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Siege of Urbinus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siege of Urbino (538)
Part of Gothic War (535–554)
Location
Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine empire Ostrogothic kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Belisarius Vitiges


The siege of Urbinus[1] also called siege of Urbino[2] or siege of Urbinum[3] took place in the year 538[1][2] during Justinian's Gothic War.[1][2][4] Earlier, when John took Ariminum, he had bypassed Auximus and Urbinus which would have to be taken now to secure the road to Ravenna.[1][2] The Gothic king, Witigis, had sent a man called Moras[1][4] with 2.000 troops[1][2] to defend the city. In the year 538, the Byzantine commander, Belisarius went to besiege the town while another strong Byzantine contingents besieged Urviventus.[1] The forces of Narses and John, other Byzantine commanders, who were undermining Belisarius' authority,[1][3][5][6] joined him in this venture.[1][3] Thinking the defenders would be terrified on seeing the Byzantine army, Belisarius sent envoys offering the garrison a chance to surrender.[4] Narses and John set up camp separately form Belisarius, on the other side of the town, and, after negotiations with the garrison failed, totally abandoned the siege.[1][4] They declared taking the town impossible and moved to capture Aemilia but while Belisarius was preparing to assault the town surrendered due to the failure of its spring.[1][4] Astonished by such success, Narses sent John to capture Caesena but this assault failed.[1] John then moved to and managed to capture Forocornelius.[1] After this siege Belisarius moved to support in the siege of Urviventus, also capturing that city shortly after.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hughes, Ian (Historian) (2009). Belisarius : the last Roman general. Yardley, Pa.: Westholme. ISBN 9781594160851. OCLC 294885267.
  2. ^ a b c d e Heather, P. J. (Peter J.) (2018). Rome resurgent : war and empire in the age of Justinian. New York, NY. ISBN 9780199362745. OCLC 1007044617.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b c Bury, J. B. (John Bagnell), 1861-1927 (January 1958). History of the later Roman Empire from the death of Theodosius I. to the death of Justinian. New York. ISBN 0486203980. OCLC 41478187.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e Procopius; Dewing, H. B. (Henry Bronson) (1914). Procopius, with an English translation by H.B. Dewing. Robarts - University of Toronto. London S. Heinemann.
  5. ^ Brogna, Anthony (1995). The Generalship of Belisarius (PDF) (Master of Military Art and Science thesis). United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth: Defense Technical Information Center. p. 79–82. OCLC 227839393. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2021.
  6. ^ Brogna, Anthony (2015) [1995]. The generalship of Belisarius. Hauraki Publishing.