Siege of Novo Brdo (1440—41)

Siege of Novo Brdo
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Serbian-Ottoman Wars
Remnants of the Novo Brdo Fortress
Date October 1440 – 27 June 1441 Location Novo Brdo, Serbian Despotate 42°36′N 21°26′E / 42.600°N 21.433°E / 42.600; 21.433 Result Ottoman victory Novo Brdo temporarily captured by the Ottomans
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Serbian Despotate Republic of Ragusa
Commanders and leaders
Murad II Hadım Şehabeddin	Đurađ Branković Voivode Prijezda
Casualties and losses
Unknown	heavy casualties of the population of Novo Brdo

Murad II

Đurađ Branković

The Siege of Novo Brdo was a military blockade of Novo Brdo, an important fortified mining town in the Serbian Despotate, by the forces of the Ottoman Empire. The siege began in 1440 and lasted until the capture of the fortress on 27 June 1441. During the siege, the Serbian garrison was supported by the local community of citizens of the Republic of Ragusa.

Novo Brdo was one of the largest cities in the Balkans, and because of its rich gold and silver mines it was the most important non-coastal city in the Balkans in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Ottomans unsuccessfully besieged it in 1412 and in 1427 when they used cannons constructed for the 1422 siege of Constantinople.

In 1439 Ottoman forces led by sultan Murad II attacked the Serbian Despotate. Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković fled to Hungary to seek support for the defense of his realm, organized by his son Grgur. Smederevo was the capital and the most important city of the Serbian Despotate. During the siege of Smederevo in 1439, Murad II ordered the marcher-lord Ishak-Beg, who was on his return from Mecca, to join forces with Hadım Şehabeddin and besiege Novo Brdo. On 6 August 1439 the Ottoman forces under Ishak-Beg defeated Serbian forces near Novo Brdo. The Ottomans captured Smederevo on 18 August 1439 which reduced the territory of the Serbian Despotate to Zeta and a region around Novo Brdo. The forces under Murad II joined Ishak-Beg to attack Novo Brdo, but its garrison successfully repelled their attacks. The Ottomans realized that it would be difficult to capture the well-defended Novo Brdo, so Murad II ordered for retreat and a stay in Skopje during the winter. Before they did so, they robbed caravans of Ragusan merchants, while Murad II went to Adrianople. The Ottomans allowed Grgur Branković to govern his father's former estates in southern Serbia, as Ottoman vassal. During spring and summer of 1440 the Ottomans again besieged Belgrade, cannons cast in Smederevo captured a year before, but without success.

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