Siege of Urbinus

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]

  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.