Siege of Bursa

1317–1326 capture of the Byzantine city of Prusa by the Ottoman Empire

Siege of Bursa

Part of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars

Gate of Bursa castle

Date

1317 – April 6, 1326^[1]

Location

Bursa, Turkey

Result

Ottoman victory

The Ottomans capture Bursa and establish their first capital

Bursa becomes the first Official Capital of the Ottoman Beylik

Belligerents

Ottoman Beylik

Byzantine Empire

Commanders and leaders

Osman I #
Orhan I
Köse Mihal

Saroz

Strength

Unknown

Byzantine–Ottoman wars

Kulaca Hisar
İnegöl
Bapheus
Dimbos
Catalan campaign
Bursa
Pelekanon
Nicaea
Nicomedia
Gallipoli
Savoyard crusade
Adrianople
Philadelphia
1st Constantinople
2nd Constantinople
3rd Constantinople
Thessalonica
4th Constantinople
Morea
Trebizond

The siege of Bursa occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326,^[1] when the Ottomans deployed a bold plan to seize Prusa (modern-day Bursa, Turkey). The Ottomans had not captured a city before; the lack of expertise and adequate siege equipment at this stage of the war meant that the city fell only after six or nine years.^[2]

The historian, Laonikos Chalkokondyles, notes that the Ottomans took advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 to capture the city: "Andronikos decided that he should hold the throne himself, as his grandfather had already grown old, and so they fell out with each other. He was too stubborn to submit and caused endless trouble. He brought in the Serbs and allied himself with the leading Greeks in his struggle for the throne. As a result they could do nothing to prevent the Turks from crossing over into Europe. It was at this time that Prusa was besieged, starved out, and taken by Osman, and other cities in Asia were captured."^[3]

According to some sources Osman I died of natural causes just before the fall of the city,^[2] while others suggest that he lived long enough to hear about the victory on his death-bed^[1]^[4]^[5] and was buried in Bursa afterwards.

Aftermath

After the fall of the city, his son and successor Orhan made Bursa the first official Ottoman capital and it remained so until 1366, when Edirne became the new capital.^[2] As a result, Bursa holds a special place in Ottoman history as their founding city, and also as the birthplace of Ottoman architecture (Bursa Grand Mosque (1399), Bayezid I Mosque (1395), Hüdavendigar Mosque (1385), and Yeşil Mosque) (1421).^[6] During his reign Orhan encouraged urban growth through the construction of buildings such as imarets, Turkish baths, mosques, inns and caravanserais,^[7] and he also built a mosque and a medrese in what is now known as the Hisar district,^[8] and after his death was buried there in his türbe (mausoleum) next to his father.^[6] The Moroccan Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta who visited Bursa in 1331 was impressed by the sultan and found Bursa an enjoyable city^[6] "with fine bazaars and wide streets, surrounded on all sides by gardens and running springs."^[9]

Importance

Paul K. Davis writes, "The capture of Bursa established Osman I (Othman) and his successors as the major power in Asia Minor, beginning the Ottoman Empire."^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Rogers, Clifford (2010). The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780195334036.
^ ^a ^b ^c Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 100–101. ISBN 9780313337338.
^ Kaldellis, Anthony. (2014). The Histories, volume 1, p.25. Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 978-0-674-59918-5.
^ Hore, A. H. (2003). Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek Church. Gorgias Press LLC. p. 455. ISBN 9781593330514.
^ Pitcher, Donald Edgar (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. Brill Archive. p. 37.
^ ^a ^b ^c Dumper, Michael R. T.; Stanley, Bruce E. (2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 101. ISBN 9781576079195.
^ Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 105. ISBN 9781438110257.
^ Levine, Lynn A. (2010). Frommer's Istanbul (2 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 238. ISBN 9780470915790.
^ Finkel, Caroline (2007). Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. Basic Books. p. 13. ISBN 9780465008506.
^ Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 151.

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 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.