Veneto-Ottoman War (1463-1479)-Wikipedia

Posted on by
before-content-x4

The Veneto-Ottoman war from 1463 to 1479 , also called First Veneto-Ottoman War or Turco-Venetian , is an armed conflict between the Republic of Venice and its allies to the Ottoman Empire from 1463 to 1479. This war took place shortly after the fall of Constantinople, and led to the loss of several Venetian possessions in Albania and Greece , in particular the island of Négrepont (or Evée), which had been a Venetian protectorate for centuries. The war also sees the rapid expansion of the Ottoman Navy, which is capable of challenging the Venetians and the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint-Jean of Jerusalem for supremacy in the Aegean Sea. In the last years of war, however, the Republic managed to acquire in fact The cross kingdom of Cyprus.

after-content-x4

After the fourth crusade (1203-1204), the lands of the Byzantine Empire had been divided between several crossed states, marking the beginning of the period known in Greek under the name of Francocracy. Despite the resurgence of the Byzantine Empire under the dynasty of paleologists at the end of XIII It is century, many of these Latin states survived the emergence of a new power, the Ottoman Empire. The most powerful of the Western States controlling territories in the eastern Mediterranean is the Republic of Venice, which founded a vast maritime empire and controls many coastal and islands in the Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean seas. During her first conflict with the Ottomans, Venice already lost the city of Thessaloniki in 1430, following a long seat, but the resulting peace treaty leaves the other Venetian possessions intact [ first ] .

In 1453, the Ottomans seized the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, and continued to extend their territories in the Balkans, Asia Minor and in the Aegean Sea. Serbia was conquered in 1459, and the last Byzantine vestiges, the Despotat de Morée and the Empire de Trébizonde are subjected in 1460-1461 [ 2 ] . The Duchy of Naxos under Venetian control and the Genoese colonies of Lesbos and Chios have become vassals in 1458, to be annexed directly four years later [ 3 ] . The Ottoman advance therefore threatens the possessions of Venice in the south of Greece and, after the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia (in) in 1463, on the Adriatic coast [ 4 ] , [ 5 ] .

Start of the war [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

According to the Greek historian Critobule of Imbros, hostilities explode following the flight of an Albanian slave belonging to the Ottoman commander of Athens to the Venetian fortress of Coron (today Koroni) with 100,000 aspres from the treasure of his master. The fugitive converts to Christianity and the Venetian authorities reject the requests for the restitution of the Ottomans [ 6 ] . Under this pretext, in November 1462, Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey (in) , the Ottoman commander of Central Greece, attacks and almost succeeds in taking the Venetian fortress of Lépante, with high strategic value. On April 3, 1463, the Governor of Morée, Isa-Beg Ishaković (in) , seized by betrayal of the city of Argos, run by the Venetians [ 6 ] .

Although Venice, which depends on the trade with the Ottomans, has been reluctant to face them in war, the exhortations of the Pope’s legate, Cardinal Bessarion, and a passionate speech of Vettore Cappello (in) , member of the Council of Ten, tip the scales on the war side and on July 28, the Senate narrowly voted the declaration of war at the sublime door [ 7 ] . Pope Pius II takes this opportunity to launch a new crusade against the Ottomans: on September 12, 1463, Venice and the King of Hungary Matthias Corvin signed an alliance, followed on October 19 of an alliance with the Pope and the Duke Philippe the Burgundy voucher [ 8 ] . Under the terms of the treaty, in the event of victory, the Balkans would be divided between the allies. The Morée and the Western Greek coast (Epirus) would return to Venice, Hungary would have the right to Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Wallachia, the Albanian Principality of Skanderbeg would grab Macedonia, and the remaining European territories of the Ottoman , including Constantinople, would form a restored Byzantine Empire and governed by surviving members of the paleologist family [ 9 ] . Negotiations are also started with other rivals of the Ottomans, such as the Karamanides, Uzun Hassan and the Khanat of Crimea [ 9 ] .

Campaigns in Morée and Aegean Mer (1463-1466) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

after-content-x4
Morée card in the Middle Ages

The new alliance is launching a double offensive against the Ottomans: a Venetian army, under the orders of the Captain General from Mar Alvise Loredan, arrives in Morée, while Matthias Corvin invades Bosnia [ 4 ] . At the same time, Pius II begins to bring an army together to Ancône, hoping to direct it in person [ 9 ] .

At the beginning of August, the Venetians resume Argos and reformify the isthmus of Corinth, in restaurants the Wall of Hexamilion and by equipping it with many cannons [ ten ] . They then undertake to besiege the acrocorinth fortress, which controls the northeast of the Peloponnese. The Venetians repeatedly face the defenders and forces of Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey, until they undergo a major defeat on October 20, where the Marquis Bertoldo of Este died. The Venetians are forced to lift the siege and withdraw to hexamilion and on a nauplus [ ten ] . In Bosnia, Matthias Corvin seizes more than sixty fortified places and succeeds in taking his capital, Jajce, after a siege (in) of three months, December 16 [ 11 ] .

The Ottoman reaction is as quick as it is decisive: the Sultan Mehmed II sends his great vizier, Mahmud Pacha Angelović, with an army against the Venetians. To face the Venetian fleet, which took a position at the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait, the Sultan also orders the creation of the new shipyard of Kadirga Limani in the golden horn (named after the “Kadirga” type ), and two forts to keep the Strait, Kilidulbahr and Sultaniye [ twelfth ] . The Morée campaign quickly turns to the advantage of the Ottomans: although revealed by Ömer Bey of the solidity of the Venetian positions in Hexamilion, Mahmud Pasha decides to continue his march, hoping to surprise them. The Ottomans reach isthmus just in time to see the Venetian army, demoralized and suffering from dysentery, leave its positions and sail towards Nauplie [ 8 ] . The Ottoman army shaves hexamilion and advances in Morée. Argos falls, and several forts and localities which had recognized the Venetian authority make allegiance to the Turks. Zagan Pasha is again appointed Governor of Morée, while King Bey receives the army of Mahmud Pasha and is responsible for conquering the possessions of the Republic in the south of the Peloponnesis, around the two forts of Coron and Modon [ 8 ] .

Mehmed II, who follows Mahmud Pasha with another army in reinforcement, reached Zeitounion (Lamia) before being informed of the success of his vizier. Immediately, he heads north, towards Bosnia [ twelfth ] ; But the sultan’s attempt to take Jajce in July and August 1464 fails, the Ottoman retreating in front of the army of Corvin who is approaching. A new Ottoman army under the orders of Mahmud Pasha then forces Corvin to withdraw, but Jajce was not taken up until many years later. The death of Pope Pius II on August 15 in Anne, however, ends the crusade [ 9 ] , [ 13 ] .

Meanwhile, for the 1464 campaign, the Republic appointed the Condottiere Sigismond Malatesta, lord of Rimini and one of the most brilliant Italian generals, army commander in Morée [ 14 ] ; but the forces at its disposal, composed in part of mercenaries and Stratioti , are limited and he cannot do much during his stay in Morée. Upon arrival in the middle of the summer, he launched attacks against the Ottoman forts and hired a seat in Mistra in August-October. However, he failed to take the castle and must abandon the siege as they approach a rescue force placed under the orders of Ömer Bey [ 15 ] . The war on a small scale continues on both sides, with raids and counter-raids, but due to the lack of troops and money, the Venetians remain largely confined in their fortified bases while the army of Ömer Bey quad the land. The mercenaries employed by Venice are unhappy with the bad pay while the Morée is ravaged, the villages abandoned and the fields left abandoned [ 16 ] . The lack of supplies forces Ömer Bey to withdraw to Athens in the fall of 1465. Malatesta himself, disenchanted and increasingly eager to return to Italy to take care of the affairs of his family and his quarrel with the Papalé, remains largely inactive throughout the year 1465, despite the relative weakness of the Ottoman garrisons after the removal of Ömer Bey from the peninsula [ 17 ] .

In the Aegean Sea, the new Venetian admiral, Orsato Giustinian, tries to take lesbos in the spring of 1464 and besieged the capital mytilene for six weeks, until the arrival of an Ottoman fleet under the orders of Mahmud Pacha, 18 May, forces him to withdraw [ 18 ] . Another attempt to take the island also fails shortly after and Giustinian died in Modon on July 11. His successor, Jacopo Loredan, spends the rest of the year leading demonstrations of force ultimately unsuccessful in front of the Dardanelles [ 18 ] . At the beginning of 1465, Mehmed II sent a peace proposal to the Venetian Senate; Distrustful, he rejects the offer [ 19 ] . Shortly after, the Venetians were trained in a conflict with the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint-Jean de Jerusalem to Rhodes, who attack a Venetian convoy carrying Moorish merchants from the Mamluk sultanate [ 20 ] . This event arouses anger the Mameluks, who imprison all the Venetian subjects living in the Levant, and threaten to go to war alongside the Ottomans. The Venetian fleet, under the orders of Loredan, goes to Rhodes with order to release the Moors, including by force. A potentially catastrophic war between the two great Christian powers of the Aegean Sea is ultimately avoided and the merchants are given to the Venetians [ 20 ] .

In 1465, the Mani -Sonotes (in) Epifani et krokodeilos kladas (in) command bands of Stratioti Against the Turks in the Magne (south of the Peloponnese). They take possession on behalf of Venice in the Vardounia region (today Sminos).

In April 1466, Vettore Cappello, the most ardent ALLICIST, replaced LOREDAN as Captain General from Mar . Under its direction, the Venetian war effort is rekindled: the fleet takes the islands of Imbros, Thasos and Samothrace in the north of the Aegean Sea, then sail in the Saronic Gulf [ 21 ] . On July 12, Cappello arrived at Piraeus and walks against Athens, the main base of the Ottomans. However, he failed to take the acropolis and is forced to fall back on Patras, then besieged by the administrator de la Morée, Jacomo Barbarigo. Before Cappello could get there, and while the city seems to fall, Ömer suddenly appears with 12,000 horsemen and hunts the besiegers in numerical inferiority, killing six hundred dead and a hundred prisoners on a force of 2,000 men; Barbarigo himself is killed, and his full body [ 22 ] . Cappello, who arrives a few days later, attacks the Ottomans, but is heavily defeated. Demoralized, he returned to Négrepont with the remains of his army. There he fell ill and died on March 13, 1467 [ 22 ] . Négrepont was taken by the Turks three years later.

War in Albania (1466-1467) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Map of Albania in the Middle Ages

In the spring of 1466, the Sultan Mehmed II walked with his army against the Albanians. Under the supervision of their commander, Skanderbeg, they have long resisted the Ottomans and have repeatedly asked for the aid in Venice [ 4 ] . For the Albanians, the triggering of the Ottoman-Venitian war offers a chance in gold to reaffirm their independence; For Venetians, these allies provide useful protection to the Venetian coastal possessions of Durazzo (Durrës) and Scutari (Shkodër or Shkodra). The Montenegrin Lord Ivan Crnojević (in) , Prince of Zeta, plays an important role in the defense of Scotari who makes him famous in Venice. The main result of this campaign is the construction of the Elbasan fortress. This fortress located at a strategic location, in the lowlands near the end of the old Via Egnaatia , cuts Albania in two, insulating the base of skanderbeg in the highlands of the north of the southern Venetian possessions [ 23 ] . However, after the sultan’s withdrawal, Skanderbeg himself spends winter in Italy, looking for help. Upon his return in early 1467, his forces descended from the highlands, beat Ballaban Badera (in) And raise the seat of the Fortress of Croy (Krujë), and attack Elbasan without success [ 24 ] , [ 25 ] . Mehmed II responds by walking again against Albania. He vigorously continued the attacks on the Albanian fortresses, while sending detachments to make raids on Venetian possessions to keep them isolated [ 21 ] . Ottomans fail to take over again, and do not manage to submit the country. However, during the winter declares an epidemic of plague which weakens local resistance [ 21 ] . Skanderbeg dies of malaria in the Venetian fortress of Lissus (Lezhë), ending the ability of Venice to use the Albanian lords for its own advantage [ 23 ] . The Albanians are left to themselves and gradually submitted during the following decade.

Fall of Négrepont (1470) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

End of war and consequences (1474-1479) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After the death of Skanderbeg, some Albanian northern garrisons under Venetian control still control territories coveted by the Ottomans, such as žbljak Crnojevića (in) , Drisht, Lezhë and Shkodër. Mehmed II sends his armies to take shkodër in 1474 but failed. He will then personally direct the siege of Shkodër (in) in 1478-1479. The Venetians and local inhabitants resist the assaults and continue to hold the fortress until the end of the war.

The Treaty of Constantinople which ends the war is signed on January 25, 1479. The treaty provides for the delivery to the Ottomans of Shkodër and Lemnos, as well as the territories conquered during the war; The Ottomans keep their conquests of Négrepont, Argos and Croy [ 26 ] . Venice has only the forts of Navarin, Modon, Coron, Monemvasia and Lepant [ 27 ] . The Republic must also pay the sum of 100,000 ducats To settle the debts of its merchants and 10,000 ducats for trade in the Black Sea [ 28 ] . This treaty consecrates Ottoman expansion in the Balkans, to the detriment of the Serenissimo [ 29 ] .

Notes and references [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  1. ↑ Finkel 2006, p. 40-41.
  2. ↑ Finkel 2006, p. 60-62.
  3. ↑ Finkel 2006, p. 60.
  4. ↑ A B and C Finkel 2006, p. 63.
  5. ↑ Shaw 1976, p. 64-65.
  6. ↑ a et b Setton 1978, p. 241.
  7. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 243.
  8. ↑ A B and C Setton 1978, p. 249.
  9. ↑ A B C and D Shaw 1976, p. 65.
  10. ↑ a et b Setton 1978, p. 248.
  11. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 250.
  12. ↑ a et b Zacour 1978, p. 326.
  13. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 270.
  14. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 251-252.
  15. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 252-253.
  16. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 253-255.
  17. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 255-257.
  18. ↑ a et b Setton 1978, p. 251.
  19. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 273.
  20. ↑ a et b Setton 1978, p. 277.
  21. ↑ A B and C Setton 1978, p. 283.
  22. ↑ a et b Setton 1978, p. 284.
  23. ↑ a et b Finkel 2006, p. sixty four.
  24. ↑ Zacour 1978, p. 327.
  25. ↑ Setton 1978, p. 278.
  26. ↑ Gallota 1985, p. 116.
  27. ↑ Dalègre 2019.
  28. ↑ Gallota 1985, p. 115.
  29. ↑ Gallota 1985, p. 118.

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  • [Chasiotis 1975] (Greek) John Chasiotis ‘The bending of the Ottoman power’ , In History of the Greek Nation, Volume IA ′: Hellenism under foreign sovereignty, 1669–1821 [“History of The nation), Volume Studio Sous La Domangère, 1669-1821» | DαLιήήοοl Twlθήή αθθπη, nν km , 450 p. (ISBN  9789602131077 )
  • [Dalègre 2019] Jooche Dalère, “Venice, the Turks, Crete” , In Venise en crète: City of Venice with the lift , Paris, Presses de l’Inalco, , 368 p. (ISBN  9782858313020 , DOI  10.4000/books.pressesinalco.19389 , read online )
  • [Finkel 2006] (in) Caroline Finkel, Osman’s Dream : The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300–1923 , Londres, John Murray, , 674 p. (ISBN  9780719561122 )
  • [Gallota 1985] Aldo Gallotta, « Venice and the Ottoman Empire, of peace of January 25, 1479 to the death of Muhammad II (1481) », Revue of the Muslim West and the Mediterranean , n O 39, , p. 113-130 ( read online )
  • [Lane 1973] (in) Frederic C. Lane, Venice, a Maritime Republic , Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, , 528 p. (ISBN  978-0801814600 )
  • [Setton 1978] (in) Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571) , vol. 2 : The Fifteenth Century , Philadelphia, American Society of Philosophy, , 560 p. (ISBN  0-87169-127-2 )
  • [Shaw 1976] (in) Stanford Jay Shaw et Ezel Kural Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey , vol. first : Empire of the Gazis: the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1280-1808 , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (ISBN  978-0-521-29163-7 , read online )
  • [Zacour 1978] (in) Norman P. Zacour et Harry W. Hazard, chap. 9 « The Ottoman Turks and the Crusades, 1451-1522 » , in Kenneth M. Setton, A History of the Crusades , vol. 6: The Impact of the Crusades on Europe , Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, , 728 p. (ISBN  0-299-10740-X , read online ) , p. 311-353

See as well [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

after-content-x4