1455 – 1456
Foça and the islands, 1455–1456
In 1455 Mehmed takes Foça (Phocaea) on the Aegean coast from the Genoese. The Genoese have held the town and its rich alum mines since the 13th century. Alum fixes dyes in cloth, and it is one of the most valuable goods that Genoese merchants trade.
The castle of Foça (Phocaea)Wikimedia Commons, Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Foça Castle 6505.jpg)
The Genoese family of the Gattilusi, lords of Lesbos, hold the port of Enez (Ainos) on the coast of Thrace and the islands of Gökçeada (Imbros), Samothrace, Lemnos and Thasos. After 1453 they keep them for a short time as vassals of the sultan. In 1456 the Ottomans take Enez and the islands from them. Lesbos stays with the Gattilusi of Mytilene, who pay 4,000 gold pieces a year for it.
Michael Kritovoulos, a landowner and local leader on Gökçeada, helps to hand over Gökçeada, Lemnos and Thasos to the Ottomans without fighting, and Mehmed makes him governor of Gökçeada. Kritovoulos later writes a history of Mehmed’s reign in Greek. Some modern lists put the taking of Gökçeada, Lemnos and Thasos in 1453.
Kaleköy and its castle on Gökçeada (Imbros)Wikimedia Commons, Elelicht, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Kaleköy 1.JPG)
Sources
- Michael Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror (about 1467).
- Doukas, Historia Turco-Byzantina (about 1462).
- Laonikos Chalkokondyles, Histories (c. 1464).
- Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (1978).
- Halil İnalcık, Fatih Devri Üzerinde Tetkikler ve Vesikalar I (1954).
- Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), vol. 2 (1978).
Prev: Novo Brdo, 1455Next: The armies at Belgrade