11 August 1473
The battle of 11 August
After the defeat on the river Uzun Hasan's army disappears, and Mehmed marches towards Bayburt for six days without news of it. On Wednesday 11 August 1473 the Ottomans halt at Üç Ağız, a narrow place near Tercan where three valleys meet, to rest their tired animals. At noon, while the army is still out of order, Gavur İshak's men appear on the hill of Otlukbeli. Davud Pasha, the beylerbey of Anatolia, attacks them with the Anatolian troops and throws them back to Uzun Hasan's main army, which holds the ridge above.
A page of the Historia Turchesca of Giovanni Maria Angiolello, who fought at Otlukbeli in Prince Mustafa’s household, Bibliothèque nationale de FranceWikimedia Commons, Giovanni Maria Angiolello, Public domain (Historia Turchesca, Giovanni Maria Angiolello (BNF, MS italien 1238).jpg)
The Ottomans form their line with Şehzade Mustafa on the left, Şehzade Bayezid on the right and the janissaries with the guns and the light mortars in the centre. On the left Davud Pasha's men stand on the plain against the Aq Qoyunlu right under Uzun Hasan's son Zeynel, and Mustafa falls on Zeynel's wing with his troops. Zeynel is killed among the azebs, the Ottoman foot soldiers, by one Mahmud Ağa, and his wing breaks. On the right Bayezid attacks Uğurlu Mehmed, who holds a stream against him and then withdraws, and Bayezid fights on against the men of Mehmed Bakır.
Khusraw fights Bahram Chubin, in a Khamsa of Nizami painted at Tabriz for the Aq Qoyunlu court in 1481, Topkapı Palace MuseumWikimedia Commons, unknown Tabriz painter, Public domain (Khusraw and Bahram Chubin in battle (51b). Tabriz 1481 (Istanbul, Topkapi H. 762).jpg)
When the Aq Qoyunlu right has broken, Mehmed sends forward his 25,000 janissaries. Uzun Hasan leaves the field and leaves Pir Mehmed Bey, who looks like him, in his place, and the Ottomans take Pir Mehmed and bring Uzun Hasan's standard to the sultan. The Aq Qoyunlu army breaks and flees, and many of its men are killed. Mehmed does not pursue it, because the ground is good for ambushes.
Sources
- Tursun Beg, Tarih-i Ebü’l-Feth (about 1490).
- Aşıkpaşazade, Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân (late 15th century).
- Mehmed Neşri, Kitâb-ı Cihan-nümâ (late 15th century).
- Abu Bakr Tihrani, Kitab-i Diyarbakriyya (late 15th century).
- Giovanni Maria Angiolello, Historia Turchesca (about 1490).
- Ibn Kemal, Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân (early 16th century).
- Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (1978).
- John E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire (2nd ed., 1999).
- Theoharis Stavrides, The Sultan of Vezirs: The Life and Times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelovic, 1453–1474 (2001).
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