Siege of Rhodes (1480)

Siege of Rhodes
	Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe
	; The 1480 siege of Rhodes. Neapolitan ships in the forefront, and Turkish camp in the background.
Date	23 May – 17 August 1480; (2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location	Rhodes
Result	Knights Hospitaller victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Knights Hospitaller
Commanders and leaders
Mesih Pasha	Pierre d'Aubusson; Antoine d'Aubusson
Strength
70,000 men; 100 or 160 ships Probably between 10,000 and 15,000 men Not more than 20,000 3,000 janissaries	500+ knights; 2,000+ soldiers Probably numbered about 3,500 men or 300+ knights 300 sergeants, 3,000–4,000 soldiers.
Casualties and losses
9,000 killed; 15,000 wounded	Few

In 1480 the small Knights Hospitaller garrison of Rhodes withstood an attack of the Ottoman Empire.

Attack

On 23 May 1480 an Ottoman fleet of 160 ships appeared before Rhodes, at the gulf of Trianda, along with an army of 70,000 men under the command of Mesih Pasha.^[6] The Knights Hospitaller garrison was led by Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson.

The Ottomans' first goal was to capture the Tower of St Nicholas, a strategic point for the knights' defence of the two harbours: Mandraki, and the one to the east bay of Akandia. The Turkish artillery kept up an unbroken bombardment and, from 9 June on, the infantry made a series of attacks. Grand Master d'Aubusson himself sped to the aid of the garrison and the enemy was repelled after a fierce struggle.

A second attack on the town occurred on the eastern sector of the wall near the Jewish quarter, towards the bay of Akandia, which was the battle station of the "tongue" of Italy and was quite weak. The Knights and townspeople dug a new moat on the inside of the wall at this point and constructed a new internal fortification, while bombardment from the Turkish artillery was ongoing. Once again the Knights defended the town, and after a bitter battle with many casualties on both sides, the danger was once more averted.

At dawn on 27 July, the Turks launched a vigorous offensive and their vanguard of around 2,500 Janissaries managed to take the tower of Italy and enter the city. A frenzied struggle ensued. The grand master, wounded in five places, directed the battle and fought with lance in hand. After three hours of fighting the enemy were decimated and the exhausted survivors began to withdraw. The Knights' counter-attack caused the Turks to beat a disorderly retreat, dragging along with them the Vizier and commander-in-chief. The Hospitallers reached as far as his tent and took, along with other booty, the holy standard of Islam. On that day, between three and four thousand Turks were slain.^[7]

On August 17, 1480, the Ottoman fleet gave up their attempt to capture Rhodes. Sultan Mehmed II was furious and would have attacked the island again, but his death in 1481 put a stop to the attempt.^{[citation needed]} In 1521-22 the Ottomans besieged Rhodes once again and captured the city and island.

Historiography

Page from *Obsidionis Rhodiae urbis descriptio*.

Gulielmus Caoursin, vice-chancellor of the Knights Hospitaller, was an eye-witness of the siege and wrote its description in his Obsidionis Rhodiae Urbis Descriptio (an English translation exists as a part of Edward Gibbon's Crusades^[8]). An earlier English translation was the work of John Caius the Elder (printed 1481-84). D'Aubusson's own report on the siege can be found in John Taaffe's history of the Holy, military, sovereign order of st. John of Jerusalem.^[9]

Johann Snell printed Obsidionis Rhodiae Urbis Descriptio in Odense, Denmark in 1482, and this printing is regarded as, if not the first, then one of the first two book printings in Denmark.^[10]

Gallery

Bombard-Mortar of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, 1480-1500. Founded at the request of Pierre d'Aubusson, the bombard was used for close defense of the walls (100-200 meters). It fired 260 kg granite balls. The bombard weighs 3,325 kg. Exhibited at the Musée de l'Armée, Paris.

References

^ ^a ^b Pierre d'Aubusson, in a letter cited in "The Papacy and the Levant", Kenneth M. Setton, page 351, 1984
^ ^a ^b ^c A History of the Crusades, Kenneth Meyer Setton (general editor), page 324, 1969
^ ^a ^b The later Crusades, 1274-1580: from Lyons to Alcazar, Norman Housley, page 228, 1992
^ The Fortress of Rhodes 1309-1522, Konstantin Nossov,Brian Delf, page 46, 2010
^ according to refugees from the Turkish camp cited by Caoursin ("The Papacy and the Levant", Kenneth M. Setton, page 359, 1984)
^ L. Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, 137
^ The Knights of Rhodes - the palace and the city, Elias Kollias, pp. 46-48
^ Gibbon, Edward (1870). The Crusades. London: Murray and son. pp. 135–160.
^ Taaffe, John (1852). The History of the Holy, Military, Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Vol. 3. London: Hope and Co. pp. 53–67.
^ H.O. Lange (1891). "Johan Snell, Danmarks første Bogtrykker". Historisk Tidsskrift (in Danish). ISSN 0106-4991. Wikidata Q108804115.

Bibliography

Elias Kollias, The knights of Rhodes - the palace and the city (Athens, 1994)
Eric Morse, Crusader knights, Turks and Byzantines (Toronto, 2003)
Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant vol.3, 1984
Erik Svane & Dan Greenberg, Croisade vers la Terre Sainte (Geneva, 2007)
Smith, Robert Douglas and DeVries, Kelly (2011), Rhodes Besieged. A new history, Stroud: The History Press, ISBN 978-0-7524-6178-6

[Levant,_Kenneth_M_page_351-1] Pierre d'Aubusson, in a letter cited in "The Papacy and the Levant", Kenneth M. Setton, page 351, 1984

[Crusades,_Kenneth_Meyer_Setton_page_324-2] A History of the Crusades, Kenneth Meyer Setton (general editor), page 324, 1969

[Crusades_page_228-3] The later Crusades, 1274-1580: from Lyons to Alcazar, Norman Housley, page 228, 1992

[4] The Fortress of Rhodes 1309-1522, Konstantin Nossov,Brian Delf, page 46, 2010

[5] rding to refugees from the Turkish camp cited by Caoursin ("The Papacy and the Levant", Kenneth M. Setton, page 359, 1984)

[army-6] L. Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, 137

[7] The Knights of Rhodes - the palace and the city, Elias Kollias, pp. 46-48

[8] Gibbon, Edward (1870). The Crusades. London: Murray and son. pp. 135–160.

[9] Taaffe, John (1852). The History of the Holy, Military, Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Vol. 3. London: Hope and Co. pp. 53–67.

[10] H.O. Lange (1891). "Johan Snell, Danmarks første Bogtrykker". Historisk Tidsskrift (in Danish). ISSN 0106-4991. Wikidata Q108804115.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

v t e Major sieges involving the Ottoman Empire by century
13th-14th	1285 Kulaca Hisar 1326 Bursa 1328–1331 Nicaea 1333–1337 Nicomedia 1360s Adrianople 1385 Sofia 1393 Tarnovo 1394–1402 Constantinople
15th	1411 Constantinople 1422 Constantinople 1422–1430 Thessalonica 1428 Golubac 1440 Belgrade 1440–41 Novo Brdo 1448 Svetigrad 1450 Krujë 1453 Constantinople 1455 Berat 1456 Belgrade 1461 Trebizond 1462 Mytilene 1463 Jajce 1464 Jajce 1466–67 Krujë 1467 Krujë 1470 Negroponte 1474 Scutari 1477–78 Krujë 1478–79 Scutari 1480 Rhodes 1481 Otranto 1484 Chilia
16th	1500 Cephalonia 1517 Cairo 1521 Belgrade 1522 Knin 1522 Rhodes 1529 Peñón of Algiers 1529 Vienna 1531 Diu 1532 Güns (Kőszeg) 1532 Maribor 1533–34 Coron 1534 Tunis 1534 Baghdad 1537 Klis 1537 Corfu 1538 Diu 1539 Castelnuovo 1541 Buda 1543 Nice 1543 Esztergom 1548 Aden 1548 Van 1551 Tripoli 1552 Muscat 1552 Hormuz 1552 Temesvár 1552 Eger 1556 Oran 1559 Bahrain 1563 Oran 1565 Malta 1566 Szigetvar 1570–71 Famagusta 1574 Tunis 1578 Gvozdansko 1592 Bihać 1593 Sisak 1596 Eger
17th	1601 Nagykanizsa 1621 Khotyn 1638 Baghdad 1663 Uyvar 1664 Novi Zrin 1648–1669 Candia 1672 Kamenets 1683 Vienna 1684 Buda 1684 Santa Maura 1685 Érsekújvár 1686 Buda 1686 Pécs 1688 Negroponte 1688 Belgrade 1690 Belgrade 1695 Azov 1696 Azov
18th	1711 Brăila 1715 Nauplia 1716 Corfu 1716 Temeşvar 1717 Belgrade 1733 Baghdad 1734–35 Ganja 1737 Ochakov 1739 Belgrade 1788 Ochakov 1788 Khotin 1789 Belgrade 1789–90 Izmail 1799 El Arish 1799 Jaffa 1799 Acre
19th	1801 Cairo 1806 Belgrade 1821 Patras 1821–22 Acropolis 1821 Tripolitsa 1822 Missolonghi 1823 Missolonghi 1825–26 Missolonghi 1826–27 Acropolis 1828 Kars 1828 Varna 1854 Calafat 1854 Silistra 1854–55 Sevastopol 1855 Kars 1877 Plevna
20th	1912–13 Scutari 1912–13 Adrianople 1915 Van 1915–16 Kut 1916–1919 Medina
Ottoman defeats shown in italics.