Siege of Berat (1455)

Siege of Berat
Part of The Ottoman wars in Europe
The citadel of Berat
Date July 1455 Location Berat, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania) Result Ottoman victory Moisi Arianit Golemi deserted to the Ottomans
Belligerents
League of Lezhë	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Gjergj Arianit Komneni Muzaka Thopia † Vrana Konti Skanderbeg	Issa beg Evrenoz
Strength
15,000 men; only 7,000 after the intervention of Isak Bey , which included a contingent of 1,000 Aragonese artillery men	8,000 men in the relief force
Casualties and losses
More than 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry killed, 80 prisoners	Unknown

The Siege of Berat began July, 1455 at the Albanian city of Berat, when the Albanian army of Skanderbeg besieged the fortress held by Ottoman forces.

When Skanderbeg began his rebellion, Berat belonged to the Albanian prince Theodore Muzaka. When in 1449 Theodore Muzaka was dying he sent for Skanderbeg to take over the castle in the name of League of Lezhë. Skanderbeg sent an Albanian detachment led by Pal Kuka, to claim the castle. In the meantime a force of Ottoman soldiers came from their garrison in Gjirokastër, quietly scaled the poorly guarded walls of Berat at night, slaughtered the Albanian garrison of about 500 soldiers, hanged the dying Theodore Muzaka and claimed the castle, while the captain Pal Kuka was later ransomed. Berat was located on an important strategic position as it controlled much of southern Albania as well as the vital supply routes leading to southern Macedonia and Greece.

Skanderbeg and his forces besieged the Ottoman-occupied castle and began pounding it with the help of the Aragonese artillery. The commander of the Ottoman garrison then proposed to hand over the city if no reinforcements would come for a month. Believing the situation was well in hand and that the castle would fall, Skanderbeg left with a sizable contingent of his army in the direction of Vlorë. Although he tutored his commanders, Skanderbeg could never bring them up to his level of knowledge in military affairs. His formal training and experience in Anatolia and his service with the Ottoman army proved to be valuable for the Albanian resistance against the Ottomans.

At the head of the remaining force he left Muzaka Thopia, his brother-in-law, since Berat was formerly a possession of Muzaka’s family. After a successful bombardment, the Ottoman commander of the garrison agreed to turn over the keys to the castle if the sultan had not sent reinforcements within a certain amount of time. This was a ploy to fool the Albanian forces into a false sense of security and delay any actions, giving reinforcements time to arrive.

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