Revista Analele Banatului S.N. Arheologie-Istorie

Costin Feneșan

Artileria cetăţii Timişoara la 1716 / The Guns Of The Fortress Of Timişoara (Temesvar) in 1716

1 Ianuarie 2012

Abstract

On October 13, 1716, the ottoman garrison of Timişoara (Temesvar) surrendered after a 43 days lasting siege to fi eldmarshall prince Eugene of Savoy, commander in chief of the Habsburg army. According to the terms of capitulation, Mustafa pasha, the last governor (beylerbey) of Timişoara, was forced to hand over all the guns, shells and gunpowder located in the fortress. Until October 26, prince Eugene’s offi cers have made a full inventory-list (kept today in Vienna, at the Kriegsarchiv, and published by us) of the captured Ottoman artillery material. On this basis, we are now in position to rebuild the image of the Ottoman artillery at Timişoara in the eve of the siege from September-October 1716, as well as the losses suff ered during the 43 days of the battle. On August 31, being surrounded, the ottoman fortress of Timişoara – the largest in the region after the fortress of Belgrade – was defended by 156 guns: 123 bronze fi eldguns (with calibers ranging from a quarter pound to 48 pounds/weight of the shells), 16 iron fi eldguns (with calibers ranging from half a pound to 70 pounds), 9 bronze morters (with calibers ranging from 60 to l00 pounds) end 8 howitzers (with calibers ranging from one pound to 48 pounds). During the siege, 62 guns (41%) were completely destroyed, while 92 pieces (59%) survived, being used by the Imperials to defend Timi şoara. 120 guns (76,9% from the originally 156 were small caliber pieces (from a quarter pound to 12 pounds), 23 (14,8%) were medium caliber guns (from 15 to 36 pounds) and the remaining 13 were heavy caliber pieces (from 48 to 100 pounds). 84 guns of Timişoara (53,8%) were made in Ottoman gunneries, while the remaining 72 (46,2%) were German, Austrian and Transylvanian pieces from the 16th–17th centuries, seized by the Ottoman army during the battles with the Habsburgic troops. While 41 ottoman guns (48,9%) were completely des troyed during the siege, the remaining 43 (51,1%) have been kept by the Imperials to defend Timişoara. As for the occidental guns, only 5 pieces were prior to 1552, when the fortress of Timişoara was taken after an Ottoman siege. Other 8 guns were from the second half of the 16th century, among them 2 Transylvanian pieces, most probably seized by the Ottomans during the unsuccesful siege of Timişoara by prince Sigismund Bathory in 1597. Several pieces are marked with the name of the German, Austrian or Italian gunmaster (e.g. from Nürnberg, Augsburg, Pressburg, Salzburg, Cremona or Milan) and the date of their manufacture. & e 35 German and Austrian guns from the 17th century – most of them from the last two decades – landed in Timişoara as a result of the military clashes between the Habsburgs and the Ottomanic Porte, especially during the long war from 1683 to 1699. At the same time, we have to point out, that the Ottoman fortress of Timişoara was very well provided with shells and gunpowder. After its surrender, the imperial army captures here 13.022 diff erent shells, 2.823 centennials (about 158 metric tons) of gunpowder and about 2.000 centennials (about 112 metric tons) of leadplates.