Siege of Mytilene (1462)

The Siege of Mytilene was the successful capture through bombardment and assault of the fortress town of Mytilene on Lesbos by the Ottoman Turks in 1462. The ruler of Lesbos, Niccolò Gattilusio, had at first refused to surrender his domain, trusting to the fortifications of his city and its garrison of 5,000. After four days of skirmishing, Sultan Mehmed II ordered the city bombarded with the six giant cannons he brought with him. The damage these cannons caused could not be repaired, and when the Janissaries penetrated the city, Niccolò was forced to admit his defeat. He surrendered Mytilene and the rest of the island.

Sources

Primary sources

Laonikos Chalkokondyles, 10.7-14
Doukas, 45.23
Kritoboulos, IV.67-90

Secondary

Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, edited by William C. Hickman and translated by Ralph Manheim (Princeton: University Press, 1978), pp. 208–214
William Miller, "The Gattilusj of Lesbos (1355–1462)", Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 22 (1913), pp. 406–447.

Major sieges by the Ottoman Empire by century

14th	1326 Prusa 1331 Nicaea 1333 Nicomedia 1360s Adrianople 1385 Sofia 1393 Tarnovo

15th	1422 Constantinople 1422–30 Thessalonica 1448 Svetigrad 1453 Constantinople 1456 Belgrade 1461 Trebizond 1462 Siege of Mytilene 1470 Negroponte 1478 Scutari 1480 Rhodes 1481 Otranto

16th	1517 Cairo 1521 Belgrade 1522 Rhodes 1529 Algiers 1529 Vienna 1532 Güns (Kőszeg) 1532 Maribor 1534 Tunis 1534 Baghdad 1537 Klis 1537 Corfu 1538 Diu 1538 Aden 1539 Castelnuovo 1541 Buda 1543 Nice 1543 Esztergom 1547 Van 1551 Tripoli 1552 Muscat 1552 Hormuz 1552 Temesvár 1552 Eger 1556 Oran 1563 Oran 1565 Malta 1566 Szigetvar 1574 Tunis 1578 Gvozdansko 1593 Sisak 1596 Eger

17th	1638 Baghdad 1663 Uyvar 1664 Novi Zrin 1648–69 Candia 1672 Kamenets 1683 Vienna

18th–19th	1739 Belgrade 1825–26 Missolonghi

Ottoman defeats shown in italics.

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