The siege of Braničevo was laid by Hungarian king

Géza II Géza is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: * Benjamin Géza Affleck * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

against Byzantine-held Braničevo in late 1154.

Background

Emperor Manuel's cousin, Andronikos Komnenos, who administered

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Braničevo, and

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

sent a letter to

in 1154, offering to hand over those towns to him in exchange for his support against the emperor. Géza II sent his envoys to Sicily to sign a new alliance with

William I of Sicily William I (1120 or 1121May 7, 1166), called the Bad or the Wicked ( scn, Gugghiermu lu Malu), was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile. Wi ...

around the end of the year, but William I was fighting with his rebellious subjects.

Siege

Although Andronikos' plot was discovered and he was captured, Géza II invaded the Byzantine Empire and laid siege to in late 1154. Géza II was aided by

Cumans The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...

, who had been raiding the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

at the time. As a Hungarian vassal, Borić, the ''ban'' of Bosnia took part in the attack, alongside a Bohemian detachment. Braničevo was besieged and the surroundings were ravaged. After hearing of the imprisonment of Andronikos, Géza II abandoned the siege and returned for Hungary.

Aftermath

Manuel answered by dispatching troops towards the battlefield. Through Serdica (Sofia) and

, Manuel arrived in the Smilis province near

Paraćin Paraćin ( sr-Cyrl, Параћин, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of central Serbia. It is located in the valley of the Velika Morava river, north of Kruševac and southeast of Kragujevac. In 2011 the town had a p ...

where he set up camp. The Hungarian Army retreated towards

. The pursuing Byzantine troops, under general Basil Tzintzilukes, entered into battle with them, but the Byzantines were annihilated before the Hungarians returned to Hungary. In early 1155, the Byzantine and Hungarian envoys signed a new peace treaty. In the same year, a Byzantine army expelled Géza II's ally, Desa, from Serbia and restored

Uroš II Uroš II may refer to: * Uroš II, Grand Prince of Serbia, Grand Prince of Serbia (1145-1162) * Stefan Uroš II, King of Serbia (1282-1321) See also * Uroš I (disambiguation) * Stefan Uroš (disambiguation) * Uroš Nemanjić (disambiguation) ...

who had promised that he would not enter into an alliance with Hungary.

References

Sources

* * *

Background

Siege

Aftermath

See also

References

Sources

Further reading