Siege of Kastritza

After the first invasion during the 1458 campaign, Despot Thomas entered into a civil war with his brother. While Despot Demetrios supported the Turkish side, Despot Thomas heeded the Pope’s call for a crusade and received auxiliary forces from the Papacy and Milan.^[1]

With these forces, Thomas stirred unrest in the Morea and launched attacks against numerous fortresses as well as against his brother. Mehmed initially dispatched troops to the Morea under the command of Zagan Pasha, but since full control could not be established, Mehmed personally set out at the head of an army composed of infantry and cavalry.^[2]

After bringing Demetrios under his control, Mehmed II launched a campaign against the territory held by Thomas. Mehmed entered the region of Arcadia, which was prosperous, fertile, and secured by strong fortresses, whose garrison commanders were receiving continuous support from Venice.^[3]

After capturing Borodino, the sultan advanced toward Kastritzi, established his camp near the city, and sent a proclamation to the inhabitants calling on them to surrender.^[4] The city was surrounded by rocky terrain and steep cliffs, and since its only access route was protected by three layers of walls and defended by a force of 400 men, the inhabitants rejected the offer of surrender. The sultan then launched an assault on the fortress in order to test the strength of the enemy’s defenses and assess the combat capabilities of both sides. Ottoman troops attempted to scale and penetrate the fortress, but these attacks proved ineffective due to the garrison’s formidable resistance, which was organized with spear-armed infantry at the front and stone-throwing units positioned behind them. After the troops were repelled in the initial assault, Mehmed addressed his soldiers, promising magnificent rewards to those who fought well and declaring that the fortress would be looted; encouraged by these words, the army rallied with applause.^[5] Mehmed then devised a new tactic against the fortress’s orderly defensive line by deliberately deploying his forces in an irregular manner, sending units separately, one by one, from different points and without formation, causing the organized defense to begin collapsing under attacks coming from all directions. Making excellent use of his numerical advantage in the siege, Mehmed turned the battle increasingly chaotic, leaving many wounded and dead from both sides on the battlefield. The defenders were pushed back as far as the second wall, and realizing that further resistance was hopeless, those inside surrendered.^[6]

The garrison had lost 100 soldiers during the fighting; Mehmed ordered the execution of the remaining 300 defenders and had their commander, Proinokokkas, sawn in half.^[7]