Siege of Negroponte (1470) - Misplaced Pages

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. 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."

A painting of Mehmed the Conqueror, Ward and Lock's Illustrated History of the World.

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 stones from the ground up and reinforced with lime and mortar. There was also a deep ditch dug on the beach side. Those who thought that this very fortified castle could not be taken tried to persuade the sultan to return. But the sultan and Mahmud Pasha did not pay attention to these ideas. And he placed countless mortars, cannons, rifles and springs around the castle. The castle was hit by a tremendous cannon fire. But the defenders quickly repaired the breaches and did not give up fighting. However, many parts of the walls were destroyed and a situation for attack arose. At this time, the Venetian navy came to the rescue, but they were unable to enter the castle neither by land nor by sea. However, Venetian Admiral Nicolò attacked the bridge built by the Turks, but he did not achieve any success. The Venetian navy, whose courage increased with the aid force that arrived later, entered the harbor and attacked the Turkish navy. In this magnificent battle fought with cannons, rifles and arrows, the Venetians were defeated, many Venetians were killed, including Captain Zuan Longo and Zuan Tran, and their ships were sunk. Another aim of the Venetians was to land soldiers. That's why the sultan appointed Mehmed Pasha to repel those who came. In fact, Rum Mehmed Pasha took the necessary security measures against the Venetian navy. The Venetian government found this action of the navy commander Nicolò Canal unnecessary and was dismissed and sentenced to shackles because they found it wrong.

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.

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." 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

"Gedik Ahmed Pasha".
"Fatih Döneminde Osmanlı-Venedik İlişkileri (İkinci Bölüm)". 12 July 2017.
Bitlis-i, İdris-i (2019). Heşt Behişt VII.Ketibe Fatih Sultan Mehmed ve Devri 1451-1481. p. 191.
"Fatih Döneminde Osmanlı-Venedik İlişkileri (İkinci Bölüm)". 12 July 2017.
Tansel, Selahattin. Fatih Sultan Mehmed'in Siyasi ve Âskerî Faaliyetleri (PDF). p. 203.
The Guinness Book of Naval Blunders, p. 137
Tansel, Selahattin. Fatih Sultan Mehmed'in Siyasi ve Âskerî Faaliyetleri (PDF). p. 204.
Tansel, Selahattin. Fatih Sultan Mehmed'in Siyasi ve Âskerî Faaliyetleri (PDF). p. 205.
Giovan-Maria Angiolello Memoir. Pierre A. MacKay

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.

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

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