Ottoman conquest of Lesbos

Modern map of Lesbos (top) and Chios (bottom) islands

In August 1462, Mehmed crossed over to Anatolia. After visiting the ruins of Troy—where, according to Kritoboulos, he was inspired to consider himself the avenger of the ancient Trojans against the Greeks—he marched to Assos, on the shore across from Lesbos. A contemporary Hospitaller account, written a few weeks later, puts his army at 40,000 men. The army was accompanied by a powerful fleet, led by Mahmud Pasha.[18][22] Sources differ as to its strength and composition: the Hospitaller account records 8 ships "armed with siege engines" (probably cannon), 25 galleys and 80 smaller vessels; the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mytilene, Benedetto, in a letter, records 5 armed ships, 24 galleys, and 96 fustas; Stefano Magno writes of 6 armed ships, 12 galleys, and 47 fustas; Doukas records 7 transport ships and 60 galleys; Laonikos Chalkokondyles records 25 galleys and 100 smaller vessels; Venetian reports speak of 65 vessels in total; while Kritoboulos raises their number to 200.[23]

Doukas places the defenders at 5,000, but Archbishop Benedetto claims that only 1,000 were present; among them 70 Knights Hospitaller and 110 Catalan mercenaries.[24][25] According to Doukas, the town of Mytilene harboured a civilian population of around 20,000.[21] The defenders further hoped for the assistance of the Venetians. A Venetian fleet under Vettore Cappello was nearby at Chios, but its commander was under strict instructions not to do anything that might provoke a war with the Ottomans. After the siege began, Cappello with his 29 galleys sailed towards Lesbos, and could easily have overwhelmed the Turkish fleet, whose crews had gone ashore to assist in the siege, but refrained from doing so.[26][27]

On 1 September, the fleet under Mahmud Pasha arrived at the island, docking in the harbour of St. George. Niccolò sent envoys to enquire as to the reason for their presence, since he had kept up the payment of tribute. Mahmud Pasha replied by demanding the surrender of Mytilene and the entire island. Mehmed himself crossed over with his army to the island via Agiasmati, and repeated his demand to Niccolò, but the latter replied that he would submit only to force. Mahmud Pasha then persuaded the Sultan to return to Anatolia and leave the siege to him, lest the Venetian fleet cut him off on Lesbos.[28][24]

The Ottoman admiral disembarked raiders, who ravaged the countryside, but captured few inhabitants, as most remained in the island's forts. After four days, six large cannon arrived, each capable of throwing missiles weighing over 700 pounds (320 kg). Three were emplaced at the soap works near the city wall, one at St. Nicholas, one at St. Kali, and one in the suburbs opposite a barbican tower, held by a monk and a Knight Hospitaller. Stones were piled up in front of them to protect them from the defenders' missiles. The bombardment lasted for ten days, and wrought great damage to the walls: the tower of the Virgin and the adjacent section of walls were reduced to ruins; while the St. Nicholas cannon was so effective against the tower guarding the harbour, that no defender dared approach it. The Turks captured the half-demolished tower on the eighth day and raised their red banners on top of it.[28]

The Ottomans then concentrated their efforts against the lower castle, known as Melanoudion. This was defended by Niccolò's cousin, Luchino Gattilusio. His more experienced lieutenants suggested setting it on fire and abandoning it, lest the Turks capture it and use it to capture the citadel. Luchino, however, insisted that he could hold the position. He did indeed hold for five days against repeated Ottoman attacks, although the Turks once succeeded in climbing the walls and carrying off an Aragonese flag as a trophy. On the next day, however, a massive assault by 20,000 Ottomans broke through, and drove the remaining defenders into the citadel. Luchino himself barely escaped, sword in hand, and his report of the Ottoman breakthrough terrified the populace who had taken refuge in the citadel.[29]

Their panic was increased by the fire of a huge mortar, which destroyed entire houses, together with those sheltering in them, and drove defenders from the walls, so that they had to be induced by large sums of money to brave the Ottoman artillery fire and repair the breaches in the walls. With suspicions circulating that Luchino and the castle commander had shown Mahmud Pasha the weak sections of the wall, discipline broke down completely. The soldiers broke into warehouses and looted them, becoming drunk with wine and consuming provisions that would have allowed the castle to hold for an entire year. When the Janissaries moved into the breaches, they met scant resistance. As William Miller comments, "though well provided with food and engines of war, the place lacked a brave and experienced soldier, who would have inspired the garrison with enthusiasm", and after a council, it was decided to surrender to the Sultan, provided their lives and properties were respected.[30][31]

Portrait of Mehmed II by Gentile Bellini

Mahmud Pasha drew up a document outlining the terms of surrender, and swore by his sword and by the Sultan's head that their lives would be safe. Niccolò also demanded that he be given, in recompense, a domain of equivalent value. Learning of the surrender, Mehmed again crossed to the island, where he remained for four days. Accompanied by the notables of Mytilene, Niccolò surrendered the keys of the fortress to the Sultan, and begged for his forgiveness. Mehmed accepted, and instructed him to order the surrender of the other forts on the island—Methymna, Eressos, and Agioi Theodoroi (probably near Antissa)—as well. Niccolò complied, sending a letter with his seal to the forts, urging their garrisons to submit.[32][33][34] The garrison of Agioi Theodoroi sent emissaries to Cappello offering to surrender the fort to Venice instead, but he refused.[26][35] After allowing his troops to celebrate their victory in a drunken feast, in which the remaining houses of the Melanoudion quarter were burned down, Mehmed installed a garrison of 200 Janissaries and 300 irregular infantry (azaps) as a garrison in Mytilene, and entrusted its governance to the Persian sheikh Ali al-Bistami.[32][36]

Although the lives of all people on the island had been guaranteed, some 300 Italian soldiers were executed as pirates by being cut in half—the Sultan reportedly remarked that he thus honoured Mahmud Pasha's promise to "spare their heads".[32][36] The civilian population was not harmed at first, but on 17 September, the inhabitants of Mytilene were ordered to parade in front of the Sultan and three clerks, who recorded their names: some 800 boys and girls were selected for service in the Sultan's palace, including Niccolò's famously beautiful sister Maria, who became a member of the Sultan's harem, and her son Alexios, who became a page at the palace; while the remainder of the population was divided into three: the poorer and most frail of the inhabitants were allowed to remain in their homes, but the strongest and healthiest were sold off in auction as slaves to the Janissaries, and the third portion, including the island's nobility, were shipped off to repopulate Constantinople.[33][36][37] Altogether, some 10,000 inhabitants of the island were violently uprooted from their homes, some of whom perished in the overcrowded ships conveying them to Constantinople and the slave markets.[36] Niccolò Gattilusio himself was also taken to Constantinople, along with his cousin Luchino. They converted to Islam in an effort to save their lives, but were soon after strangled on Mehmed's orders.[38][39]

When the First Ottoman–Venetian War broke out in the next year, the former Gattilusio domains were an obvious target for the Christian fleets. But although the Venetians captured Lemnos in 1464, followed by Imbros, Tenedos, and Samothrace, these conquests proved ephemeral, as they were either recaptured by the Turks or abandoned at war's end. In April 1464, the Venetians under Orsato Giustiniano laid siege to Mytilene, but were forced to withdraw after six weeks of fruitless attacks, taking as many of the Christian inhabitants with them as they could. The island remained under Ottoman rule for four and a half centuries, until captured by the Kingdom of Greece on 22 November 1912, during the First Balkan War.[40]