Ottoman conquest of Otranto

"Battle of Otranto" redirects here. For the naval battles, see Battle of the Strait of Otranto.

Battle of Otranto
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Ottoman–Hungarian Wars
Castle of Otranto
Date 28 July 1480 – 10 September 1481 Standort Otranto, Kingdom of Naples Result Ottoman forces conquer Otranto Christian forces recapture the city in September 1481
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Kingdom of Naples Crown of Aragon Kingdom of Sicily Ungarn Papal States
Commanders and leaders
Gedik Ahmed Pasha	Paolo Fregoso Francesco Largo † Alfonso, Duke of Calabria Gaspare de Spes Balázs Magyar
Strength
18,000 infantry 700 cavalry 128 ships	Unknown Hungary: 2,100 Hungarian heavy infantry
Casualties and losses
Garrisoned forces surrender	12,000 killed in action 5,000 enslaved

Relics of the Martyrs of Otranto inside Otranto Cathedral

The Ottoman invasion of Otranto occurred between 1480 and 1481 in the city of Otranto, in Apulia, southern Italy. Forces of the Ottoman Empire invaded and laid siege to the city and captured it on 11 August 1480. The Ottomans established their first outpost in Italy. According to a traditional account, more than 800 inhabitants were beheaded after the city had been captured. The Martyrs of Otranto are still celebrated in Italy. A year later, the Ottoman garrison surrendered the city after a siege by Christian forces, uncertainty upon the death of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and the intervention of papal forces that were led by Paolo Fregoso of Genoa.

Background

The attack on Otranto was part of an abortive Ottoman attempt to invade and conquer Italy, especially Rome. In the summer of 1480, a force of nearly 20,000 Ottomans, under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha, invaded southern Italy. The first part of the plan was to capture the port city of Otranto. The 15-year war between]] the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Sultanate, the two dominant powers in terms of trade and military force, over the Mediterranean Sea, including the Black Sea, had just resulted in the Treaty of Constantinople. Sultan Mehmed II had declared himself "Kaysar-i Rûm" after he had taken Constantinople in 1453. He restored the Greek Orthodox Church but banned the Catholic Church.

Invasion of Italy

Siege

On 28 July, an Ottoman fleet of 128 ships, including 28 galleys, arrived near the Neapolitan city of Otranto. Many of the troops had come from the 1480 Siege of Rhodes. The garrison and the citizens of Otranto retreated to the city's castle. On 11 August, after a 15-day siege, Gedik Ahmed ordered the final assault. When the walls were breached the Ottomans methodically passed to house to house and sacked, looted and set it on fire. Upon reaching the cathedral, "they found Archbishop Stefano Agricolo, fully vested and crucifix in hand" to be awaiting them with Count Francesco Largo, the garrison commander, nd Bishop Stefano Pendinelli, who distributed the Eucharist and sat with the women and children of Otranto while a Dominican friar led the faithful in prayer. A total of 12,000 were killed and 5,000 were enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine Peninsula around the city, and the cathedral was turned into a mosque.

Martyrs of Otranto

The Martyrs of Otranto were collectively canonised as saints by the Roman Catholic Church on 12 May 2013. Their remains are claimed to be stored today in Otranto Cathedral and in the Church of Santa Caterina a Formiello, in Naples.

The traditional Christian historiography has come under criticism by later historians. Recent scholarship has questioned whether conversion was imposed as a condition for clemency. Although one contemporary Ottoman account justifies the massacre on religious grounds, Ilenia Romana Cassetta writes that it seems rather to have been a punitive action whose goal was intimidation.

Stalled advance

In August, 70 ships of the fleet attacked Vieste. On 12 September, the Monastero di San Nicholas di Casole, which had accommodated one of the richer libraries of Europe, was destroyed. By October, attacks had been conducted against the coastal cities of Lecce, Taranto and Brindisi.

However, the lack of supplies made the Ottoman commander, Gedik Ahmed Pasha, not consolidate his force's advance. Instead he returned with most of his troops to Albania and left a garrison of 800 infantry and 500 sipahi behind to defend Otranto. It was assumed that he would return with his army after the winter.

Catholic response

Since only 27 years had passed since the Fall of Constantinople, there was some fear that Rome would suffer the same fate. Plans were made for the Pope and the citizens to evacuate the city. Pope Sixtus IV repeated his 1471 call for a crusade. Several Italian city-states, Hungary and France responded positively. The Republic of Venice did not do so, as it had signed an expensive peace treaty with the Ottomans in 1479.

In April 1481, Sixtus IV called for an Italian crusade to liberate the city, and Christian forces besieged Otranto in May. An army was raised by King Ferdinand I of Naples, to be led by his son Alfonso, Duke of Calabria. A contingent of troops was provided by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

Recapture

Between August and September, King Ferdinand of Naples, with the help of his cousin Ferdinand the Catholic and the Kingdom of Sicily, attempted to recapture Otranto. The Christian forces besieged the city on 1 May 1481. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was preparing for a new campaign on Italy but lost his life on 3 May. The succession issues prevented the Ottomans from sending reinforcements to Otranto. After negotiation with the Christian forces, the Ottomans surrendered in August, left Otranto in September 1481 and ended the 13-month occupation.

Aftermath

See also: Portuguese expedition to Otranto

The number of citizens, which is said to have been nearly 20,000, had decreased to 8,000 by the end of the century. The 500 Sipahis settled in Otranto by Gedik Ahmet Pasha went into the service of Ferdinand when the control of the region passed to the Kingdom of Naples. With those 500 Sipahis, the kingdom dominated during other wars in Italy.

The Ottomans also briefly held Otranto once more after they conquered it in 1537.

See also

• History of Islam in southern Italy
• Martyrs of Otranto
• Da Vinci's Demons (fictional work, part of which portrays the invasion)

Further reading

• Hubert Houben, ed. La conquista turca di Otranto (1480) tra storia e mito: atti del convegno internazionale di studio, Otranto–Muro Leccese, 28–31 marzo 2007. 2 vols. Galatina, 2008.

External links

• En.otrantopoint.com
• Zum.de
• Borghitalia.it
• Castellipuglia.org
• Uni-mannheim.de
• Cronologia.leonardo.it
• Museomuro.it
• How the Eight Hundred Men of Otranto Saved Rome