| Battle of Bapheus | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theByzantine–Ottoman wars | |||||||||
 Kocaeli Province, Turkey | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Byzantine Empire |  Ottoman Beylik | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Georgios Mouzalon | Osman GaziKöse Mihal | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~2,000[1] | ~5,000[1] | ||||||||
TheBattle of Bapheus occurred on 27 July 1302, between anOttoman army underOsman I and aByzantine army under George Mouzalon. The battle ended in a crucialOttoman victory, cementing the Ottoman state and heralding the final capture ofByzantineBithynia by theOttoman Turks.
Osman I had succeeded in the leadership of hisclan inc. 1281, and over the next two decades launched a series of ever-deeper raids into theByzantine borderlands ofBithynia. By 1301, theOttoman Turks were besiegingNicaea, theformer imperial capital of theByzantines, and pillaging the outskirts ofPrusa.[2] The Turkish raids also threatened the port city ofNicomedia with famine, as Turkish warrior bands roamed the countryside and prohibited the collection of the harvest (seeAkinji).
In the spring of 1302, the Co-EmperorMichael IX (r. 1294–1320) launched a campaign which reached south toMagnesia. The Turks, awed by his large army, avoided battle. Michael sought to confront them, but was dissuaded by his generals. The Turks, encouraged, resumed their raids, virtually isolating him atMagnesia. His army dissolved without battle, as the local troops left to defend their homes, and theAlans, too, left to rejoin their families inThrace. Michael was forced to withdraw by the sea, followed by another wave of refugees.[3][4][5]
To counter the threat to Nicomedia, Michael's father,Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328), sent a Byzantine force of some 2,000 men (half of whom were recently hiredAlan mercenaries), under themegas hetaireiarches, George Mouzalon, to cross over theBosporus and relieve the city.[1][6][7]
At the plain of Bapheus (Greek:Βαφεύς), an unidentified site (perhaps to the east of Nicomedia but within sight of the city) on 27 July 1302, theByzantines met a Turkish army of some 5,000 light cavalry under Osman himself, composed of his own troops as well as allies from the Turkish tribes ofPaphlagonia and theMaeander River area. The Turkish cavalry charged theByzantines, whose Alan contingent did not participate in the battle. The Turks broke theByzantine line, forcing George Mouzalon to withdraw intoNicomedia under the cover of the Alan force.[8][1][7][9]
Bapheus was the first major victory for the nascentOttoman Beylik, and of major significance for its future expansion: the Byzantines effectively lost control of the countryside of Bithynia, withdrawing to their forts, which, isolated, fell one by one. After this battle the countryside of Bithinya was left practically defenseless so Osman used this opportunity to conquer the castle of Koyunhisar and the costal town of Gemlik. The Byzantine defeat also sparked an exodus of the Christian population from the area into the European parts of the empire, further altering the region's demographic balance.[8] Coupled with the defeat atMagnesia, which allowed the Turks to reach and establish themselves on the coasts of theAegean Sea, Bapheus thus heralded the final loss ofAsia Minor for Byzantium.[10] According toHalil İnalcık, the battle allowed the Ottomans to achieve the characteristics and qualities of a state.[11] The Ottoman conquest of Bithynia was nonetheless gradual, and the last Byzantine outpost there, Nicomedia, fell only in 1337.[12]
After the victory, thousands of Turkishgazi warriors, who believed that the resistance of theByzantine Empire had been broken, came in hordes from the interior ofAnatolia to Bithynia to raid for spoils. Byzantine historianGeorge Pachymeres indicated that the news had reached the ghazis in Paphlagonia and that the fame ofOsman Gazi had reached there. He writes that "now the threats came up to the gates of Constantinople and the Turks were wandering around freely in small groups on the other side of the Straits". There is not a single day that passes without hearing that the enemy is attacking the fortresses on the coast and taking people prisoners or killing them", Pachymeres reports.[13][14]
40°46′00″N29°55′00″E / 40.7667°N 29.9167°E /40.7667; 29.9167