The Sack of Manfredonia (Italian: sacco di Manfredonia or presa di Manfredonia, "capture of Manfredonia") was an Ottoman attack on the city of Manfredonia in Apulia, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, in August 1620. The incursion, which was led by Damat Halil Pasha, appears to have been launched in retaliation for an attack on Sousse by a Spanish-led force the previous year.
Manfredonia's defences had been neglected prior to the attack, and Ottoman forces numbering at least 6,000 men were able to enter and sack the city on 16 August, the same day that they landed. Governor Antonio Perez attempted to organise a defence but soon fled the city along with many residents, while the Castello di Manfredonia under the command of castellan Fernando de Velasco held out for another day. After an army under Francesco Carafa failed to relieve the city, the castle surrendered and the people who had taken refuge inside were allowed to leave unharmed.
After plundering and burning the city and its castle, the Ottomans abandoned Manfredonia on 18 August. During the sacking, a few hundred residents were captured and enslaved and others were killed. Ottoman casualties appear to have been light. The looting and physical destruction was extensive, with many churches and other buildings being damaged or destroyed and historical records being lost.
Background and prelude
The sack of Manfredonia was not the first Ottoman incursion in Apulia: in 1480 Ottoman forces captured Otranto and held it for over a year, while Lesina was destroyed in 1537, Vieste was sacked in 1554 and Tremiti was besieged in 1567. Several localities in Apulia and nearby Abruzzo and Molise were sacked after an Ottoman landing in Pescara.
In August 1619, a joint Christian fleet attacked the city of Sousse in Ottoman Tunisia. The attack was unsuccessful, and the following year, a combined fleet of 40 Neapolitan, Sicilian, Genoese, Hospitaller and Tuscan galleys assembled at Messina on Sicily. Prior to the sack of Manfredonia, the sailing season of 1620 had seen some minor engagements in the Mediterranean, including the sack of Castel Tornese by the Hospitallers on 3 June and the capture of a Bizertan flagship by the Tuscans on 26 June.
The Ottomans had also prepared a fleet of between 40 and 60 galleys during the winter of 1620, and in spring the fleet departed Constantinople and stopped at Chios, Euboea and Navarino. The fleet was under the command of Damat Halil Pasha – referred to as Alì Pascià in Italian sources – and it carried over 6,000 men. Some sources give higher figures of 10,000 or 12,000 men, but these numbers are probably exaggerated. The number of ships also varies from source to source, with some giving the exact number as 47, 54, 55, 56, or about 60 galleys. After Navarino, the fleet continued to sail up the Greek and Albanian coastline and visited Valona and Durazzo. This marked the Ottomans' first incursion into the Adriatic Sea in a long time, and they captured two Christian ships which had been carrying wheat. The Ottomans encountered a Venetian fleet near Durazzo, but no hostilities ensued and they continued their voyage after exchanging courtesies with the Venetian commander Civran. Meanwhile, the combined Christian fleet remained in Messina.
The Ottomans decided to attack an Italian coastal settlement in retaliation for Spanish and Hospitaller attacks including the Sousse expedition. Some sources claim that Brindisi was selected as the initial target, but after the fleet was spotted by sentries they revised their plans and headed to Manfredonia, a prosperous city and port in the Capitanata which had a population of around 2,400 people. It was fortified with a series of defensive walls and a castle, and it had successfully resisted a siege by a French army led by Odet de Foix, Viscount of Lautrec during the War of the League of Cognac almost a century earlier in 1528. By the eve of the Ottoman attack, the city's defences had been neglected and Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna who had been Viceroy of Naples until June 1620, had deprived it of artillery pieces which were instead used to arm the Neapolitan navy. The civil authorities lacked an adequate supply of gunpowder, weaponry and ammunition, and at the time of the attack it also lacked manpower as many residents were away for the harvest and some others were sick.
Attack
Landing and sack of the city
At around 09:40 on 10 August 1620, two galleys arrived in Manfredonia's harbour and four men disembarked and entered the city. Some sources state that these were spies sent by the Ottoman commander while others state that they were Venetian. The men reportedly attended Mass in the cathedral, reconnoitered the castle and fortifications, and claimed that a Venetian fleet of 55 ships was on its way to the city. The galleys sailed to Vieste on 11 August but returned to Manfredonia shortly afterwards, and the alleged spies left during the night on 13 August.
At dawn on 16 August, the Ottoman fleet arrived off Manfredonia and landed at the Chianca Masiello inlet about 4 miles (6.4 km) away from the city. One source claims that some 5,000 Ottomans disembarked, including Janissaries. The Agha of the Janissaries, Hüseyin Ağa, was appointed commander of the troops on land. The invaders are said to have included Turks, Moors, and former Christians who had converted to Islam; one source claimed that an Ottoman army general was a renegade Knight of Malta. The Ottomans arranged their infantry into three squadrons and marched to Manfredonia; on the way they burnt buildings including the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and a Capuchin convent, set fire to fields and vineyards, and killed livestock.
When the fleet was first spotted, Manfredonia's governor Antonio Perez and the castellan Fernando de Velasco initially believed it to be Venetian, but some citizens were wary and began fleeing through the Porta delle Palme. Residents of nearby Monte Sant'Angelo who been on their way to the city to sell their wares saw the Ottomans landing and attempted to raise the alarm before they fled to higher ground to save themselves. The authorities in Manfredonia sent three horsemen to the site of the landing, and after about an hour one of them returned and alerted the city of the imminent attack. This led to a general sense of panic, and some people took refuge in the castle, churches, empty granaries, a casemate near the Ponte della Porta, in water cisterns or in their own homes. Others fled towards the Gargano mountains and to nearby towns in the Tavoliere area.
The Governor attempted to organise a defence of the most vulnerable gate, the Porta di Monte, with a small force of some 20 citizens and some other fighters on horseback, but the rest of the walls were unmanned and the Ottomans were able to scale them using ladders. They set fire to one of the gates, entered the city, and the Governor's defence quickly collapsed. He attempted to retreat to the castle, but was unable to do and he fled the city altogether. By around 08:40, the Ottomans were in control of the whole city except for the castle and they started looting, capturing people, and setting fire to buildings. One source states that over 300 people were taken as slaves at this point, while the elderly, infirm and children were killed; another source states that the majority of the enslaved were women, but some men were also taken. After the Ottomans entered the city, a group of clerics and over 50 other men and women managed to escape to the Abbazia di San Leonardo in Lama Volara.
Assault on the castle
At around 10:40, the Ottomans began an attack on the castle where the remaining defenders and some 1,500 citizens had retreated. Arquebusiers were stationed on nearby buildings which overlooked the castle including the palaces of the Vischi and Cessa families, and some galleys approached from the sea and also opened fire. The men in the castle returned fire, and the skirmish lasted for seven hours until around 17:00. Not wanting to spend the night in the captured city and fearing the possibility of a counterattack, the Ottomans retreated back to their ships with their loot. At this point the defenders made some desperate attempts to better their position, and although some soldiers proposed to demolish the tall buildings which overlooked the castle no attempt was actually made to do this.
The Ottomans later returned and marched through the streets of Manfredonia, beating their drums and mocking the Christians by wearing mitres stolen from churches. At dawn on the following day, 17 August, the assault on the castle resumed with greater force; one source stated that 1,500 Ottoman soldiers and four ships were involved in this attack. They attacked the castle from three sides, and after seizing control of its guardhouse which had been defended by two crossbowmen, they entered its ditch and raised ladders in an attempt to take the castle's Annunziata tower.
Meanwhile, the governor and captain of the province of Capitanata, Francesco Carafa, had been notified of the attack and he attempted to relieve Manfredonia. He had a force of 400 infantry and 400 cavalry, with some sources claiming that he had up to 1,000 men. The reinforcements arrived at San Leonardo from Lucera, but as they attempted to approach Manfredonia through a coastal road near the site of ancient Siponto, they were fired upon by Ottoman galleys which had taken positions aimed at preventing aid from reaching the city. Fearing casualties from naval bombardments and seeing that Manfredonia was already burning, Carafa retreated and the Ottomans resumed their attack on the castle.
The castle had a garrison of around 100 Italians and Spaniards, but at this point only 30 men who could fight were left as 30 others had been wounded or killed and 40 others were infirm. Two gentlemen among the castle's defenders, Melchionne Visco and Giovanni Carlo di Nicastro, were killed by Ottoman musketeers on 17 August. The defenders managed to throw down the attackers' ladders, but were eventually exhausted and at 15:40 they raised a white flag and began negotiations for a surrender. Two representatives, a Spaniard and an Italian identified as lieutenant Cornecchia and Antonio Stellatello in some sources, were sent to negotiate terms with the Pasha on board his galley.
Initially the castellan is said to have only attempted to secure his own safety, that of his family and belongings, and that of the families of the Spanish soldiers. The citizens in the castle became suspicious of the castellan's intentions, and at around 16:40 a third negotiator, Antonio Nicastro, was sent and the castellan promised to abide by the new terms he negotiated. At this point the Ottoman commanders were eager to conclude the surrender, thinking that Carafa's retreat had been a tactical maneuver and that further reinforcements might be on the way. An agreement was reached in which the castle would be surrendered in return for the safety of all of those who had taken refuge inside.
The Ottomans respected these terms and several hundred people – including the castellan, the officers and soldiers under his command, their families, and some women, elderly and nuns – were allowed to leave the castle and the city on 18 August; they initially took refuge at San Leonardo. The Ottomans then entered and plundered the castle, capturing its gunpowder stores, armaments and provisions. They loaded their ships with these spoils and with plunder from the rest of the city, including more artillery pieces, silverware, furniture, and church bells. Churches were desecrated and relics were stolen or destroyed. The invaders burnt the castle and other buildings including churches and monasteries, reportedly including one in which there were still four infirm nuns. Among the slaves taken by the Ottomans were four nobles whose carriage was overtaken while they were trying to escape. The Ottomans then abandoned the city, embarked and set sail by 21:00 on 18 August.
Casualties
One source claims that Ottoman casualties were 100 killed and 7 taken alive by Carafa's men; these prisoners reportedly stated that they had also intended to attack Barletta, Bari and Monopoli. The number of residents of Manfredonia who were captured as slaves during the attack varies from source to source, with some giving a figure of 200, 300, 400, or 450 people. A 1680 account by Pompeo Sarnelli gives considerably higher casualties on both sides, stating that 700 Turks and 500 Christians were killed and 500 Christians were enslaved. The names of a few of the enslaved men have been recorded, but with the exception of Giacoma Beccarini as detailed below, documentation is lacking regarding the enslaved women and girls who made up the majority of those taken captive.