1380–1385
Sofia and the Vardar, 1382–1385
In 1380 Lala Şahin Pasha besieges Sofia, the last town held by Tsar Ivan Shishman south of the Balkan mountains and a junction of the roads to Serbia and Macedonia. Its governor, ban Yanuka, beats off every assault, and Lala Şahin withdraws. A Bulgarian convert to Islam later lures Yanuka out of the fortress to hunt, and the Turks under İnce Balaban Bey capture him. When the defenders see their commander a prisoner, they surrender. Some historians date the fall of Sofia to 1382, others to 1385. The Ottomans pull down the walls, install a garrison and bring settlers from Anatolia, and Balaban Bey becomes the first governor of the district.
Remains of the walls of the fortress of Serdica in the centre of SofiaWikimedia Commons, Apostoloff, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Festung Serdica Sofia 20090405 006.JPG)
The Ottoman chronicles credit Kara Timurtaş Pasha with taking Štip and Bitola in these years, though by some accounts Bitola had already fallen after a siege in the early 1370s. Sofia gives the Ottomans the road west to Niš, the northern end of the road that runs up the Vardar and the Morava.
The Isar fortress above ŠtipWikimedia Commons, Rašo, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Isarot-Štip 11.JPG)
From 1384 to 1386 Shishman is at war with Dan I of Wallachia, and his half-brother Ivan Sratsimir of Vidin fights on the Wallachian side.
Sources
- Ivan Božilov and Vasil Gjuzelev, Istorija na srednovekovna Bălgarija VII–XIV vek (1999).
- John V. A. Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans (1987).
- Mehmed Neşri, Kitâb-ı Cihan-nümâ (late 15th century).
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