Siege of Antalya explained

Conflict:Siege of Attalia
Partof:the Byzantine-Seljuk wars
Date:March 1207
Place:Attalia (modern-day Antalya, Turkey), Asia Minor
Result:Seljuk victory
Combatant1:Empire of Nicaea
Combatant2:Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm
Commander1:Aldobrandini
Commander2:Kaykhusraw I

The Siege of Attalia in March 1207 was the successful Seljuk capture of the city of Attalia (today Antalya, Turkey), a port in southern-western Asia Minor. The capture of port gave the Turks a path into the Mediterranean, although it would be another century before they made any serious attempts into the sea.

The port had come under the control of a Tuscan adventurer by the name of Aldobrandini, who had been in the service of the Byzantine Empire, but reputedly mistreated Egyptian merchants at that port. The inhabitants appealed to the regent of Cyprus, Gautier de Montbeliard, who occupied the town but was unable to prevent the Seljuk Turks from ravaging the adjacent countryside. Sultan Kaykhusraw I took the town by storm in March 1207, and put his lieutenant Mubariz al-Din Ertokush ibn 'Abd Allah in charge as its governor.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History c. 1071-1330, 1968 (New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 2014), pp. 119f