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Battle of Pelekanon- ALT HISTORY

Battle of Pelekanon
Part of the Siege of Nicaea during the Byzantine–Ottoman Wars
Map of Byzantine Expansion against Turks
Date June 10–11, 1329 Location Near Nicomedia, Bithynia Result Byzantine Victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Ottoman Beylik
Commanders and leaders
Andronicus III John Cantacuzene †	Orhan I (WIA)
Strength
~4,000 or fewer: ~2,000 soldiers from Constantinople, and something less than this number from Thrace.	~ 8,000
Casualties and losses
Less than 750 dead	More than 5500 dead,

The Battle of Pelekanon, also known by its Latinised form Battle of Pelecanum, occurred on June 10–11, 1329 between an expeditionary force by the Byzantines led by Andronicus III and an Ottoman army led by Orhan I. The Byzantine army was successful in raising the siege.

Background

By the accession of Andronicus in 1328, the Imperial territories in Anatolia had dramatically shrunk from almost all of the west of modern Turkey forty years earlier to a few scattered outposts along the Aegean Sea and a small core province around Nicomedia within about 150 km of the capital city Constantinople. Recently the Turks had captured the important city of Prusa (Bursa) in Bithynia. Andronicus decided to relieve the important besieged cities of Nicomedia and Nicaea, and hoped to restore the frontier to a stable position.

Clash and outcome

Together with the Grand Domestic John Cantacuzene, Andronicus led an army of about 4,000 men, which was the greatest he could muster. They marched along the Sea of Marmara towards Nicomedia. At Pelekanon, a Turkish army led by Orhan I had encamped on the hills to gain a strategic advantage and blocked the road to Nicomedia. On 10 June, Orhan sent 300 cavalry archers downhill to lure the Byzantines unto the hills, but these were driven off by the Byzantines, who were unwilling to advance further. The belligerent armies engaged in indecisive clashes until nightfall. The Byzantine army prepared to retreat, but the Turks gave them no chance. Both Andronicus and Cantacuzene were lightly wounded, while rumors spread that the Emperor had either been killed or mortally wounded, resulting in panic. Although Andronicus rode through the line raising his helmet, yelling at his men that he was not dead. This calmed the troops' panic and made them more disciplined. What happened next is not entirely clear. Byzantine sources state that the Grand Domestic led a charge that led to his death, which temporarily demoralized the soldiers. Although in this charge Orhan was injured and was fading in and out of consciousness. This, combined with the cavalry charge, made the ghazis in the middle gave way, which allowed the flanks to be completely encircled and destroyed. The remaining army, some 2,500, fled to Bursa. Orhan was gravely wounded and carried to Pursa, where he fell into a coma.

Consequences

The Battle of Pelekanon was the first engagement in which a Byzantine emperor encountered an Ottoman Bey. This Battle proved that the Turks who seemed invisible were not. Huge armies which should have easily destroyed them, were defeated, preticulary at the Battle of Bapheus. This gave the Romans a boost in morale, as they could win a battle against the turkish infidels which were large in number. The Byzantines retook Prusa two months later at the Siege of Prusa (1329). Eastern restoration would not be easy though.

References

• Bartusis, Marc C. The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204–1453, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
• Treadgold, W. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, 1997.

Siege of Prusa (1329)

2nd Siege of Bursa (1329)
Part of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars
Gate of Bursa castle
Date August 12 -August 31, 1329 Location Prusa Byzantium Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Ottoman Beylik
Commanders and leaders
Andronikos III	Orhan I † Süleyman Pasha  (WIA)
Strength
~6,000	2,500

Background

After the Battle of Pelekanon, the ottomans were defeated, and Andronikos gave chase. The turks had conquer Prusa in 1326, due to starving the city out. The Byzantines had gained confidence from their recent victory, and outnumbered the forces around 3-1.

Siege

Süleyman Pasha led the defense efforts as Orhan was in a coma. The Byzantine army had arrived in front of the walls on August 12 and began constructing siege engines. The turks had originally starved out the city as ghazis were not known for their siege warfare.

Andronikos had ordered the constructions of two siege towers, which would take around 10 days. Before then the Byzantines had attempted smaller assaults on the walls with ladders, but with no significant results."

Süleyman Pasha had led a raiding party against the Byzantine Camp. Both sides took losses, but these hit and run tactics had consequences, as Suleyman was greatly injured and was put out of action.

However, during this raid, they had saw the construction of the siege towers. The turks had attempted a desperate sortee against the Byzantines in an attempt to burn the siege towers, and almost managed to burn one of them.

This severely damaged the morale of the turks who now had ~1800 men left.

An Orthodox man named Manuel came to Andronikos and said that he had a group of Orthodox men willing to open the gate

if the citizens and their properties within Prusa would be spared. This was agreed upon, and the Bursa gate was open, many Turkish soldiers were trampled in the stampede, in which a cavalryman ran over the two people carrying Orhan, the brunt force killed Orhan, and Suleyman escaped the city with 1500 men.

300 men had held up in the citadel and repelled multiple assaults on the 25th, 28th, 29th, but were finally overwhelmed by shere numbers on the 31st, in which all were killed

Although a byzantine victory, they lost around 1/6 of there men and could no longer pursue the turks. The army was exhausted and were in no position to pursue. The army stayed in Prusa for a day, destroyed its defenses, and left 500 men their under Alexios Philanthropenos, a talented general.

Aftermath

Although, the eastern front was more secure than it was, there were talks in the west in re-establishing The Latin Empire. Mostly by the Duchy of Athens, the Principality of Achaea, Epirus and naples. There were once attempts to do this under Charles I of Anjou, but was stopped when Michael VIII Palaiologos supported or instigated the Sicilian Vespers revolt.

They would soon try conquer the empire, and would have one chance to do it.

Battle of Arta

Battle of Arta
Part of Byzantine-Frankish conflicts of the Frankokratia
Map of Byzantine Empire in 1329
Date June 10–11, 1329 Location Near Arta, Epirus Result Byzantine Victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Kingdom of Aragon Kingdom of Naples Principality of Achaea Duchy of Athens
Commanders and leaders
Andronicus III Alexios Philanthropenos	Peter IV of Aragon William II, Duke of Athens † Philip I, Prince of Taranto
Strength
6,300 -according to Byzantine Sources 10,000- according to Latin Sources	9,000 -according to Byzantine Sources 7,000 -according to Latin Sources
Casualties and losses
3,000 dead, 700 wounded	6,500 dead, 500 captured

Background

Anna succeeded in marrying off Thomas to a daughter of Michael IX Palaiologos, but Thomas was assassinated in 1318 by his cousin Nicholas Orsini, who married his widow and claimed to rule not only Epirus, but all of Greece; his rule was limited only to Akamania, or the southern part of Epirus. He was overthrown by his brother John in 1323, who attempted to balance submission to Constantinople with cooperation with the Angevins of Naples, who also claimed Greece as part of their domains. John was poisoned around 1335 by his wife Anna, who became regent for their son Nikephoros II. In 1337 the new Emperor, Andronikos III Palaiologos, arrived in northern Epirus with an army partly composed of 2,000 Turks contributed by his ally Umur of Aydın. Andronikos first dealt with unrest due to attacks by Albanians and then turned his interest to the Despotate. Anna tried to negotiate and obtain the Despotate for her son when he came of age, but Andronikos demanded the complete surrender of the Despotate to which she finally agreed. Thus Epirus came peacefully under imperial rule, with Theodore Synadenos as governor.

The Neapolitans, who had claim to Epirus, did not like the takeover of the Byzantines. So, Peter IV, king of Naples and Aragon used his leverage in the Holy See to call a crusade to retake Constantinople and to re-establish the Latin Empire. As well as Philip I, Prince of Taranto who held the titular title of Latin emperor of Constantinople who had claim to the entirety of the empire.

According to Latin sources, Philip and Peter set off with an army of 9,000 men and took the coastal town of Nicopolis (Shown on the left) with little resistance. He then began sieging the city of Arta. The Byzantines arrived 4 days into the siege in which the numerically superior Latins retreated to the plains.

Peter IV commanded the centre with 2,000 infantry men with 800 calvary as support units. William II commanded the right with 3,000 infantry. Philip commanded the left, with 2,000 infantrymen with 2,000 Albanian Calvary Mercenaries making up the right with 1,000 latin knights

On the Byzantine side Andronicus commanded the centre with 2,300 men with 200 calvary as support. Alexios Philanthropenos commanded the right with 2,000 infantry. A unknown member of the Palaiologos family simply known as David is mentioned as leading the left flank of the army, most likely a nephew of Andronicus III. He led 1,000 men on the left with calvary in a forest to set a trap. David convinced Andronicus to purposeful weaken the left flank so the trap can be sprung.

The Battle began around 10 in the morning with the left flank of the latins harassing the Byzantine right. They were repelled and pushed back. The Latin Centre charged at the Byzantine centre with heavy fighting ensuing in which 5 latin knights almost reached the emperor, but were repelled.

The Right of the Latin charged at the purposeful weakened left flank and pushed deep. Then the trap was sprung

and no effort to turn around worked. Unexpectedly, the Latins had cart full of Greek fire that they set alight allowing 3,000 men and Peter to escape. Unfortunately many of their own troops were caught in the fire, in which William was killed.

During this time Andronicus captured Philip and 500 latin troops and ordering no harm come to them. He forced the supposed Latin Emperor into vassalage and the empire would gain his lands if his lineage died out. These were considerably good terms for him as the Byzantines could've killed him and taken his land.

Aftermath

There would never be attempts to restore the Latin Empire ever again. As Philip would soon die, and Andronicus would gain the titular Latin emperorship of Constantinople. Morea and Attica would be incorporated into the empire. The emperor could now focus on anatolia, as the once friend of John Cantacuzene, Umur of Aydın, had allied himself with Süleyman Pasha (son of Orhan) and had been consolidating within Aydınin (former Greek City of Smyrna)