Siege of Kayseri (1490)
| Siege of Kayseri | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491) | |||||||||
Kayseri Castle today | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Mamluk Sultanate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Mihailoğlu İskender Bey (POW)[a] Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha (POW)[b] Mustafa Pasha † |
Uzbek Bey Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
30,000–60,000 under Ahmed Pasha Total army unknown | 22,000–62,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Almost entire army destroyed | Heavy | ||||||||
The 1490 siege of Kayseri took place during the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491). Mamluk forces, led by Atabeg Uzbek Bey and Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, laid siege to the central Anatolian city of Kayseri, which was under Ottoman control. The siege resulted in a Mamluk victory after the Ottoman forces, led by Governor Mihailoğlu İskender Bey, were decisively defeated and the city fell.
Background
In 1488, Ottoman and Mamluk armies met near Aga Çayırı. After a bloody battle the Mamluks defeated the Ottomans, killing half of their army. The Mamluks attempted to pursue the commander of the battle, Hadım Ali Pasha, but he managed to escape.[3][4]
Siege
One month later, in January 1490, Uzbek Bey and Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri led an army mainly made up of survivors of the previous battle at Aga Çayırı and invaded Karaman Eyalet, capturing Karaman and laying siege to Kayseri.[5] Mihailoğlu İskender Bey, the governor of Kayseri at the time, managed to hold out until February when Bayezid II sent an army of 30,000–60,000 men under Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha. However, while trying to break the siege, Ahmed Pasha was captured by the Mamluks for the second time.[6][7] The Ottoman army was nearly entirely destroyed,[2] and Mustafa Pasha, the son of İskender Pasha, was killed. After this, İskender Pasha decided to surrender to the Mamluks, and the siege ended with a Mamluk victory.[8][9][10][11][12]
Aftermath
After this last defeat, Bayezid II thought of launching an imperial campaign, which greatly worried Sultan Qaitbay. This led him to agree to peace. However, the Mamluk Sultan could not bring himself to request peace directly, fearing the Ottomans’ excessive demands. Instead, he brought in the ruler of another Muslim country, Abu Yahya Zakariya III, and the two countries agreed to return to the situation at the beginning of the war. Both the Ottoman and Mamluk forces returned the lands they had taken, thus concluding the conflict with the signing of peace in 1491.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Turan, Ebru (2009-12-31). "The Marriage of Ibrahim Pasha (ca. 1495-1536)". Turcica. 41: 23. doi:10.2143/TURC.41.0.2049287. ISSN 0082-6847.
- ^ a b Danişmend, İsmail Hami (1940). İzahlı Osmanlı Tarihi Kronolojisi (in Turkish). İstanbul: Türkiye Yayınevi. pp. 391–392.
- ^ Har-El, Shai (1995). Struggle for Domination in the Middle East: The Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485–1491. The Ottoman Empire and its Heritage. Vol. 4. Leiden; New York: E. J. Brill. p. 189. ISBN 978-90-04-10180-7. ISSN 1380-6076. LCCN 94-40784. OCLC 31434541. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
- ^ Knolles, Richard (1704). The Turkish History, Comprehending the Origin of that Nation, and the Growth of the Othoman Empire: ... Written by Mr. Knolls, Continued by Sir Paul Rycaut to ... 1699. and Abridg'd by Mr. Savage. Revised and Approved by ... Sir Paul Rycaut, and Adorn'd with Nine and Twenty Copper Plates ... The Second Edition Carefully Corrected, Improv'd and Brought Down to this Present Year, 1704. With an Addition of the Life of the Impostor Mahomet, by the Same Author. ... p. 218.
- ^ Black, Jeremy (2019). War in the World: A Comparative History, 1450–1600. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-230-34426-6.
- ^ Pitcher, Donald Edgar (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire from Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. Brill. p. 83. ISBN 9789004031104.
- ^ a b "Osmanlı-Memlûk Savaşı". Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmaniyye. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
- ^ "Ottoman-Mamluk Wars". Phersu Atlas. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
- ^ Christopher Leslie Brown; Philip D. Morgan, eds. (2012). Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age. Yale University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-300-13485-8.
- ^ Somel, Selçuk Akşin (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Scarecrow Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780810866065.
- ^ Winter, Michael (2004). The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society. Brill. p. 181. ISBN 9789004132863.
- ^ Cook, David (2007). Martyrdom in Islam. Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 9780521615518.