Ulubad or Uluabat, in the
Byzantine period Lopadion ( grc, Λοπάδιον),
Latinized as Lopadium, is a settlement near the town of
Karacabey in the
Bursa Province of northwestern
Turkey. It was sited on the ancient
Miletouteichos.
History
Uluabat is located on the banks of the
Mustafakemalpaşa River (ancient and medieval Rhyndacus). It is first mentioned by
Theodore of Stoudios
Theodore the Studite ( grc-x-medieval, Θεόδωρος ό Στουδίτης; 759–826), also known as Theodorus Studita and Saint Theodore of Stoudios/Studium, was a Byzantine Greek monk and abbot of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. H ...
in one of his letters, as the site of a ''xenodocheion'' (
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
). By the late 11th century, it featured a
market town. The existence of a
4th-century bridge carrying the road between
Cyzicus on the
Sea of Marmara to the interior of Asia Minor made it a place of some strategic importance, especially in the wars of the
Komnenian emperors
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The ''Komnenian'' (also spelled ''Comnenian'') period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, A ...
against the
Seljuk Turks in the 11th–12th centuries, during which it is best known.
Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) fought the Turks in the vicinity, and in 1130, his successor
John II Komnenos (r. 1118–43) built there a great fortress which became the base of his campaigns against the Turkish
Sultanate of Rum
fa, سلجوقیان روم ()
, status =
, government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262)
, year_start = 1077
, year_end = 1308
, p1 = By ...
. During the same period, Lopadion is attested as an
archbishopric. In 1147, the French and German contingents participating in the
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...
united at Lopadion.
Following the
fall of the Byzantine Empire to the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
in 1204, the fortress was briefly occupied by the
Latin Empire, who returned after the
Battle of the Rhyndacus in 1211 and until ca. 1220. It then returned to the
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...
, and remained in Byzantine hands until it was captured by the
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in 1335. The area was a site of confrontation during the
Ottoman Interregnum as well: sometime in March–May 1403,
Mehmed I defeated his brother
İsa Çelebi
İsa Çelebi (1380 – 1406) was an Ottoman prince ( tr, şehzade) and a co-ruler of the empire during the Ottoman Interregnum.
Background
İsa was one of the sons of Beyazid I, the Ottoman sultan. His mother was Devletşah Hatun, the daughter ...
in the
Battle of Ulubad, and consolidated his control over the Asian heartland of the Ottoman Empire around
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
. In January 1422, the armies of Mehmed's son
Murad II and
Mustafa Çelebi confronted each other in the area, until Murad engineered the defection of
Junayd of Aydın
Juneyd or Junayd Bey ( tr, İzmiroğlu Cüneyd; ) was the last ruler (bey) of the Aydınid principality in what is now central western Turkey. His exact relationship with the Aydınid dynasty is unclear. His father was a long-time and popular gov ...
and the other supporters of Mustafa, forcing the latter to retreat to Europe, where he was captured and executed.
See also
*
Ulubatlı Hasan
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{coord, 40.202915, N, 28.437370, E, display=title
Byzantine fortifications in Turkey
Populated places in Bursa Province