Siege of Trebizond (1205–1206) 1205
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1205 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Byzantine–Seljuq Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 41.0000, 39.7333 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Trebizond from 1205 to 1206 was an attempt by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm to take the city along the coast of the Black Sea. William Miller explains this action as punishment for "the disobedience of Alexios to his Kaykhusraw I commands."
Michel Kuršanskis explains that this unsuccessful siege was in response to the Trapezuntine ally, Queen Tamar of Georgia, who had attempted to capture Erzurum in 1205 but failed. When Sultan Kaykhusraw began his punitive campaign against Trebizond, he found his route limited to a few passes in the Pontic Alps, where the locals harassed his forces. Further, Alexios could respond to his attacks by "closing the sea" to all merchants, who could neither travel to the Crimea nor return from there. According to Ali ibn al-Athir, merchants from throughout the Middle East suffered a severe injury because of his siege of Trebizond. When they met at the great fair in Sivas, they delivered their complaints to the sultan in loud shouts.
Kuršanskis argues the failure of this siege led to the later successful capture of Sinope in 1214, which provided the Seljuk Turks with an outlet to the Black Sea.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Trebizond (1205–1206) (revision 1370745992), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Trebizond (1282) 1282 · 0 km
- Siege of Trebizond (1222–1223) 1222 · 0 km
- Siege of Trebizond (1461) 1460 · 1 km
- Trebizond Campaign 1916 · 1 km
- Battle of Köse Dağ 1243 · 81 km
- Battle of Satala (530) 530 · 106 km
Other battles of the Byzantine–Seljuq Wars
- Battle of Kapetron 1048
- Battle of the Stragna River 1048
- Siege of Manzikert (1054) 1054
- Battle of Manzikert 1071
- Siege of Nicaea (1113) 1113
- Battle of Philomelion (1116) 1116
- Battle of Myriokephalon 1176
- Siege of Attaleia 1207
- Battle of Antioch on the Meander 1211
- Siege of Sinope 1214
All 11 battles of the Byzantine–Seljuq Wars →
Browse more: battles in Turkey · Asia · Medieval battles