SIEGE OF BELGRADE

Belgrade’s fall to the Turks in the late-Medieval period was not the question of if but of when. The Ottoman victories against the Serbs in the battles of Maritza in 1371, Kosovo in 1389 and in the remaining Serbian lands in 1439 established them as the leaders in most of the Balkan Peninsula. They controlled vast territory south of the Danube, and regularly crossed the river and plundered the Kingdom of Hungary. These pillages provided a rich harvest. Contemporary Turkish writer Asıkpasazade relates that a female slave could be bought for a pair of boots, and boasts that he, although poor, “…bought a beautiful young boy for 100 akçe,” which was a very low value of small silver coins.

Belgrade city and fortress was the last Christian bastion defying the Turks on the Danube’s right bank. In 1440, it successfully resisted the siege launched by the Sultan Murad II. Even though he besieged the city for months, the Sultan had to retreat with his tail between his legs. But, everyone knew that this victory was only a temporary one, and in 1456 the Turks came back with a vengeance. This time they were led by Murad II’s son, Mehmed II, rightfully called the Conqueror. Only three years earlier, the then 21-year-old besieged and captured Constantinople, effectively putting an end to