

[3] Raby, Julian (1989). "İznik, 'Une village au milieu des jardins'". In Petsopoulos, Yanni (ed.). Iznik: The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandra Press. pp. 19–20

[4] Tsivikis, Nikolaos (23 March 2007), "Nicaea, Church of Hagia Sophia", Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor, Foundation of the Hellenic World, retrieved 20 September 2014

[5] St. Sophia Museum, ArchNet, retrieved 20 September 2014

[Nicol2-6] Nicol, Donald M. (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780521439916. [1]

[7] Revista de istorie. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. 1979.

[8] Giese, Friedrich (1922). "Die altosmanischen anonymen Chroniken".

[9] Miklosich, Franz; Ller, Joseph M. (22 March 2012). Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana. ISBN 9781108044547.

[10] Dunn 1986, p. 158, note 20. Raby (1989, p. 20) suggests a date between 1334 and 1339.

[11] Defrémery & Sanguinetti 1854, pp. 323–324; Gibb 1962, p. 453

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v t e 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 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.