The capture of Pavia by the Lombard King, Alboin
: Siege of Pavia, 572 AD
The Siege of Constantinople by the combined Sassanid, Avar, and Slavic forces in 626. A 1537 depiction on the murals of the
Moldovița Monastery
,
Romania
Siege of Valenciennes in 1006, illustration (1885).
The Byzantine army of
George Maniakes
defends the towers of Edessa against an Arab counterattack (1031). Illustration from the chronicle of John Skylitzes
The siege of Malta—
Arrival of the Turkish fleet
(1565) by Matteo Pérez de Alesio, 16th century
Spanish troops storming the city of Maastricht, 1579
During the
Cologne War
(1583–89),
Ferdinand of Bavaria
successfully besieged the medieval fortress of Godesberg; during a month-long siege, his sappers dug tunnels under the feldspar of the mountain and laid gunpowder and a 1500-pound bomb. The result was a spectacular explosion that sent chunks of the ramparts, the walls, the gates, and drawbridges into the air. His 500 men still could not take the fortress until they scaled the interior latrine system and climbed the mountain to enter through a hole in the chapel roof.