The Ottoman forces on Cyprus, having reduced…

The Ottoman forces on Cyprus, having reduced Nicosia, had then laid siege to Famagusta, the last stronghold in Venetian Cyprus to hold out against the Turks under Mustafa Pasha.

It has resisted a siege of thirteen months and a terrible bombardment, halving the defending Venetian force to about twenty-five hundred men, until early August 1571, when Famagusta’s Venetian governor finally accepts the peace terms offered by the Turks, who then massacre the defenders without mercy.

The commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, is flayed alive; his lieutenant Tiepolo is hanged.