Siege of Ulcinj (1571)

Siege of Ulcinj (1571) (Albanian: Lufta e Ulqinit) was the siege launched by the Ottomans with the goal of capturing the city of Ulcinj in 1571. The conquest was brutal. A contemporary report from Kotor reported: ”When the general of the land army Ahmed Pasha entered the city, he made his men cut to pieces all those who had remained and set fire to some houses which were full of women and children". When Bar fell shortly afterwards, Giovanni Bruni, the archbishop, was taken captive. The city was defended by Venetian commander Sciarra Martinengo with his Italian and French soldiers. Martinengo was accused of having surrendered the city too early due to fear while he claimed the reason was that his commanders lacked ammunition. A year before the siege, Antonio Bruti had written about the walls of Ulcinj as "weak and dangerous". Martinengo managed to defeat the land forces but after the Ottoman navy arrived, Martinengo surrendered the city and the janissaries plundered and robbed. Many inhabitants left for the mountains while others threw themselves off the castle cliffs. Afterwards the fortification of the castle began as it had been ruined during the sieges. Martinengo was sentenced to death but was afterwards released when the Ottomans discovered he was a Knight.