The first city to experience the savagery of the Ottoman Turks was Nicosia. It had been radically altered in preparation for facing just such an assault between 1565 and 1567. Two well respected military engineers, Ascanio Savorgnano and Francesco Barbaro, designed a fortress which could withstand the gunpowder artillery now in vogue. In order to do this, they had to restructure the existing walls built by the Lusignans.

This meant reducing the circumference of the walls from about seven miles to four miles. Many of the Lusignan buildings were destroyed to ensure that the defenders had clear fields of fire and any attacker had to cover open ground to reach the walls. The fortress was built as a large circle with eleven bastions forming strong points and providing interlocking arcs of fire. These were named after the Venetian leaders involved in the construction and defence of the city (Roccas, Flatro, Costanza, Podocataro, Caraffa, Quirini, D'Avilo, Mula, Tripoli, Loredano and Barbaro).

There were three gates placed in the walls roughly 120 degrees apart; the Paphos, Famagusta and Kyrenia Gates (indicating the main towns connected by road to Nicosia). The Kyrenia Gate was known as the Porta Del Proveditore, after the governor, Francesco Barbaro (for whom one of the bastions was named). At the base of the walls, a dry moat was dug to further hamper attacks on the fortress. Occasionally, this was flooded by waters from the Pedhieos River (River of the Plain) which flowed through the city to provide a reliable source of water.

Investment

The city was invested from 22 July to 9 September when it was taken by assault. The siege only lasted seven weeks due in part to the uninspired defence of Nicolo Dandolo, the proveditore and the exhaustion of the garrison, which was hard pressed to man the extensive fortifications. The Venetians refused to accept terms of honourable surrender because of rumours of an approaching relief fleet from Venice (the Holy League armada being slowly assembled). The city was taken by storm with the first Turkish soldiers gaining a foothold on Constanza Bastion.

It was then sacked for three days and an estimated 20,000 citizens and soldiers were killed representing about half the population and all of the garrison. To commemorate the victory, the Turks built the Bayraktar Mosque on the Constanza bastion to mark the spot where a standard-bearer (hence the name of the mosque) first scaled the walls and was subsequently killed by the defenders. He was later buried at this location. The fortifications received little damage during the siege and can still be clearly seen despite the expansion of Nicosia over the past few decades. The moat is now used for soccer fields, car parks and public gardens and much of the wall is now lost amidst busy streets, more car parks and surrounding buildings.

Kyrenia

Kyrenia had two important advantages; the only good harbour on the north coast and strong defences. In 1544, the Venetians modified the existing fortifications to enhance their resistance to gunpowder artillery. The older castle was enclosed in an immense earthwork covered with stone. Direct assault was to be thwarted by the addition of two massive circular towers, placed diagonally opposite each other, with one sited on the entrance to the harbour (northwest corner), from which defending artillery could sweep the exterior approaches--land and sea--with flanking fire.

A more modern triangular bastion was built on the southwest corner and also permitted enfilading fire along the walls. Since few ships carried sufficient guns to damage land fortifications without suffering grievous damage themselves, few guns were placed on the sea wall. Unfortunately, Kyrenia's defences were never fully tested as the Venetians decided to concentrate their forces in Nicosia and Famagusta. Kyrenia was surrendered to the Ottoman navy without resistance after the head of Dandolo, the unsuccessful commander of Nicosia, was displayed to the defenders.

Famagusta

Famagusta received similar attention with earthwork ramparts covered by stone walls were built to protect the town from attack. A massive rampart was built along the seafront, incorporating the medieval castle known as Othello's Tower. The average height of the walls was 15 metres with a thickness of eight metres. The Sea Gate, on the southern flank was built in 1496, and the Land Gate or Ravelin (Rivettina Bastion), was completed in 1546. The land wall included the impressive Martinengo Bastion--named after a famous Venetian soldier, which was never captured by the Ottomans during the siege, and 14 other bastions and three gates. Dry moats were built at the foot of the ramparts on the landward sides.

At the southeast corner is the Canbulat Bastion, so named for the Turkish officer who rode his horse into the knife studded spinning wheel erected to prevent assault (an example of the Renaissance machinery mentioned above). He and his horse were cut to ribbons but the machine was eventually destroyed.

The Turks faced their greatest challenge when they finally began the siege of Famagusta on 18 September 1570. After taking Kyrenia and Nicosia with relatively light casualties, the Turks were forced to undertake a long siege of ten months until 1 August 1571. The garrison commander, Marcantonio Bragadino, was a much better soldier than Dandolo and was able to thwart every assault launched by Lala Mustapha Pasha. It was because of this straight forward attack that the Ottoman army suffered heavy losses, between 50,000 and 80,000 (including many officers such as Sulieman Bey, Pasha of Anatolia and the Sanjaq of Antippo) before the remainder of the garrison, about 1,500-2,000, finally capitulated.

Initially, there was little activity except for a naval blockade during the winter. Venice was able to send some reinforcements and supplies through the blockade in January 1571. Otherwise, the garrison was left to prepare for the eventual onslaught of the Turks. The starting force of 5,200 was able to use the time to strengthen the fortifications assisted by local inhabitants (who may have raised the total fighting force to 8,000).

The Assault

The Turks concentrated their efforts on the south and west walls avoiding the formidable Martinengo bastion. Armenian sappers dug an elaborate system of trenches towards the walls in a manner which was to be the standard way to advance against contemporary fortifications defended by cannon. These trenches concealed all but the turbans of the Turkish soldiers. The sappers also attempted to undermine the walls by detonating explosives at various points. Meanwhile, the Turks bombarded the city with 150 cannon to which the Venetians responded with 90 generally smaller calibre weapons.

Despite their numbers and methodical approach, the Turks did not make much of an impact. The garrison was able to launch numerous sorties which created the impression that there were plenty of troops inside and acquired much needed food. Months passed and the number of casualties continued to rise with little change in the status quo.

Finally, on 7 July 1571, the Turks gained a foothold on the Ravelin and began to scale the ramparts. To prevent the Turks entering the city, the garrison exploded a mine under the gate and buried about 100 Turks (and an equal number of defenders) before abandoning the area. The garrison fell back to the improvised barricades of earth-filled carts and sandbags. This was the final line of defence and the garrison now awaited the last assault.

With no sign of the relieving fleet, reduced to eating cats and dogs and sickness spreading the Famagusta, Bragadino had to consider ending the struggle. On 1 August 1571, he raised the white flag over the Ravelin (or Akkule or White Tower as named by the Turks) to indicate his desire to surrender. He had lost 75 per cent of his men and his supplies of gunpowder were exhausted. Both sides had suffered from disease and losses from the prolonged fighting. The area was invested with malaria carrying mosquitoes which bred in the nearby swamps. This probably motivated Mustafa Pasha to accept the surrender of the much reduced garrison.

Surrender

The Turks agreed to allow the garrison to evacuate the city and transport the soldiers to Crete on Turkish ships. At first, the Ottomans were courteous to their defeated foes; however, Bragadino and Mustafa Pasha argued over the amendments to the terms of surrender. The Turkish commander insisted that one of the Venetian officers, Quirini, would be held hostage until the safe return of the Turkish ships from Crete.

Bragadino opposed this new condition and consequently evoked the explosive temper of the Turkish general, who accused the Venetians of murdering 50 prisoners during the last weeks of the siege. Although the garrison had been promised clemency should they surrender, the Turkish commander had Bragadino tortured and then flayed alive after first brutally executing three of his lieutenants; Baglioni, Martinengo and Quirini.

According to witnesses, Bragadino bore all of these torments in dignity and that even some of the Turkish soldiers disapproved of the atrocities perpetrated by their commander. Mustafa Pasha may have finally been incensed by the relatively insignificant numbers of defenders who had for so long defied his forces and inflicted horrendous casualties.

For his victory, Lala Mustafa Pasha was commemorated when the Saint Nicholas cathedral was turned into a mosque and given his name. The Cathedral was the most magnificent and best preserved of the Lusignan churches. It was built between 1298 and 1326 AD and was modelled on the cathedral of Rheims, France where the French kings were crowned. It was used for the coronation of the Lusignan kings as rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem ( a second cathedral in Nicosia was used for their coronation as rulers of Cyprus) and was the site of the abdication of Catherine Coronaro, last queen of Cyprus.

Bragadino's remains were ransomed from Istanbul by his family at great cost and are now resting in the Venetian Church of Saint John and Saint Paul. One oddity of the whole Cypriot campaign was the rationale behind its launching. According to some historical sources, the Ottoman Sultan, Selim the Sot, had a particular fondness for the Commandaria wine which was made famous by the Hospitallers at their Kolossi estate near Limassol. His chief advisor, Joseph Nasi, was a Spanish Jew, and his family had suffered at the hands of the Venetians following their exile from Spain.

He may have even consider the establishment of a Jewish haven close to the Holy Land and safe from the oppression of Christians. The Grand Vizier objected to the invasion as he was concerned about arousing the wrath of the European powers, which had come to view the Ottomans as a growing threat since the fall of Constantinople. This was realised during the Battle of Lepanto when the Ottoman fleet was crushed by a combined Holy League fleet on 7 October 1571. A final note in this story is that Selim died three years after the fall of Cyprus when he slipped in his bath while drunk on Commandaria wine. Nasi did not establish his haven and Cyprus became a backwater part of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite a major victory at Lepanto, the European allies did not exploit their success by retaking Cyprus or threatening other Ottoman possessions. The fall of the last remaining Christian outposts in the eastern Mediterranean did spur exploration in other areas fortunately. With the Turks controlling the overland routes to Asia, the Europeans embarked on westward exploration to find new routes to the Indies around Africa or by way of the Americas. Sadly, the last bastions in the region were left to languish under Ottoman rule for almost three hundred years.

Of Othello

Of note, the character of Othello was probably based on the Venetian soldier, Francesco de Sessa, known as Il Moro because of his swarthy complexion. He served in Cyprus and was forced to leave in disgrace along with two subordinates, the likely models of Iago and Cassio, in 1544 for an unspecified offence. He probably came to the attention of Shakespeare because of the fame of Famagusta. At one time, it was the most prosperous commercial centre in Europe, through which the wealth of the Orient passed to the markets of Renaissance Europe during the 14th Century.

Venetian forces

As mentioned above, the Venetians did not ingratiate themselves amongst the local population upon gaining control of Cyprus in 1489. It was strictly to be a military outpost which proved to be an unpopular place for Venetian forces to serve. The Lusignan nobles were allowed to continue with their affairs, although they were not allowed to hold important government posts, which were reserved exclusively for the Venetians.

Ties were established as well with the Arab Maronite Christian community (descended from Syrian settlers who fled after the defeats in the Holy Land); however, few of the large and warlike Armenian community were receptive to the Venetians (the Lusignan kings had claimed the Cilician crown through marriage and had attracted many Armenian settlers as that kingdom was occupied by the Turks). From the local communities, some recruits were raised and these were grouped with mainland Greek and Albanian stradiot light cavalry. These served alongside the retainers of the Lusignan nobility, who continued to fight as turcopole light cavalry.

Nicosia Garrison (11,000)

1500 paid Italian soldiers (many of whom were ill during the seige)
3000 local militia (cernide)
2600 armed citizens
2100 local retainers of the state or nobles
1000 gentlemen adventurers or nobles
500 Albanian horse (stradiots)
200 Albanian foot
200 local gunners
60 Italian gunners

Take note that this total differs from the actual regular garrison because of the addition of local forces which would have been either armed in emergencies such as an invasion or gathered from outlying areas (about 5600 militia and armed civilians).

The local infantry would probably have been armed with bow or crossbow or arquebus. Many local soldiers of Corfu, Cret and Cyprus were trained to use the arquebus, while others may have been given crossbows another common Venetian weapon. The remainder fought in the Turkish fashion with composite bows or other available weapons.

The stradiots and probably local mounted retainers were used to make sorties to harass the Turks. Their armament of bow, spear and sword made them ideal troops for quick raids of this type.

Famagusta Garrison (5200)

2500 Venetians
2500 Cypriots
200 Albanian horse (stradiots)

The Venetian troops were likely a mix of Italian soldiers and those from other Venetian possessions. The Cyrpoits were probably local retainers paid by the Venetians or local nobles with some nobles as officers. Once again the stradiots are listed as a separate contingent which emphasizes their importance in Venetian military forces. There is no reference to gunners so at least some of the first two groups would have been employed to man the 90 artillery pieces. Some of the troops may have been mercenaries, who continued to be employed by Venice and other European states in this period.

For many years, the garrison had only numbered 800 in Famagusta and was composed of Venetian troops only. There was one major local uprising by Cypriots and the Venetians had little cause to trust them afterwards; however, no locals sided with the Turks during the war and many fought willingly for the Venetians.

Given the size of the garrisons compared to the fortifications that they manned, it is surprising that they were able to hold out for so long. The Turkish assaults were often comprised of thousands of troops which were hard to throw back.

This was an interesting subject to research, although there were few sources at hand. It was easier to visit the sites than to find information about the campaign. Regular inspection of the towns provided a firm realization of the difficulties experienced by the garrisons in defending these places. The length of the two seiges is an interesting contrast in what the two commanders were able to achieve with their limited resources.

Although seige games are not as common as battles, this campaign offers an opportunity to try something different. Particularly as skirmishes representing sorties by the garrisons or assaults of a section of the city walls. Sorties often included mounted contingents which fought with Turkish cavalry on the open ground near the cities. Several hundred could be involved on either side.

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