Battle of Stephaniana

Battle of Stephaniana
Part of the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
Date May 1344 Location Macedonia, near the Aegean shore Result Turkish victory
Belligerents
Emirate of Aydin (Byzantine ally)	Serbian Empire (King Stefan Dušan r.)
Commanders and leaders
unknown	caesar Preljub
Strength
3,100	1,500~

The Battle of Stephaniana (Serbian language: Битка код Стефанијане) was a small-scale battle between the forces of the Serbian Empire and the Emirate of Aydin, allies of Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. It was the first battle between the Serbs and Turks, an earlier battle in Gallipoli was fought between troops sent by King Milutin and Turcopole Halil Pasha (1312).

The Emirate [Turkish] force, 3,100 strong, were in the process of returning to Anatolia to defend against a Latin attack on their main harbour, Smyrna. On their way they were attacked by a Serbian army under voivode Preljub, one of the most capable generals in the service of Stefan Dušan. The battle, which occurred sometime in May 1344, was won by the Turks, but was not able to thwart the ongoing conquest of Byzantine Macedonia by Dušan.

Background

Both the Serbs and Bulgars who had existing kingdoms in the Balkans and various groups of Turks were by 1344 very active in the Byzantine Civil War (1341–47)

Byzantine civil war

Main article: Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347

See also

• History of the Serbian-Turkish wars

Sources

• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). "The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest". University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5. http://books.google.com/?id=Hh0Bu8C66TsC. 
• Soulis, George Christos (1984). "The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dušan (1331–1355) and his successors". Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 0-88402-137-8.