Siege of Serres
| Siege of Serres | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Serbia |
 Byzantium | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Stefan Dusan | unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| about 15,000 | unknown | ||||||
The siege of Serres (Serbian: oпсада Сера, Greek: Πολιορκία των Σερρών) was fought during the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347.
Background[edit]
At the beginning of the Byzantine civil war, Stefan Dushan saw his opportunity to expand his country. After John VI Kantakouzenos offered him an alliance, Dushan soon took action.
In late summer 1342, Kantakouzenos, accompanied by several Serbian magnates, marched into Macedonia at the head of a Greek and Serbian force.[1] His advance was stopped almost immediately before Serres when the city refused to surrender, and the subsequent siege had to be abandoned after an epidemic killed most of his men, forcing him to retreat into Serbia with a rump force of barely 500 soldiers. Dushan led a more successful parallel campaign, capturing Vodena (Edessa).[2]
Siege[edit]
In 1345, three years after the unsuccessful siege, Dushan finally decided to take Serres. He gathered his forces around Strumica and headed for the town. During the siege, Kantakouzenos send an envoy, warning him if he doesn't stop the siege, he will turn against him.[3] A clash appeared inevitable until the murder of Alexios Apokaukos, Kantakouzenos' chief antagonist, in Constantinople forced Kantakouzenos to direct his attention there.[4]
Aftermath[edit]
After the fall of Serres, the Serbian ruler controlled about half of the pre-1341 Byzantine realm. Spurred by this success he laid his own claim on the Byzantine throne. Consequently, on Easter Sunday, 16 April 1346, he was crowned "Emperor of the Serbs and the Romans" in Skopje, thereby founding the Serbian Empire.[5]
In 1355 Stefan Dusan died, leaving his son, Stefan Uros V all the conquered lands. The inexperienced and young Tsar lost most of newly conquered lands. After the Battle of Maritsa,[6] Turkish way to Epir and Thessalonika was now open.
References[edit]
- ^ Nicol 1993, p. 196; Fine 1994, p. 295
- ^ Nicol 1993, p. 196; Fine 1994, p. 300; Soulis 1984, p. 19
- ^ "Božidar Ferjančić, Sima Ćirković - Stefan Dušan Kralj i Car 1331-1355 (Skenirana Knjiga) | PDF". Scribd. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
- ^ Fine 1994, p. 305; Nicol 1993, p. 202; Soulis 1984, pp. 25–26
- ^ Nicol 1996, pp. 74–75; Soulis 1984, pp. 26–30
- ^ Sedlar, Jean W. (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. Internet Archive. Seattle : University of Washington Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-295-97290-9.
Sources[edit]
- Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
- Nicol, Donald M. (1993). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6.
- Nicol, Donald MacGillivray (1996), The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295–1383, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-52201-4
- Soulis, George Christos (1984), The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dušan (1331–1355) and his successors, Dumbarton Oaks, ISBN 978-0-88402-137-7