Siege of Chembalo

Under the 1381 treaty , the khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh , in gratitude for his help against Mamaia , gave the coast of Gothic to the possession of the Genoese Republic. This disadvantaged the Principality of Theodoro, which was in vassal relations with the Horde, which was cut off from seaports. Unhappy with this situation, Prince Theodoro Alexei I decided to start the struggle for access to the sea. In 1422 - 1423, having secured the moral support of the emir of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde, he began military operations against Genoa . This war did not bring the Theodorites much success, but the prince was able to build a fortress-port of Kalamita on the coast ^[1] .

Alexey acted in alliance with the Horde viceroy in Crimea Tegin-Bey Shirinsky . A full-scale war with Genoa required a maximum concentration of forces. In 1343 - 1344, at the very peak of the power of the Golden Horde , Khan Dzhanibek could not cope with Kafa . Prince Aleksey could exhibit about 1000 soldiers, Tatars could collect about 3000-4000 soldiers, but in the Cafe alone there were 6000 yards. Trying to create a large coalition, Tegin tried to attract Prince Svidrigailo to the campaign. It is possible that the stay in Crimea of ​​Prince Yuri Dmitrievich was part of this plan ^[1] .

All plans to create a large coalition upset the result of a dispute about the Grand Duchy between the princes Vasily Vasilyevich and Yuri Dmitrievich. As a result, in 1432, Tegine quarreled with the Golden Horde Khan Ulug-Muhammed and proclaimed Khan Haji Devlet Giray . The proclamation of Haji Giray made it possible to attract many "Cossacks" to the steppes of oglans and nions. In the same year 1432, Prince Alexei made contact with Venice , who fought with Genoa. The Venetians even sent a squadron of 4 galleys to the Crimea in order to “find out what Mr. Aleksey, Mr. Gothic, is going to do in favor of our state . ”

Finally, in 1433, Prince Alexei began active operations. In February, a small detachment of theodorites appeared under the walls of the Genoese colony of Chembalo . An uprising broke out in the city, the Genoese were expelled, and Chembalo passed under the rule of Prince Alexei ^[1] .

The Consul of Kafa Batisto de Fonari, who was the main representative of the Republic of St. George in the Crimea, tried to recapture Chembalo, but failed. With the capture of Cembalo by theodorites, there was a risk of the fall of Soldaya , whose garrison, according to the Charter of 1449, had only about 45 people (at the end of the XIV century, the number of garrison ranged from 12 to 80 people). In this situation, the consul sent a dispatch to Genoa asking for help ^[2] .

The announcement of the fall of Chembalo was an unpleasant blow to the government of the Republic. The population demanded that the Doge Arondo and the Council of Elders receive an early response, but the Republic had just ended a not-so-successful war with the coalition of Venice , Florence and Aragon and had no money for expedition equipment. As a result, the money was obtained from the Bank of San Giorgio , which hoped to take the Crimean colonies under its direct control and allocated a loan to the government for the equipment of the expedition. The bank’s money allowed hiring 20 ships and 6,000 soldiers, including crew members ^[3] . The captain of the Armada “Golden Knight” (cavaliere aurato) Carlo Lomelino, son of Nabuleone, the ruler of Corsica, became the head of the expedition.

The expedition was prepared in secret, but a Venetian spy was introduced into the ranks of the soldiers, the denunciation of which contains a description of the Genoa army, routes and travel time. In early March 1434, the preparation of the armada was completed and it appeared on the island of Chios . The squadron included 10 naves , 9 galleys and 1 galliot . On the island, the squadron still recruited crews and military teams from the inhabitants of the archipelago for almost three months. May 30, 1434 , replenishing the squadron with another galliot, captain Lomellino marched to the Bosphorus ^[4] .

When the armada entered the Black Sea, one of the galliots was sent to Sinop . In the galliot there was a senior fortifier, who announced that the squadron was heading for Trebizond . It is possible that in addition to misinformation, the senior fortifier received the latest news about the state of Chembalo from the agents in Sinope. On June 4, 1434, the armada of Genoa reached Chembalo ^[4] .

Chembalo consisted of the Upper City of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Lower City of St. George the Victorious . The upper city, where the consular castle, the town hall and a small church were located, was located on a cliff top. From the accessible sides it was surrounded by walls adjacent to a 200-meter cliff. In the Lower City, the defense knot and the most vulnerable spot was the corner tower, which stood at the beginning of the mountain slope. Two walls departed from the tower. One wall ran along the shore of the bay, turned onto a cape and overlooked the Upper Town. On the cape was a tower with a chain thrown to the other side of the bay. This chain blocked access to the bay ships. The second wall rose along the mountain slope to the top of Mount Kastron, where there was a 15-meter tower-dungeon. In the donjon there was a tank with water coming from a source from the neighboring Spilia mountain ^[5] .

On Saturday , June 5, boats with assault troops were lowered from the naves and headed for the harbor entrance, which was blocked by a chain. After a fierce battle, the Genoese managed to cut the chain and the fleet of the Republic entered the harbor ^[6] .

The next day, on Sunday, a landing was landed on the shore, which blocked the city. The besieged tried to make a sortie, but were repulsed. On Monday , June 7, a siege began. The Genoese removed several bombers from the ships and concentrated fire on one of the towers (probably the lower tower of the City of St. George). Towards evening, part of the tower and a section of the adjoining wall collapsed. At this point, the townspeople began to doubt the feasibility of further resistance and sent a delegation to Carlo Lomellino. The townspeople offered to surrender the city in exchange for the preservation of life and property, but the captain refused, saying that he would accept only unconditional surrender ^[4] .

On July 8, the army of the Republic of St. George launched an assault. Taking advantage of the fact that all the attention of the defenders was focused on the destroyed tower, the Genoese captured the gates of the city. The son of Prince Alexei, who commanded the garrison, collecting the remains of Theodorite soldiers (about 70 people), retreated to the castle of St. Nicholas. In the last battle at the top of the cliff, all theodorites died, except for the commander and several noble people from his entourage. The captain gave the captured city to plunder, in which, according to an eyewitness, “many citizens were exterminated” ^[6] .

After the occupation of Cembalo, it was the turn of the Feodorite port of Kalamita . On June 9, part of the galleys left the bay and landed troops near Kalamita. The Genoese demanded that the townspeople surrender, to which they received an answer about their readiness for surrender while preserving life and property. In this case, the residents promised to open the gate in the evening of June 10 . The second part of the Genoese army came from Cembalo by land. Having reached the city, the Genoese lined up in battle formations and advanced to storm. No one showed resistance to them. Having burst into the city, the soldiers of Genoa found that the townspeople left the city, taking with them all their property. Left without legal trophies, the Genoese put the city on fire and returned to Cembalo ^[6] .

On June 11, the Army of the Republic marched to the Cafe. Captain Lomellino himself went ahead and convened a military council in Cafe on June 12, at which it was decided to advance on Solkhat - the capital of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde ^[6] .

• Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region
• Haji I Gerai

• Seliverstov D.A. The Battle of Solhat (Kastadzon) June 22, 1434 // Military Affairs of the Golden Horde: problems and prospects of study. Materials of the Round Table held as part of the International Golden Horde Forum (Kazan, March 30, 2011). - Kazan: Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan - Institute of History named after Sh. Mardzhani, 2011 .-- S. 183-193.