View source for Siege of Bursa

{{Short description|1317–1326 capture of the Byzantine city of Prusa by the Ottoman Empire}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Siege of Bursa
| image             = Bursa Kalesi 1.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Gate of Bursa castle
| partof            = the [[Byzantine–Ottoman wars]]
| date              = 1317 – April 6, 1326<ref name="Rogers"/>
| place             = [[Bursa|Prusa]], [[Byzantine Empire]] (modern-day [[Bursa]], [[Turkey]])
| result            = {{ublist|Ottoman victory}}
* The Ottomans capture Bursa and establish their first capital.
* Bursa becomes the first official capital of the Ottoman Beylik.
| combatant1        = [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Beylik]]
| combatant2        = [[Byzantine Empire]]
| commander1        = [[Osman I|Osman Ghazi]]{{Natural Causes}}<br/>[[Orhan|Orhan Ghazi]]<br/>[[Köse Mihal]]
| commander2        = Saroz
| strength1         = Unknown
| strength2         = Unknown
}}
{{Campaignbox Byzantine-Ottoman Wars}}

The '''siege of Bursa''' occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326,<ref name="Rogers">{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford|title=The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|volume=1|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780195334036|page=261}}</ref> when the [[Ottoman Turks]] 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.<ref name="Nolan">{{cite book|last=Nolan|first=Cathal J.|title=The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization|volume=1|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2006|isbn=9780313337338|pages=100–101}}</ref> 

The historian, [[Laonikos Chalkokondyles]], notes that the Ottomans took advantage of the [[Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328]] to capture the city: "[[Andronikos III Palaiologos|Andronikos]] decided that he should hold the throne himself, as [[Andronikos II Palaiologos|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 [[Kingdom of Serbia (1217–1346)|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 Minor]] were also captured."<ref name="Kaldellis">{{cite book|last=Kaldellis|first=Anthony.|title=The Histories |volume=1|p=25|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|year=2014|isbn=978-0-674-59918-5}}</ref>

According to some sources [[Osman I]] died of natural causes just before the fall of the city,<ref name="Nolan"/> while others suggest that he lived long enough to hear about the victory on his death-bed<ref name="Rogers"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Hore|first=A. H.|title=Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek Church|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|year=2003|page=455|isbn=9781593330514}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pitcher|first=Donald Edgar|title=An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century|publisher=Brill Archive|year=1972|page=37}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Nolan"/> 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).<ref name="Michael&Bruce">{{cite book|last1=Dumper|first1=Michael R. T.|last2=Stanley|first2=Bruce E.|title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2007|isbn=9781576079195|page=101}}</ref> During his reign Orhan encouraged urban growth through the construction of buildings such as [[imaret]]s, [[Turkish bath]]s, [[mosque]]s, [[inn]]s and [[caravanserai]]s,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ágoston|first1=Gábor|last2=Masters|first2=Bruce Alan|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|isbn=9781438110257|page=105}}</ref> and he also built a mosque and a [[medrese]] in what is now known as the Hisar district,<ref>{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Lynn A.|title=Frommer's Istanbul|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2010|isbn=9780470915790|edition=2|page=238}}</ref> and after his death was buried there in his [[türbe]] (mausoleum) next to his father.<ref name="Michael&Bruce"/> The [[Moroccan Muslim]] traveler [[Ibn Battuta]] who visited Bursa in 1331 was impressed by the [[sultan]] and found Bursa an enjoyable city<ref name="Michael&Bruce"/> "with fine [[bazaar]]s and wide streets, surrounded on all sides by gardens and running springs."<ref>{{cite book|last=Finkel|first=Caroline|title=Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Basic Books|year=2007|isbn=9780465008506|page=13}}</ref>

==Importance==
[[Paul K. Davis (historian)|Paul K. Davis]] writes, "The capture of Bursa established Osman I and his successors as the major power in [[Asia Minor]], beginning the [[Ottoman Empire]]."<ref>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.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Siege of Kulaca Hisar]]

==References==
<references/>
{{Major Ottoman sieges}}

{{coord|40.1833|N|29.0667|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:Sieges involving the Byzantine Empire|Bursa]]
[[Category:Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire|Bursa]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1326]]
[[Category:1320s in the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:History of Bursa]]
[[Category:1326 in Asia]]
[[Category:Sieges of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars|Bursa]]
[[Category:1320s in the Ottoman Empire]]