Siege of Sofia

The siege of Sofia took place in between 1380–1382 during the course of the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars.
In 1373 the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Shishman agreed to become an Ottoman vassal and to marry his sister Kera Tamara to their sultan Murad I, while the Ottomans were to return some conquered fortresses.

First siege

Despite the peace, in the beginning of the 1380s the Ottomans resumed their campaigns and besieged the important city of Sofia which controlled major communication routes to Serbia and Macedonia. There are little records about the siege. After the futile attempts to storm the city, the Ottoman commander Lala Shahin Pasha considered to abandon the siege. All attacks led by the Ottomans were repelled by Yanuka.

Second siege

In 1382 a Bulgarian renegade called Usunca Syondök managed to lure the city governor ban Yanuka out of the fortress to hunt and the Turks, led by Ince Balaban bey, captured him. Leaderless, the Bulgarians surrendered. The city walls were destroyed and an Ottoman garrison was installed. With the way to the north-west cleared, the Ottomans pressed further and captured Pirot and Niš in 1386, thus wedging between Bulgaria and Serbia.
After the capture of the city, Sofia became a sanjak. Ince Balaban who has also been referred to as 'the conqueror of Sofia', became its first sanjakbey.