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CON STAN TI N E TH E , LAST E MP E ROR OF T E E E H GR KS .

C O N S T A N T I N E

‘ Gbe last E mperor of tbe W eeks

TH E CONQUEST OF CONSTANTI NOPLE BY TH E TURKS

D . 1 (A . 4 5 3 )

A F TE R TH E LA TE S T H I S TOR I CA L R E S E A R CH E S

CH E DO M I L M I J A T O V I CH

FO R M E R LY S E RV I A N M I N I S T E R A T T H E CO URT O F S T jA M E S Q “ v t 5 i

l o n b o n

M P N W P S A S O LO , M A R ST ON COM AN Y

Lz mitcd

’ i t B aastan s E o ns !

FETTE R LA N E F LE ET T R E E T , S , E C.

1 8 9 2

W I T H P ROFOU N D A DM I RA T I ON OF T H E H E ROI S M DI S P LAY F D

CON STA N TI N E P A LfE OLOGOS

Debicateb

M OS T R E S P E CI’ ‘ FU LLY A N D BY S P E CI A L P E RM I SS I ON

TO H I S R OYA L H lG H N E S S

P R I N C E C O N S T A N T I N E

D U K E O F S P A RTA

H E I R TO T H E T H R ON E OF G R E E CE

P RE FACE .

H E III a T German Emperor Frederie . in letter written

145 3 V. June to Pope Nicholas , lamenting greatly th e

ca lls a th e catastrophe on the Bosphorus, Const ntinople ca ita lo the E astern E m ire the hea d o Greece the p f p , f , home o a rts a n d terature i f li Orientalis imper i sedem ,

Greeciae caput veluti do micilium litterarum arti

An d fro m a indeed , the time of Const ntine the Great to the time when the dawn of Renaissance

a was aroused Italy to her noble task , Const ntinople the capital of Christian civiliz atio n . Its place in the history of the w o rld has been always a most remark

— R o n l suc able one, ome being the y city which can cessfull co m ariso n i y bear p with t.

When in 145 3 it passed into the hands of Mohammed

1 ' The who le texto f Frederic s lon g a n d in terestin g le tte r in Ray n aldi A n na lee E cclesiastici vol. xviii. Co lo n iw A r 1 694 . 408 . , , , g . , p P RE F viii ACE .

E I - Fathi its possession consolidated at once the new

Mohammedan Empire, and enabled the Sultans of the

Ottoman Turks to exte nd their sway up to the blue

Carpathians in the north - west and to the Gulf of

- Persia in the south east. There seems almost a mira

in ﬂuen ce in ﬂ uen ce culons telepathic in that place , an

Which inspires its occupants, as long as they possess

some power, with an irresistible ambition to rule over

three worlds , and which enables old and exhausted

Empires to live longer than the most ﬂatterin g pro

hecies u p ever tho ght probable or possible. There are theories which assert that the possession C of onstantinople enervates, disorganizes, and in the

. S o I end kills far as have been able to read history , I have found that he who takes Constantinople , once

u securely seated on the Bosphor s, unavoidably feels

that his power is strengthened for a higher task , that his political horizon has widened to the misty limits

the of an Universal Empire, and that it is manifest

destiny of Constantinople to be the capital, if not of

r an universal , then at least of a g eat Empire, stretch in A A A n d I g over Europe, sia, and frica. would even say that it seems to me that neither the Byzantine n o r the Ottoman Empires could have withstood so long P RE FACE . the consequences of disorganiz ation if their capital had not been Constantinople .

It is somewhat singular that, notwithstanding the

undoubted interest which European nations in general ,

rt r and the British in pa icular, feel in eve ything con

d a catastm he n ecte with Constantinople , the gre t p of 145 3 , so tragic in its incidents and so terrible in its l consequences, has never yet been ful y and thoroughly

a worked out and pl ced before the readers of history .

I do not ﬂ atter myself for a moment that I shall be

r I able to do what othe s have not done. wish only

to state , as an undeniable fact, that up to the present

o u o f no work , and no description , the conquest of

Constantinople has used all the materials which exist in our time.

Gibbon wrote his incomparably graphic description 02 (vol . iii . 7 using only the Byzantine historians ,

P hran tz es Chalcocho n d las , Ducas , and y , and the letter V A addressed to the Pope Nicholas . by the rchbishop

Leonardo of Chios.

r The famous historian of the Ottoman Empi e ,

o se h r J p von Hammer, looked to the same sou ces of

information , adding some scanty notes from the

’ -udo din Turkish historian Sa ad . A R A E P E F C .

W. Geschichte des Osma n J Zinkeisen , in his ischen R eiches i 83 — 6 ( . 3 8 6) was able to use letters and reports found in the Vatican Library.

M r S . Martin and M r Brosset (H istoire da

’ B as E m ire M r p , par Lebeau) improved Lebeau s de scription by details found in the poem of the

A A so - rmenian braham , and in the called Grusian C hronicle .

R s M r S tassulevich The ussian hi torian , in his work

Ossa da, 73 vz a tt e Viza n tii Turha mi S t y y ( Petersburg,

used only the old Byzantine sources and the

’ - - chronicle of Sa ad ud din .

M r S rez n yevsky published in 185 5 an old Slavonic

P ov esto Tza re md e chronicle , y g y , accompanying it with notes from Byzantine sources and from Leonardo of

Chios .

Dr D m n n us A . . M ordt a has given one of the most interesting descriptions in his B elagerung un d E mb

’ erun Con sta n tim els ( lurch die Turken imJ a hre 145 3 g p , nf a ch Ori in a l- uellen bea rbeitet . g Q (Stuttgart, using largely the Jo urn alof Nicolo Barbaro .

Die E roberun en von Professor Dr Y . U . Krause ( g

Con sta n tin o elif n XI I I u n d X V J a hrhumlert n a ch p ,

B z a n tin ischcn Fra n hischen uf n d Turkischen uellen un d y , Q P F RE ACE . xi

Berichten 1 870 B z an , Halle, ) drew principally from y

’ r - ud tine authors, eprinting some portions from Sa ad din , and taking some incidents from the poem of a

- Greek eye witness .

v r adribb M r on Re . W. J B o and Walter Besant ( C sta ntin o le a Sketch o its H istor romits Fou n dation p , f y f to its Con uest b the Turks in 14 5 3 1879 q y , London , )

M o rdtman n s followed and Krause, but consulted al o

independently Byzantine authors , and added some interesting information on the condition of Constanti n o le Bertran do n p , given by the French knight de la

Bro ui re cq e .

The latest monograph that appeared in Western

r M r E A V literature is that one w itten by . lasto

Les demiers ou rs de Co n sta n tin o le ( j p , Paris,

The author has mainly reproduced the general resul ts

of the researches of modern Greek historians, and

M P a arri o ulo especially those of r C. p g po but his able work leaves you the impression of being more a political dissertation than a historical picture of the catastrophe .

It is rather sin gular that there should not exist a single monograph on the Conquest of Constanti n o le p by the Turks in English , though as early as in REF E xii P AC .

1 6 75 a tragedy entitled The S iege of Con sta n tin ople was published in London .

I u believe that, by caref lly comparing the state

- r ments of eye witnesses and contempora ies of the siege ,

as well as the letters and documents of the time, pre served in the Italian and other archives— it would be possible to give a tolerably complete and reliable account of one of the most stirring and important i I events of h story . In the chapters which follow shall give the result of my attempt in thatdirection . I venture to hope that at the present time , when an uncomfortable feeling that Constantinople may

n soo again change masters pervades the world , poli tical as well as military men will ﬁn d this little work l worthy of perusa , at least for the sake of the great subject of Which it treats.

MI T I CH E DOMI L J A OV CH .

KENSI N T Ja n G ON, ua ry 1892.

xi v CONTENTS.

CH AP TE R VI I .

TH E LAST DAYS

CH AP TE R VI I I .

TH E LA ST N ma r

CH AP TE R I X.

TH E LA ST H OU RS

AP P E N DIX.

TH E BIBLIOGRAP H Y

I LLUS TRATI ON S.

ONST NTI NE TH E LA ST E MP E R OR o n TH E GRE E KS C A ,

N r MOH AMM E D I L, TH E CO QUE ROR o CONSTA NTI NOP LE

THE FORT RUM I LI -H I SSA R

THE FI RST N AVA L BATTLE o n TH E T UR KS

THE TU R KS I N S T SOP H I A

I C H A P TE R .

M ORAL CAUSE S o n THE RAP I D RISE o r THE OTTOMAN

FALL r BYZAN TIN E R AND THE o THE EMPI ES .

I sla m a nd B za n tin ism 1 . y .

I N 1 . the one hundred years from the middle of the

‘ fo urteen th to the middle of the ﬁfte en th century ( 13 6 5 146 5 ) events deeply tragical in their character and of great historical importance occurred on the Balkanic

Peninsula. An entire change of social and political conditions w as acc o m accomplished amidst terrible convulsions,

an ied ff p by fearful bloodshed and unspeakable su ering.

A lo w r foreign race, a strange religion , and a cultu e took possession of the beautiful regions between three

r seas, where once a highly gifted and compa atively cultured people formed and kept up independent states. It is one of the most interesting unsolved problems of history ho w an uncivilized and by no means A 2 CONQUEST O F CONSTANTINOPLE . numerous tribe so speedily succeeded in destroyin g

a three Christi n kingdoms of a higher degree of culture ,

and in building up in their stead an extensive, powerful ,

and enduring Empire .

The great fact , however, stands out prominently ,

law or a n iz a assuming the dignity of a general , that g

tion o orces t ma a f f , al hough these y be sm ll in them

lo w is a lwa s victorio us selves and in their inspirations , y

o ver disor a n iz ed orces g f , even though the latter be

great, and superior in their individual character. 2 . The Turks were not destitute of certain virtues and natural gifts when they left the Turcoman steppes and came to A rmenia to guard the eastern frontier of the S eldjuk Sultans ; but after their acceptance of Islam their national character went through an e vo lu

tio n ar ﬁre y change . The sparks of thrown out of the volcanic soul of the great Prophet of A rabia in ﬂ amed

A th e the susceptible sons of the siatic deserts, and metal of their original character was molten and crystallized

a into new form of national individuality, capable of the accomplishment of the great and even more

vi terrible than great, task assigned to them by Pro dence .

A s an irresistible avalanche, they moved westward , breakin g down and burying all political and national organizations whose elasticity had been weakened and Whose strength had been undermined by ages of abuse

and mismanagement . Is lam not only impressed upon E rto ghruland his I LAM B S AND YZANTINISM . 3

Go d followers the duty of being upright before , truthful and charitable amongst men , but gave them political ideas , transforming a tribe of nomads into a body of warriors and statesmen , capable of creating,

o maintaining, and devel ping a great empire . Islam ﬁlled them to o verﬂ o win g with genuine religious en thusiasm , and with the belief that to serve God meant

I n ﬁdels . to subdue the , and conquer the world This ,

a i their centr l idea, was a bond of unity , giv ng them political purpose and organization . Their faith im measurably increased the forces inherent in an energetic, hardy, and astute race.

3 r . But all the ene gy of a youthful and hardy race , all their admirable organization , and the high spirit with which Islam inspired the Turks, would not of themselves explain the swift extension of the

u n thu T rkish rule in Europe . Had the valiant and e siastic followers of Mohammed encountered even one

- really strong, healthy, and well organized State on this

u side of the Hellespont , it is doubtf l whether the pages of history would have recorded the wonderful growth of the Ottoman Empire . To decipher the secret of that rapid triumphant march w e must read the record not only in the lurid glare which con

. l quering Islam gives, but also by the pa lid light shed by dying Byzantinism . It is not ea sy to describe in a few words what

Byzantinism was. It seems as though historic Pro 4 r C N P CONQUEST o ON STAN TI O LE . viden ce had desired to see the harvest which could be C raised, if the seed of hristian civilization should A be sown on the peninsula between sia and Europe, watered by Western rains and warmed by Eastern

ﬁelds b suns, on abandoned y Hellenic culture and b R somewhat ploughed y oman institutions. It might have been hoped that the Divine idea of brotherhood would unite the warm heart of N ew Rome and the practical reason of Old Rome into an admirable h ar

i et mony , capable of l fting humanity to heights as y unattained .

But the experiment was not a success . The great forces, from the combination of which so much might have been expected, proved barren . From the spirit of the East some colours and some forms were ao ce ted in p , but little of its depth, and warmth , and l i herent nobi ity. From Eastern Ph losophy only a few more or less nebulous ideas of mysticism were retained ; and what of good w as borrowed from Roman in stitu t R a ions took no real root, because om n institutions

presuppose a consciousness of responsibility, and also i initiative and civ c sentiment. What took the ‘ deepest root were the forms and spirit of autocratic government from the worst times of the Roman I m

erialism p , which made the existence of individual l e ib rty impossible . The Christian religion was too abstract, too sublime to be fully understood it was

u d p shed backwar to let the Church come forward .

r 6 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

Both political and social bodies were alike rotten ; the

r . spi it of the nation was languid, devoid of all elasticity S elﬁsh n ess placed itself on the throne of public in terest , and tried to cover its hideousness with the mantle of false patriotism .

This political and social system , in which straight forwardness and manliness were replaced by astute ness, hypocrisy, and cowardice, while, however, there

ﬁn e i still lingered love for forms and ref ned manners, this system , in which the State generally appears in

B z a n tin ism the ecclesiastical garb , bore the name of y .

4 i B z an tin i m . It was nevitable that some y sl should enter into the political and social organism of the Slavonic nations of the Balkan Peninsula . Practically they went to the Byzantine Greeks to learn political and social wisdom , just as they went to

Constantinople for their religion . It was a slow and exhausting process by which Byzantine notions dis placed Slavonic traditions among the Serbians and

l r . An d Bu ga ians this struggle, not unnaturally , con

n tributed to weaken the Slavo ic kingdoms. It was in its own way preparing the paths for the Turkish

o invasi n . It is especially noteworthy that we ﬁn d so many Serbian and Bulgarian malcontents in the camp and at the Court of the Ottoman Sultans. The social and political conditions of those Slavonic kin gdoms of the

Balkans were highly unsatisfactory. The nobles ISLAM A N D B YZANTINISM .

Vl la an d ( aste ) were haughty exclusive . They jealously watched the kings, and resented bitterly every attempt at reform. They were hard and exacting masters to the tillers of the soil settled on their estates, who had to do much personal service, and to give a large part of the produce of their labour. The power, centred in

in the k gs, was not strong enough to prevent all sorts of abuse on the part of the privileged class . Emperor Stephan Dushan essayed to ﬁx by legal enactments the duties of the peasants towards their feudal lords . Atthe Parliament held in 1 3 49 at Scopia he obtained the consent of his noblemen and high ecclesiastic

law dignitaries to such a , and a certain protection of the central power was extended to the peasantry . But after the death of this most remarkable man in

r Serbian histo y, the authority of the Central Govern ment was shattered , and if the landlord acted unjustly there were none to protect the injured tenant . In

Bosnia , even so late as in the beginning of the

ﬁfteen th r centu y , some of the landlords regularly exported their peasants and sold them as slaves !

5 . The consequence of such a state of things was that the peasantry, the great bulk of the population , m hating their unjust and exacting masters, beca e more and more indifferent to the fate of the country.

ﬁrst e l The Sultans, on their part, syst matical y, from the very beginning of their settlement in Europe, protected and ostentatiously aimed at satisfying the r 8 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE.

an peasantry , never neglecting y occasion publicly to A manifest their desire to do justice to the poor. t the same time they ruthlessly exterminated the national aristocracy . Therefore when the horrors of

o h ad the invasi n passed away, the peasantry quickly

h in reconciled t emselves to the Turkish rule, which some respects seems to have brought them a change for the better. Numerous proofs might be adduced for this assertion , however paradoxical it may appear

- da to y.

In a letter written by Stephan , the last king of

146 3 . w e ﬁn d re Bosnia, in to Pope Pius II , these markable words ! The Tu rks promise to a llwho side with them reedo m a n d the ro u h mind o the easa n ts f , g f p (RUS TI CORUM RUDE IN GEN IUM) does n ot un dersta n d the a r uln ess o such a romise a n d believes tha t such tf f p , freedomw ill lastfor ever a n d so itma y happen tha t the mis uided commo n eo le ma turn a wa romme g p p y y f , ” 1 un less the see tha t I a m su orted ou y pp by y . A n d when Sultan Mohammed II the conqueror of Con stan tin 0 le 1464 p , invaded Bosnia in , the peasantry

him I t is n ot OUR would not move against , saying, 2 busin ess to defen d the king ; letthe n obles do it There still exists a letter reportin g a conversation between the envoy of the Duke of Milan and King

1 P itS aou ndi P M Commenta ritRerumMemora biltu m u ae te . , q m

aribus suis con tin er un t a R. D. J o a n n e Go bellin o & c o mac 1 p g , , . , R , 5 84, p. 5 48 . 3 I bid. ISLAM AN D BYZANTINISM .

A N a les D 145 5 lfonso of p , in ecember , in which it is said that the A lbanian peasantry preferred the rule of the Turks to that of their own nobles ! King Alfonso was anxious lest the Albanians should

S can derbe h abandon g , and surrender again to the “ Ithamch i de uello aese son o molto Turks, because q p a eli a tTurcho E L UALE G FA BON A E H UMAN A f , Q LI UNA ” S I GN ORI A ! These are the words of the king him self 1 6 . The Church in Bulgaria and Serbia , in its material relations with the people, was only another

! form of aristocracy it demanded labour, service, and

a a p rt of the produce of the land . The monks formed

the ta a privileged caste , and did not pay taxes to S te ,

an nor did they share y public burden . Their numbers

dn creasin n were continually g. The thousa ds of

n churches and cloisters built by pious ki gs , queens , and nobles, were not able to contain them . They were living in towns and villages and in private

o s houses, c nstantly exposed , and frequently uccumbing ,

fe w to worldly temptations . Very of them were

r saints , and the majo ity managed to forfeit the respect of the people , not only for themselves but for the

. R a Church The great eformer and L wgiver, Stephan

law Dushan , by forbade monks and nuns to live otherwise than cloistered ; but the monks proved

1 “ Let r o f Albricus Male dated 8th Decemb 1 5 e te tta , . 45 x

' ' ' in Makush eﬁ I ta lia n skie A rchtm 9 . , , p. 7 10 CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE .

t z a s ronger than the mighty T r. The mass of the people believed in the miraculous powers of relics, but did not like the monks.

7. This dislike explains to some extent the rapid spread of the religious sect of the Bogumils or Par

tharen es B a . , especially in ulgari and Bosnia The Orthodox Church fiercely opposed these firstrude Pro testan ts of Europe . The history of the religious wars which raged in the Balkan Peninsula through tw o centuries ( 125 0 — 145 0) has not yetbeen written ; but some of the results of that struggle were evident in the deterioration of the religious life , and in the weakening of the political organization of the Bul A garian , Serbian , and Bosnian kingdoms . In lbania, where the co n flict between the Orthodox and the

ﬁ ercel Catholic clergy raged most y, and in Bosnia, where the struggle between the Orthodox Church and

P arth aren es the lasted longest , Islam speedily found converts. -I tis characteristic of the dispositions of the people at this period ( 1 3 6 0—146 0) that the Calabrian monk Barlaamfound warm supporters among the Greeks of C ta t ons ntinople i self, when he denounced the ignorance “ and indolence of the monks of the Holy Mountain ” A Gemisto s thos. Still more characteristic that

P le tho n J , the personal friend of the Emperor ohn

a r hilo so Pal eologus, one of the g eat theological and p phic al lights a mong the Greeks at the Council of L M AN D B IS A YZANTINISM.

to ra me a n ew reli ion Florence, thought it necessary f g

H e i was certainly not the only man whom Chr stianity, as it w as represented by the Orthodox Church of his

m . ti e , did not satisfy

8 . In addition to the circumstances of the social an d in ﬂuen ces religious life, there were some other at work to disorganize the vital forces of the Christian

States. There were almost always several pretenders to the imperial throne in Constantinople and the ro yal

u who thrones in B lgaria, Serbia, and Bosnia, hoped by

urkish . a l T help to satisfy their own ambition Natur l y, these claimants were ever hospita bly welcomed by the

A Bul Sultans . gain and again gifted Serbians , or

arian s o wn g , or Greeks, who in their country could

o not rise from the position in which they were b rn , found an open way to wealth , honour, and power, a path to the sa ddle of a Beyler Bey (Commander in - Chief) , or to the carpet of a Vizier, and perhaps to the golden cage of one of the daughters - o r sisters of the Sultan himself ! It seems a paradox to say that the Turks opened new horizons to the

Yet people of the Balkan Peninsula. their political

s system , a combination of absolute despoti m with

r the ve y broadest democracy, had much in it that was novel and acceptable . To the notions of an G l average reek , and especial y to the notions of an average Serbian or Bulgarian , that system was not 1 2 F CONQUEST O CONSTANTINOPLE. more unnatural or more disagreeable than the feudal system Which secured all the good things of the world only to the nobles an d the priests. C The presence of hristian malcontents , refugees, pretenders, and adventurers in the Turkish camp and

’ ” at the Sultan s Porte, materially aided Turkish policy and Turkish arms to progress from victory to

z victory. Without them the Turkish Vi iers and generals could hardly have obtained that minute and ex act knowledge of men a n d circumstances in Christian countries, which so often astonished their contempo raries . Thus the Porte became promptly informed of

C w as the plans of the hristian kings, and enabled to counteract them . Indeed, the leadership of the new Empire speedily passed into the hands of Christian

r renegades, and almost all the g eat statesmen and generals of the Sultans at this period were of Greek ,

Bulgarian , or Serbian origin .

- 9. The last mentioned circumstance constitutes one of the most tragic characteristics of the history of the a Balkan nations. Its s dness is deepened by the fatal a ent nglement of the Christian nations of the Peninsula, who were skilfully compelled to annihilate each other in furtherance of Turkish aggrandisement . In the Turkish army which destroyed the Serbian kingdom on the

ﬁeld . G of Kossovo there were numbers of reek ,

ari A n D Bulg an , and Serbian warriors. mo g others, espot Constantine Dragash (the maternal grandfather of the

1 4 r CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

These historic words 1 were only an echo of the pain m which any a Christian knight endured when , in the monstrously anomalous position , he had to draw his sword for the Mohammedan Turks against brethren of his o w n faith . But that anomaly was only one of the

e t . bitter, y inevitable, fruits of Byzantinism

a West 2. E st a n d .

1 . Byzantinism prepared the way for the Turkish invasion . It enfeebled the Balkan nations, destroyed

selﬁsh n ess their mental elasticity , and engendered a , which ripened into all sorts of wickedness. Byzantinism on one side and the youthful energy of a religiously disposed tribe of born warriors on the other explain much , but do not explain all the relations of the Byzantine Empire with the West of Europe must also be considered. When the Eastern and Western Churches separated

AD . n ( they did not part with sorrowi g hearts , Y but with mutual anger and great bitterness. etthe separation of the Churches was not the beginning of the estrangement ; it was rather the result of deeper

1 Th e are uo ted b the erbian co urt histo rian o n sta n n y q y S , C ti th e

hilo so h er in his La e o the Des otS te ha n the Ta ll written abo P p , f f p p , ut

' A .D . 1 427 rin ted in th e Glasmk the Jo urn al o f the er ia , p , S b n

Learn ed o ciet vol. x xxiii S y, . AN D EAST WEST.

- ff an d under lying di erences of sentiments opinions .

R N ew R Old ome and ome were not of the same temper ,

ﬁbre nor of similar nerve and . Separation only deepened their mutual aversion . The priests and monks h a d done their best to concentrate the latent antipathies and to set them ablaze . The people, when they kissed the hands of their priests, seemed to have received from these , who should have been preachers

n e w of peace and charity , only incentives to hatred and intolerance .

c a The source of bitterness , opened by e clesiastic l Al hands even at the foot of the tar, grew to be a deep l river, running in the channels digged by po itical events . 9 The Normans occupying the south of Italy found

A th e it easy to cross over to lbania, a province of

Byzantine Empire . With the benediction of Pope “ VI L R Guiscar D r Gregory , obert , uke by the g ace

St D D rachium of God and Peter, besieged urazzo ( y ) A in 1 081 . This strong place on the lbanian coast of the Adriatic was the key of the famous old Roman

Via E na tta A road g , which , crossing lbania and

Macedonia diagonally , led to Salonica , joining there another military road to Constantinople. It might almost be said that Durazzo was the western gate of the Byzantine Empire. It is worthy of note that even at the occasion of this ﬁrst attempt by a foreign power to obtain a ﬁrm 1 OF 6 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

footing in the Balkanic Peninsula, antagonistic interests

R ui came into play. While obert G scar and Pope Gregory combined to effect the conquest of the Byz an

ﬂe et tine Empire, Venice sent her to assist the

A n d Emperor in repulsing their attack. though the N ormans defeated the Byzantine army , took Durazzo , and conquered a number of towns and castles in Epirus h and Thessaly, yet in the end they had to relinquis

their conquests because the German Emperor, Henry

IV. . , invaded Italy

But the Normans returned to the charge. For nearly a century the Greek Empire had to defend itself

’ Guiscar s against their attacks. expedition was fol

B oh emun d A lowed by that of ( D . of King Ro ger (in and the great invasion of Tancred The latter not only took Durazzo and

Salonica, but marched into Thracia on his way to

Constantinople.

r 3 . The Norman successes had indirectly impo tant

results . They helped to destroy the prestige of the B Byzantine arms in the eyes of the Serbians, ulgarians,

A n . and lbania s They shook the weakened Empire,

and started its slow dismemberment. They demon strated to Western Catholic Europe that the conquest

A n d of the Eastern Empire was not impossible. this

demonstratio n ﬁred the ambition of the Popes to con

' vert the East, by arms if not by arguments, and to

si n iﬁc an t compel it to bo w to Rome. It is g that this A N D EAST WEST.

10 73 very Pope Gregory , in a letter written in to

E bo ul R tha t if t is a r better or a y de ossi, declared f f co un tr to rema in u n der the rule o I sla m tha n be y f , govern ed by Christia n s who refuse to a ckn ow ledge the

’ ” 1 ’ a ho lic Chu rch rights of the C t . The Orient s answer to this w e shall learn from the excited Greeks in the days preceding the great catastrophe . The lesson which the Norman warfare in Albania and Epirus taught began to bear fruit already towards

. s the end of the twelfth century The Serbians , vas als

e of the Greek emp rors , sought alliances in the West, with the evident intention of establishing a strong and independent State of their own on the ru ins of the

man a . N e Byzantine Empire Stephan y , the founder

N e ma n ic h eu of the Serbian royal dynasty of y , deavo ured by special embassies to approach the German 1 189 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa , and in received i him and his Crusaders with great hospital ty at Nish .

’ Memoirs A n sbertus a The of , the Emperor s secret ry, state that the Serbian Prince urged the Emperor to

o f make himself master the Byzantine Empire , promis ing him assistance . From another chronicler in the suite of Barbarossa we lea rn tha t N eman ya made these proposals in the names of his allies , Peter and A Ivan ssen , the chiefs of the Bulgarian nation , as well

e as in his o w n name . Frederic was not prepar d to

1 ‘ ahelRe est on tz c . N o . 3 5 42 Gfrcerer B za ntin ische Geschick T , g . P ﬁ , , y ten ii 4 , . 5 9 . o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

enter into the vast projects of the Serbian ruler.

Notwithstanding this, they parted as sincere friends .

A n sbertus N eman a never mentions y without adding, ” 1 our friend , the great Count of Serbia.

4 un . The passing of the great and generally disciplined armies of the Crusaders through Byzantine countries did not improve old feelings or remove old

On W prejudices. the contrary , it enabled the estern

o r warriors ( , as the Greeks called them, the Latins to perceive at once the weakness of the Empire and

Ou the unfriendliness of the people . the other hand , th e roughness and rudeness of the Crusaders co n ﬁrmed the contempt which the Greeks felt for such Western ” r barba ians. The bitterness of the Greeks was naturally largely increased by the sudden appearance of the Crusaders under the walls of Constantinople , and by their sub AD sequent conquest of that capital ( . For — ﬁfty - seven years ( 1204 126 1) the La tins retained possession of Constantinople and the best European

ﬁft - provinces of the Empire. For y seven years the S t Catholic priests read masses at the altar of Sophia , to the inexpressible sorrow and humiliation of the

r pat iotic and bigoted orthodox Greeks . During these long, dark years the Greeks, especially the more narrow minded populace of the capital , were storing up hatred

two of the Latins, which , even hundred years later,

1 An s on tes Re umA twt cu m o l v 1 - bertus in F r rw , v . . 90 . AN D EAST WEST. prevente d them ﬁn din g anything more bitter to e n dure . Michael Palaeologus succeeded in 1 26 1 in driving

un out the Latins from Constantinople. But he was

fo rtiﬁed able to reconquer the islands, the towns in

Thessaly and Morea . Instead of despots and princes

s ﬁn d bearing the names of the old Greek familie , we a

Gu de la Tremouille Chilan dritz a Gu il y , Baron de , a

’ la ume de la R oche dAthen e s N icholas ole S ain t , Duc , a

Omer e Richa rd Co mte ole Ce ha lon te , Seigneur de Th bes , p ,

’ Guilla ume A llma n Ba ron de P a tras Villa in d A un o , y ’ “ Ba ron d A rca dte B ertra nd de Ba um M ar s halcus , , e c

Achaiae & c . & c . , This combination of French names and feudal titles with the classical names of

A A A & c . thens, Patras, Thebes , rcadia, chaia , , sounds

n even in our day stra ge and almost grotesque . But it must have inspired the patriotic Greeks of those

A n d days with frantic hatred and despair. the highest, the most cultured class in Constantinople , those who under the n ew dynasty of Palaeologus ruled

u the Empire, could not but feel great h miliation at the thought of the French baronies in the classica l

the territories of the Peloponnesus . Nor could Greeks be without anx iety whilst the energetic and clever

A n njous , the French dynasty of the ki gdom of Naples l and Sici y, were asserting their pretensions to the

Imperial throne of Constantinople. Catherine de

An l Valois , the wife of Philip II . of jou, bore proud y 20 r CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

“ E m ress o Con sta n tin o le Des ottssa o the titles of p f p , p f ” R oma n ia Duchess o Dura z z o P rin cess o A cha ia , f , f ,

& c . & c .

5 . The diplomatic and military preparations of

C I . z harles to reconquer the By antine Empire , which

a o f B ldwin II . ( Courtenay) had ceded to his house, were so extensive and so menacing that Michael Palaeologus tho ught there was only one course to

a H e pursue in order to avert the d nger. accepted

vi b X the in tation addressed to him y Pope Gregory , and sent representatives of the Greek Church to the C 29th J 12 9 ouncil of Lyons . There , on the of une 7 ,

o amidst much enthusiasm , the reconciliati n of the Eastern and Western Churches was solemnly pro claimed . This really did help to avert th e danger and counteract the preparations of the ambitious King of

Naples. The Greek diplomatists were highly pleased with the success of their move ; the monks and the people of Constantinople only laughed at the perform anoes of the Council ; but in the end this insincere attemPt at reconciliation produced greater estrange ment, increasing among the Latins their disgust against what they called the hypocrisy and duplicity of the

Greeks . 4 B ut that which the embarrassed and short - sighted Byzantine leaders at the close of the thirteenth century

1 ach m r a s in d ta P y e as h s in tere t g e ils o fthese tran sac tion s .

22 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE.

S t . successors of Peter In perfect good faith , the

Popes thought it clearly their duty to c o - 0 perate with

Providence for so good a purpose. Rome doing its d uty added much to the melancholy character of this

great tragedy . A 6 . But it was also quite natural that the masses of

the orthodox people in Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and

Greece, should not be able to comprehend the motives which produced the apparent inconsistency of their

o wn rulers and statesmen . They had grown up and been systematically educated in the belief that the Roman Church was the enemy of their o w n national

and truly orthodox Church, and that the Pope was an

' incarnate A nti - christ ; they had been accustomed to give the name of Rim-papa to their dogs ; they had i been taught that the Latins were cheats, l ars, and

‘ eﬁ emin ate thieves, faithless and weaklings, who ate

An d n ow u frogs, rats, and cats . , suddenly, their r lers came and declared to them that in consequence of a

(probably exaggerated) danger from the Turks, they must unite their Orthodox Church with the bereti ” “ ” R A - cal Church of ome , acknowledge nti christ as t’ Chris s Vicar on earth , and embrace as brothers the impure and barbarous Latins ! It was not an easy task for the Emperors of Byzantium and for their statesmen to suppress their

o wn i r r o wn s personal feel ngs, conque thei prejudice , and accept with a good grace what seemed to be A D EAST N WEST.

Ye t did it inevitable . they . The Council of Florence D 4 8 in A . 1 3 bears evidence of the readiness of some Greeks to sacriﬁce their dearest and deepest personal affections and convictions to the political interest of their

r w as count y. But no earthly power able to change the heart of the masses of the people, and to dispel the clouds of prejudices accumulated through so many generations. The populace execrated the union sub scribed to by their Emperor and his great secular and

r VI L ecclesiastic dignitaries. To the axiom of G egory , Better Islam than schism the Greeks of Constanti n o le n o w P 0 e p answered , Better Islam than the p

A n d n Islam, tur ing towards Mecca, praised the only

r one and true God , who did not permit the Giaou s to unite against the faithful !

- i u W. To the wide awake and wary Turk sh S ltans it was quite clear that the rea l and practical alliance of the Balkanic with the Western nations would be the

- death warrant of Turkish ambitions. Therefore to prevent such an alliance by every means became to the Porte a matter of immense importance. Sometimes they succeeded in doing this by prompt I military action. When it was reported to Murad . that King Shishman of Bulgaria had entered into nego tiations for an offensive and defensive alliance with King Lazar of Serbia and King Sigismund of

n Hu gary , the Turks unexpectedly invaded Bulgaria , and destroyed her army, capturing Shishman and all 24 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

D the royal family in Nicopolis (A . . There is no doubt that the great battle on the ﬁeld of Ko ssovo ( 15 th J une 13 89) was fought with the intention of

paralysing Serbia before her ally, the King of Hungary,

fe w could come to her assistance . When , a years

later, Vuk Brankovich , prince of the country lying

n o w - between Bosnia and Macedonia ( Kossovo Eyalet),

o re pened negotiations with Hungary , the Turks pre vented the accomplishment of his projects by suddenly

an d him seizing poisoning When , shortly t afterwards, the young Prince of Serbia, S ephan , the

Ba az ed son of Lazar, went personally to do homage to y

Ilderim , the Sultan warned him against leaning toward ” beca use n o ood ca n Hungary, , he said impressively, g come to those who lea n tha tw a y thin k wha tbecame of King S hishma n a n d the o ther prin ces w ho sought allia n ces w ith H u n ga ry These words are quoted

ri by Constantine, the Court chaplain of P nce Stephan

Laz arevich , who had heard them probably from

’ ’ 1 o w n Stephan s , if not from the Sultan s lips . That the Turks sought to prevent a Christian con federacy by diplomatic moderation and conciliation is shown by the counsels given to his sons by the Em

ero r V p John . on his deathbed

Wh en ever the Turks be in to be tro ublesom send g ,

' emb e t Wes a assi s o the t t o nce o er to a cc e tu n io n a n d , ﬁ p ,

1 Co n sta n tin e th e hilo so h er in his li e o f S te ha n the Ta ll P p , f p , in the

Gla sn ik vol. x xxiii 1 2. , . p. 7 AN D EAST WEST. protrac t n eyo tia timw to grea t length the Tu rks so grea tly fea r such u n ion tha t they w illbeco me rea son a ble ; a n d still the u n io n will n o t be a cco mplished beca use of the va n ity of the Latin n a tion s

- - It will be seen that the much abused Chalil Pasha,

Grand Vizier to Mohammed the Conqueror, acted in the spirit of the traditional diplomacy of his pre

dec esso rs.

8 . B u J V 1 91 t from the death of ohn . ( 3 ) to the

J 1448 e death of ohn VII . ( ) the Turks had b come

ih much stronger, better organized , and more fully d forme . They had had opportunities of measuring

a i themselves successfully ag inst Hungar an , Polish , wit German , and French knights . They had been nesses of the decay of the remainin g stren gth of the old Empire ; and they began to suspect that the threats of uniting the Weste rn nations a gainst them were vain vapourings . They were shrewd enough to perceive that the task of uniting all the Christian n ations for a great and earnest effort was almost 1 s hopeless. While the Greek were not learning any f thing, the Turks became stronger in of ensive power and richer in practical knowledge of the true state of political circumstances in Europe.

A n d in truth , the very act by which the wisest amongst the Greek statesmen thought to guard their — country against danger the acceptance at the Council of Florence of the union of the Churches 2 6 CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE .

proved only a source of weakn ess. It brought no help from the West ; yet it divided and paralysed what

t A a li tle strength remained at home . bout the ye r 145 0 Constantinople was in reality a “ house divided ” it e . against itself, which is d clared must fall The Christians of the East ought to have been assisted by the Christians of the West . But a strange fatality seems to have beset Christendom between the

ﬁf h n eleventh and teen t centuries . The Byzanti e and the Latin worlds were in friction throughout those ages . The separation of Churches, the Crusades, the

Latin conquest of Constantinople, the ambition of the

Popes and of the Sicilian Kings, even the attempts at — the reconciliation of Churches all these contributed the vital forces e pire . Not m rely did the Western Christians fail to come to the rescue of their Oriental brethren in the hour of need, but the Papal policy sapped the vigour

un in ten tio n of the ancient Empire of the East, and , ff t ally , yet not the less e ectually, it laid the ounda tions of a secure establishment of a Mohammedan power in Europe . R C H A P T E I I .

TH E SUP ERIOR MILITARY ORGANIZATION

o r RK THE TU S .

M ORAL and political causes c ontributed to the remarkable quickness with which the Christian states of the Balkan Peninsula were subdued by the Turks . But the instrument which chieﬂy wrought Turkish victories and Christian defeats was undoubtedly the

u s perior milita ry orga n iz a tion of the Turks. Not one of the Christian kin gdoms of the Balkan

Peninsula had a regular standing army. The

a sovereigns of Bosni , Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece usually surrounded themselves with a more or less numerous body of guards, mostly professional soldiers — N hired abroad , Germans, Italians, ormans , and some times (especially in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries)

ﬁd lit u even Turks . The e y of these mercenaries co ld

a only be secured by the high rate of their p y , and this precluded the possibility of large numbers being

’ ’ A n n permanently employed. emperor s or a ki g s bodyguard rarely exceeded 3 00 0 men. These house hold troops, being constantly under arms, were the nearest approach to a standing army amongst the Christian nations prior to the middle of the ﬁfteen th 28 CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE .

century , When King Charles VII . of France enrolled “ F - A ﬁrst his ranc rchers, the regular army in a

A D. Christian country ( . When a Christian king had to defend his own country , or to carry war into that of an enemy, he called his nobles to his aid , with as many men as they could collect and arm amongst their own tenants and retainers. This irregular soldiery might have had much personal courage, but they were generally badly

nl . a armed , and certai y undisciplined In f ct , the more numerous they were, the more incongruous and incomplete was their equipment , and the less their

- willingness to submit to orders from head quarters . The political disorders prevailing throughout the peninsula on the eve of the Turkish invasion had

a a we kened this feud l military organization , which was already inherently weak . Tzar Lazar of Serbia felt it necessary to add to his war manifesto a long and terrible curse against all those who should not respond by joining him at the ﬁeld of Kossovo .

The Turks had retained this feudal military system , deﬁn in g more precisely the number of armed followers each feudal lord was bound to produce when called to

' ma r Be s t Zi a met Te . the standard of the Sul an, ( y and y )

the Independently of this feudal army , Turks

o sse a rm O ssed from 1 3 26 a regu la r sta n ding y . rkhan and his brother Vezir Ala -ud-din inaugurated a system remarkable for its completeness and success, a system

3 0 o r CONQUEST CONSTAN TINOPLE .

n ew troops were instituted as a standing regular 13 26 b army by Orkhan in . They were reorganized y

I . his son , Murad , who, on that account, was believed m by any early writers to be their original founder. How thoroughly and soundly based was this organiz ation can be seen from the summary of rules prescribed by l A D evad Murad , and thus set forth by hmed j Bey

ﬁrst an issar 1 . The duty of every J y is absolute

o ﬁicers obedience to the orders of his , even if these

o fﬁcers were freed slaves. “ 2 A Od ak . mongst the men belonging to the j

an issaries n (the Turkish name for the corps of J , meani g

“ ” chimney or perfect union and concord

must prevail, and therefore they should always dwell

together.

3 A s u t . tr ly brave and gallant men , they mus

al ways abstain from every luxury , avoid every

unbecoming deed , and be simple in everything. m 4 . They ust never disregard the teachings of the

Holy Hadji Bektash as to their prayers, and they must always scrupulously fulﬁl the duties of tru e

Mussulmen .

m vili an ce 5 . The chiefs ust exercise the greatest g that no one be admitted to the Odjak who has n o t been taken and brought up according to the law of

hirmé Devc (law on the tribute in children) .

1 ’ ' ’ E ta t mtlitazre Ottoma n de ute la anda tzon de lE mire a r p f p , p

d eva d Be . aris 1882 . 6 6 . A hme Dj y P , , p R R G OF TH E R K 3 1 MILITA Y O ANIZATION TU S .

A Od ak t 6 . dvancement in the j mus always follow the order of seniority. A 7 . J anissary should only be punished or even

o fﬁcer reprimanded by his superior .

an issaries 8 . J incapacitated by illness or age are to

d ak receive pensions from the O j .

9 J an issaries . must not wear beards, and shall not

be allowed to marry. 1 0 . They ought never to be far distant from their

o rtas (barracks) .

1 1 . an issar ul a No J y sho d be allowed to learn a tr de ,

or to work as an artisan . His exclusive occupation

ought to be exercise in the art of war . Many peculiar privileges were given them in order

es rit de am s to enhance their p p . One of these was

n c that , when on campaig , their tents should be pla ed

’ immediately in front of the Sultan s tent, so that the Padishah necessarily passed through their tents in A leaving or returning to his own . nother privilege was that the capital punishment of a Jan issa ry should

- never be executed in the day time, or in public, but

few o fﬁ cers always at midnight , in the presence of a , a cannon shot ﬁred in the central barrack at the same time announcing to the Odjak that one who belonged to it had been removed from this world by the hands

ustice of J . During the fourteenth and ﬁfteen th centuries the corps

an i sarie of J s s never numbered more than men. 3 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

But in physical condition , training, discipline and bravery , no troops in Europe could be compared with them . They were all foot soldiers, their principal arm

bo w being a . Some of them had in addition a scimitar, others a lance . t Besides this regular infan ry, the Sultans had from an early date a body of regular cavalry called Spa ” w ho w a hees, were recruited in the same y as the

ﬁfteen th Jan issaries. In the century they were armed 20 25 with a scimitar, an iron mace ( to pounds in

bo w weight) , and a . The greatest attention was given to the sword e xer

ni ri cise of both Ja ssa es and Spahees . Their scimitars were made of metal much superior to an y then gener

J an ally used in Europe, and by constant practice the issaries and Spahees learned to use these with marvel

w o n lous dexterity. The Turkish saying that they their

w as Empire by the sword literally true . The Greeks were superior to the Turks only in naval manoeuvres and in the use of Greek ﬁre the secret t of this composition was jealously kep .

at 96 36 $6 3?

There are tw o Christian contemporaries who speak With authority on the Turkish army in the middle of

n h i the ﬁftee t century . One is the Ital an Francesco

P hilelh o Fren chman — Bertran don p , the other is a de

ui r la Bro cq é e.

P hilelh o a kn i ht p , himself g and statesman , sojourned R R OF S MILITA Y O GANIZATION THE TURK . 3 3

’ “ r a s some time at the Sultan s Po te Greek Envoy . H e certainly enjoyed good opportuni ties of knowing

an d the true condition of the Turkish military forces, he describes them in his memoranda to the King of France (dated 14th November 146 1) and to the Dogs of

10th Februar A Venice ( y ccording to him , the

’ an issaries Sultan s army was composed of J ,

8000 A ssabs who a ( were in his regular p y) , feudal troops levied in Europe and levied in

As — an issaries ia, altogether The J were all

rr archers ; they also ca ied a small shield, and some of them had long lances. The feudal troops were all horse men , armed with scimitars, maces, and small shields ; “ some of their number had bows. But, he adds, this regular army of the Sultans was always preceded and followed in w ar by innumerable bands of irregular troops, composed mostly of shepherds from Thracia,

Thessaly, and Moesia, who , being under no restraint, proved the most cruel scourge in the Turkish invasions .

Their arms were only crooked Turkish sabres . They carried with them plenty of ropes to bind the inhabit ants of towns and villages, and then drove them to the slave - markets ; the villages and towns they pillaged and burnt down before the regular army of the Sultan made ”1 its appearance. George Castrio t Scanderbeg 1468) indirectly

’ c on ﬁrms P hilelpho s statement about the usual strength

1 Fran cisci P hilelhi E istolae vol. ii. . 5 2. p , p , p C 3 4 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

A 1 of the Turkish army. ccording to his biographers, he often stated tha tthe whole a rmy of the A lba n ia n league ha rdly eq ua ls in members the fourth pa rt of the

’ ” S ulta n s or es A s Al few f c . the banians were able in a instances to muster men, but generally had not more than it may be concluded that Scanderbeg estimated the Turkish army at about men . But the true expert in military matters w as Ber

Bro c uiere a tra don de la q , Seigneur de Vieux Ch teau ,

First D Councillor and Equerry to the uke of Burgundy,

l H e 143 2 t th Philippe e Bon . went in to visi e holy 1433 places of Palestine, and returned in overland , pass in A g through Constantinople, drianople, Bulgaria, and

H e Serbia. wrote for his Duke a description of his m journey , with a memorandu about ways and means 2 for driving the Turks out of Europe. His observations

his are generally shrewd and apparently true, and il judgment bears the stamp of impartiality. We w l quote some of his statements concerning the Turks and their army . The conversation (which he held at Belgrade

o fﬁcers with some German ) greatly astonished me, an d caused me to make some reﬂectio n s on the strange subjection in which the Turk keeps Macedonia,

1 Demetrius Fran co ita Geor can derb n etia 1480 , V gu S egi , Ve , ;

Ma rin us Barletius De V ta ao est r n de be i o ma , i G ts Geo gii S ca r g , R ,

1 5 0 3 . 3 We use th e n lish tran slation o f he E a rl Tra vels in P a lestin e E g t y , e dited b h omas Wri ht Lo n do n 1 848 3 6 2—3 6 9 y T g , , , pp. . R RG o r TU KS MILITA Y O ANIZATION THE R . 3 5

a Bulgari , the Emperor of Constantinople, the Greeks ,

c the Despot of Serbia, and his subje ts . Such a dependence appeared to me a lamentable thing fo r

Christendom and as I lived with the Turks, and became acquainted with their manner of living and

ﬁ htin g g, and have frequented the company of sensible persons who have observed them narrowly in their

r i am t g eat enterpr ses, I emboldened to wri e something

c c to oncerning them , ac ording the best of my

a bility. I i t shall beg n wi h what regards their persons, and

are t say they a olerably handsome race , with long

beards, but of moderate size and strength . I know well that it is a common expression to say ‘ as

’ strong as a. Turk ; nevertheless I have seen an in ﬁn ity of Christians excel them when strength was

r I am necessa y , and myself, who not of the strongest

make, have, when circumstances required labour, found I very many Turks weaker than .

They are diligent, willingly rise early, and live on

satisﬁed raw little, being with bread badly baked,

meat dried in the sun , milk curdled or not, honey,

a cheese , grapes, fruit, herbs, and even a h ndful of

ﬂour t sufﬁ cien t , wi h which they make a soup to feed six or eight for a day. Should they have a horse o r o a camel sick without hopes of rec very, they cut its i throat and eat t. I have witnessed this many and ff many a time . They are indi erent as to where they OF 3 6 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

s sleep , and usually lie on the ground . Their dres

two consists of or three cotton garments, thrown one over the other, which fall to their feet. Over these

‘ ca in at. again , they wear a mantle of felt, called a p

ca in ats This, though light , resists rain , and some p are very ﬁn e and handsome . Their boots come up to the knees, and they wear wide drawers, some of crimson

stuﬂs. velvet , others of silk or fustian and common

In war, or when travelling, to avoid being embarrassed by their gowns, they tuck the ends into their drawers,

r that they may move with g eater freedom . “ l Their horses are good , cost ittle in food, gallop well and for a long time . They keep them on short allowances, never feeding them but at night , and then giving them only ﬁ ve or six handfuls of barley with

th e double the quantity of chopped straw, whole ’ A putinto a bag which hangs from the horse s ears . t

ri r break of day, they b dle, clean , and cur y the horses ,

- but never allow them to drink before mid day. In

ﬁn d the afternoon they drink whenever they water, and also in the evening when they lodge or encamp !

a for they always halt early, and ne r a river if possible . During the night they are covered with felt or other

r a stuffs . The ho ses are saddled and bridled a l

en ette. r y Their saddles are commonly ve y rich , but

w r hollow, having pummels before and behind , ith sho t

- stirrup leathers and wide stirrups . The men

in - sit deeply sunk in their saddles as an arm chair,

3 8 CON E I’ ‘ QU S o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

such an occasion will make less noise than 1 0 0 men in

the Christian armies . In their ordinary marches they

as always walk, but in these they always gallop ; and t they are lightly armed , they will thus advance fur her

m n a fro eveni g to d ybreak than in three other days . They choose also no horses but such as walk fast and

gallop for a long time, while we select only those that b gallop well and with ease . It is y these forced marches that they have succeeded in surprisin g and completely defeating the Christians in their ff di erent wars . “ Their manner of ﬁghtin g varies according to cir

m an ﬁn n c u st ces. d O When they a favourable pportu ity , ff they divide themselves into di erent detachments, and

thus attack many parts of an army at the same time . This mode is particularly adapted when they are

r among woods or mountains, from the g eat facility A t they have for uniting together again . other times

- they form ambuscades, and send out well mounted

r scouts to obse ve the enemy. If their report be that

r he is not on his guard, they instantly form thei plan

and take advantage of the circumstance. Should they

ﬁn d the u r army well drawn p, they curvet ound it

bo w - within shot, and, while thus prancing, shoot at

the men and horses, and continue this manoeuvre so long that they at last throw the enemy into disorder .

If the opposing army attempt to pursue them, they ﬂ t y, and disperse separately, even should only a four h R RG o r T KS MILITA Y O ANIZATION THE UR . 3 9 part of their o w n number he ordered against them ;

r ﬂi ht rm a an d but it is in thei g that they are fo id ble, it has been almost always then that they have

ﬂ in defeated the Christians. In y g they have the adroitness to shoot their arrows so unerringly that they sca rcely ever fail to hit man or horse. Ea ch horseman has also on the pummel of his saddle a

tabo lcan . o fﬁcers When the chief, or any one of his , perceives the pursuing enemy to be in disorder, he gives

a three strokes on this instrument ; the others, on he ring it n a m , do the same, and they are i st ntly for ed round

o ne an d their chief, like so many hogs round the old ;

r then , according to circumstances, they either eceive l the charge of the assailants , or fal on them by de tachmen ts and attack them simultaneously in different places . In pitched battles they employ a stratagem which consists of throwing ﬁrew o rks among the t cavalry to frighten the horses. They of en place in

i r the r front a great body of dromeda ies and camels, which are bold and vicious ; these they drive before them on the enemy ’s line of horse and throw it into confusion. It is the policy of the Turks to have their armies C twice as numerous as those of the hristians. This

an d superiority of numbers augments their courage, ff allows them to form di erent corps , and to make their m attack on various parts at the same ti e . Should they once force an opening , they rush through in 40 CON QUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE.

t all incredible crowds, and it is hen a miracle if be not lost. The Turkish lances are worth nothing ;

0 0 their archers are the best tr ps they have , and these do not shoot so strongly or so far as ours . They have a more numerous cavalry ; and their horses, though inferior in strength to ours and incapable of carrying k such heavy weights, gallop better, and s irmish for a longer time without losing their wind. I must o w n that in my various experiences I have always found the Turks frank and loyal , and when it was necessary to show courage, they have never

r failed Thei armies, I know , commonly con

r sist of men , but the greater pa t are on foot, and destitute of wooden shields, helmets,

few mallets, or swords ; , indeed, being completely

r equipped . They have, besides, amongst them a g eat

Who — number of Christians, are forced to serve Greeks, A Bulgarians, Macedonians, lbanians, Slavonians, Wal lachian s , Servians, and other subjects of the despots All of that country. these people detest the Turk, because he holds them in a severe subjection ; and should they see the Christians, and above all the h I Frenc , march in force against the Sultan , have not the slightest doubt but they would turn against him ” and do him great mischief. R R o r KS 41 MILITA Y O GANIZATION THE TUR .

There is an inte resting version of the life of George Castrio t Scanderbeg in an old Serbian manuscript not

t . yet prin ed It follows, on the whole , the lines of

’ Barletius has Marinus work on Scanderbeg, but some mo diﬁca tio n s and additions, which do not only enrich o ur stores of historica l knowledge but impart to the whole local and national colour. In both works it is recorded that on a certain occasion Sultan Mohammed , desiring to dispel the anxiety of his Viziers and Pashas in consequence of rumours of a great European coali

r tion against the Turks , made a speech compa ing the i Chr stians and the Turks . Very probably Mohammed never delivered the address attributed to him , but the c omparison was certainly made as early as when Bar

’ letius work was written ( towards the end of the

ﬁfteen th century) , and by a person who evidently knew well the circumstances of which he spoke.

Yo u sa have heard , the Sultan is made to y ,

that the Christians have united against us. But fea r not ! Your heroism will be above theirs Y ou know

G ao urs well the unwashed y , and their ways and

m ﬁn e. anners, which certainly are not They are i indolent, sleepy, easily shocked, inactive ; they l ke to drink much and to eat much ; in misfortunes they are impatient, and in times of good fortune proud and o verbearing. They are lovers of repose, and do not like to sleep without soft feather-beds ; when they have no women with them they are sad and gloomy ; 42 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . and without plenty of good wine they are unable to keep counsel among themselves . They are ignorant of any military stratagems. They keep horses only to ride while hunting with their dogs if one of them

- Wishes to have a good war horse , he sen buy it

us. from They are unable to bear h old, or ‘ ff heat, e ort and menial work . They let women follow m them in the campaigns, and at their dinners give the u the pper places, and they want always to have warm dishes . In short, there is no good in them. m t But you, y glorious fellows, you can show a grea

Yo u many good qualities . do not think much of your

. Yo u o u life or your food sleep little, and for that y do not want beds ; the earth is your dining- table and any board your bed ; there is nothing you consider a hardship ; there is nothing you think it impossible to do !

A n d ﬁ ht n then , the Christians g constantly amo g

r o r themselves, because eve y one desires to be a king,

ﬁrst . to a prince, or the amongst them One says

‘ ! - s another Brother, help thou me to day against thi

- Prince , and to morrow I will help thee against that " one 1 Fear them not ; there is no concord amongst

o n e them . Every one takes care of himself only no thinks of the common interest. They are quarrelsome ,

- to unruly, self willed, and disobedient. Obedience

n their superiors and discipline they have no e, and yet everything depends on that ! R RG o r TU KS MILITA Y O ANIZATION THE R . 43

‘ When they lose a battle they always say ! We were not well prepared or This or that traitor has

’ ‘ us ! We few betrayed or were too in number, and the Turks were far more numerous or The Turks

u o us b came p n without previous declaration of war, y misleading representations and treachery They have occupied our country by turning our internal dith culties to their own advantage h Well , t at is what they say, being not willing to confess truly a n d rightly ! God is on the side of the

Turks I t is Goalwho hels them a n d ther o re the ! p , ef y con quer

1 I he ex o f he erbia n MS . P oy eeto ur u h a ve used t t t t S , y Gy gy

’ ' Zmo emehu n a rechen omS kenderbe u N o . 418 8vo o f the ation al y , g , , , N

Library in Belgrade . C H A P T E R I I I .

N E E r F O THE V o THE ALL.

WHEN history raises the curtain to show us one of the most stirring tragedies in the life of nations— the — conquest of a higher civilization by a lower one our interest is naturally absorbed by the personalities who are working out the decrees of Fate . But the — great historical tableaux in which Constantin e Palaeologus so nobly person iﬁed an ancient and l highly cultured Empire fa ling with dignity and honour,

r II . t iﬁed and a g eat conqueror, like Mohammed , yp

et his wild and rough , y energetic and deeply religious — A siatic race can only gain in interest when we bear in mind that they are displayed amid surroundings of such extraordinary natural beauties as those of the

Bosphoru s. We would like if we could present to our readers w’ that onderful picture of hill and valley, sunny glades and shadowed bays, of sea and sky, which has excited i it i the adm ration of all who have looked on . St ll more we should have liked to place before their eyes i a true picture of Constantinople, and of the soc al and political life within its walls, on the eve of its heroic

46 CONQUEST o r CON STANTINOPLE .

further believed that Gentile Bellini, who spent some time in the Seraglio painting a portrait of Sultan

rr Suleyman , ca ied with him back to Venice a copy of

the same plan . From this copy several other copies were made and published in numerous editions during 1 th e sixteenth century . It is very probable that between the city of Con stan tin ople at the time of its conquest by the Turks in 145 3 and the city such as it is depicted on the plan ff of 1422 there could be hardly any material di erence . The resources of the Byzantine Emperors between 1420 a n d 145 3 were used principally in repairing and

n . Ou stre gthening the city walls some stones , which have been taken when the Charsias Gate was pulled A l down , and which are now preserved in the rsena of

Constantinople, there are inscriptions which state that the Emperor J ohn Palaeologus renovated the whole

fo rtiﬁcatio n of the town . This work was undertaken

14 2 Ou a fter the last siege by Murad II . in 3 . one of the stones there is beneath the name of the Emperor

e e P alaeolo ue the name of Manuel J g ris (a g himself) , which is believed to be that of the chief engineer who 2 sh . i had arge of the restoration George Brankov ch ,

the Prince of Serbia, the friend and ally of the Greek 1448 Emperors, reconstructed in the year at his own

1 ’ S ee also A n eten la n de Consta n tin o le im rzon é n tre 1 5 p p , p e 66 et15 74,

’ t n o tes ex lica tives a r Coedtctus Co n stan tin o le Loren tz e Kai! wee p p , p , t ,

1 882. 2 Dethier Der B os hor u nd Consta n tino el ien 18 3 . 5 5 , p p , W , 7 , p . ON TH E E VE F TH O E FALL . e xpense two towers in the walls of Constantinople ; o n e in the wall alo ng the Marmara Sea at the gate

- called at present Koum Capou , and the other in the 1 . All h o w wall along the Golden Horn these works, e a ver, did not involve any materi l change in the princi pal lines and general character of the fo rtiﬁcatio n s and the to wn itself such as it w as when B uo n delmo n ti b sketched his plan , and such as it most proba ly was 45 when the siege of 1 3 took place. It would be not less desirable to obtain an insight into the inner life of the old Greek capital on the eve

. Fo rtun atel c an of its fall y we satisfy this desire, at least in a certain measure. Chevalier Bertran do n de la Bro cquiere spent some time in Constantinople in 143 3 t , and wrote for his master an in eresting report o f what he saw there. Bro cquiere was one of the sharpest and most in telli gent observers who travelled over that route in the

A w as s Middle ges ; and as he a soldier by profes ion , and b a gentleman y birth and education , his observations are invaluable for the history of the Balkan Peninsula

f n H in the ﬁrsthalf of the ﬁ tee th century. e had the pluck and enterprising energy of a modern A merican

1 Th e fullin scriptio n in Greek th atthe Pyrgo s a n d the adjo in ing ” co rtin a at Ko um-Capo u w ere resto red at the e xpe n se o f Geo rge

Bra n ko vich is iven in Dr Mo rdtman B ela eru n . 1 3 2 an d in , g , g g, p ,

Miklo sich Mo n u menta S erbica . 441 . bo utth e to wer o n the Go lden , , p A

o rn see o vako vich Glas J o urn alo f th e erb. cadem vo l. xix. H , N , , S A y, p. 9. 48 CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE .

reporter, and a decided talent to give most graphic de scription of all he saw . This is his picture of Con sta n tin o le saw it an uar 1433 p as he , J y “ We arrived at Scutari on the Straits and opposite to

Pera. The Turks guard this passage , and receive a toll from all who cross it. My companions and I t crossed in w o Greek vessels . The owners of my boat took me for a Turk and paid me great honours ; but when they saw me after landing leave my horse at the

o i gate of Pera to be taken care , and inquire after a

n P arvesin Genoese merchant amed Christopher , to whom

I Two I had letters , they suspected was a Christian .

I re of them waited for me at the gate, and when turned for my horse they demanded more than I had l agreed on for my passage. I be ieve they would have even struck me if they had dared to do so but I had

tar uais an d my sword and my good q , a Genoese shoe b m maker, who lived hard y, coming to y assistance, they were forced to retreat . I mention this as a warning to travellers who , like myself, may have any All thing to do with the Greeks . those with whom I have had any business have only made me more sus m icio us . p , and I have found ore probity in the Turks These Greeks do not love the Christians of the Roman

an d Church , the submission which they have since made to this Church was more through self- interest 1 than sincerity

1 E viden tly Bro cquiére wro te his Memoirs after th e n o min a l r 49 ON THE EVE o THE FALL.

b e w s Pera is a large town , inhabited y Greeks , J , G and enoese. The last are masters of it under the

‘ ’ D . uke of Milan , who styles himself Lord of Pera It

o fﬁcers has a Podesta and other , who govern it after

their manner. Great commerce is carried on with the

a Turks . The latter have a singular privilege , n mely , that should a n y of their slaves run away and seek an

asylum in Pera, they must be given back . The port I is the handsomest I have seen , and believe I may

add of any in the possession of the Christians , for the

largest Genoese vessels can lie alongside the quays .

However, it seems to me that on the land side and

near the church , in the vicinity of the gate at the

a extremity of the haven , the place is we k .

“ ‘ I met at Pera an ambassador from the Duke of

P t Milan , named Sir Benedicto de u lino . The Duke , wanting the support o f the Emperor Sigismund against

the Venetians , and seeing Sigismund embarrassed with the defence of his kingdom of Hungary against th e

Amurath Turks , had sent an embassy to , to negotiate

tw o t a peace between the princes. Sir Benedic o , in m honour of y Lord of Burgundy, gave me a gracious

H e ms reception . even told me that , to do i chief to

the Venetians , he had contributed to make them lose b Salonica , taken from them y the Turks ; and certainly e in this he acted so much the wors , for I have since

recon ciliatio n o f the Gree k a n d Ro man Churches at the Co un cilo f

Flo ren ce in 143 8. 5 0 CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE . seen the inhabitants of that town deny Jcsus Christ and embrace the Mohammedan religion . Tw o days after my arrival at Pera I crossed the haven to Constantinople , to visit that city. It is large and spacious, having the form of a triangle ; one side

St r is bounded by the straits of George, anothe towards the south by the bay, which extends as far as Gallipoli , and at the north side is the port. There are, it is said , three large cities on the earth, each enclosing — R A seven hills ome, Constantinople, and ntioch . R I ome is , think , larger and more compact than

n Constanti ople . “ They estimate the circuit of the city of Constanti n o le p at eighteen miles, a third of which is on the land side towards the west. It is well enclosed with walls, particularly on the land side. This extent, estimated at six miles from one angle to the other, has i n l kewise a deep ditch , excepti g for about two hundred paces at one of its extremities near the palace called

Bl u rn w as aq e e. I assured that the Turks had failed in their attempt to take the town at this weak point . Fifteen or twenty feet in front of this ditch there is a

A t o good and high wall . the tw extremities of this line were formerly handsome palaces, which , if we

l r may judge from their present ruins, were a so ve y strong .

Constantinople is formed of many separate parts, so that it contains several open spaces of greater extent ON o r THE EVE THE FALL. 5 1

u v than those built o . The largest essels can anchor

under its walls, as at Pera . It has , beside, a small

n n harbour in the interior, capable of contai i g three or

four galleys . This is situated to the southward near i a gate , where a hillock is po nted out composed of bones

Jerusalem of the Christians, who , after the conquests of

A l n and cre by Godfrey de Boui lon , were retur ing by

this strait . When the Greeks had ferried them over,

r they conducted them to this place , which is emote and

secret , and there the Crusaders were murdered.

r But as this is an old sto y, I know of it no more than

what was told me.

s The city has many hand ome churches , but the most remarkable and the principal church is that of St

Sophia, where the Patriarch resides, with others of the rank of Canons. It is of a circular shape , situated f near the eastern point, and formed of three dif erent

! parts one subterranean , another above the ground , and a third over that. Formerly it was surrounded by

in u cloisters, and had , it is said, three miles circ m

n o w ference . It is of smaller extent, and only three

cloisters remain , all paved and inlaid with squares of white marble, and ornamented with large columns of

are various colours. The gates remarkable for their breadth and height , and are of brass . This church , I

our was told , possesses one of the robes of Lord , the end of the lance that pierced His side, the sponge that

ff a d was o ered Him to drink from , n the reed that w as 5 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

a put into His hand. I can only s y that behind the choir I was shown the gridiron on which S tLaurence was broiled, and a large stone in the shape of a wash A stand , on which they say braham gave the angels food when they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah . I was curious to witness the manner of the Greeks S t when performing divine service, and went to Sophia

da o fﬁciated on a y when the Patriarch . The Emperor b was present, accompanied y his consort , his mother, 1 D A t and his brother the espot of Morea . mys ery was represented , the subject of which was the three youths Whom Nebuchadnezzar had ordered to be

ﬁer . thrown into the y furnace The Empress , daughter

z to the Emperor of Trebi onde, seemed very handsome ;

I I to n but as was at a distance , wished have a earer

n h view . A d I was also desirous to see o w she mounted

w as her horse, for it thus she had come to the church , attended only by two ladies , three elderly men ,

to ministers of state, and three of that species of men

Ou whose guard the Turks entrust their wives.

St S O hia coming out of P , the Empress went into an adjoining house to dine, which obliged me to wait

to until she returned her palace, and consequently to

n i pass the whole day without eating or dri k ng.

1 The m ero r was Joh n alaeo lo us the Des o t o f Mo re a his E p P g , p bro ther Demetrius his mo ther the m ress I ren e th e dau hter o f the , E p , g ’ erbian tan tin e Dra ash an d the m ero r s co n so rtwas S Prin ce Co n s g , E p

Ma ria Co mn en a dau h ter o f lexis Comn en a m ero r o f rebiz o n de . , g A , E p T

Sh e died o n th e 1 7th December 1 43 9.

5 4 C o r ONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

bo w l , and they gal oped along the inclosure, throwing their hats before them , which , when they had passed, they shot at; and h e who pierced his hat with an it arrow, or was nearest to , was esteemed the most expert. This exercise they have adopted from the it Turks, and was one in which they were endeavouring

ﬂi ien t to make themselves e c . “ On this side, near the point of the angle, is the

u St hi beautif l church of George, w ch has, facing A Turkey in sia, a tower at the narrowest part of the

On straits . the other side, to the westward , is a very it high square column with characters traced on , and an equestrian statue of Constantine in bronze on the

H e his summit . holds a sceptre in left hand , and holds his right extended towards I h rkey in Asia and

erusalem the road to J , as if to denote that the whole N of that country was under his rule. ear this column there are three others placed in a line, and each of

l n o w one block . Here stood once three gi t horses , at Venice .

P an theo crato r In the pretty church of , occupied by

Greek monks, who are what we should call in France

s Friars Gray Franci can , I was shown a stone or table of divers colours, which Nicodemus had caused to be

h e cut for his own tomb, and on which laid out the

o ur body of Lord, when he took Him down from the cross . During this operation the Virgin was weeping over the body , but her tears, instead of remaining on ON o r LL THE EVE THE FA . 5 5

it o n o w , fell on the st ne , and they are all to be seen

ih A tﬁrst upon . I took them for drops of wax , and touched them with my hand, and then bent down to look at them horizontally and against the light , when they seemed to me like drops of congealed water. This is a thing that may have been seen by many persons as well as by myself. In the same church are the tombs of Constantine and of StHelena 8 his mother, each raised about feet high on a column ,

o ut having their summit terminated in a point , into four sides, in the fashion of a diamond . It is said that the Venetians , while in power at Constantinople, took the body of StHelena from its tomb and carried it to

sa . Venice, where, they y, it is still preserved It is further said that they attempted the same thing in C regard to the body of onstantine , but could not succeed and this is probable enough , for to this day tw o r broken parts of the tomb are to be seen, whe e they made the attempt. The tombs are of red jasper. In the church of S tA postles is shown the broken shaft of the column to which our Saviour was fastened

H e e when was beaten with rods by order of Pilat .

This shaft , above the height of a man , is of the same stone as the tw o others that I have seen at Rome and at Jeru salem; but this one exceeds in height the others put together. There are likewise in the same

c c ffi church many holy reli s in wooden o ns , and any one who chooses may see them . One of the saints 5 6 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

o ff had his head cut , and to his skeleton the head of another saint has been placed . The Greeks, however, have not the like devotion that we have for such relics . It is the same with respect to the stone of N ic o de mu s

e n and the pillar of our Lord , which last is simply

b the closed y planks, and placed upright near one of columns on the right hand of the great entrance at the fron t of the church . A mong several beautiful churches I will mention

e t only y one as remarkable, namely, that which is

l Bla u ern a cal ed q from being near the imperial palace , which , although small and badly roofed , has paintings, an d a pavement inlaid with marble. I doubt not that

ma w as u n there y be others worthy of notice, but I able to visit them all. The Latin merchants have t one situated opposi e to the passage to Pera, where R mass is daily read after the oman manner.

There are merchants from all nations in this city , but none so powerful as the Venetians, who have a

' bailiﬂ to regulate all their affairs independently of the

Emperor and his ministers . This privilege they have enjoyed for a long time. It is even said that they have twice by their galleys saved the town from the Turks ; but for my part I believe that they spared it

’ more for the holy relics sake it contains than anything fﬁ else . The Turks also have an o cer to superintend

wh o ff their commerce , , like the Venetian baili , is independent of the Emperor. They have even the ON TH E E VE OF T H E FALL.

a privilege, th t if one of their slaves should run away

a and take refuge within the city, on their dem nding

u him , the Emperor is bound to give him p. This prince must be under great subjection to the Turk ,

e m since he pays him , I told , a tribute of ten

l A n d thousand ducats annua ly. this sum is only for

Constantinople, for beyond that town he possesses

a nothing but a castle situated three le gues to the north , and in Greece a small city called Salubria .

a I was lodged with a C talonian merchant, who having told one of the o fﬁ cers of the palace that I was

a attached to my Lord of Burgundy , the Emperor c used me to be asked if it were true that the Duke had taken O the Maid of rleans , which the Greeks would scarcely t believe . I old them truly what had happened , at which they were greatly astonished. The merchants informed me that on Candlemas - day there will be a solemn service performed in the after

da noon , similar to what we perform on that y , and they conducted me to the church . The Emperor was at one end of the hall , seated on a cushion . The

Empress viewed the ceremony from an upper window . The chaplains who chant the service are strangely and richly dressed they sing the service by heart. Some days after they took me to see a feast given

’ the on marriage of one of the Emperor s relatives. There w as a tournament after the manner of the country, which appeared very strange to me . I will 5 8 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE.

it h ad describe . In the middle of a square they planted a large pole, to which was fastened a plank 3 feet wide and 5 feet high . Forty cavaliers advanced

a to the spot, without any arms or armour wh tever

ﬁrst but a short stick. They at amused themselves b y running after each other , which lasted for about half an hour. Then from sixty to eighty rods of elder were brought, of the thickness and length of those

ﬁrst we use for thatching. The bridegroom took one and set o ff full gallop towards the plank to break it as the rod shook in his hand , he broke it with case ,

n when shouts of joy resounded , and the i struments of

n acaires music, namely , like those of the Turks , began h to play. Each of t e other cavaliers broke their wands in the same manner. Then the bridegroom tied two of them without being wounded Thus ended the feast, and everyone returned home safe and sound . The Emperor and Empress have been specta tors of this entertainment from a window. M y intention was to leave Constantinople with this

Furlin o w as Sir Benedict de , who, as I have said , sent as ambassador to the Turks by the Duke of Milan . There was a gentleman named Jean Visconti and seven

H e other persons in his suite. had ten horses loaded with baggage, for a traveller through Greece must absolutely carry everything requisite with him. We departed from Constantinople on the 23 rd Jan uary

143 3 . ON TH E E VE OF TH E FALL .

To this sketch of the Greek capital we may give as

“ ’ ’ a pendant Bro cq uiere s impressions o f. the Sultan s

A . Court at drianople, and of the Turks in general The French knight had t wice to cross the whole

II . breadth of Macedonia, as Sultan Murad happened to be at that time at La rissa in Thessaly. The picture

’ which Bro cquiere s J ourn a l unrolls before our eyes is

r . On th e one of g eat desolation whole stretch , from

Ye n i e - Burgas on the Black Sea to g Basar , the country

c was covered with ruins of towns and astles, and most

to villages were empty and abandoned . It was , so say, on the second day after the great wave of Turkish invasion had p assed across that once so happy and well F populated country, that our rench knight travelled through Thracia and Macedonia. But let him resume his own report .

We did not proceed to Larissa, for, having heard t that the Grand Turk was on his way back , we wai ed

him Yen i e - his for at g Basar, a village constructed by subjects . When he (the Sultan) travels, his escort consists of four or ﬁve hundred horse ; but as he is

a te passionately fond of hawking, the gre r part of his

- troop was composed of falconers and goshawk trainers , I who are great favourites with him , and was told he

two keeps more than thousand of them . Having this

’ passion , he travels very short days journeys, which are to him more an object of amusement and pleasure .

H e Yen i e - v entered g Basar in a shower of rain, ha ing 6 0 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

l ﬁft on y y horsemen attending him, and a dozen archers, his slaves , walking on foot before him . His dress was a robe of crimson velvet , lined with sable, and on his head he wore, like the Turks, a red hat. To save him self from the rain he had thrown over his robe another in the manner of a mantle after the fashion of the

u co ntry. H e w as encamped in a tent which had been brought with him , for lodgings are nowhere to be found , nor an y provision , except in the large towns, so that travellers are obliged to carry all things with them . The Sultan had numbers of camels and other beasts of

o burden . In the afternoon he left his tent to g to

saw m H e bathe, and I him at y ease . was on horse back , with the same hat and crimson robe, attended

to by six persons on foot . I heard him speak his

- attendants , and he seemed to have a deep toned voice .

H e - is about twenty eight or thirty years old , and is already very stout. The ambassador sent one of his attendants to ask him if he could have an audience, and present him H with gifts he had brought. e gave answer that

n o w being occupied with his pleasures, he is not pre pared to listen to any matters of business ; that, besides, his bashaws were absent, that the ambassador must

ir wait for them or return to Adrianople . S Benedict accepted the latter proposal , and consequently we

Carmissin returned to , whence , having again crossed a

o r 6 2 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

A t We had to wait eleven days in Adrianople .

ﬁr da length the Sultan arrived on the st y of Lent .

us The Mufti, who is to them what the Pope is to , b went out to meet him , accompanied y the principal

persons of the town , who formed a long procession . The Sultan was already near the town when they met

him, but had halted to take some refreshment , and had

his H e sent forward some of attendants. did not

u make his entry ntil nightfall . Durin g my stay in Adrianople I had the Opportunity of making acquaintance with several persons who had

resided at the Turkish Court, and consequently knew

an d the Sultan well , who told me many particulars .

. ﬁrst I hi about him In the place, as have seen m

sa frequently, I shall y that he is a little, short, thick

man H e set , with the face of a Tartar. has a broad

- and brown face , high cheek bones , a round beard , a

big and crooked nose, and small eyes . But I was

told that he was kind , good, generous, and willingly gives away lands and money. His revenues are tw o millions and a half of ducats, including two hundred

ﬁft . and y thousand received as tribute money Besides,

when he raises an army , it not only costs him nothing, but he gains by it; for the troops that are brought him from A sia pay for the transport to Gallipoli three

for ﬁve aspers each man , and for each horse. It is the same at the passage of the Danube . Whenever

o his soldiers g on an expedition , and make a capture ON o r LL THE EVE THE FA . 6 3

of slaves , he has the right of choosing one out of every

ﬁve H e w ar , is , nevertheless, thought not to love ,

. H e and this report seems to me well founded has,

triﬂin in fact, hitherto met with such g resistance from

Christendom, that, were he to employ all his power and wealth on this object, it would be easy for him it to conquer great part of . His favourite pleasures

h e are hunting and hawking, and has , I was told ,

tw o upwards of a thousand hounds, and thousand f trained hawks of dif erent sorts , of which I have seen

H e very many. loves liquor, and those who drink

' A s uaﬂ o ff hard . for himself , he can easily q from

o n dils o f ten to twelve g wine, which means six or seven quarts . When he has drunk much , he becomes

r i a generous , and distributes his g eat g fts his attend nts therefore are very h appy when they hear him call for wine . Last year a Maure took it into his head to him preach to on this subject , reminding him that wine was forbidden by the Prophet , and that those who drink it are not good Mussulmen . The only answer the Sultan gave was to order him to prison ; d he then expelled him from his territories, with or ers o never again to set his fo t on them . H e has great

H e love for women , of whom he has three hundred.

o w n gave his sister for wife to one of his pages, with d an annual income of ucats . Some persons

mill t r estimate his treasure at half a ion of duca s, othe s

. his at a million This is exclusive of his plate, slaves, 4 o r 6 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

his jewels for his women , which last article is estimated alone at a million of gold. I e m convinced that if he would for one year abstain from thus giving away blindly, and hold his hand , he would lay by a million of ducats without wronging any one . Every n ow and then he makes great and remark able examples of justice, which procure him perfect H obedience at home and abroad . e likewise knows h o w to keep his country in an excellent state of defence, without oppressing his Turkish subjects by taxes or other modes of extortion . His household is

ﬁve composed of thousand persons, as well horsemen

- as footmen . But in the war time he does not augment

a their pay , so that he does not expend more th n in time of peace , contrary to what happens in other

o fﬁc er countries . His principal s are three Bashaws or

- Vizier Bashaws . The Vizier is a counsellor, the

Bashaw a sort of chief. These three have the charge of all that concern him or his household, and no one can speak with him but through them. When he is

Viz . l in Greece ( , in the Ba kan Peninsula) the Lieu tenant of Greece h as superintendence of the army ;

viz . A and when in Turkey ( , sia Minor) , the Lieutenant

l B H e of Turkey (An ado y Beyler ey) . has given away great possessions, but he may resume them at pleasure .

Besides, those to whom they have been given are bound to serve him in war with a certain number of troops at their o wn expense. It is thus that Greece r ON THE EVE o THE FALL. 6 5 a nnually supplies him with thirty thousand men . whom he may lead whither he pleases ; and Turkey

ﬁn d s. ten thousand , for whom he only has to provision

m e Should he want a more considerable ar y, Gr ece

I e l alone , as was assur d, can supp y him with one hundred and twenty thousand more ; buthe is obliged

fo ﬁve to pay r these. The pay is aspers for the infantry, and eight for the cavalry . I have, however,

a a d he rd that of these hundred and twenty thous n ,

r — — the e was but half that is to say, the cavalry that were properly equipped and well armed with shields and swords the rest were composed of men on foot , miserably accoutred, some having swords without

r an bows, othe s without swords, bows , or y arms what e ver, many having only staves . It is the same with i b the infantry suppl ed y Turkey, one half of them

e b ing armed with staves . This Turkish infantry is

r nevertheless more esteemed than the G eek , and the men are generally considered as better soldiers . “ Other persons whose testimony I regard as authentic have since told me , that the troops Turkey is obliged to furnish, when the Sultan wants to form an army , amount to thirty thousand men and those from

n two Greece to twenty thousand , without includi g or

o w n . three thousand slaves of his , whom he arms well

A ri mongst these slaves are many Ch stians, and there are likewise numbers of them amongst the troops from — A Greece lbanians, Bulgarians, and men from other E I’ ‘ 6 6 CON QU S o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

G countries too . In the last army from reece, there were three thousand Servian horsemen , which the Despot of Servia had sent under the command of o n e of his sons. It was with great regret that these people came to serve him , but they dared not refuse . Th e Bashaws arrived at A drianople three days after their lord, bringing with them part of his people and his baggage . For the transport of this baggage

tw o they used about a hundred camels, and hundred ﬁft and y mules and horses, as amongst these people waggons are not used .

w as i Sir Benedict impatient to have an aud ence, and made inquiries of the Bashaws if he could see the

Sultan . Their answer was in the negative . The reason of this refusal was that they had been drinking with him and were all intoxicated . They, however, sent on the morrow to the ambassador, to let him

s b e know they were vi ible, when instantly waited on each with his presents for such is the custom of the country that no one can speak to them withou t brin ging a gift even the slaves who guard their gates

r i him are not exempted f om t. I accompanied on n this visit. O the following day he was informed H that he might come to the palace. e instantly

o his n mounted his horse to g thither with attenda ts,

I r o t and joined the company. But we all we e on f o , i he alone be ng on horseback. In front of the co urt we found a grea t number of o r ON THE EVE THE FALL . 6 7

u men and horses . The gate was g arded by about i l th rty s aves, under the command of a chief, armed

e with staves . Should any p rson try to enter without

ersists the permission , they bid him retire ; if he p j y

a drive him away with their staves. Wh t we call The Court of the King ’ the Turks call The Gate of the

’ a c Lord . Every time the Sult n re eives a message or

‘ a n s n embas y , which happe s almost daily, he keeps h ’ t e gate . d When the ambassador had entere , they made him s it down near the ga te with many other pe rsons who were waiting for the Sultan to quit his apartment and

his a ﬁrst e hold court. The three B shaws ent red , with

the Governor of Greece and others of the great lords. ’ u r The S ltan s rooms looked into a ve y large court, and

the Govern or went thither to wait for him . A tlength

as he (the Sultan) appeared . His dress was, usual , a

c m ri son satin robe, over which he had, by way of

ﬁ ured n mantle , another of green g sati , lined with

s . n n o able His young boys accompa ied him, but

further than to the entrance of the apartment, and then

returned . There was nobody with him but a small dwarf and tw o young persons who acted the part of H fools. e walked across the angle of the court to a

gallery, where a seat had been prepared for him. It w i was a kind of raised couch , covered ith velvet, w th

v n H four or ﬁ e steps leadi g up to it. e seated himself

o n it as do our tailors when they are going to work, and o r 6 8 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . the three Bashaws placed themselves a little way from

ofﬁcers t him. The other , who on these days form par of his attendants, likewise entered the gallery and

as posted themselves along the walls, as far from him they could . Without, but facing him , were twenty

Wallachian gentlemen seated , who had been detained as hostages for the good conduct of their countrymen . Within this apartment were placed abou t a hundred

m . dishes of tin , each containing some utton and rice

When all were placed, a lord from Bosnia was intro duced a , who pretended that the crown of th t country

do belonged to him , and came in consequence to

u him homage for it to the S ltan, and ask succour from H against its present king. e was conducted to a place near the Bashaws, and when his attendants had made their appearance , the ambassador from Milan was

H e sent for. advanced, followed by the men bearing his presents, which were set down near the tin dishes . Persons appointed to receive them held them above their heads as high as they could , that the Sultan and his Court might see them . While this was passing Sir

Benedict walked slowly toward the gallery. A person . o f distin ction came forward to introduce him. On entering, Sir Benedict made an obeisance , without

o ff th e taking the hat from his head , and when near

r lo w ho w steps of the couch he made another ve y ,

two The Sultan then rose, descended steps to come nearer to the ambassador, and took him by the hand .

70 OF CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

w as others did not ; but before all were served, it

r ul was in necessa y to take it away, for the S tan not clin ed H e in l to eat. never took anything pub ic , and there are very few persons who can boast o f

o r having heard him speak, or having seen him eat

On a e drink. his going aw y, the musicians who wer ff standing in the court near the bu et began to play.

n n the They played on instruments, and sa g so gs about k heroic actions of Tur ish warriors. When those in

r r the galle y hea d anything that pleased them, they shouted, after their manner, most horrid cries. Being

the ignorant on what they were playing, I went into

saw court, and it was on stringed instruments of a large size. The musicians entered the hall and ate

ul ﬁn d A whatever they co d . t length the meat was

u am taken away, when every one rose p, and the bassador t retired , withou having said a word respecting

ﬁrst his embassy, which is never customary at a audience. There is also another custom , that when an

the ambassador has been presented to the Sultan , l latter, until he sha l have given him his answer, sends him wherewith to pay his daily expenses, the sum being

wo . Ou da ’ t hundred aspers per day the next y, there

o fﬁcers w ho fore, one of the of the Treasury, the same conducted Sir Benedict to the Court, arrived with the above sum. Shortly after, the slaves who guarded the gate presented themselves for what is usually given to

‘ satisﬁed . them . They are , however, with a trifle ON o r LL THE EVE THE FA . 7 1

On the third day the Bashaws let the ambassador know that they were ready to hea r from him the sub

H e ject o f his embassy. immediately went to the

u . Co rt, and I accompanied him But the Sultan had

wa s closed his audience, and just retiring, and only the

e a o thr e B shaws, with the Beyler Bey or G vernor of

e n o w . the Gr ece, remained When we had passed

ha gate , we found these four seated on a piece of wood t t

o happened to be outside of the gallery . They sent t desire the ambassador would come forward , and had a

r b carpet placed on the g ound efore them , on which

his they made him seat himself, like a criminal before judges , notwithstanding there were great numbers of H people present. e explained to them the object of I his mission , which was , as heard , to entreat their

r lo d , on the part of the Duke of Milan , to consent to i R y eld up to the oman Emperor Sigismund , Hungary,

a So ﬁa o Wallachia, Bulg ria as far as , B snia, and the

A n o w part of lbania he held, and which was dependent

lv n ia r on S c a o . They eplied they could not at that

was moment inform the Sultan of this request , as he

occupied , but that within ten days the ambassador

’ would be informed of the Sultan s answer. There is likewise another custom , that from the time when an

ambassador is announced as such , he can never speak

with the Sultan personally. This regulation was made since the grandfather of the present Sultan was

murdered by an ambassador from Serbia. That 7 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

' en voy had come to solicit fro mhim some alleviation

in favour of his countrymen , whom the Sultan wanted

to reduce to slavery. In despair at n o t obtaining

his object, he stabbed him , and was himself massacred

the instant after. On the tenth day we went to the Court to receive

the answer. The Sultan was there , again seated on his couch ; but he had with him in the gallery only

v . sa w n f those that ser ed his table I either buf et,

n o r minstrels, nor the Lord of Bosnia, the Wallachians, but M a n o l D only g y , brother to the uke of Cephalonia , whose manners towards the Sultan were those of a

respectful servant. Even the Bashaws were without

and standing at a distance, as well as the greater

part of persons whom I had before seen in the hall,

n o w only that their number was much smaller.

w e While were waiting outside, the Chief Cadi, with mi his assessors , ad nistered justice at the outward gate

saw of the palace, and I some foreign Christians come

to plead their cause before him. But when the Sultan

r u ose p, the judges ended their sittings, and retired to

saw their homes. I the Sultan pass with his attend

o n ants t the great court , which I was u able to see

H e on the ﬁrstoccasion . wore a robe of cloth of gold

r and g een , somewhat rich , and he seemed to me to

h - have a hasty step. When he ad re entered his

apartment, the Bashaws , having taken seat on

that piece of wood as on the preceding day, sent fo r O r N THE EVE o THE FALL . 7 3

the ambassador. Their answer was that their master c n harged him to salute in his ame his brother, the

Duke of Milan , that he was very anxious of doing

u n much for him, but that his present request was reasonable ; that from regard for him their master had frequently abstained from pushing his conquests f urther into Hungary, which he might easily have done, a n d such a sacriﬁce ought to satisfy him (the Duke of M ilan) ; that it would be too much to expect the S ultan to surrender all he had w o n by sword ; that u nder the present circumstances he and his soldiers had no other theatre where to display than the t r r er ito ies of the Emperor, and that he should be the more unwilling to renounce it as hithe rto he had

’ n ever met the Emperor s forces without vanquishing ﬂ them or putting them to ight, as was well known to ll a the world .

The ambassador, in fact, knew personally that all t w as d his true, for in the last efeat of Sigismund before Golubatz he had witnessed his disco mﬁture ; h e had even the night preceding the battle quitted

’ the Emperor s camp to wait on the Sultan . The ambassador having received this answer from

the . Bashaws, returned to his lodgings But he was s ﬁ ve carcely arrived when he received thousand aspers , which the Sultan sent him , together with a robe of

c camo cas . h rimson , lined with yellow calimanco T irty s ix aspers are worth a Venetian ducat. But of those 7 4 O CONQUEST F CONSTANTINOPLE .

’ ﬁve thousand aspers the Sultan s treasurer retained

o fﬁ c . ten per cent . as fees of his e

‘ During my stay atA drianople I saw also a present

e of another sort made likewise by the Sultan , to a brid

- on her weddin g day. This bride was the daughter of

A o f the Beyler Bey, Governor of Greece . daughter one of the Bashaws was entrusted with carrying the

’ Sultan s present to the bride. She was attended by upwards of thirty other women . Her own dress was of crimson tissue and gold her face was covered , i according to custom , with a very rich ve l ornamented

o t ma n iﬁc n t with diam nds . The a tendant ladies had g e t veils, and their dresses were robes of crimson velve and of cloth of gold without fur. They were all o n m horseback , riding astride like men , and some of the had superb saddles . In front of the procession rode

tw o o thirteen or fourteen horsemen and minstrels, als

n on horseback, as well as other musicians, carryi g a

r o f trumpet, a very large drum, and about eight pai s

e cymbals, which altogether made a most abominabl h noise. A fter the musicians came the carriers of t e

o f presents, and then the ladies. The presents consisted

ven ff s se ty broad platters of tin , laden with di erent sort

o n of sweetmeats, and of twenty other platters, having them sheep , skinned , painted red and white and ornamented with silver rings suspended from the nose and ears. While at A drianople I had an opportunity of seeing ON r THE EVE o THE FALL. 7 5 numbers of Christians chained who were brought thither for sale . They begged for alms in the streets ; but my heart bleeds when I think of the shockin g ff ” hardships they su er. Bro c quiere left Adrianople in the suite of Sir 1 2th Benedict on the March . We will not follow

his him on journey through Macedonia , Bulgaria, and

his l Serbia, though description of the same is fu l of

v interest, gi ing, as it does, graphic sketches of the l country and the people , as we l as of the incidents ,

‘ which throw suﬁicien tlight on the true condition of the Balkan Peninsula shortly before the fall of Constan l n 0 l ti p e.

1 ’ See Voya ge d outre-mer clRetou r de Jeru sa lemon Fra nce pa r la vote de terre en dent le cow 's de s a n n ées cl1 3 ar Bertran do n de p 43 , p la Bro c uiére co n seiller et remier écu e r tran chan t de hili e le q , p y P pp

’ ’ Bo n Due de Bo ur o n e Ouvra e extra itd u n ma n uam tde la biblio , g g g p

‘ thé tte n a tion a le remis eh ra n a is modern e cl u blzé ar le cito en q , f e p , p y ' Le ran d B Auss a ris 1803 . g y, P , A R C H P T E I V.

DIPLOMATIC NE GOTIATIONS AND PREPARATIONS

ro a WAR.

1 . I N a n . 1400 a E m October Manuel Pal eologus, the

eror IV p of the Greeks, was the guest of Henry ., the

n l m Ki g of England . A lthe infor ation we can ﬁ n d a s the bout that vi it is in old Hakluyt, who quotes Thomas

’ Walsin ghams words ! The E mperor of Con sta n tin ople ca me in to E n la n d to seehe a de a a in stthe Turks whom g y g ,

e kin a ccom a n ied wi th his n obiltie metwitha llu on y g, p , p

Bla ckhea th u on the da o S tThomas the A ostle a n d p y f p , received him as beseemed so rea t a rince a n d g p , broughthim to Lon don a n d roya lly en terta in ed himfor a lon sea son de ra in the cha r es o his dieta n d ivin g , f y g g f g g h a e r en ts A n d a little a terw a r imm n y hon oura blp es . f d the E mperor depa rted with grea tjoy ou tofE ngla n d whom i i ” 1 ye King hon oured w ith ma n y prec o us g fts.

VI . The Emperor was the guest of the King , Charles , F in Paris before he came to England. The rench r r a oyal historiog apher, the anonymous monk of S int

us a Denis, has left some more interesting det ils of the

1 ’ a a l a es vol. 11. 1 8. H kluyts Co llection s of E r y Voy g , 7

o r 7 8 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . handsome and gifted father he inherited the purest of

' — blue blood that of the Imperial P alaeologuesn an das from his probably beautiful and certainly most able a n d virtuous mother he might have inherited the physical and intellectual qualities which were so pro minent in the greatest of the Serbian sovereigns — Tzar Stephan Dushan the Mighty w e may readily suppose that his personal appearance was as noble as his life and death were. His contemporary and

Fran cisco P hilelho personal friend, p , has given the best description of him when in a letter to the King of France (dated 1 3 th March 145 0) he calls Constantine ” o ious a n d eleva ted min d a man f p . 9th 1404 Constantine was born on the February , the eighth of the ten children of Manuel Palaeologus All and Irene Dragasses. their sons were more or less

An dro n ik gifted men ; but whilst John , , Theodore, t Demetrius, and Thomas were very ambi ious and even selﬁsh , their brother Constantine was simple, honest, un selﬁsh . , and straightforward His brothers distin guished themselves mostly as diplomatists ; he was the soldier of the house. When the weakness of the Empire a n d th e confusion of its internal policy were in creased by the restless greed of his brothers, he was known to l m be a ways endeavouring to ake peace between them, an d ever ready to give up his o wn appanages to those

dis atisﬁed who were s with theirs . His devotion to the

ro fessio n his military p , earnestness and disinterestedness, G DIPLOMATIC NE OTIATIONS. 7 9 .

“ a s well as his known love for justice , secured for him

’ in ﬂuen ce a decided with his family and with the people .

S o it came to pass that when the Emperor John VII. 1 43 7 i had , in the autumn of , to leave for the Counc l of F errara (transferred in the next year to Florence) , not T heodore , the second brother of the Emperor, but Con stan tin e R , a much younger one, was chosen as egent of

w as e the Empire . No doubt this selection d cided by the circumstance that already at that time he enjoyed the reputation of a good soldier, and that it was thought desirable to place at the head of the Government some o n e who could inspire the people with c o n ﬁden ce in the case that the Turks should suddenly attack Con l s tan tin Op e in the absence of the Emperor.

in sufﬁcien c 2. Knowing well the y of the military forces of his own country as well as the superiority of

Turkish forces in number and in organization , Constan tine was deeply convinced that without military assist ance from the Western powers the Greeks would not be able to retain for a longer period even the shadow of their old Empire . With such a conviction he earnestly and sincerely desired the reconciliation of the Greek

On i was and Latin Churches . th s point he decidedly at variance with the majority of the Greek people, and

hi n with some of s o w brothers . His political notions came into practical play when he came to govern Peloponnesus for the second time as an almost inde

m iv P rin . resu t e ce r pendent ruler The heir p p , Theodo os , 80 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . in 1443 suddenly desired to exchange his possessions

S elimvria w as b in Peloponnesus for , which held y Con i m sta n tn e. et Constantine, always ready to oblige,

’ 1444 ﬁn his brother s wish cheerfully, and from we d

M isithra him as Despot of . Initiated into the preparations for a league of the

h a to C ristian powers gainst the Turks, he began at once organize an army in the Peloponnesus, and to strengthen his defences by raising a wall across the narrow isth l mili n mus at H exa o . Informed by the Pope that King Vladislaus of Hungary and Poland and th e

w a A famous Hunyady were on the y to drianople,

s un Con tantine dertook immediately a diversion , and fell into Northern Greece against the Turkish forces

H e an d there. was victorious in several engagements, was well on the way to clear A chaia altogether from the Turks and subdue to his authority the last French

A D s master of thens, uke Nerio ; but then the new reached him that the Hun garian army was totally defeated by the Turks at Varna ( l0 th November

and he had to withdraw back to Peloponnesus . The Emperor John and his coun sellors were sufﬁ cien tly astute to escape compromising themselves in the eyes of the Sultan They neither sent an auxiliary corps to join the Christian army under m ff Hunyady , nor ade the slightest e ort to prevent the

n A Turkish forces crossi g from sia to Europe. There

1 Cha leochon d la s 3 19 3 42. y , pp. ,

CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE .

slaves . The sufferers laid all the responsibility on

Constantine . The Turcophiles of Constantinople were

’ loud in their denunciation of the folly of Constantine s

- A n d Occidental or Philo Latine policy . even those who

’ never for a moment doubted Constantine s patriotic motives and the general soundness of his programme, could not help acknowledging that a strange fatality

hi s was the only outcome of patriotism and wisdom . It is thus that among the superstitious Greeks the impression began to develop that Constantine was ” 1 apparently a man born under an unlucky star . The impression that he was not a lucky man must have been strengthened by the misfortunes that occurred to him personally. When in his t wenty fourth year he married Theodora Tocco ( lstJuly 2 Clar n z who brought him as dowry the city of e t a . 1429 But already in November his wife died, and Constantine remained a widower up to the summer of 1441 , when at the instance of his brother, the Emperor

Gattilusio ni John , he married Catharina , ece of

Gattilusio Francesco , Prince of Lesbos. But his second wife died suddenly on the island Lemnos in

A 1442 l w as ugust , whi e he with her on the way to

Constantinople. In the period between 1444 and 1448 he made several attempts to marry for the third

1 - r n os v ers. 85 95 . Th y , 9 Th ere exists a suppo sitio n th at th e title o f the Dukes o f Claren ce

ri in all ro m this ‘ cit o f Claren tz a which lu kl came o g y f y , c ess Theodo ra her stillmo re luckless h usban d o n n i bro ughtto C sta tn e. DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS . 8 3

time, but neither the negotiations to wed Isabella l Taran to Orsini del Balzo, the sister of the Prince of , nor those with the Doge of Venice for the hand of his daughter, were successful . It seems then that he was disposed to marry Anne! the daughter of Lucas A Notaras , the Grand dmiral of the Greek Fleet , when also that project had to be abandoned on account of

al i the sudden c l of Constantine to higher dest nies .

VII . 3 rd 3 . The Emperor John died on the of

w a n October 1448. Constantine s o w the eldest of

II . the surviving sons of the Emperor Manuel , and there was not the slightest doubt of his legal right to

his succeed his brother, the late Emperor. But

un scru u younger brother, the restless, ambitious, and p D at lous emetrius, happened to be alone the deathbed

an d of the Emperor John , his partisans began seriously to consider should they not proclaim Demetrius, and

a A disreg rd the rights of Constantine. legal pretext they found in the circumstan ce that Demetrius was born in the purple while his father was a reigning

Emperor, whereas Constantine was born before his father ascended the throne. But , independently of that consideration , there were other circumstances which encouraged them. Prince Demetrius was as well known in Con stantinople and Adrianople for his Tur co phile sympathies as Despo t Constantine was for his

1 H o f Geechiehte Grteehen la nds 1 0 p , , n . 1 . 2 S ath as Mon wme n ta H istories H ellen iece ix 1 , , . p. 7 . 84 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

inclinations towards an alliance with the Latins .

A n d few when , a days after the burial of the late

Emperor, the Sultan crushed the Hungarian army under Hunyady at the ﬁeld of Kossovo ( 18th October the chances of the Turcophile Demetrius seemed considerably to overbalance those of the unfortunate

friend of the defeated hero of the Christian League.

the No doubt Empress Irene , the venerable mother of

a s an d the Pal eologu princes, who still lived exercised

reatin ﬁ uen ce a g within the circle of her imperial f mily , C advocated decidedly the rights of her son onstantine,

in ﬂ to whom she was greatly attached . The ue n tial statesmen , Manuel Cantacuzene, Manuel Jagros, and

Co n Lucas Notaras, were also loyally standing for stan tin e So w as . also Thomas, the youngest of the

P alaeolo ue a o u 13 g princes , when he re ched ( the th of

November) Constantinople . But the arguments of the Prince Demetrius ’ partisans were based not so much on persona l as on public grounds— the political At interest of the State . last a compromise was made an embassy was to be sent a t once to the Sultan to

himWo uld D ask , he acknowledge espot Constantine as Emperor or not ? This course was perhaps the only

l a one to prevent civil war, or eventual y an att ck on

but n the part of the Turks , it shows more than anythi g else the growing weakness of the Empire, and the failing sense of dignity.

Sultan Murad II . was a thoroughly honest and up

' o r F LE 8 6 CONQUEST CONSTANTINO . swear solemnly in her presence that they would live in brotherly concord, supporting each other faithfully . It was the last dramatic pageant in which the vener

in d able Empress, perhaps already the ark robes of

H omen e ﬁ ure n the nun yp , was a central g , surrou ded by her three sons, and all the stately splendour of the

Byzantine Court . She died soon afterwards, on the 23 rd March of 145 0 ; and although Despot Thomas and Prince Demetrius soon forgot their solemn oaths , the Emperor Constantine never ceased to speak of her with the highest respect and affection . Constantine gave proof of his conciliatory disposi

t n tion and prudence in ye another way . O his arrival in Constantinople some suggestions were made to him that it would be well to repeat in S t Sophia the ceremony of coronation , as otherwise some citizens o f the capital might doubt of his being formally anointed Basileus . It was one of those peculiar themes, in which theological and political aspects were so intimately interwoven , the discussion of which was so attractive to the Byzantine mind . But Constantine refused to act on the suggestion . His position was

r st ong from the canonical point of view, as it was clear that the sacrament of anointment performed in the modest church of Misithra was quite as valid as if it had been performed at the splendid altar of St

Sophia. His political grounds for refusal were speci

! n ew ally mentioned , and are more interesting a G DIPLOMATIC NE OTIATIONS . 8 7

coronation in Constantinople would give occasion to reopen the strife between the friends of the union

with the Latin Church and their opponents . The

Emperor wished to see internal peace established , and

peace with the Sultan not compromised , and therefore n aturally found it wise to avoid reviving the delicate question of the relations of the Eastern Church and

n the Roma See . l This policy, to avoid anything ikely to provoke the m Turks, was indicated by the circu stances of the time . Within the last ﬁve years the Hu n garian armies which had attempted to break the power of the

Grand Turk had been repulsed by crushing defeats , and the Kingdom of Hungary , the only safe base of operations against the Turks, needed time to reorganize

n An d her o w forces . then there could be no serious talk of the formation of the Christian Le ague as long

a as France and Engl nd were at war with each other. This passive and tempo rising policy— which was followed not only by the late and the n ew emperors b D of Constantinople, but also y the espot George of — Serbia was met cordially by the policy of the Sultan

- -T h n Murad and his Grand Vizier Chalil Pasha c e derli. To both these statesmen it seemed the paramount interest of the Turkish Empire to gain time to consoli

ﬁ rm date its position in Europe, to take a hold of the extensive territories which they had with such an

z n ama i g rapidity conquered, and to secure the subjee 88 o r CONQUE ST CONSTANTINOPLE . tion of the Balkan nations by the establishment of a strong military and administrative government . This they thought to secure by a policy of moderation and li ﬁll conci ation , which would Greeks and Serbs with co n ﬁden ce that no immediate danger menaced them

sta tus uo from the Turks, that the g would be loyally m in deﬁn ite t aintained for an time, and here was there fore no pressing need to push forward the formation of the League of the Christian nations against the Moslem power in Europe . Under such circumstances the ﬁ rst tw o years of ’ H Constantine s reign passed peaceably . e left the question of the re - union of the Churches as he found

it viz . n , , quietly sleepi g, and cultivated friendly rela tions with the Ottoman Porte and with orthodox H did Serbia . e his best to prevent his two restless

c o n ﬂict brothers in Peloponnesus coming to open , and thought again of looking for a consort for himself. His faithful friend P hran tz es had already in October 1 449 left Constantinople on a matrimonial mission to the orthodox courts of the kings of Trebizonde and of

Iberia.

5 ut . . B this idyllic calm could not last long The t honest, but of late years somewhat indolent, Sul an

5 th Fe bruar 145 1 an d Murad died on the y , his eldest 1 II . son , Mohammed , ascended the throne.

1 I fo llo w th e usualEn glish w ay o f w ritin g the n ame o f th e co n ue r q ro o f Co n stan tin o ple. But from the study o f co n tempo rary

90 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

Pelasgian blood in his veins , being the son of a

u beautif l Albanian slave. m Moham ed was, in fact, the perfect type of a highly

in ﬂuen ces educated Oriental potentate, grown up under

- coming from re awakening Europe. To his knowledge

he A of languages ( knew rabic , Greek, Latin, and i Slavonic) , and to his pronounced pred lection for historical works, he joined a great love of Persian

H e poetry, astrology, and occult sciences . tried his

versiﬁcatio n hand at Persian , and was deeply interested

i o f i in astrological nterpretations. H e was choler c temperament , and therefore somewhat impulsive . But when political objects were in question , he showed him

‘ self a past master in the art of astute dissimulation .

As i a young man he was deeply rel gious, but later

- i seems to have joined a body of Turkish free th nkers , and in their company sometimes made witticisms at the F expense of their great Prophet. ull of noble ambi tion , clever, and of great personal valour, he is justly considered one of the greatest of the Ottoman Turks . The ﬁrstacts of the young Sultan were exceedin gly conciliatory . H e retained Chalil Pasha as Grand

e Vizi r , indicating therewith his intention to continue

’ uo his father s policy of keeping up the sta tus q . When the special envoys from the Emperor of Constantinople and the Despot of Serbia arrived with the usual

ul presents and congrat ations, Mohammed received them very graciously. H e solemnly engaged himself MOH A MME D I L TH E CON U E ROR F ONS N N E , Q O C TA TI OP L .

To e ! fac p . 90 .

2 r 9 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

Bro c u iere remarkable men of his time. Chevalier q

AD 143 3 visited him in Serbia . , and speaks with

m a r enthusias of his vener ble appearance, g eat wealth , 1 a n d A his splendid Court. nother of contemporaries,

a P hilelho D Fr ncisco p , in his letters to the oge of

Venice and to the King of France, described George as one of the most prudent and powerful princes of ” 2 A the age . third and justly famous contemporary , A eneas Sylvius P iccollo min i (subsequently Pope Pius

I I a ) , s id of him that by his personal appearance and in other respects he was . full of dignity and deserving of the highest respect, but unfortunately he belonged to the Greek Church 1” Possessing numerous and extensive estates in

Hungary , he was a member of the Hungarian House R of Lords, and was nearly elected egent of Hungary instead of J ohn Hunyady H e was considered l G a most a member of the imperial family of reece,

ﬁrst Co mn en a his wife, Maria , having been the daughter of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus of

Trebiz o n da , his second wife being Irene, the daughter

a of Manuel Cantacuzene , and his son L zarus having married in 1445 the daughter of the Despot Thomas

a Pal eologus, niece of the Emperor Constantine

Dragasses. Despot George exercised considerable

’ 1 - Vo a e d Ou tre mer . 1 30 . y g , p 2 F. P hilelhi E istolaz . 5 4 cd. aris 15 03 p , p , p 7 ( P , ) 3 A en eas lviu s E uro a . 23 5 . S y , p , p N G DIPLOMATIC E OTIATIONS. 93

in ﬂ uen ce h dau h at the Porte also, partly t rough his g

a . 143 6 ter M ra, whom Sultan Murad II married in , — and partly probably in a great measure— through his frequent and splendid presents to the Pashas

h and Viziers of the Sultan . O the ascension of

Mohammed II . to the Ottoman throne George Bran kovich was th e most in ﬂuen tial ruler between the

a a an d C rpathi ns and the Bosphorus, it was in acknow ledgment of that fa ct that the Hun garian and Turkish plenipotentiaries met in his capital to negotiate for the peace under his supervision . In the suite of the Turkish commissioners was a

e e Greek, employed probably as an int rpret r. The man h t seems to ave been an ardent pa riot, and possessed of real political sagacity . Whenever he had an D opportunity of meeting the old espot George alone , he implored him to prevent the conclusion of the “ ” “ ii peace, because , he argued, the Sultan secures

r he peace with the Hunga ians , will have a free hand ” to strike down Constantinople ! P hran tz es recorded “ D this , and added , but , unfortunately the espot of Serbia would not so much as turn his head to look at w this suggestion, much less was he illing to reason about it I 1

a It was not likely that the experienced st tesman , of whom acute observers like P hilelpho and Aeneas

a Sylvius thought so highly, had not considered ll the

1 P hra n tz es iv o . 2 3 23 , . , p. . o r 94 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

circumstances. But it seems the privilege of fatality to make the wisest and most logical men

n th e foolish in the end , and thi gs most unforeseen A the most certain to be accomplished . In ugust

1 45 1 n , when the egotiations in Smederevo were proceeding, there was absolutely nothing to justify the uppo sitio n that an attack on Constantinople w as imminent . Had not the Sultan given abundant proof of his desire to live in peace with his neighbours ?

a There was no pretext whatever for such an att ck, and it was n o t likely the Greeks would wantonly

ul provoke a quarrel . Moreover, the S tan had retained

- z for Grand Vi ier Chalil, the old personal friend of

Despot George and of the Greek Emperors , a shrewd

n statesma , who knew very well that to precipitate such an attack would accelerate the formation of the European coalition , and thus eventually bring about the fall of the young Ottoman Empire in

Europe, rather than the conquest of the Byzantine capital .

Yet , though all visible signs and all plausible

n D arguments indicated a lo g period of peace, espot

e G orge, who was essentially a man of compromises ,

’ thought it best to allow only a three years a rmistice to be concluded between the Porte and Hungary, instead of a formal treaty of peace .

7 . A mongst the Greek statesmen , and in Constan tin 0 le a im p generally, the opinion prev iled that no

DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS. 95

w as mediate danger to be apprehended. The situation looked so paciﬁc and the political sky so cloudless that the only question worthy of attention seemed to be the marriage of the Emperor. Constantine was of an age when marriages for love can give place to marriages from more solid considera

w - tions . The people expected their t ice widowed

Emperor to remarry properly and judiciously. Con stan tin e , looking for a suitable party, after some hints

P ro to strato rissa P alaeo lo in a u from his relative g , a nt to ii the Sultana Mara, asked himself , after all , the

a s Sult na, with her family connections and her suppo ed in ﬂuen ce e at the Porte , could not bring to the Gre k throne considerable political advantages ? She was — certainly no longer youn g P hran tz es deemed her two — or three years older than Constantine but she w as still

di n iﬁed handsome , g , highly cultured, and , because of her great charity , highly esteemed by the poor and

’ i a the clergy . In addition to all th s , Mara s f ther was

famed through all the East for his immense wealth , and as the widow of a Sultan and stepmother of the reigning Padishah she was believed to have abun dant

o w n . Y et means of her , as often happens with men of the sword who lose courage before the shadow t of a woman , Constan ine dared not mention his con clusio n s n and his incli ations to any one at his Court .

tw o c a Fortunately, interesting ommunic tions reached — him , and made him open his lips, one from his envoy 96 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

P h ran tz es D and friend , the other from espot George himself. The letter from P hran tz es would have been inter esting enough even if it had contained nothing but a portion of a conversation with the King of Iberia .

u The King had a daughter of tr ly Circassian beauty . P hran tz es wished to know the amount of dowry this

h e Princess would bring if the Emperor married r.

The King rejoined that, instead of giving money with

h er his daughter, he expected to receive money for , at

P hran tz es which could not suppress his great surprise. “ h Well continued the King , who was famed for is “ e xten sw e — o u ? knowledge, what will y Every ! country has its own customs and manners Look ,

. it w as usua l or a for instance, at Britain There f ” 1 woma n to ha ve severa lhusba n ds a tthe sa me time i But there were other matters of interest in the letter. Having arrived at the Court of the Emperor

A Co mn en a lexius of Trebizonde , who had several m t arriageable daughters, the envoy went one day o w the palace for a private audience ith the Emperor. Alexius received him with the question ! Wha tw ill

‘ — you give me for a piece of goo d n ews and then in

was formed him that Sultan Murad dead , and that the n ew Sultan Moh ammed had sent with great D honours his stepmother Mara to her father, espot

A ﬁrst George . lexius, being the cousin to Mara, was

1 P hra ntzes 24 , p. 7.

8 OF 9 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

B ut the fabric so laboriously con structed by far

’ seeing statesmen was blown away by a woman s breath . Mara, favourably known for her delicacy of feeling, good tact, and political foresight, declared with ’ much dignity to her father and to the Emperor s special envoy, that she had vowed to consecrate her

Go d remaining life to the service of , and therefore must decline the hand of the Emperor. Some people thought she did this from consideration for the feelings

A N o taras a n cee of her cousin, nna , the abandoned ﬁ of 1 Constantine.

t ﬁn al This episode, with its pleasan hopes and dis appointments, was another sign of the peaceful situa

’ tion in the ﬁrst months of the Sultan Mohammed s reign .

ﬁ n 8. But the c o n de ce arising from the general opinion that no immediate danger threatened them , encouraged the Greeks to venture on a step which suddenly and unexpectedly reversed the whole aspect

‘ ' of aﬂairSu The Greek ﬁn an ces were in an exceedingly bad condition . There was a large public debt with short

s term of repayment , while the revenue of the Empire

a was small and uncertain . The Treasury w s not able to punctually meet the salaries of the State o fﬁcials and the pay to the few permanent companies of the ’ Emperor s bodyguard. This irregularity and poverty

1 S athas Momemen ta H ist H ellen ic ix. re ace. , . , , P f G DIPLOMATIC NE OTIATIONS . 99

was the cause that the famous maker of big guns ,

the Hungarian Orban , left the service of the Emperor t him and entered that of the Sul an , who gave at once a salary four times as large as that he should have

received from the Greek Go vernment .

a r Looking at the empty Imperi l Treasu y, and listen ing to the reports of the conciliatory disposition of

n ew s the Sultan , the Greek tatesmen came to the conclusion that they had not sufﬁcien tly turned to ﬁn an cial advantage the evident wish of Mohammed

g to live in peace. Some one made the fatal sug estion

that it was not yet too late to mend matters , and that

’ the Sultan s campaign in Caraman ia was a most favourable opportunity for representing to him that aspers were not adequate for the suppo rt of i an Ottoman Prince with becoming dignity, and st ll less sufﬁcie n t to render a dangerous pretender inac

‘ a cessible to ambitious temptations. It seemed to be simple and ready method for increasing the Imperial revenue. Special envoys therefore were despatched to

’ the Sultan s headquarters at Broussa, and there

b - il- received y the Grand Vizier Chal Pasha.

A P hilelho il w as ccording to Francesco p , Chal the son of a Serbian father and of a Greek mother. H e was captured when a child, made a Mussulman , and

e educat d to serve the Ottoman Empire. His policy

e t of wise moderation, y of great decision when action

u was needful, had carried the Empire successf lly 1 00 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE . through many crises during the reign of Sul tan

Murad II. But greed of wealth was his notorious

ai f ling, and this, combined with his consequent con ciliato r o w y p licy to ards the Greek and Serbian Courts, aroused suspicions that he was in the pay o f the wily

“ - Greeks , and of rich old Vuk Oglu, as the Turks l called Despot George . The impatient mi itary party

a n d disliked him for his patience moderation , while the common people took revenge for his stinginess by nicknaming him Gyaou r Yoldash and Gy a our Ortagh the comrade and partner of the in ﬁdels This old friend of the Greeks was amaz ed when

a he heard the object of the Greek emb ssy. The ambassador apparently thought it would be easier to secure the success of his mission if he hinted that, in the case of a refusal , the Greek Government might ,

’ - a E ﬁe n di. perhaps, cease to restrain the action of Orch n A pparently it was just this hint which aroused the

- i indignation of the aged Grand V zier.

“ ” “ Yo u foolish Greeks ! exclaimed Chalil; long ago I learned to know your falsehood and your cunning ! While Sultan Murad lived it was possible for you to

o o n g comparatively well, because he was just and t conscien ious. But Sultan Mohammed is quite another man . If Constantinople escapes his impetuosity and his power, it will be a proof that God does not punish

o o ls ! in k your crooked ways and your sins. F The on the documents of peace concluded between us has

1 0 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

. On th e ar s object of their mission contr y, he expres ed himself quite willin g to do anything right an d

i s equitable, and would gladly consider the r proposal as soon as he returned to Adrianople .

145 1 h e 9. In the beginning of the autumn of t

rr Sultan a ived at his European residence , with ready

s im answer to the Greek demand . Orders were mediately issued to send away the Emperor s receivers from Macedonia, and to suspend payment for Orchan f’ Ef endi ; Hungarian Orban , the chief of the Turkish cannon foundry , was ordered to hasten production of

a n d heavy guns ; , in addition to all these preparations , the Sultan announced his determination of constructing a castle on the European shore of the Bosphorus ,

An adoli- A facing Fort Hissar on the siatic side. The point selected for the n ew fortiﬁcatio n was on

ri ﬁve o f Greek ter tory, only four or miles north

Lo emo co ia Galata, at p , where existed the ruins of an old castle and an old church dedicated to the A rchan gel 1 A A Michael ccording to a legend , lexander the Great crossed to Asia at this place. It was without parallel in the history of the world that a sovereign should seize a portion of the territory e ‘ of a neighbouring Stat , with which he was at peace, and build himself a fort on it! The n ews produced intense commotion amongst excitable Greeks of the capital , especially as it was evident to everybody that

1 xxi 22 Le B ea u, . 7 . DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS. the tw o forts could cut o ff at an y moment the supplies of co rn from the Bla ck Sea ! Chalil endeavoured to mainta in some diplomatic

n courtesy by sendi g a special envoy to the Emperor, with a polite request for a formal permission to erect l the fort on that particu ar spot. H e explained that

’ the Sultan s decision was prompted exclusively by his C desire to protect commerce , as the atalonian corsairs would not venture into the straits when they knew

’ that every ship approaching th e line of the Sultan s forts must stop to pay passage dues and show regular 1 papers . The Emperor and his councillors were in great

t ho w f consternation . The ques ion was to ef ectually

’ alil meet Ch s diplomacy. They could devise nothing better than the worn - out expedient which had helped

so them often . They hoped the shadow of the West ,

’ o thrown slightly acr ss the Sultan s path , might produce ff its old e ect . Therefore the Turkish envoy received as answer ! That the Emperor w o uld cheerfully o blige his friend the Sultan , but unfortunately the territory

a in question did not re lly belong to him , having been G ceded long ago to the Franks of alata, and he therefore feared the building of the fort on Frankish ground might bring the Sultan into collisio n with 2 Fra n kistan

1 h ese deta ils h a ve been ﬁrst reco rded b the Jan issa r Micha T y y el, ' med b a ad-ud- din P ov cst J a n ez a ra . 1 3 a n d are co n ﬁr . y , p 7 , y S 2 The Turkish histo rian s spe ak explicitly abo u t th e Greek a ttempt o r 10 4 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

The Greek diplomatist who prepared this answer doubtless felt proud of his skill. But the experienced statesman who sat on the velvet cushion of the Grand Vizier “ smiled in his beard at the cleverness of the

H e Greeks . turned their answer against themselves, l saying, The Sultan , unwi ling to hurt the feelings of his good friend the Emperor, did not wish to begin to build without his formal permission ; but as the Emperor n o w declared the ground belonged to the d Franks, the Sultan , who oes not care a straw for the F feelings of the ranks, will without further delay pro c e ed with his fort

10 . The Greeks were thus entrapped by their own cunning. The Emperor and his councillors were in duty bound to consider carefully the situation . All

n rumours about the great ambition of the you g Sultan , all tales told in the bazaa rs about Sultan Murad having on his deathbed impressed on his son the duty

’ - ud- of conquering Constantinople ( Sa ad din) , all hints the Grand -Vizier thre w out concernin g the resolute

n e w character and probable policy of his master, were n o w substantiated by the stern fact that the Sultan was about to construct a fort almost at the very gates of Consta ntinople . They could not for a moment

’ seriously accept Chalils proferred explanation of the

’ aciﬁc to Sultan s p motives, and his desire protect only

to re resen t th e territo r in uestio n as belo n in to th e Fran ks p y q g g , ’ d-ud- n 1 3 S a a di , 6 .

1 0 6 OF CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . neglect and delay in executing engagements so solemnly

’ entered into . The Emperor s letter has not been pre

’ v t served , but from the Pope s answer it is e ident hat the Emperor did make some explanation and some a o A p logy. The Greek ambassador, ndronicus Brien

o r Leo n taras nius Leonardus ( ) , must have been received R 145 1 in ome about the end of September , as the Pope

’ Nichola s answer to the Emperor is dated 5 th October the same year. I n his answer the Pope reminds the Emperor of the solemnly - proclaimed union in Florence, of which the witnesses were all the Christian countries , t m amongs which he entions also England, Scotland ,

A n lico rum and Ireland testis est Britania, major g

sub ecta ditio n i t et a regis j , estis Hibernia Scotia, insul e maximae extra co n tin en te mpo sitae Only the Greeks seem to ignore the decree of the Union tameh apud Graeco s U n io n is hujusmo di decretu m silentio tegitur The Pope did not dissimulate the irritation of the

The Holy See at the conduct of the Greeks . last sentences of his letter are not only emphatic, but

I f ou t almost menacing y , wi h your nobles and the

le peop of Constantinople , are ready to execute the de

ﬁn d us cree of the Union , you will and our venerable

Occi brethren the Cardinals , together with the whole

n dental Church , always willi g to work for your honour and your State ; but if you and your people ref use to

t a a s m execute h t decree, you will force to ake such G DIPLOMATIC NE OTIATIONS . 10 7

provisions as may seem fit to u s for your own salvation

’ ’ o ur and for honour. A s a proof of the Emperor s

m a honest intentions, the Pope de anded that the Patri rch

J h ad a oseph , who been banished from the p triarchal throne in consequence of his fa ithful adherence to the 1 n Union , should be recalled and rei stated . With that letter and its categoric declaration s Leonardus return ed to Con stan tin 0 ple towards the end of the autumn 145 1 . 1 1 D — 4 . uring the winter of 145 1 1 5 2 the Emperor c ontinued his endeavours at the Ports to induce the Sultan to abandon his intention s concerning the fort. But all his representations were of no avail . Mohammed pushed only the more actively his prepara tions . The best masons were selected from all parts of

. the Empire, and brought to the shores of the Bosphorus

Building materials were collected , many Christian churches and ruined castles serving as quarries . The

’ A rchangel s Zchurch in Lo emo co pia was the ﬁrst to be

o n pulled d wn . Several plans for the buildi g of the castle were elaborated, and one in the form of a

A s ﬁ ure n triangle chosen . a g of cabalistic meani g , it w a s supposed to augur success . Some thought the triangular shape was adopted in honour of the Sultan , the ﬁrst letter in his name being of the triangul a r form . Probably simply technical considerations de

1 Th e wh o le letter rin ted in Ra n aldi A n n a lee ecclesia stici xviii. p y , ,

3 76 . 8 o r 1 0 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

termin ed the adoption of the plan, as triangular forti

ﬁcation s were popular in that age. The Sultan left A drianople on the 26th of March

145 2 n , and timed his jour ey so as to reach on the seven th t n ew day the spot selec ed for the fort, where

ﬁve thousand masons were waiting for his arrival . The foundations were immediately laid with great Kurban

u festivities , rams being sla ghtered and their blood freely

ﬁr t mixed with the chalk and mortar in the s layers. When the earliest reports of the commencement of the works reached Constantinople , the Emperor seemed disposed to make a sally, and , sword in hand, stop the

D w a proceedings. Constantine ragasses s in fact rather a simple , honest soldier than a skilful diplomatist . But his councillors prevailed upon him to abandon

tr n e w . the idea, and to y a mission to the Sultan

N ew envoys were sent . This time the Greeks

! spoke plainly, saying Should the Sultan persist in raising the fort he would practically break peace with the Greeks, and violate the treaties which his pre decesso rs had kept loyally, and which he himself had ” c on ﬁrmed by solemn oath . They declared further that Constantinople could not enjoy peace, nor would

a n as peace be of y value to its citizens, as long

o ff starvation , viz ., the cutting of the importation of l corn , shou d hang over their heads, like the sword of t Damocles. The Emperor was qui e willing to pay a yearly tribute, but he considered it his duty to insist

1 1 0 CON QUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

“ a ! a struck their breasts, excl iming Here are the l st times ! Here are the days of Antichrist and of our

! u s ? B 0 destruction What is coming upon etter,

us Lord, let die by a pestilence than that our eyes

a should see the f ll of our city, or our ears should

‘ Th n o w hear y enemies tauntingly ask , Where are the saints that watch over their town

B ut there were numbers of men , without families a n d w h o without home, looked on with contemptuous smiles when the artisans and shopkeepers hurried to th e churches to cross themselves a thousand times a n d touch the ﬂ o o r with their foreheads hundreds o f

ﬁlle d times . The numerous small inns were with men without occupation , who , over bowls of spiced

. Of wines, laughed loudly at the fright of the citizens

few such men , a companies of volunteers were formed , which on their own account sallied forth through th e northern gate to drive away the Sultan and his masons . None of them returned to the city. They were all cut to pieces or taken prisoners by the

Turks .

’ Sa ad - ud-din relates that the S ultan or dered

- A o -Tch ailo u Mohammed Bey, the son of , to ravage the immediate neighbourhood of Constantinople, and m that this com ander captured much cattle, and made prisoners of all the Greeks that he found in the ﬁelds o utside the city. Possibly it was this Mohammed Bey who encountered and cut do wn the Greek 1 DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS . 1 1

ﬂ in volunteers , and who afterwards with his y g column

watched the gates of Constantinople.

’ The same historia n mentions that the in ﬁdels

’ as confusion w extreme after the Sultan s answer. t They did not know what to do , he adds, excep to send their friend Chalil a present of so me big ﬁshes ” ﬁlled with gold . Chalil certainly did his utmost to persuade the Sultan to at leas t reassure the Emperor by renewing assurances of peaceful intentions. But the Sultan thought it be t te r to leave that suggestion to be considered and decided afte r their return to

A . k C a c drianople It is most li ely halil g ve his advi e ,

ﬁsh es ﬂo ated not because of the golden , which probably only in the imagination of the enemies of

- the Grand Vizier, but from political considerations .

’ H e knew well that the Emperor s ambassadors h ad

s been sent to the European Courts, and that de pair

ro sometimes p ves to be a source of great strength . A t s a cau ious man , he might have honestly and in good faith advised his master not to push matters to the extreme . The fort was completely ﬁn ish ed after four months 25 of assiduous work. Its walls were feet thick ; each of its angles was fo rtiﬁ e d by a strong and high l tower, armed with cannon which cou d throw balls of granite or basalt of enormous size; Several smaller towers connected those three principal ones. “ The Sultan gave the fort the name of Boghasi o r 1 1 2 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

” 1 Kesen o ff , the fort that cuts the straits , and 40 0 J placed in it a garrison of anissaries, under the

‘ Firh udin -B e H e command of y. then rode with a strong escort towards the walls of Constantinople

ﬁ i n On ﬁrst and reconnoitred its fo rti cato s. the of

September he reached his residence on the Maritza.

12. The Emperor Constantine was on his side earnestly engaged in preparations for the defence of

a H e his c pital . called out volunteers, and purchased provisions and military stores. But these orders h were given wit some apprehension , the Treasury

a H e being lmost empty. despatched letters and s agent to his brothers , who reigned in the Peloponnesus, t almost as independent sovereigns , reques ing them to sen d troops to assist in the defence of the Byzantine

in metropolis . No doubt he corresponded the same sense

A a with George Scanderbeg, the Prince of lb nia, with

t a Despo George of Serbia, and Hunyady of Hung ry . His special ambassadors left again Constantino ple J 145 2 R in anuary on their way to Venice and ome. They were in some degree successful with their

. ﬁ rst mission to the Doge Venice, being the naval

co and mmercial power of that age, had great interests at stake in Constantinople and the Levant. Its Government had independent and reliable information

’ about the Sultan s movements and projects , and were

1 “ Later the o rt o btain e d the n ame o f R umili- issar whic h it f H , be ars to this day .

1 1 4 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

a n d m C n an d ships with men ar s to o stantinople , urged him 1 to do so likewise . R Meanwhile the Greek ambassadors reached ome .

They were honourably received , as they brought posi tive assurances of the readiness of the Empire to accept formally, honestly, and seriously the Union of

P 0 e the Churches. The p and the Cardinals were

ratiﬁed highly g , and set at once to work. Special Legates were sent to all more important European

Courts, but the greatest importance was attached to the missions to Paris and to London . A t that time it was the general impression in Europe that if a n ew crusade against the Turks was

u it to be carried to a successf l issue , must be under taken and conducted by France. The greatest publi cist of the time, the acknowledged European authority on all questions concerning the East, Francesco

P hilelh o th e p , expressed this opinion very clearly in memorandum which he addressed to the King of

h H e France on the 1 3 t of March 145 0. urged the King to undertake the task because he was the on ly it sovereign in Europe who could do , and because all i the Christian world expected that he would do t. H e discussed the arguments which the King might

n bri g forward as an excuse , and of which the only — serious one was that the hostility of England pre vented him doin g what otherwise he would gladly

1 Re n aldi A n n a lee E ccleswstiei ix. 6 05 . y , , G T DIPLOMATIC NE O IATIONS .

“ undertake . But it is not at all likely, continues

P hilelho p , that Englishmen would prevent you entering upon such a sacred enterprise ; the English are a religious people , and it is more probable that they will be ready to follow you , after the example of their i forefathers , Who always followed the French k ngs and assisted them whenever these moved against the ”1 in ﬁdels.

D was Philippe , uke of Burgundy , who considered the champion of the Eastern Christians , did his best to induce the King of France to put himself at the head of the movement to save Constantinople . The 145 1 i moment he got, in , the information (most l kely through letters from the Emperor Constantine) of the

' h e changed situation at the Bosphorus , sent Sire J ean de Croy and the Chevalier J acques de La laing as C his special envoys to King harles, and invited him to combine with him and the King of Sicily to save 2 Constantinople .

N o w 145 2 in the beginning of , shortly after

’ Constantine s n ew embassy made satisfactory declara

1 N ec esttibi prae te rea subveren dumn a quid adve rsumte tumul tus in Fran cia a utin regn iq ue tuo Gallia per A n glo s in surga tcumex ercitumadversus in ﬁdeles edux eris n am n oc ue i si n li ullo modo , q p A g atien tur utsun tho min es reli io n i dediti sed tam iae ta m san cta e p g , p , , tam lo rio sae ex editio n is ex ertes duci sed o sitis et ro g p p , p p stratis c un ctis simulta tibus ro ter Christum alacres te se uun tur imi p p q , ta ti ” — scilicetma o res suo s & c. P hilelhi a d GallumRe emadho rtatio j , p g , E isto la e ii 1 2 p , . . 2 Baran te H istoire des Dues de B ou r o V1 1. , g gne, 5 . 1 1 r 6 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE . tions in Rome ( at the end of J anuary or the beginning

’ dE sto utteville of February) , the Pope sent Cardinal

Ar R to the King of France, and the chbishop of avenna to King Henry of England, with the instructions to invite them to make peace and jointly turn their arms to support Constantinople against the Turks . The King of France declared himself quite willing to make peace with England and hasten to assist the m ’ E peror of the Greeks. But King Henry s answer to ’ ff the Pope s Legate was to the e ect, that of peace they could only speak at some future day when the English had reconquered by arms all the places they

” 1 ’ d E s o u evill had lost in France . Cardinal t tt e re mained in France, at the request of King Charles , to conduct the n ew investigation into the case of the

A R re Maid of Orleans, but the rchbishop of avenna “ i all turned from England , hav ng lost hope of seeing ” peace concluded Spe pacis suble ts abcessisse The results of these important missions were very disappointing. The Pope must have seen the po ssibil

A s ity of being left alone to help . an honest man he 1 declared a t once to the Greek ambassadors that, tho ugh in the worst case he will assist the Emperor

o alone, his help cannot be great, and will not g

few beyond sending a ships with men and money . H e advised the ambassadors to go themselves to visit the more important Courts of Europe, and impress upon

1 Re n aldi A n na lee E cclesiasttci xviii. 5 5 . y , , 7

1 18 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

r t . v Empero Frederick , cer ain declarations Syl ius, one

e of the most brilliant orators of the time, describ d

' vividly the great suﬁerin gs and misfortunes the Christians had endured since the arrival of the Turks H f in Europe. e spoke strongly of the indif erence

' and coldness of the European princes, who looked on un moved while the Mohammedan power grew

Un ortu strong at the expense of the Christians . f n a tel the S a ra cen s so y, he said, ( he called the Turks) a re fa r more a rden tin their inﬁdelity tha n w e a r z ea l i ur e look on violen ce don e to e ous n o fa ith. W Christia n s a nd rema in quiet our religion is tra mpled dow n a nd in da n er to be u tu n der the oke etw e on l g p y , y y tu rn o ur eyes on the other side At the conclusion of the address Sylvius declared that the Emperor Frederick had ﬁrmly resolved to lead his armies against the Turks, but of course relied upon the powerful support of the Pope, whose word

in this hol en ter rise could unite all the faithful y p , 1 and secure its ultimate success.

The Pope gave his blessing, but his answer was not H quite satisfactory . e said personally he did not desire anythin g more fervently than to see an earnest crusade undertaken again st the Turks ; but before making any promises binding on the Holy See, he must ﬁrstinform himself of the desires and intentions of other Christian Courts.

1 — The wh ole s eech in Ra n aldi A n n a lee xviii. 5 90 5 93 . p y , , DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS .

A Frederick fter the conference returned to Vienna, an d seemed very soon to have forgotten everything that w as promised in his name at Rome.

a 0 an The Greek mbassadors , losing h pe of y serious w support from the Western po ers, begged the Pope to send at least the help he had himself pledged to them . The Pope replied that he was willing to act when the

tw o ﬁn all l union of the Churches was y accomp ished , and the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Greek clergy had solemnly acknowledged the pa pal su pramaoy. The poor Greeks declared themselves ready to accept all the conditions if the Pope would only send men and money for the defence of their capital. Thereupon Cardinal Isidore was appointed Papal

a Leg te, with a special mission to Constantinople .

Isidore was a Greek by nationality. Many learned Greeks and Serbians of the ﬁfteen th century went to

R . ussia to make for themselves a career Isidore , by his erudition and energy , had succeeded in placing on his head the mitre of A rchbishop and Metropolitan of Moscow. Being actually the most learned Russian R prelate , he was sent as representative of the ussian

the Church to Council of Florence . There he sub scribed to the Union of the Churches . But both the

R ussian Church and the R ussian ‘ Co urtrepudiated his

R u action , and he was obliged to leave ssia and seek H refuge in Rome . e w as received there with great 1 2 r 0 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

3 . honours, promoted to the dignity of Cardinal , and a most important and delicate mission was now entrusted to him .

On w a his y to the Greek capital , the Cardinal A stopped at several islands in the rchipelago, and called for volunteers to enrol themselves under the

a a . Pap l b nner. But he was not very successful Only a few volunteers joined him (some say not more ﬁft l than y ) , and with them he arrived in Constanti n o le o v mber 1 2 p at the beginning of N e 45 .

There he found the position very sad and gloomy. Commerce had been completely paralysed by the im recent events, and by the general feeling of an pending catastrophe . The people were without work, t and almost wi hout bread. They were in constant alarm in consequence of the continually recurrin g rumours of the appearance of Turkish irregular cavalry , who plundered and burnt the farmhouses, and destroyed the crops under the very walls of Constanti n o le . efﬁ cien t p Everyone felt that, without early and

a assistance from the West , the c pital must fall a prey to the overwhelming power of the Turks ; yet the majority of the bitiz en s were full of bitterness and hatred against everything Latin . The lower orders o f priests , monks, and nuns (and Constantinople was crowded with them) thought it a less evil that the Sultan should take up his abode in the Old Imperial S t Palace, and Sophia be transformed into a mosque ,

1 22 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

14 a b . Meanwhile the populace, he ded y monks and priests, ran through the streets , hurling anathemas at the betrayers of their Church and the Empire , and expressing in every possible w ay their utter disgust and abhorrence of the ceremony then going on in S t

n n a iu Sophia. Some one mentioned the name of Ge d s.

a it Thousands immedi tely echoed , and great masses of people rushed to the monastery of Pantocrator. The monk Gen n adius— otherwise known by his secu — lar name of Gregorius Scho larius w as at one time a senator, and famous for learning and patriotism. It was he Wh o gave a curious interpretation to an in scrip C tion on the tomb of onstantine the Great , declaring it to be a prediction of the conquest of Constantinople

en n adius by the Turks . G accompanied the Emperor J ohn to the Council of Florence, and there deeply impressed the Latin doctors by his erudition . H e C signed there the hurch Union , but having returned to

o wn Constantinople, cursed his deed, resigned his

o fﬁces . A s , and withdrew from the world Father

Gen n adius he lived in the cloister of Pantocrator, from whence he directed the agitation against the reconcilia tion with Rome.

A n d n o w 1 2th , on this of December, dense crowds of people gathered around the walls, and pressed against the gates of that famous monastery, calling upon Gen n adius with impatient voices to direct them H in this emergency . e had the courage on the 1 5 th DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS .

November to speak from the pulpit, in the presence of

o th e . N o w the Emperor and his C urt, against Union he did not personally appear, but caused a written declara tion to be nailed on the gate of the monastery. People pressed eagerly to read the words which were written

o u ! y Greeks , worthy of all pity Where have your errors carried you Yo u are unfaithful to your

Go d , placing your hope only on the help of the Franks, and with your city you give also your faith to ruin May God be merciful to me ! I do ' not carry your ! shame on my soul Unhappy ones, stop a moment and consider what you do ! With your city you lose

o the faith your fathers have left you , and g over to ” 1 in ﬁdelity Woe to you on the Day of Judgin en t1 This written answer of Gen n adius was like oil on ﬂ m a es. The excited people left the place more angry and miserable than when they arrived there . Some of the more moderate citizens ventured to observe that, after all , without the help of the Latins, the city would be captured by the Turks ; but the mob shouted angrily !

B etter w e should be Turks tha n La tin s

The addresses given by a Bohemian that day at several places in the city greatly increased the excite

H e ment of the people. had been Catholic, and had

J H e later turned a follower of ohn Huss . told the

1 ' — Du ca s 1 41 Leona rdo 25 Ube tP useulus vers 4 488. Gena , , 7 ; r . , . 77 ’ ' din s M emo ran dumto h m er r a i e s t e o a in st th e n io n in P . M u E p g U , g

P a trolo ia! Cursus vo l. clx w her a r he g , . , e e also his man ifesto es to t citiz en s dated 27th o vember an d 12th December , N . 1 24 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE . crowds who thronged to hear him all sorts of stories about the evil practices of the Popes, each story more 1 absurd and disgusting than the other.

w as th e It generally known that Minister of State ,

K r A F y Lucas Notaras, the Great dmiral of the leet,

o and a relative of the Emperor, was decidedly opp sed to n H e the U ion . had not only refused to assist at

S t S O hia r the ceremony, in P , but loudly spoke to eve y one who chose to listen , that he preferred far more to see in Constantinople the turban of a Turk than the 2 helmet of a Latin . All this produced a painful impression upon the

H e Emperor Constantine. heard the curses heaped upon him at the very moment when he was sacrificing his own personal feeling to save , if possible , the ancient

H e Empire. did not attempt to suppress the disorders b y military force, but permitted the unfortunate people to cry themselves hoarse . When worn out with their l own vio ence, the crowds grew still , and a sullen quiet ness reigned throughout Constantinople almost more unbearable than the wildest clamours . A fter the 1 2th o f December a melancholy solitude St settled down upon the splendid church of Sophia, as

it a scarcely any one went into to pr y. Most of the so - called everlasting lights burning before some of “ ” extin the relics and of the miraculous eikons , were

uished g long before the arrival of the Turkish Imams .

1 — 1 Ubert. P useulus er 3 1 5 8 Ducas loo , v s. 5 5 . , . cit.

1 26 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

m hast gone abroad y mother has died, and shortly

d Can tacuz en after her ied also , who was capable of impartial judgment ; Lucas Notaras asserts loudly that w he alone knows hat ought to be done, and that nothing is good and wise except his o wn words an d

Do mestico s a deeds . The great is angry ag inst the

J Can tacuz en Serbians, and goes hand in hand with ohn . I With whom, then , can take counsel With the monks ? or with men who are as ignorant as they ? With the nobles Every one of them belongs to one

party or another, and would betray to others the secret 1 I might co n ﬁde to him

5 . 1 However, in the midst of all these troubles and anxieties Constantine did not forget the duty of pre paring as well as possible for the defence of his

capital . Provisions of all sorts, especially corn and m oil , were collected into the State agazines ; all the

princes and independent rulers, near and distant, were appealed to for military assistance ; special commis

sio n ers were appointed to repair the city walls, and con ﬁ t il scription made of all men for m itary service. A s

the Treasury became exhausted, and as the appeal to 2 a l the p triotism of the higher classes proved of little avai ,

S n kl to s the Emperor, on the advice of his y y , or Privy

Council, ordered that churches and monasteries should

1 ra n tzes 222 P h , . 9 E lpo vero I mperado rcumlachrime do man da va prestassen o dan ari er co n dur ro viso n ati et uelli in ra vo n o esser o veri dis atti ch p p q p , f , e ” — da o i resi il i n o r urch o uelli tro vo richissimi. Dol n 2 p p S g T q ﬁ , 2 . 1 27 DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS.

ri deliver up to the impe al mint their gold and silver,

n a t to be coi ed for the use of the St e , and gave them in exchan ge receipts engaging to repay them fourfold 1 s when the peril menacing the city had pa sed away. Allthis while Constantine continued in Adrianople his diplomatic endeavours to avert the danger.

- u Chalil Pasha, though compelled to be doubly caref l and cautious on account of the in creasing in ﬂuen ce

rt n o w n of the war pa y, worked conti ually , and in his

D n way , for peace . espot George Brankovich was doi g the same.

n ﬂ u n But all these i e ces were unavailing. The idea of capturing Constantinople had taken complete pos session of the mind of the Sultan . From boyhood an

the ﬁlle d admirer of great conquerors, he was with ambition to immortalize his name by a notable co n

H e quest . clung to this idea with religious fervour, and this very likely gave some foundation for the popular version that his father Murad , when dying, had commended to him the conquest of Consta ntinople 2 as his last desire. The exhaustion of the natura l — allies of the Greek Empire the Serbians and H un

arian s— A g the confusion in Peloponnesus and in lbania , echoes of wars between France and England , perhaps also the knowledge that the P o n tiﬁcalChair in Rome — was occupied by an old man who preferred to c ollect i books and bind them beautifully, to undertak ng the

’ 1 2 - - P hra ntzes 2 6 . a ad i , 5 S ud d n . 2 1 8 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

terrible anxiety involved in th e organiza tion of a n e w — crusade all these gave fresh encouragement to M O

’ h amme d s . H e ambitious plans consulted astrologers,

and what they told him , and what he read himself

from the stars , only contributed to hurry him onward . But he consulted also much with experienced men of h war, discussed with t em the plans of campaign , and himself drew up sketches of the proposed dispositions

of his army.

H e da was occupied with this question y and night,

b e and became quite sleepless, so intent was upon devising the best means for capturing the ancient ye t

- a On never old , world famed residence of the C esars.

- one occasion a bout midnight he sent for Chalil Pasha .

The old Grand -Vizier through all his long career had never yet been disturbed at such an unusual hour. Even a man with a perfectly clear conscience might well have felt uncertain whether he was not called to encounter the rage of the impulsive Sultan , whose ear

a was not always closed to intriguers and c lumniators .

Chalil appeared before the Sultan , carrying above his l head a bowl ﬁled with golden coins . Mohammed was sitting on his bed, completely dressed . When he saw his grey - bearded Vizier enter bearing the bowl

Wha tdoes this after the fashion of slaves, he asked , “ ” mea n m La la m un cle S ire l , y ( y ) , answered Chali ,

ld customtha t di n ita ries o sta te when the itis a n o g f ,

ha h ca lls or them a t un usua lhours shou ld n ot P a dis f ,

1 3 o r LE 0 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOP .

h u w a k a l o d l t y desire. I t rn n o nd loo on e t Go . Shou d

itbe H is w illtha tthe cit be thin e where is he who ca n y , oppose H is w ill I f H e shou ld in spire thee w ith a

desire or ea ce I sha ll be on l too ha . H ow ever I f p , y ppy ,

relea se thee roma llth oa ths a n d trea ties with me a n d f y , ,

closin the a tes o m ca ita l I willd en d m eo le g g f y p , ef y p p to the la stdrop of my bloo d R eign in happin ess u n til

' the A ll ust the S u reme J ud e ca lls us both b ore H is y , p g , ef ” 1 judgmen tsea t! There is a remarkable simplicity and quiet dignity

in this letter. It breathes the spirit of a brave soldier,

o s a dev ted Christian , and an Emperor deeply consciou

of his duty to his people and to his own name.

1 Duca s 1 1 , 4 . R V C H A P T E .

MILITARY A RRANGEMENTS o r THE Basmc sns AN D

r B o THE ESIEGED.

TH E last letter of the Emperor Constantine to the Sultan conveys the impression of its bein g an answer to a formal ultimatum . The date of the actual declaration of war has not been preserved From certain expressions of Kyr

s Luca , which we shall mention hereafter, it would seem that the war was held to have begun in December 4 2 1 5 . Certainly both parties were openly preparing for it durin g the winter months. Experiments with the monster can non of the age constructed by Urban were made early in the be

145 3 r ginning of , to the g eat satisfaction of the “ H - Sultan . e named it Basilica. Karadja Bey was ordered to proceed with a corps of irregular cavalry to escort the huge gun to the walls of Con

in l stan t op e. This expedition started one day in

r Februa y, and required not less than six weeks to reach its destination . The can non was drawn by 6 0 200 yoke of oxen, men marched on each side to 1 3 2 CONQUEST o r CONSTAN TINOPLE .

it support , while a company of pioneers and sappers

’ Kara d a s ﬂ in levelled roads and made bridges. j y g corps was meanwhile scouring the country around

Constantinople. It is especially mentioned by the chroniclers that on this occasion the castle of San

Stefano was taken by storm and sacked. A rmed bands, led by Timar and Ziyamet Beys ,

ﬁefs the chiefs of the numerous military , were assembling on the plains around Adrianople during

r the ﬁ stweeks of March . The Sultan held a grand review of his troops in the second half of that month .

On this occasion the most popular Ulemas, Sheiks, and

- ff the white robed descendants of the Prophet, o ered up prayers in the midst of the army for the successful 1 issue of the campaign .

On 23rd Friday, the of March , Mohammed himself left A drianople with Jan issaries and several thousand Spahis, his best troops.

The plans for the siege had been leisurely arranged ,

all and perfected in their details. Every commander knew the exact spot he w as to occupy before the walls of Constantinople . A small corps w as detached to

e S elimbria ke p in check , and to prevent its garrison

Turachan and people sending help to the capital .

e i Pasha had a large army in Th ssaly, hold ng in check both Scanderbeg in Albania and the Emperor’s " brothers in the Peloponnesus. To prevent the latter

’ 1 - - S a ad ud din , 5 6 .

1 3 4 OF CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

might injure the interests of his Prince and country .

r Besides, some friendly Christians in the neighbou hood informed him c o n ﬁden tially that the Turkish garrisons in the towns through which his corp s would have to pass on its w ay back had been ordered i not to allow it to return . There remained noth ng but to resume the march to the Sultan ’s camp under the walls of Constantinople . On the 6th of April the Sultan and his suite arrived at a spot one Italian mile distant fro m t Constantinople. The owers and the domes of the great city were plainly visible. A s a true M ussul

ﬁrst man , Mohammed ordered that his carpet should

un rolled an d be , he turned towards Mecca and prostrated “ . R tellals himself in prayer ising, he sent (public criers) to proclaim through the entire camp ! The siege of the city had n o w begun ! Ulemas were ordered to “ ru to visit each regiment, to incite the t e believers

o g cheerfully to the work , as the Prophet had plainly promised that this renowned and wealthy town should 1 be theirs . At daybreak of the 7th of April the lines were

the tow n drawn nearer , and each commander led his ‘ troops to the position previously assigned them . The Sultan ’s tent was pitched on the eastern slope

n o w - e of a small hill , known as Mal Tepp , lying some StR what to the right of the gate of oman .

' 1 - - S a a d ud din 15 . , 7 R RR G MILITA Y A AN EMENTS .

In front and on both sides of the Sultan ’s tent were

an issaries placed the J , and in front of these, directly S t R ’ opposite to the oman s gate , the great Basilica and three other enormous guns were formed into a mi for dable battery. On fourteen other points batteries of four ordinary cannon were erected . Nine of these batteries were

so strengthened by one additional and heavier piece ,

“ 5 6 r 1 2 that ordina y and great cannon , besides The

6 9 r Basilica, making altogether cannon , we e placed in o p sitions against the land walls of Constantinople . No contemporary po wer could show anything approach ing this formidable artillery of the Sultan in magni 1 tude. h These batteries were ready by the 11t of April.

r This, conside ing the circumstances , speaks well for the skill of the engineers and the energy of the com manders of the Ottoman artillery .

s Besides the cannon , which repre ented the most modern weapon of the time , there were placed t between the batteries some of the old ca apults , which threw large stones against the walls and into the

' Ta teh -ul- Te a h town . In the Turkish History v rm it is stated ! Stones thrown by the catapults and arbalets ca rried before the Eternal J udge the enemies ” 2 who defended the forts and towers of Stamboul .

1 P hra ntzes Duca s B a rba ro Do l n o an d o th ers , , , ﬁ , . 1 med-D e B e ta tMilita re tt n 2 A h vad E i O oma i 05 . j y, , . 1 3 6 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE.

An d the use of these antiquated machines is also

Tedardi mentioned by Giacomo , who was one of the 1 volunteer defenders of the city. The right wing of the Turkish position was occupied A by troops levied in sia Minor, under the command of

- A n adol . Mustapha Pasha, the y Beyler Bey The left wing was composed of troops levied in the Balkan Pen insula and commanded by the Rumili Beyler Bey Tur achan . Behind the centre of the position was placed

n a stro g reserve . On the other side of the Golden

- - Horn , Zagan Pasha and Karadja Bey occupied a hill

ﬁeld and a , which at that time formed the common of

Galata, and on which the suburb of Pera was afterwards built. Zagan and Karadja kept the Italian suburb of

Galata in check , and their battery at the top of the hill commanded the western portion of the Golden

Horn . N0 previous Ottoman Sultan had marshalled so numerous an army as the one brough t together by

Mohammed under the walls of Constantinople. Eye witnesses and contemporaries disagree about its numerical strength ! Chalco cho n dylas estimated it at men ; Archbishop Le onardo at Ducas

P hran tz es says it had men, the author

Thr n os of y (adding, however, that of true Turks there were not more than Evliya- Chelebi says that the spoil of Constantinople was divided

1 n rm ion 2 I fo ac , 2 .

1 3 8 C o r ONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

1 Christians of Greece and other countries. The anonymous author of the Thryn os gives us even the — precise number thirty thousa n d ! This sad detail

co n ﬁrmatio n Ar receives from the chbishop of Chios. “ ” B u twho ha s in actbesie ed the cit h e f g y, asked him

a n d who has ta u ht the Turks the milita r a rt self , g y , if n otthe Christia n s themselves I ha ve seen with my own e es tha t the Greeks the La tin s the Germa n s the y , , ,

H un a ria n s a n d men o ever other Christia n n a tion g , f y a lit w ere mixed u with the Turks a n d with them y p , 2 together stormed the w a lls This fact conclusively shows the moral confusion then prevalent amongst the Christians in the Balkan m Peninsula, and it is doubly sad when co pared with the state of things which prevailed in Constantinople itself. The Emperor Constantine had exhausted every effort

al to obtain reinforcements, and to place the capit in the best possible state of defence. The Pope began to bestir himself only after he received the report from his Legate tha t the Union had been formally and solemnly proclaimed . But the representations which he sent to other powers had not much practical effect. A Only Venice and lfonso, the King of Naples , decided to equip each ten galleys to join the other ten warships which the Pope promised to supply at his own expense . ﬂ But much time was lost in equipping this eet. Nottill

2 th A r the 7 of pril , after the siege had been in prog ess

1 1 I n ormae Leon ardo da S ti o La P resa 25 8 . on 25 . f i , , , R R G T 1 3 9 MILITARY A AN EMEN S .

did for three weeks, the Pope sign letters formally

acob A R to empowering J , the rchbishop of agusa, take 1 Ou charge of the equipment of the promised galleys. the 7th of May the Venetian squadron sailed from 2 . a ﬂeets Venice More time el psed before the united , and they did n o t arrive at the island Euboea till the second day after Constantinople had fallen ! The repairs of the walls of the city had been un fortunately placed under the superintendence of tw o

m . onks, skilled in engineering, but greedy and dishonest

It was believed that some of the money, destined for

’ fo rtiﬁcatio n s . H o w the , went into the monks pockets

be ever that may , the condition of the walls when the Turks appeared was so bad that the Greeks were afraid to place heavy cannon upon them ! The outside wall had been repaired by th e Emperor J ohn Palaeologus some time between 143 3 and

n The inner and higher wall , connecti g on the land side 1 12 not less than square towers , had not been

fo 1 12 thoroughly repaired r centuries . Most of these towers had been constructed in the ninth and tenth centuries . The walls and the towers along the Golden Horn all dated from the time of the Emperor

Th 0 hilus A D 2 e p ( . . 8 9 Oh one of the towers on the side of the Sea of Marmara (between Koum - Kapou and Yeni -Kapou)

1 Ra na ldi A n n a lee E ee y , les ., xviii. 6 10 . 1 3 A cta A reh ivi Ven eti ii. 45 4. Mordtma n n 32. , , 140 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

a Greek inscription in bricks remains to this day, show ing that that particular tower and the wall adjoining it were rebuilt in the year 1448 at the expense of the 1 r Despot of Serbia, George Brankovich . What a ter ible

ﬁ n d ﬁve irony of fate, to only years later, the same Christian Prince assisting the Sultan with a contin gent of cuirassiers to take Constantinople !

An eman dra Dolphin mentions that the tower , near the

K lo - gate called y Porta, had been repaired by Cardinal 2 Isidore, probably with funds furnished by the Pope .

’ A n Tedardi s ccordi g to statement, the inner wall was 3 20 n about yards high, the outer bei g somewhat lower. Measurements made in our time have shown the ditch 4 to have been 40 yards wide. The weakest point in the walls was considered to be behind the Palace of H ebdomon (near the Egri

Ka o ussi - p of to day) , where there was only a single wall

n A without a y ditch . t the request of the Emperor A the Venetian captain lois Diedo set the , men from his ships to dig a ditch there. The work was inaugurated on the 14th of March with much ceremony in the presence of the Emperor and of the State d 3 l ign itaries. On the st of March the work was

1 04 i ts completed. The Diedo ditch was yards long,

- scarp being 1 5 and counter scarp 1 3 English feet deep .

1 in the Milelosieh Momanen ta Th e wh ole texto f the in scription , ’ S erbica 146 an d in Mordtman n s B ela erim n the o tes . 13 2. , p. , g gﬁ N , p 2 3 r ma n n 5 Dolhin 24 rma eion 23 . Mo dt 3 . p , . I nfo ,

1 42 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

n and moral courage , was exceedi gly discouraged by the results of the conscription . In order to avert a general panic at the very beginning of the defence, he directed that the particulars of the conscription should be kept secret , and at the same time ordered that all

w n ships , of hatever ationality, entering the harbour, d should be detaine , and if need be their crews com 1 t pelled to defend the walls. When told hat a few nobles and other people had left the town , the Emperor hi l ” 1 said not ng, but sighed deep y

o w ar In the great c uncil of , under the presidency of

ﬁn al the Emperor, which had to decide on the arrange

ﬁ rst ments for the defence, the and most important question was ! To whom should be entrusted the posi tion of StRoman ’s Gate ? The Turks had placed their heaviest cannon and their best soldiers opposite that

gate, and it was obvious that they intended to con

ﬁ r est centrate their e c attack on that point . When the Emperor raised the question none of the Greek and Latin captains present seemed willin g to

f an break silence or to of er y suggestion . Then sud den l J i o y uan Giust niani di L ngo, a Genoese captain — who had arrived with 5 00 volunteers well - armed

— in an uar Italian crossbowmen J y , rose , and bowing to

’ ! Trustin in God s hel I a mread the Emperor, said g p, y

’ sta nd there w ith m men a n d to the honour o Chri st to y , f s me defen d the ga te aga inst the a tta cks of the en emy

1 P hra n tzes 241 , p. . R R MILITARY A ANGEMENTS .

These simple and noble words were greeted by loud 1 cheers from all present. The Emperor thanked the

speaker, and promised to bestow on him the island of

Lesbos, with the dignity of a prince, if only the Turks should be repulsed . The Emperor f urther decided to make his o w n

r S t R was headqua ters in the Church of oman , which

in the immediate neighbourhood of the gate, and at that place of greatest danger and honour took under his command 3 000 of the best Greek and Latin

soldiers. i S t R To the r ght from the gate of oman, in a 2 t a l Charsi northerly direction , was the ga e c l ed as. T t here the Emperor pos ed a small company of Greeks , under command of the famous archer Theodore of 3 Karystos . The nex tgate was that of Polyandrium or Mily

m n a o u si driu o w C s . , called Edirne p The defence of this position was undertaken by the three Genoese

An Tro lo d brothers, Paolo, tonio, and y Bocciar i, with a ‘ s mall company of their countrymen . From this gate the walls extended somewhat to the

e r ast towards the Golden Horn , protecting the pa t of

Bla uern a the city called q , after the imperial palace

1 - Turco Graecia l. i. . 9 uo ted b Ra n aldi A n na lee , , p q y y , , xviii. 406 . 2 Ea rlier write rs place the ga te o f Charsias so mewh at mo re to th e ’ n o rth ; but Mo rdtman n s resea rc hes in Co n stan tin o ple have proved h i mistake — Mordtma n n 46 a n d 13 t e r . , 7 .

B a rba ro, 19. 1 44 o r C CONQUEST ONSTANTINOPLE .

which stood there . That position had been entrusted to the Venetian Baylo (Minister-Resident) Girolamo

Min n o ti , who commanded a corps formed of Venetian 1 residents and strangers. Further to the north the walls had no ditch to

. Calli aria defend them This position was called g , from the name of the adjoining suburb . It was ex pected that the Turks would here try to make a breach

. th e by undermining the walls With a View to this, Emperor entrusted the defence to a German mining 2 ohan n es . engineer, J Grant by name

The command at the north - western angle of the fortiﬁcatio n s C n e ion n ow A , at the gate called y g ( yvan

’ - Ka o u ssi Seray p ) was entrusted to the Pope s Legate , 3 Cardinal Isidore . From the central position at StRoman to the left was stationed a small company of Venetians, under

Dolhin o A the command of their countryman p . fter

ll u the conquest, the gate of this position was wa ed p, and even its name has been forgotten . Near that gate w as the one called Sylivria or Pygi n o w - Ka o u ssi fo r ( Silivri p ) , which obtained its com mander the learned Greek mathematician Theophilo

P alaeolo ue o g , assisted by the Genoese Mauricio Cattane and the Venetian Niccolo Mocenigo . A tthe next gate— its name has not been preserved

1 2 a a 1 hra n tzes 25 2 Duca s 203 . P hra n tzes 25 4. B arb r , 9 P , , , 3 1 P ran tzes 8 B a rba ra 16 P hra n tzes 25 3 B a rba/ro, 7 ; h , 25 , , .

1 4 6 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

Cho degetria was the most eastern gate in the walls

washed by the sea of Marmara.

A i — n o w - In the cropol s the Eski Seray, or the Old — Seraglio w as posted the ill- fated pretender to the

’ hr -E ﬁ en di Ottoman t one, Orkhan , with a small number

of his Turkish followers. All the positions from the Acropolis to the

C n e io n un y g , along the Golden Horn , were placed der

o taras the supreme command of Kyr Lucas N , the

-A wh o mil Grand dmiral, not only had the highest i

but tary rank in the Byzantine Empire, was generally considered a brave and experienced

o fﬁ cer , though he was not much liked on account

of his hasty temper. At the entrance of the harbour stood a tower in which the Venetian Gabriello Treviso posted himself ﬁft with y men . A strong iron chain was stretched across the mouth of the harbour. A portion of this chain has been I preserved in the Arsenal of Constantinople. t w as formed of huge oblong rings of oak enclosed in iron sheets and linked together by small iron

rings .

A r 1 5 long that chain, inside the harbou , galleys and a number of smaller craft were drawn up in several V lines, and placed under the orders of the enetian

A u captain , ntonio Diedo. There were in the harbo r

26 ! 5 5 altogether galleys of them Genoese, Venetian , RY RR MILITA A ANGEMENTS . 1 47

3 1 An co n itan 1 i 1 Fr Cretan , , Span sh , and ench , while 1 the remaining 1 0 were Greek.

earer to a N the centre of the town, in the free sp ce surrounding the Church of the Holy A postles (where n o w n la Fethi sta ds the mosque of the Su t n Mohammed ) , 700 was stationed a corps of about men , mostly

r r recruited from the monks , as a rese ve fo ce under the

his command of Demetrius Cantacuzene, and of son 2 in - law N icepho ras Palaeologus. All the corps at the walls had priests and monks attached to them for the purpose of cons tantly sayin g masses and offering special prayers . In all the churches day and night services were to be performed almost without ceasing. The morning liturgies were generally concluded by processions through the streets and along the walls. The Emperor Constantine usually assisted at matins in the church which happened to be nearest as he made his early morning visits to the walls, and often

r was at the solemn se vices between morning and noon .

r Between these devotions and afte them, mounted on 3 A e re his rabian mare, followed by a small but chos n tin ue fortiﬁcatio n s i , he made the round of the , visit ng

the du t all the positions, impressing on the soldiers y

’ ” o en durin ever thin or f g y g f God s glory . H e would

1 1 P hra n tzes 25 0 . P hra ntzes 25 . , , 5 3 cco rdin to the o ular tradi ion eilde P A g p p t . Recu Cha nsons opu la ires Grec ues a ris . 4 q , P , p 7 . r 1 48 CONQUEST o CONSTAN TINOPLE . return to his headquarters behind the gate of St R oman, and after a short rest under a great tent start

- again on his tour of inspection . In this self imposed task the Emperor w as usually accompanied by his

P hran tz es the friend and by a distant cousin, Spaniard

Don Francesco di Toledo (the great - great - uncle of the

Duke of Alba) .

The suburb Galata, on the other side of the

fo rtiﬁe d Golden Horn , in itself a town , was mainly inhabited by Genoese. They formed a special com munity a Syndic, were independent of the ‘ under ’ Emperor s jurisdiction , and in intimate connection with

- their great mother republic . The Galata citiz en s

r were mostly avaricious merchants, not ca ing much for any considerations of public morality or higher

r policy, but looking always to secu e the utmost

ben eﬁts possible for themselves exclusively. The

Greeks heartily detested them as Catholics, arrogant foreigners, and unscrupulous competitors in commerce ; and the Genoese fully returned this enmity. Having heard from their compatriots in A drianople

’ of the Sultan s extensive preparations, the Galata Geno ese thought it quite compatible with their duty

i - r towards the r fellow Ch istians on the one hand , and their duty towards themselves on the other, to act energetically in two directions. They sent to Genoa pressing reports of the danger menacing Constanti n o le v p , and ad ised that military assistance should be

C H A P T E R V I .

TH E D IARI ES o r THE SIE GE.

TH E J ou rn a l kept by Niccolo Barbaro, a Venetian

Memoirs who fought on the side of the Greeks , the

’ of the Emperor s friend an d constant attendant

P hran tz es e , the report submitted to the Pop by

n A another defender of the city, Leo ardo, the rch

S lanon ie Dia r r bishop of Chios, and the y , w itten — most probably by an eye - witness these together afford sufﬁcien t materials for the reconstruction of the story of the struggle as it proceeded from day to day. The Turkish cannonade commenced on the 1 1th of

April. The signal was given by the ﬁrst shot from the “ ” giant Basilica. It seemed as though a sudden peal of thunder shook the earth and tore the skies, so deafening the crash and tar and wide its reverbera tions . Since the creation of the world nothing like it had been heard on the shores of the Bosphorus. In

terriﬁed the city not only women with their children, TH E D IAR I ES OF TH E SIEGE .

i but men also, rushed from their houses nto the “ s r K rie t eet, striking their breasts and exclaiming, y

le ’ w is n to ha en n ow E ysson . ha t goi g pp They were not reassured when exagg erated reports about the enormous size of the Turkish stone -balls quickly passed from mouth to mouth throughout the ' eke o h ez hele oli city. The Greek cannon (called ﬁ , p ) of the largest calibre threw balls not exceeding one

Ken ten ar 1 5 0 o . and a half , or Greek p unds The smallest Turkish balls thrown against the walls were not less than 200 Greek pounds in weight ; most of t ri 200 5 0 0 hem va ed between and pounds, while the Turkish battery in front of the gate of S tRoman was throwin g balls varying in weight from 800 to 1 200

Fo rtun atel to pounds . y much time was required clean and reload , so that , even when the Turks loaded with the greatest quickness , these huge cannon could be

ﬁred only seven times a day.

’ n i 2th A ri O the of p l, about one o clock in the after

the ﬂeet noon , Turkish appeared in sight of Constanti

l . n op e . It did not undertake anything The ships

r As dropped anchor nea the iatic shore, opposite the

Di lok n io n n o w s p y of that time ( known as Beshikta h) , The ﬂeet was not so imposing by the greatness of its mm galleys as by the number of smaller ships. F the tops of some towers in Constantinople the watchers believed they had counted about 145 bigger and ’ ﬂ smaller ships composing the Sultan s eet. 1 5 2 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

Between the 1 2th and i 8th of April nothing specially noteworthy happen ed. The cannonade went ff on day by day. But it had hardly any e ect . The Turks did not understand ho w to point their cannon

’ effi cien tl y. They were also obliged to repair Urban s ” first da giant Basilica, which on the or second y got out of order. It is specially mentioned that Urban strengthened its resistance to the charge by binding it with several iron rings. The Greeks endeavoured to lessen the effect of the great stone shot by pouring a mortar prepared with chalk and brick dust down the walls. Both parties discharged arrows and fired long an d

riﬂ es. riﬂes heavy These were as yet rare, and neither

Turks nor Greeks had a great number of them .

Still , as Barbaro expressly mentions, the Greeks had

o rifiemen more of them than the Turks. M st of the St R were posted at the gate of oman , where, as already stated, the choicest troops were gathered under fi ht the command of Giustiniani, to g under the eyes of the Emperor. Though the first eight days of the siege were not

vi interesting from a military point of ew, they were not without interest of a different kind. Shortly after the opening of the cannonade the

s J R ambas adors from ohn Hunyady, the egent of

r Hungary , arrived in the Turkish camp. With e “ ” s ectful - p greetings to the mighty Grand Turk ,

15 4 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . armistice had given the Sultan a free hand to attack

Constantinople, the cancelling of the same might be considered likely to induce the Sultan to desist from

But every measure undertaken by George Bran t kovich , however skilfully and logically planned, almos i mi nvariably ssed its purpose, and produced unexpected

l a memorable and undesirable resu ts . Once , in conver sation with the famous Franciscan monk John

G ! God a ve me wisdom Capistran , eorge himself said g butn o ood luck a n d m eo le will remember me a s a g , y p p w ise bu t u nfortwn a te P rin ce ! His people certainly had that opinion of him , and even generally believed his misfortunes were the Divine punishment for th e treason which his father, Vuk Brankovich , was supposed to have committed against Tzar Laz ar in the great

ﬁeld A .D. 1 3 89. battle on the of Kossovo, If fatality could constitute a sure mark whereby to

Bran kovich this recognize the work of George , Hungarian ’ Th mission to the Sultan s camp was his work. e ambassadors were allowed to visit the great battery in S t R ’ front of oman s Gate. When the Hungarian o ﬁicers saw ho w ﬁred the Turks their cannon , they t laughed loudly, and told them that notwi hstanding the weight of their balls they would never succeed in

An d e making a breach in the walls. then thes

Christians, who came to draw away the Sultan from

a the the walls of Const ntinople, actually instructed IA IE o r SI 1 THE D R S THE EGE . 5 5

Turkish artillery officers ho w to level their cannon effectively against these very walls ! All the more 1 important contemporary writers relate this fact. P hran tz es gives an explanation which seems to have H circulated among the people in the city. e says that the Hungarians really desired Constantinople to fall as soon as possible, as a Serbian hermit , famous for his

r gift of prophecy, had told Hunyady that Ch istendom would not get rid of the Turks until they had taken possession of Constantinople ! Ou the 1 8th of April the cannonade continued the

whole day as usual , intermingled with shots from the riﬂes and cross - bows whenever and wherever an

. ﬁ n e The enemy exposed himself It was a day.

shades of evening descended softly, and the full moon threw her pale light upon the wondrous beauty of the

’ . A Bosphorus bout nine o clock suddenly big drums,

z o urn és u cymbals, horns, and pipes ( ) echoed thro gh the

e Turkish camp along the whole line , and mass s of Turkish warriors advanced with loud shouts towards the walls. In the city at this hour vigils were being held in

ﬁlled most churches, and crowds of people the naves

and outside courts, holding lighted tapers in their

v hands, often throwing themsel es on their knees in

prayer at signals given from the altar. The beautiful

1 hra ntzes 23 Ducas 2 a leocho nd las 44 N . B a P , 9 ; , 75 Ch y , 8 ; r ba ro 2 , 1. 1 5 6 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

evening had tempted many people into the streets.

' -si n alw as Suddenly the alarm g sounded from the walls , and the bells from all churches and monasteries began immediately to ring clamorously. The congregations in terriﬁed the churches rushed out , and dispersed in c onfusion. The Slavonic chronicler, describing this

! The re orts o ri les the rin in o bells scene, says p f f , g g f , the cla shin o a rms the cries o htin men the shrieks g f , fﬁg g , o women a n d w a ilin o children roduced such a n oise f g f , p , tha it eemed a the ea r h t mbled Clouds o smoke t s s if t re . f

ell on the cit a n d the ca m a n d the comba ta n ts a t f w y p, ” 1 lastco uld n otsee each other.

The struggle lasted for some time after midnight . Barbaro wrote down in his J ourn a lthat the Emperor greatly feared the enemy would succeed in forcing an entrance . But the Turks relinquished the attempt , and l retired to their camp, leaving many ki led and A wounded in the moat and on the glacis. bout three

’ o clock in the morning quietness again reigned, broken o nly by the cries of the wounded for water or for l he p. The defenders of the walls were so exhausted by ﬁ ht the g that the Emperor, visiting all the positions before dawn , found in several places the sentinels and ? guards sleeping heavily Ou the 1 9th of April the Turks removed their

wounded from the glacis, then they carried away and

1 Th e S la vo nic hron icler . 2 . C , p 7

1 5 8 o r C CON QUEST ONSTANTINOPLE . part of the right wing of the Turkish army also witnessed the engagement. The Sultan himself rode w forth, ith a splendid retinue of Viziers and Pashas; to i the shore of the Sea of Marmara, draw ng bridle only when the waves began to wash the hoofs of his horse! The four Christian ships accepted battle with the 1 hi Turkish ﬂeetof 45 s ps. Crowds of people on the walls naturally trembled for what seemed to them the inevitable doom of their friends.

Gen o ese ' crews n B utthe Greek and were bor sailors. They used their Greek ﬁre so skilfully that in a short time it became evident that great confusion prevailed

n ﬂeet amo g the Turkish . The Sultan was dismayed

ﬁ ht a ﬂeet at the aspect the g ssumed , and when his

Di lok n io n turned back and sailed towards the p y , he H could not restrain his anger. e shook his ﬁstat the

a - O lou his A in cowards, cursed B lta g , dmiral , and a perfect fury spurred his charger into the sea.

But all this demonstration was of no avail . Balta

O lo u his an ch o rin lace g took ships back to their g p ,

‘ an dthe Christian ships sailed on until they dropped

r r thei anchors under the city walls, to the g eat joy of

a i n the citizens. L te in the even ng the chai which closed the harbour was lowered, two galleys, under the command o f the Venetian captains Gabrielo

r Grio ti i T evisani and Zacharia , sa led out, and with a continual ﬂo urish of trumpets brought into harbour i the four ships , whose capta ns and crews had done

o r C 1 60 CONQUEST ONSTANTINOPLE .

t present in o pity, and they fell on the ground before

i - the Sultan , mploring his mercy for Suleyman Bey .

ﬁrst Mohammed was softened, and replaced the sentence with a second one ! in the sight of the whol e

ﬂ eet , of which he had been until that morning the chief commander, and in the sight of the horsemen

- O lo u who accompanied the Sultan , Balta g received one hundred lashes, one accidentally destroying one of

co n ﬁscated his eyes . His property was also to be , and the proceeds of its sale to be divided amongst the

Jan issaries.

After this painful scene th e Sultan presided over a great military council specially convoked at Diploky

E m ero r nion . The embassy from the i p Constantine

n o w had arrived the preceding day, and the question placed before the Council was ! Should the propositions of the Emperor concerning peace be accepted or re jected ? The Grand - Vizier Chalil strongly argued that this opportunity should be seized to withdraw honourably H from before the walls. e stated that the assault of 1 8th A the of pril , and the naval engagement of the

re ous p ﬁ day, proved clearly it was not so easy to capture Constantinople , and that while none could foretell the length of the siege, all knew the longer it lasted the greater was the danger that a Christian

ir H e army might appear in the rear. reminded all those present that Hungary had already reclaimed its IA IE o r TH E SI 1 THE D R S EGE . 1 6

b t in li er y of action , that preparations were progressing

t ﬂeet Italy, and tha the Venetian might arrive any day. His conviction was that Constantinople would fall into the lap of the Sultan one day, as the ripe fruit falls from the tree, but he (Chalil) thought

r a that golden fruit not yet ipe . His propos l was to conclude peace with the Emperor on conditions which would drain the vital forces from Constantinople, and thereby accelerate the ripening of the fruit , and to that purpose he suggested the demand of ducats as the yearly tribute of the Emperor to the

Padishah .

’ A - ud- Ak -Shemz eddin ccording to Sa ad din , Sheikh

’ E ﬁen di A - a , the learned Ulema hmed Kur ni and Zagan l Pasha, earnestly opposed the arguments of Cha il . It w as hardly to be expected the military commanders would vote at this special juncture for peace . It therefore was not surprising that an overwhelming majority of the Council declared for the continuation of the siege .

’ The answer given to the Emperor s ambassadors was to the effect that peace could be concluded only on

’ r the Emperor s immediate surrende of the city. In that case the Sulta n would cede the entire Peloponnesus

u him to the Emperor, and g arantee to undisturbed peace and sovereignty in that State, while to the

’ r r Emperor s brothe s, Demet ius and Thomas , compensa tion could be given elsewhere. 1 6 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

The arguments of the Grand -Vizier only succeeded in convincing the military commanders that it was imperative to hasten the conquest. A s yet the city had been attacked only on one side, and therefore, however small the garrison , it was possible for the Greeks to concentrate their whole force to repulse the

a ass ult. It was clear that the chances of success would be in ﬁn itely increased if the city were sim ul l tan eo us y attacked on tw o sides . A s his military advisers seemed to be at a loss for practical suggestions, the Sultan laid before them a plan he had been studying for some time, and for eventual H execution of which he had made preparations . e drew attention to the fact that from the shores of the

Di lok n io n Bosphorus, at a point between p y and Galata ,

- a valley opened in a south western direction , skirting the western base of the hill overlooking Galata, and

n descending gently to the basin of the Golden Hor , and that it might be possible to transport ships from the Bosphorus through that valley into the harbour ! The whole distance was not above ﬁve Englis h miles. It is difﬁcult to say whether this idea was an

a original one with Mohammed. Barbaro s ys expressly that the Sultan got it from a Christian lifu insegna da un Christia n Archbishop Leonardo believes that some one had related to the Sultan what the

u r Venetians had done fo rteen yea s before, when they

1 64 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

In the night between the 2lst and 22n d of April the Turks had succeeded in thus transporting into the bay 1 of the Golden Horn some thirty ships. Giustiniani and his men were busy that night re S tR pairing the shattered tower at the gate of oman , closing the breach with barrels ﬁlled with earth and lashed together. The work was well done, and they

n n ﬁd n awaited the dawni g day with some c o e ce . d The citizens of Constantinople, especially the tra es

artiz an s r r . ﬁrst men and , were early ise s With the dawn of the 22n d of April the news spread that the Turkish ﬂ eet was in the bay People left their work

u w and r shed to the alls along the Golden Horn , and saw a number of Turkish ships lying in the Galata

’ - corner of the bay, under the shelter of Zagan Pasha s

! h ad un til battery. Many a citizen , who then hoped against hope, lost all heart that day. But the Emperor

H e did n o t yet despair. was mostly troubled by the necessity of sending more men to the north - eastern wall to guard against an eventual attack from that side.

r — 23 rd Ap il. The cannonade on the land side went

n on as usual without any specially e w feature . The Venetian naval captains met on the galley of Antonio Diedo to consult about the ways and means

1 l I follo w here the sta temen to f th e J an issary Mich ael. Ch eirru ah sa s th ere were o n l 20 shi s while Barbaro s eaks o f 2 Chalco y y p , p 7 , ch on d las o f 0 an d Ducas o f 80 . y 7 , DIA IES o r SIE E THE R THE G . 1 6 5

u of destroying the T rkish ships in the bay. This

object was the more pressing, as on that day the Turks

ﬂo atin r o r began to construct a g batte y, , as some

- r A t thought, a pontoon b idge across the bay . f er long

o consultation , the prop sition of Captain Giacomo Koko ,

to attack and burn the Turkish ships at night, was accepte d. — 24th April The cannonade lasted with some brisk

ness all day . The Turks made progress in the construction of what n o w seemed more distinctly to be a pontoon

rr bridge. They used empty ba els, binding them together with strong iron chains. Captain Koko prepared two ships for the night

H e expedition. covered their sides with bales of cotto n ff and wool, hoping therewith to deaden the e ect of the

Turkish cannon . ’ At midnight the sea captains met on Diedo s ship to ﬁx the ﬁn aldetails of the expedition. The prepara

a tions were nearly complete, and some of the c ptains pressed for an immediate attack . To this conference t m some Genoese cap ains had been ad itted, and they requested that the attempt should be put o ff until the

in it next night, order that they also might join in . The rejection of this request would have exposed the Venetians to the reproach that even in hours of great a n d common danger they could not forego their old

r jealousy of the Genoese, thei old competitors in com 1 6 6 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

merce and naval power. The suggestions were there fore accepted and the expedition postponed. 25 th 26th 27th A i In the days of the , , and of pr l nothing remarkable occurred . The intermittent can n o n ade and the desultory shooting from bows and riﬂes were continued . The Turks succeeded in making smaller or larger breaches at various points ; these the Greeks and

Latins quickly and effectively repaired . But it was already apparent that the defenders were getting each day more and more exhausted. The Turkish archers and sharp ! shooters placed in the ﬁrst line were daily changed and replaced by fresh men from the camp, but the riﬁemen and archers on the walls could not be replaced . ’ di di In addition to this scouraging fact, squieting rumours of the scarcity of food began to circulate in A the last days of pril. The preparations for the naval expedition were continued and completed. But the Genoese seemed not to have conducted their work with n ecessary

A Faiuz z o ﬁn din discretion . certain , g out the object of the unusual activity on some of the Genoese ships, went over to the Turkish camp, and betrayed the plans of the Venetian captains . A number of experienced artillery men with four cannons were immediately sent to the Turkish ships in the bay, and the utmost vigilance was enjoined on their captains .

1 68 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

of the soldiers and crowds of people on the walls . This cruelty aro used the indignation of the citizens and the Government of Constantinople to the highest 260 pitch . Unfortunately there were some Turks in

r the p isons of the city. They were all brought out

an d r on the walls, in sight of the Turkish a my

P hr n z beheaded. a t es himself relates this barbarous 1 act of retaliation . — 29th of April After the excitement of the i prev ous day, this day passed in comparative quietness

u ki both in the T r sh camp and in the city. The expedition of the Venetians which had mis

' carried was naturally still the topic of all the talk

th e V among Greeks and Latins . The enetians, who

90 r l lost about of thei chosen sai ors and soldiers , felt the loss deeply, and openly and bitterly charged the

Genoese with treason . The Genoese retorted that the Venetian ignorance and Koko ’s foolishness had caused the failure. The mutual accusations t urned speedily into mutual menaces, and, as even the Venetian and Genoese volunteers on the walls were on

fi htin the point of g g among themselves, the Emperor assembled the commanders and o ffi cers of both the “ n ! I ra ou m ations, and said to them p y y , y brethren be o min d a work to ether o n e n d . I s i , f g t n ot en ough of misery tha t we have to fight aga in st

’ such fea rful odds outside the w a lls ? For God s sa ke

1 hran z e 25 P t s, 7 . TH E D I ARIES OF TH E SIEGE .

let a s n o t ha ve a n y conflicts a mon gst ourselves within 1 the w alls

3 oth o A ril— The has f p . Slavonic chronicler noted down that on this day the ﬁrst dis charge from the

’ Turkish giant cannon against the StRo man s position “ shook ver much the wa ll which wa s old a n d some y , wha tlow ; the secon d discha rge a t n o on ca rried a wa y

the u er a rt o the wa llma kin a breach ve eet pp p f , g ﬁ f wide ; the third discha rge w as n o tﬁ red beca use the ” 2 n i htca me g on before the Turks w ere rea dy.

lst o Ma — A f y ccording to the same chronicler, the Turks conce ntrate d the ﬁre from severalcannon of ordinary size against the place where the breach

ff but had been e ected the previous day, which Giustiniani had durin g the night ﬁlled in with

wood and earth . “ e o n When they had , the chronicler go s , in that

sufﬁ cien tl way worn out the wall y, then they pointed

ﬁred r and their g ea t cannon . But the ball went

somewhat too high , and struck the wall of the nearest c t At hurch behind , shat ering it into powder. noon the T urks were just at the point of ﬁ rin g their second

shot, when Giustiniani by a ball from his own cannon i struck the Turkish great gun and dismounted t.

l had e The Su tan , seeing what happ ned, cried out in a

’ r Ya ma ! Ya ma ! h age, y y the w ole army repeated

1 P hra n t zes , 25 8. 1 S la von ic Chron icler 11 , . 1 70 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE . the shout Yagma ! Yagma and soldiers rushed ll h ” 1 towards the wall and ﬁ e d t e moat .

- In the city the alarm bells were 11 mg at once .

to The Emperor, coming in haste , encouraged men hold out resolutely . The Slavonic chronicler describes hi at some length the struggle which ensued, and w ch was ﬁn ish ed by the Turks retreating from the walls

in after darkness had set . Several other witnesses speak of the ﬁghtof that

’ P hran tz es diﬁerin day ( , Barbaro, Leonardo) , g some what as to its commencement , but not essentially .

A a c ccording to them, some of the soldiers were customed to leave their places at noon and go home to dine with their families; On this lst day of May a greater number than usual went away for this purpose .

n few S t The Turks, seei g but men on the walls at R ’ oman s Gate, descended into the moat , and began to pull down with long hooks the fascines and baskets ﬁlled with earth with which the breach had been ﬁ h hastily repaired ; and thereupon ensued the g t. Giustiniani complained to the Emperor of this state of things.

o M — ha d 2n d f ay. Nothing specially noteworthy p

u pened. The sual exchange of shots.

The Emperor, however, in consequence of what had happened on the previous day, brought the Greek

1 ' S la von ic Chron le 2 Ya ma a ma the Turkish callto ic r 1 . , g y g

sto rm.

E ’I ‘ o r 1 7 2 CON QU S CONSTANTINOPLE .

— 3 rd of May The Greeks placed four cannons o n a

r ﬁre towe which commanded the bay, and opened on

ﬂo illa the Turkish t . The interchange of shots at this point was continued for several days without much ff e ect . In the city it was generally known that Venice and Naples , as well as the Pope, had promised to send help , and the southern horizon was watched day and

ﬂ e A night for the appearance of the allied e t. s day after day passed and no sail appeared , the Emperor thought it desirable to send some one in search of the

a ﬂ ee t l L tin , and eventually to hasten its arriva at Constantinople ; and in the night of this 3 rd of May a small brigantine left the harbour and sailed out into

ﬂ a the Marmara Sea. She carried the Turkish g, and

a la ur af e her crew were dressed T g . This is stated in ’ 1 J ourn a l Sla von ic Chron icler Barbaro s , while the says

the E m eror sen tmen in to the Morea that on this day p , the isla n ds a n d to the coun tries o the Fra n ks to ask or , f , f l ” 2 he p . The same day the Emperor presided at a great council ; at this not only the military commanders, but also the dignitaries of the State and the Church a ssisted . The commandants of positions unanimously reported that movements observed in the Turkish c amp indicated preparations for a general assault .

1 B a rba ra , 3 5 . 2 la von ron lr S ic Ch ic e , 1 4. IA IE o r SI THE D R S THE EGE . 1 73

Considering the condition of the walls, and the weari

u ness of the diminishing defensive forces, none co ld speak co n ﬁden tly about the prospects of again repulsing the Turks. The senators and the prelates , with the

Patriarch at their head , advised the Emperor to leave

a the city and retre t to a more secure place . Some of them expressed their conviction that the people of the provinces, so soon as they heard that the Emperor was alive and safe outside the besieged capital , would send

to him numbers of volunteers , and that these , together

s with the armies of the Princes Demetrius and Thoma ,

the A and with lbanians, whom Scanderbeg would not

sufﬁcien tl im fail to bring, might make a diversion y l portant to alarm the Su tan , and force him to withdraw

from the city. Giustiniani himself energetically supported these

representations, and placed all his ships at the Emperor’s disposal

The E m eror s listen ed p , continue our chronicler,

to a llthis uietl a n d a tien tl. A tlst a ter havin q y p y a , f g

been or some time in dee thou ht he be a n to s ea k ! f p g , g p

I tha n k a ll or the advice which ou ha ve ven f y gi me. I kn ow tha tmy going ou tof the city mightbe of some

ben it to me in a smuch as a ll tha t ou oresee mi ht ef , y f g

rea ll ha en B uti m o le wa y pp . tis i p ssib for me to go a y

H ow co uld I lea ve the churches o our Lord a nd H is f ,

serva n ts the cler a n d the thron e a n d m eo le in gy, , y p p such a plight Wha twould the w orld sa y abo utme? o r 1 74 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

I ra ou m rien ds in uture do n o t sa to me p y y , y f , f y

a n thin else but N a sire do n o tlea ve a s N ever y g , y, , , n ever willI lea ve you I umresolved to die here with

ou A nd sa in this the E m eror tu rn ed his hea d y y g , p

aside beca use tea rs lled his e es a n d with him w e t , ﬁ y p 1 the P a triarch a n d a llw ho w ere there

These were words of a noble and generous heart ,

m . D words worthy of an E peror Constantine ragasses,

even on that occasion , did honour to the throne he occupied and to the nation of whom he was the

chief. — 4th of May The cannonade and occasional hring

from the riﬂes went on as usual. Nothing specially

a noteworthy happened during the d y. But during the night from the 4th to the 5 th of

May, another attempt was made to destroy the

Turkish ships in the bay. This time the attack was

’ Giustin iani s undertaken by a captain of one of ships.

- The Turks, however, kept a sharp look out, and when the Genoese galley quietly approached she w as received with a full broadside and sunk at once .

a — 5 th of M y . The city was full of rumours of the

’ r last n ight s misfortune . The eport was spread that Giustiniani himself was on the unlucky galley and

difﬁ ult A n d had escaped with great c y. again it w as generally asserted that the Turks had received fore 2 warning from a traitor.

1 2 l hron icler 1 16 . ucas 2 S a von ic C , D , 77.

o r 1 76 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

ﬁr breach with concentrated e from their great battery.

ﬁrin Towards the evening the g ceased . About eleven o ’clock at night great numbers of

c the Turks rushed across the glacis, des ended into

' hur ned o ditch , and towards the breach . Barbar says that about Turks were ordered to this

assault. The Slavonic chronicler gives some interesting

i ﬁ ht. A deta ls of the g ccording to him, the Greeks and the Latins bravely went into the breach to meet

r the assailants, and fought with g eat fury . Giusti

was i niani personally commanded , and nearly k lled by

a Jan issary of gigantic size . Reinforcements were

brought to the Turks by a famous Turkish hero ,

- a R . At Omer, a Sandj k Bey from omania the same moment Giustiniani was also reinforced by a company

S trat of Greeks under a very popular commander, yg R (Colonel) angabe, and by a gallant onslaught drove R the Turks from the breach into the moat . angabe , cheering his men, led the way, and, clearing his path by the sword, he suddenly found himself face to face

- . Ra n a be with the brave and famous Omer Bey y ,

ti immediatel a ttacked him con nues our chronicler, y , a n d bracing on e of his legs aga in sta ston e he lifted his

wi h both ha n ds a n d cu tOmer-B e in wo sword t y t . The

Turks en ra ed b the loss o such a hero surroun ded , g y f ,

eces Ra a Then the e a n d cu t to pi ng be. Gr eks turn ed

a nd retrea ted in side the w a lls. There were terror a n d IA IE o r SI 1 7 THE D R S THE EGE . 7

en era l ri over the lo s o R a n a be the bra ve a n d g g ef s f g , ” a lla n tkn i ht w hom the E m eror loved rea tl. g g , p g y

Ou 8 9th loth 1 1th M a the th , , and of y nothing

remarkable happened .

The Turkish cannonade continued as usual . This

a d Tedardi s means, ccor ing to , that be ides a great number of smaller balls (weighing between 20 0 and

5 00 1 00 120 i a pounds) , some to of heav er b lls (weighing between 80 0 a n d 1 200 pounds) were thrown

against the walls and into the city. In Constantinople itself the popular depression

i in increased daily . Prayers were go ng on the

‘ churches incessa ntly with much fear and many tears . Great crowds pressed constantly to kiss the holy

r picture of Maria, Mother of God , which , acco ding

o t to the legend, had nce already saved the ci y from

its enemies , and might in mercy save it again . This “ miraculous eikon was exposed to the devotions and donations of pious people in th e church of the Madonna Ch o dogetria near the A cropolis and St

Sophia. A s it was evident that the ﬂeet could not mate riall y aid the defence , the Venetians began to disarm

. On 9th M a Gabrielo a their ships the of y , Trevis ni left his two galleys, and with their crew, numbering 400 some men , went to strengthen the position of S t R a l om n , where the osses in men were naturally

heaviest. 1 78 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

12th o rVa — f y. The Turkish cannon battered a breach in the walls near the imperial palace of Heb domon . Before the Greeks were able to begin the repairs in the evening, several thousands of Turks h stormed that point . Barbaro has put down t e stormin g force at men ; this is most likely an exaggeration . A ccording to the Slavonic Chronicle the Turkish onslaught was made with such vehemence that the

Greeks were compelled to retire from the breach .

the P a leeolo us The progress of Turks was stopped by y , ” the S tra t o Sin urla yy f y , which some writers believe ” to mean the commander of the cavalry , while others ” n thi k it means the assistant of the commander .

N ice ho ras a Very probably it was p Pal eologus, who

his -in -law assisted father , Cantacuzene, in the com mand of the reserves. The headquarters of the reserves were not far distant from the palace of

H ebdomo n N ice ho ras , and therefore the help under p

Palaeologus could arrive in good time. But although Palaeologus repulsed the Turks for the moment , he very soon became badly pressed himself, “ e b cause, according to our chronicler, Mustapha ” A n adolia r Pasha, Beyler Bey of , sent f esh troops.

a There arrived to the assistance of Pal eologus ,

Theodore , the commander of the Thousand, with

Giustiniani. This commander, Theodore, in all pro

r hability was no othe than Theodore of Karystos, who

1 80 o r C CONQUEST ONSTANTINOPLE .

’ a n d if it is God s willw e ca n ﬁght a s ma n y mon ths

’ lon er butw ithoutGod s hel wha tever w e do w e sha ll g ; p, , ” a ll a ll a nd the cit will be lost. f , y Kyr Lucas evi den tly considered that the war had commenced in D ecember. While they were thus discussing this important proposal a messenger arrived with the report that the

H ebd m n Turks were on the walls behind the o o . The

o ff Emperor at once hurried to the point of danger.

In the streets he met crowds of people, and even

ﬂ eein . armed men , g from the walls The Emperor

an d stopped them , ordered them back to their posts ; but his bodyguards were obliged to use their swords and lances to force the panic - stricken soldiers to go back to the walls. On his arrival at the H ebdo mo n the Emperor found the Turks had pressed through the breach and were ﬁghtin g with the Greek and Latin volunteers in the

’ adjoining streets ! The Emperor s arrival with a few companies of soldiers gave fresh courage to the

n ew Christians already engaged, and with and com bin ed efforts they threw the Turks outside into the

a I the E m ero r ha d n ot a rrived with resh mo t . f p f

n ce tha tsa me n i htw ould ha ve seen ou r in a lde a ssista , g f ” 1 ction th e . stru , says Slavonic chronicler To this ﬁght probably belonged another incident which the same chronicler reports incidentally on

1 S la von ic Chron icler, 12. IA I E o r SI THE D R S THE EGE. 1 8 1

m another occasion . The Emperor hi self was so much

excited by the desperate struggle, that he spurred his

to ac horse and galloped the bre h , evidently intending

ﬁ htin to ride through it into the ditch , where g g hand “ to o u but the n o bles o the hand was still going , f I mperia lsuite a n d his Germa n gua rds stopped hima nd ” 1 reva iled on himto ride back p . The Turkish loss in this assault was currently

repo rted the next day at about men. More trustworthy is the statement that the Prefect of the city ordered all the bodies of the killed Turks to be

fo rtiﬁcatio n s b thrown outside the , to be taken away y m i the com anders of the nearest Turk sh positions. — 14th of Ma y The Turks were seen transporting

’ some cannon from Zagan -Pasha s battery (the hill i above Galata) . It was believed they were go ng to

e K n i strengthen the batt ry opposite the y eg o n . But m they only stopped there some ti e for rest, and then carried the cannon to the posi tion oppo site the ga te of

o S t R man . This concentration of artillery was an additional indication that the principal attack would be directed

’ Giu tin ian i s against the position in s charge . Therefore a n e w company of some 400 well - armed men was

r organized , picked up f om ships, and from other less l exposed positions on the wal s, and placed under

’ 2 i n i Giustin a s command .

1 3 S la vo n ic Chron icler 1 . Ba rba , 7 ro, 40 . 1 8 2 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

1 5 th o JlI a — f y. The day passed away without any

special incident . 1 6th of Ma y Some Turkish galleys approached the Christian ﬂeet which seems to have regained its A original position Wlthin the h arbour chain . fter the in efﬁcien t exchange of some shots the Turkish ships

withdrew to their anchorage . — 17th o Ma . f y Some time before, the Greek head quarters had received information of the arrival of

Saxon miners in the Turkish camp . These miners were from Novo Brdo (otherwise known as Novo

- Monte or Neue Berghe) , a celebrated silver mine in

Serbia, worked since the middle of the thirteenth

century by a colony of Saxons. Their arrival was u nderstood to mean energetic attempts to undermine

A n d 1 h the walls . really on the night of the 7t

ohan n es an d of May, J Grant succeeded in discovering

d a m r estroying Turkish ine, in which a g eat number

of workmen and soldiers were buried alive .

a — t the 18th of M y. A the earliest dawn watchmen at the Charsias Gate noticed a peculiar structure on the other side of the ditch . A di igh wooden tower made of stron g beams and f boards, covered with buf alo hides, and placed on w 10 12 heels, had been pushed within or yards of the

had tw o ditch . It stories, the sides of the lower being b enclosed y thick boards, and the space between them

i . u ﬂo o r f lled with earth The pper , which could be

1 84 CONQUEST o r CONSTAN TINOPLE .

a volunteers , who climbed the countersc rp , and threw

ﬁre f . Greek into the Buf alo Tower, burning it to ashes

n t The boldest men amo g the Turks, even Sul an

Mohammed himself, could not suppress their astonish ment, and openly expressed their admiration of the skill and energy of the defenders . The Sultan is reported to have said concerning the n ew tower ! If yesterda y a llthe thirty - seven thousa n d prophets ha d to ld me tha t such a ea t w as ossible I w ould n ot ha ve f p , 1 believed it

Ou the 1 9th and 20 th of M ay nothing happened worthy of special attention . — 2lstof Ma y The trumpets sounded very early on

ﬂeet t board the ships of the Turkish , which lef its

Di lok n io n anchorage before the p y , and sailed slowly towards the entrance of the Golden Horn . The signal of alarm was given in the city, the soldiers rushed to the walls, and the people with fear and

’ ﬁlle trembling d the streets. But about seven o clock u the Turks steered s ddenly back to their usual position . In the afternoon of the same day another Turkish mine approachin g the walls of Kalligaria was detected and destroyed The Turkish cannon made a fresh breach in one place , and brought down part of a tower. Barbaro heard of this, but did not catch the name of the

H e a place . only mentions the f ct , and added that

1 B a a r 44. rb a, r 1 85 THE D IARIES o THE SIEGE.

the succeeding night the Greeks repaired the 1 damage .

’ 22n d o Ma - f y. Grant s pioneers detected two

Turkish mines in Kalligaria and destroyed them . In one they had to engage in a hand - to -hand struggle

d r with the Turkish workmen and sol iers , killing eve y

one of them . t Though the nature of the soil , which had preven ed

t Kalli aria n o t the making of a di ch in front of g , was

well adapted for the laying of mines, yet the pioneers on both sides develope d no little skill and

H o w boldn ess in this particular form of warfare .

’ activ e they were may be seen from To tardi s report .

H e ! - t e says Zagan Pasha, wi h his men accustom d to

fo rtiﬁca gold and silver mines, had undermined the 14 i f i tions on d f erent points , having commenced digg ng

r i at g eat d stance from the walls . The Christians, on

their side, by listening, discovered the positions of the

- B Turkish mines, and made counter mines . y smoke , b f sometimes y bad odours, they suf ocated the Turks

in their subterranean galleries. In some places they

a t drowned them by dmitting wa er, and at other ” 1 times they fought them hand to hand . The Slavonic chronicler states the Greeks often

went during the nights into the ditch , and through the

brickwork of the counterscarp undermined the glacis . H e describes graphically the explosion of one of these

1 3 P hra ntzes 247 B a rba ro 45 . I n or a eion 25 , ; , f m , p. . 1 86 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

mines . It was, he says, as if the lightning had

r struck the place, for the earth shook and with a g eat crash a greenish whirlwind carried the Turks into the air. Fragments of men and timber fell into the city and into the camp . The besieged ran away from the ” 1 walls and the besiegers ﬂ ed back from the ditch .

1 l mzie Chron icler 12. S a v ,

1 88 o r A CONQUEST CONST NTINOPLE.

u n mi message . A s the situation of the city was s takabl y hopeless, why should the Emperor prolong the miseries of war, and expose his people to the terrible consequences of the storming of the place ? The Sultan entertained sincere and deep respect for i t the Emperor, and would perm t him to wi hdraw t unmolested, together wi h his Court, noblemen , and

o N a treasures, wherever he desired to g . y , more f than this, the Sultan again of ered to the Emperor the suzerainty of the Peloponnesus. The inhabitants of Constantinople would also be allowed to depart

o with their portable property, if they chose to g ; and to all who preferred to remain , the Sultan guaranteed security of persons and possessions. The Emperor must consider this as the Sultan ’s last summons to him to surrender. If rejected, the horrors of a sack could n o t be spared to the city.

’ ak Then Hamza, spe ing less as the Sultan s envoy

’ than as the Emperor s friend, sought to induce Constan t tine to accept the apparen decrees of destiny. The walls on the land side were broken through in several places , four towers were quite destroyed , the small

ris gar on could not be otherwise than exhausted, and there was no prospect of a speedy arrival of help from without . These arguments were unfortunately all undeniable facts. The actual condition of the city was even more deplorable. Provisions were becoming every THE LAST DAYS . 1 89 day scarcer ; the people had sunk into a state of stolid despair ; they considered the Emperor and his Govern ment responsible for the sufferings they had

r t already unde gone, and for the s ill greater misfortunes I t which threatened them . was evident that the Virgin Mary could not be induced either by prayers or by tears to appe ar again on the walls and dispe rse “ ” . t the enemy But , asked some or hodox Greeks , St was it any wonder that , after the desecration of

o 1 2 D e S phia and abominations of the th of ecemb r, their supplications to Heaven were unheeded “ Others said ! No doubt our fathers and forefathers

have sinned and we have sinned ourselves, and it is

’ right in God s providence that we should be punished .

- All K a 17 these misfortunes are evidently rﬁn 7 0 Ge o i) , ’ ’ h God s punishment. W y seek to esca pe that ﬁ ht punishment Is it right to continue to g , and to oppose God ’s manifest will

Not only the battered walls, but still more the

broken spirit of the mass of the people, and the u n ful ﬁlled promises of foreign assistance would have given Constantine a reasonable justiﬁcatio n for honourable

surrender. But Constantine had a more lofty conception of his

o wn . A a dignity and duty ccording to Duc s, he re turned by Hamza the following answer to the Sul tan I should praise God if thou wouldst live in peace

us r with , as thy forefathe s did ; they treated my pre 1 0 A 9 CONQUEST o r CONST N TINOPLE .

decesso rs ﬁlial w with respect, and this city ith the

w as greatest consideration . Whoever of them per sco uted by misfortune and came to u s was safe ; but whoever ra ised a hand against our city never pros R th pered. etain as y rightful possession the terri

us tories which thou hast unjustly taken from , and

w e settle the amount of the tribute, which will do our

a o utmost to p y every year, and then g in peace.

R a r emember, th t g asping the possessions of others, thou mayest thyself become the prey of others ! To sur render the city is neither in my power nor in the

all power of any one here. We are prepared to die , and shall do so Without regret 1 Early on the morning of the 24th of M ay a small

ship approached the chain closing the harbour. The

crew were apparently Turks, but after the exchange

of signals with the Venetian ships keeping guard, the

chain was lowered, and the vessel was admitted with

in the harbour. It proved to be the ship which some twenty days previously had been despatched in search of the allied

ﬂeet. Its commander had called at many islands of

the A rchipelago , everywhere making inquiries, and leavin g word for the allies to hasten to Constanti

n o l . p e. But he nowhere fell in with them For a

ho w time he and his men were undecided to act, as it was almost hopeless to return . But in the end they

1 Du as 26 c , 6 .

1 92 C E o r ONQU ST CONSTANTINOPLE . responsibility of the defence recognized in that Spec tacle the precursor of a general assault . We are told that while gazin g on the illuminated and noisy camp of the enemy, the Emperor remained silent , wrapped 1 H e in thought, while tears ran down his cheeks. w as be not, he had no need to , ashamed of his tears , as he was resolved bravely to do his duty to the last . The great mass of the populace knew nothin g of the rejoicings and of the numerous bo n ﬁres in the

Turkish camp . Some of the citizens, while returning m fro the vigils in the churches, noticed the sudden appearance of th e red light at the base of the great cupola of S t Sophia. The light seemed to creep slowly up and round the cupola, until it reached the gilt cross above it. There it lingered for a few moments, and then the ruddy glare grew pale and

few ma n iﬁ paler, trembled for a moments above the g

ediﬁce . cent , and then faded away It was as though the sun , lingering awhile in the west, had looked back from behind the dark curtains of the night , to glance with a last lovin g ray on the ﬁn est temple in

r the Christian world, and to g eet with a glow of reverence the cross so soon to be displaced by the crescent. Allthis was merely a reﬂectio n from great bo n ﬁres

m su ersti in the Turkish ca p , which the simple and p tious people in the streets of Constantinople could not

' 1 i hr ler 1 S la von c C on ic , p. 9. THE LAST DAYS . 1 93

di see . To them it appeared a stinct sign from Heaven ,

Two - full of meaning. eye witnesses, Nicolo Barbaro

S la von ic Chron ic le and the writer of the , report that the citizens who saw the reﬂec ted light on the cupola

ﬁll ul o were ed with fearf forebodings . Barbar de scribes the whole scene as resembling an eclipse of

r the moon, reminding the people of an old p ophecy that the city would fall in the days when the moon ” 1 should give a sign .

A S la von ic Chron icle ccording to the , the monks ” interpreted the fearful sign to the people in this way ! The holy light which dwelt in the church of St Sophia, and the angel whom God had in the time of the Emperor Justin ian appointed to watch over this holy church and over the city, had that night departed to heaven in the pervadin g brightness so many people had seen. It was a sign that God meant to deliver the ” 1 city into the hands of its enemies . The same night imperial messengers hurried through the all streets, summoning the state dignitaries and commanding o fﬁ cers to meet the Emperor early next morning.

25 th o Ma — u f y The Co ncil met very early, under the presidency of the Emperor. Such of its members as did not show signs of the fatigue of a night spent on the walls, bore the stamp of despair on their m . e a r countenances Never b fore , idst the un ivalled

1 1 ' B a rba ro 46 . S la von ic Chronicler 12 , , 3 . N 1 4 9 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

beauties of the Golden Horn , and under the soft and r balmy splendou of a May morning on the Bosphorus , had a body of patriots assembled under more mournful and desperate circumstances. With all their love for their country , they felt with intense bitterness that the l old Byzantine Empire, hal owed by so many glories

n o w n and grand traditions, was dying on their trembli g arms and broken hearts. The Council had that morning to deliberate on the measures requisite in view of the expected assault.

The Emperor Constantine, simple, kind, brave and straightforward, had gained the sympathy and admiration of all who had witnessed his wonderful patience, forbearance , and untiring devotion to the All public interests. present at that last Council were animated by the deepest personal regard for the unhappy sovereign . Some of the statesmen again brought before the Council the proposal that the interests of the Empire required the Emperor and his Court to leave the city immediately, inasmuch as so long as the Emperor livedf it there was hope that the capital, lost now, might one day be regained.

who was The Prelate, at the head of the clergy, the Patriarch Gregory having apparently in the meantime th resigned his o ee, supported with great decision that

saw proposition. H e said ! The servants of the altar

1 96 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

ﬂe e it? to from No, I will stay and die here with you ! ” 1 This determination of the Emperor to remain faithful to what he believed his duty rendered further

w as discussion of his departure superﬂuo us. But it then probably decided to send away the Princess

Helene, the widow of the Despot Demetrius, with the ladies of her Court . When , after the taking of the city, the Sultan inquired what had become of the

’ w as Giustin ian i s imperial ladies , he told that one of 2 ships had carried them away. The Council passed on to the discussion of other questions. It was resolved that all men, without dis tinction , must assist in repairing breaches in the walls . This resolution was adopted after Giustiniani had bitterly complained that the Greeks had refused to aid StR ’ in repairing the walls at oman s, declaring it to be the duty of the Latin warriors whom he commanded . A m fter this, Giustiniani declared it to be i perative that his position should be strengthened by additional

be artillery, and he suggested that some guns might

n n brought from the positions alo g the Golden Hor , which were not much exposed to danger. Kyr Lucas

-in - Notaras, the commander chief of those positions, absolutely refused to give any of his cannon . It came

1 a von ic Chronicler 1 2 P hran tzes in ciden tall co nﬁ rms the S l , 7 . y lavo n ic re ort sa in th e m eror could h ave le tthe lace but S p , y g, E p f p , ”— he w o u ld no Lib iv o 2 . 3 2 t. . . . , p 7 . 1 I bid. THE LAST DAYS . 1 97

two to sharp words between these , and the matters were drifting to a discreditable scene, when the

a s Emperor, with his usual forbe rance and kindne s ,

he interposed. My friends, said , this is not the

us time for quarrels rather let bear with each other , and pray God to save us from the mouth of the ” 1 Turkish serpent But the haughty remarks of Kyr Lucas had piqued the ambition of the brave and energetic Giustiniani.

H e r retu ned to his post, and by the help of some men , amongst whom the Archbishop of Chios specially

l e mentions a certain Ivan of Da matia, he succ eded that day and the next night in repairing his walls so well that both friends and enemies were astonished . The Sultan is reported to have exclaimed ! Why have I not such men ” 1 Late in the evening of this day a n ew Turkish mine l was detected and destroyed in Ka ligaria.

t o M a — ﬁ 26 h f y The enemies red as usual . In the city preparations to meet the expected attack were continued with feverish zeal . The same day a diplomatic reception took place in the spacious tent of the Sultan . The embassy from

n ew Vladislaus the King of Hungary, , was received in

. A solemn audience ccording to Turkish etiquette, the

1 P hra ntzes 26 2 Ducas 181 Cha lco cho nd las 45 2 B a rba ra , ; , y , ; , 48. 1 Th e rchbisho Leo n ardo relatin this adds th at atte A p , g , mpts were made o n th e arto f th e ultan to bribe Gius p S tin ian i (p. 1 98 o CONQUEST r CONSTANTINOPLE . ambassador was n o tpermitted to speak directly to the

Sultan about the object of his mission , but after the audience he had an interview with the Grand-Vizier in the presence of two Pashas of the highest rank . The

’ ambassador gave o fﬁcialn o tiﬁcatio n of King Vladislaus s accession to the throne, and expres ed the friendly desire of the young King that the Sultan would with draw his army from before Constantinople, as otherwise Hungary could not help joining the league formed by

- the Pope against the Turks . If the Grand Vizier was

i o i th not earl er acquainted with the fact . e Venetian squadron being on its way to Constantinople , he heard it now from the Hungarian ambassador. Immediately after this interview very alarming

u reports began to spread thro gh the Turkish camp . It was rumoured that the Hungarian ambassador

the redoubta ble brought a declaration of war, and that ” white kn ight Voye ode Ya n ho (as the Turks called John Hunyadi) had already crossed the Danube with

on A a large army, and was marching drianople, while a powerful Latin ﬂeet was not far from the

’ h z Dardanelles. P ran t es says that Chalils o wn agents tried to incite the alarmed soldiers to speak against the inexperienced young Sultan , whose recklessness would bring their ﬁn e but n ow almost exhausted 1 army between three ﬁres

n That evening, agai , great illuminations were to be

1 P hra n tzes, 264.

200 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

Chalil stated that, according to the reports received, all Europe was rising to the assistance of Constanti n o le p . If the united Franks once reached that city, they would not be satisﬁed with only driving away the Turks from its walls, they might, and most

r probably would, undertake to drive them altogethe

to out of Europe. The persistent attempt take Constantinople only brought increasing risks of losing all the European provinces their ancestors had “ ” conquered. I have often told your Majesty, said

- the Grand Vizier in conclusion , the probable results of this undertaking. I have pointed out to you the risks you ran ; but you did not heed my counsel.

‘ o w am N , for the last time, I bold enough to implore ” 1 you ! let u s raise the siege lest worse evils befall usl l Cha il spoke with great humility, but with decision .

carew om His bowed frame, his white beard , his expression and earnest dark eye, presented the very picture of an anxious, wise statesman , desirous to serve his country well . The Sultan , at that moment at least, did not suspect the loyalty of his old adviser, and was visibly impressed by his earnestness.

Zagan , the chief of the Turkish Chauvinists, felt the great importance of the moment. To withdraw

a from Constantinople meant b nishment from Court , if n o t° the him silken cord for and his friends , who had encouraged the Sultan to undertake the siege . Inde

1 P hra n tzes 6 6 , 2 . D S 20 1 THE LAST AY .

pendently of these personal considerations, Zagan was

ﬁer a y Turkish patriot, a man of strong and resolute

f r will, well informed about the true state of af ai s

r not only in the Balkan Peninsula, but th oughout

Europe . “ ’ - r With regard to the Grand Vizier s asse tions, F said Zagan , that the allied ranks are coming to

c the assistan e of Constantinople, I do not believe it

ﬂeet for a moment. Nor is it likely that the Latin

e O will speedily app ar. Thou , Padishah , knowest well the great dissensions that are raging in Italy

Fran kista n . co n se especially, and in all generally In q uen ce of these dissensions the Giaours are incapable o f united action against a s. The Christian potenta tes n ever will unite together. When after protracted e fforts they conclude something like a peace amongst

themselves, it never lasts long. Even when they are

l e bound by treaties of al iance, they are not prevent d

seizing territories from each other. They always

stand in fear of each other, and are busily occupied in

intriguing against each other. No doubt they think

e much , speak much , and explain much , but aft r all

to they do very little. When they decide do any

thing, they waste much time before they begin to act. m h Suppose they have even co menced somet ing, they c an not progress very far with it because they are

ho w to sure to disagree amongst themselves proceed. A n d at present this is likely to be the case more than 20 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

n ew d s ever, because there are causes for issension

r r among them. Therefo e there is no eason why we

u s should fear them . Let even , for the sake of

ﬂeet argument, admit that the Latin may arrive in

u Constantinople. What is that to s when their whole

- force is not equal to half, no, not to one fourth of ours ? There is at present no danger unless God

O 0 sends one. Therefore, Padishah , do not lose h pe, but give us the order at once to storm the city 1

n Zagan was a soldier, speaki g in the presence of a Sultan who was completely in sympathy with the speaker by age, temper, and ambition . In both speeches there was much that was wise and true. The Sultan thought he could not do better than to combine both views by a sort of compromise. Athis suggestion the Council decided to try a general assault in the early morning of the 29th of May ; it

n o t the assault succeeded , well and good if it did , the siege should be raised at once.

A P hran tz es n ccording to , a trusty messe ger came from the Turkish camp into the city on the following night, and brought a detailed report to the Emperor of

‘ everythin g that had been spoken and decided in the

’ A t the council in the Sultan s tent . same time, the

Emperor was advised not to lose courage, but to

0 h pe for the best, to place picked troops on the land ﬁ ht 1 walls, to be watchful , and to g resolutely.

1 P hr n z s 269 a te , .

20 4 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

Di lok n ion n u at p y left its moori gs, and took p a position in the form of a crescent , stretching from a point opposite the harbour to the gate of Theodosius

an a - -K u i (Vl g Bostan apo ss ) . The Turkish batteries ﬁred as usual up to about

’ ﬁrin four o clock in the afternoon , when their g a bruptly ceased . A short time after the cessation of the cannonade

r r g eat cheering was heard f om the Turkish camp .

c l The Sultan , ac ompanied by a bri liant suite, Visited each tr0 0 p in its position . Here and there he stopped

few h to address a words to the soldiers. Then t e following manifest was made to the army “ r Du ing the assault many soldiers, according to the m i mutable law , must fall . But bear in mind that it is written ! H e wh o falls ﬁghtin g for the faith will enter directly into Paradise. They who survive after the conquest of the city will for life receive double

n ll to pay. If the city is take , you wi have licence

a . All pill ge it for three days its wealth, its silver,

an d gold, silk, cloth, women , will be yours ; only the buildin gs and the walls will be reserved for the ” Sultan The excitement among the Turks increased greatly after this order of the day had been read. An d as the evening rays gilded for the last time the cross of St

Sophia, the clamour of the thousands of warriors and camp - followers echoing from the Golden Horn to the THE LAST DAYS . 20 5

“ La illa h il-A lla h Sea of Marmara bore aloft the cry, ,

Moha d ressoul-A lla h r The e is only one God , and Mohammed is his prophet ! A a las, did any of those who w tched the Turkish tents from the walls of Constantinople, in the light of t i that setting sun , feel tha th s was the last evening of Christian Constantinople ?

ﬁr s Slowly the e were lit in the Turkish camp.

s r They burnt some time, and toward midnight we e extinguished, and then all was quiet. C H A P T E R V I I I.

TH E LAST N IGHT.

DURIN G the preceding tw o days ( 26th and 27th of M ay) the repairs of the walls had been pushed on l with even increased activity. The Emperor personal y superintended and urged on the work, reminding the men that not one hour must be lost . — — On Monday morning his last morning the Emperor was again obliged to interpose his patien t and lenient authority between the Latins and the

Greeks. The Venetian Baylo had constructed some

H e movable wooden shelters for his archers. asked a number of Greeks to carry these wooden fences to the Venetian posts, but the Greeks refused, unless paid in advance . The Venetians felt indignant, especially as they believed the refusal came from the

’ Greeks hatred of Latins. But in this case the want

had of food, more than any other motive, prompted the

r Greek answer. The Empero stopped the quarrel, and found means to satisfy the angry Venetians.

The greater part of the morning the E mperor ' was occupied in the marshalling of his troops on the walls.

20 8 C o r ONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

it Emperor assembled around him ( is not said where, but most likely at the headquarters) the commanders H of the troops and the chief citizens. e addressed

n a all n o t them in touchi g words, sking and every one

to spare themselves, and not to regret the shedding

of their blood in defence of the glorious old city .

r r t Tu ning to the Venetians, who stood on his igh m hand, he re inded them that Constantinople had

. n ow always welcomed them as sons I pray you , “ a s hi diﬂicult continued the Emperor, show in t s hour

that you are indeed our companions, our faithful allies, and our brethren

Then he turned towards the Genoese, spoke of

r thei glorious past, and asked them to prove once

more on this momentous occasion their world- renowned

courage. The Emperor concluded with these few

! us words addressed to all present Let work together,

my companions and my brethren , to gain for ourselves ! liberty, glory, and eternal memory Into your hands

I commit n o w my sceptre. Here it is ! Save iti

Crowns await you in heaven , and on earth your names will be remembered honourably until the end of ” 1 time I “ “ Let u s die for faith and Fatherland Let us die ” fo r the Church of God and for thee, our Emperor !

1 — l address is iven b P hra n tz es . 2 1 2 8 wh The who e g y , pp 7 7 , o o f co urse repeated o n ly fro m memory what h e had h eard an d seen o n th ato ccasio n . THE LAST NIGHT. 20 9 were the enthusiastic responses of those assembled All around Constantine . were deeply moved .

P hran tz es m ! , who was hi self present, writes The defenders of the city embraced each other, and through

u tears kissed one another, asking and giving mut al

o pardon ; no one th ught more of wife , child , or property, but only of the glorious death which all were ready to meet for the sake of the Fa therlan d !

The bells rang for Vespers. t The Emperor proceeded to S Sophia. The church was crowded. It would have been only natural for

la m him to think that it was , perhaps, the st ti e he

ma n iﬁce n t hn der would stand beneath that g cupola, which so many orthodox Emperors had worshipped in good and evil days. H Constantine prayed with great fervour. e left his imperial chair, and approaching the screen separ ating the altar from the nave , he prostrated himself before the great eikons of Christ and of the Madonna, which were on the left and on the right side of the n central entra ce to the altar. Having passed some time in prayer, he approached every prelate present in m the church , asked the to pardon him if he had ever ff o ended any of them, embraced each of them , and then went to the altar and received the Holy Communion .

As ri a Ch stian emperor, and as a Christian soldier, he was solemnly, and in the sight of his people , pre paring to appear before his God . 21 o r I 0 CONQUEST CONSTANT NOPLE .

When he turned to leave the church , the great con

r u g egatio n wept alo d. The vast church echoed with the loud sobs of men and with the wailings of women . A n d amidst such displays of sympathy from deeply

a moved human hearts, Const ntine , himself greatly and

affected w alked visibly , slowly out of the church which his predecessors had raised as a grand monument of their glory and of their piety .

The Emperor next went to the imperial palace .

There he had ordered all the dignitaries of state, all the courtiers and the servants of the Court, to await

H e him. said to them that no one could tell what the night would bring forth ; he asked from each for

ive n ess g for any harshness or injustice , and then he

P hran tz es took a most touching leave of all. , who

a was in attend nce upon the Emperor, says that it is

to impossible describe the scene which ensued , nor the weeping and sobbing which shook the old palace. It was a scene ﬁtto melt a heart of stone 1

Late in the evening Constantine left the palace , A mounted his rabian horse, and with his usual suite rode towards the walls to inspect for the last time the braue men who kept watch and awaited the end.

>X= $6 16

A Sla von ic Chron icler ccording to the , the evening

As of the 28th of M ay w as sultry and gloomy. night

1 a n tze Zoe cit P hr s, . .

21 2 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE . streets near the walls were to be heard from time to ’ A time the echoes of horses hoofs . bout an hour after midnight some horsemen halted by the position near

Kalli aria g Gate . Dismounting, they ascended the

walls . . It was the Emperor with some of his faith ful suite . They strained their eyes in the darkness towards the Turkish camp . They could see nothing . But they heard distinctly rumbling sounds and voices i subdued n tone. The Emperor inmquired of the watch men what these peculiar sounds eant , and was told that apparently the Turks were advancing all their

ﬁrst line, and that possibly the rattling arose from the placing of ladders in the moat. The Emperor peered anxiously into the darkness, listening silently . Who could say what he thought and what he felt at that moment ! Then the cooks began their ﬁrst crow . The Emperor rode quietly back to the position of

StR H e ul oman . had found watchf ness, readiness, and determination on the whole line . The men whom he

n o w had just seen , and who are seen only through the shadows of more than four centuries , were brave

men . ! The second crowin g of the cooks sounded from yard to yard, from street to street, and throughout the Turk ish camp .

ﬁrin Suddenly the g of a cannon shook the air, and awoke spreading echoes far and wide. With its THE LAST NIGHT. 213 dying thunder mingled war- eries from throats

rr along the Turkish line, and thousands of wa iors

ri glided swiftly down into the ditch , and hur edly

planted 2000 ladders against the city walls . The

r n Christian soldie s spra g to arms , and the supreme

struggle began . According to the esta blished rule in Turkish war

n fare of that time, the storming columns were arra ged

ﬁrst in three lines . The line was formed of the

poorest troops in the camp , with the undisciplined and untrained followers of the Ziyamet and Timariot

Beys. The hardy mercenaries, many of whom were

r . soldie s by profession , made the second line The third line consisted of the highly trained companies of

the Jan issaries and the Spahis. A t fi ht f er an arduous g , that lasted nearly an hour, the defenders of the walls successfully repulsed the fi firstassault . Broad streams of Greek re were poured

from the walls on the dense crowds of the assailants, ff with more deadly e ect than the showers of stones ,

. At arrows, and rifle bullets last the Turks in the

- moat were panic stricken , and climbing in terror back ,

ﬂed across the glacis. But the unfortunate fugitives were met by a line of ” Chao ushes who forced them with iron maces and

- Co urba h with chain whips ( tc ) back into the moat . The few who escaped the ferocious Chao ush es were

em r encountered by the drawn scimitars of the J issa ies, 214 CONQUEST o r CONSTANTINOPLE .

and having only to choose between two deaths, 1 returned back to the assault. Meanwhile the second line had been ordered to move

n forward . They advanced quickly a d in good order to the sounding of trumpets and the beating of drums. It must have been terrible in the pale yet increasing

rni k light of mo ng to see the dense columns, which li e

ﬁerce an d billows broke against the walls, receded , then again with stillwilder fury dashed themselves higher up the ladders. The uproar is described as simply

terriﬁc . All the bells were ringing in the city, all the

riﬂes drums were beating in the camp, cannon and were ﬁred constantly from the city and against the t city, and thousands of excited and almos maddened

ﬁ r l men shouted e ce y as they fought and fell . About three o ’clock in the morning a cannon ball tore down a piece of the outside wall near St Roman ’s

Gate, at a point where the Venetians were posted. Upon this breach the Turks immediately concentrated t heir attack .

V re The enetians, with the aid of some Greeks,

ﬁr pulsed the Stonslaught. The next moment another ball widened the breach . Then a fresh column of

Jan issaries rushed forward , passed through the outside

ﬁlled wall, and all the space between that and the

n inner wall, and reckless of da ger planted there their

s scaling ladder and ascended them .

1 For th ese de ils see a ntz 2 ta P hr es, 285 Ba rba ra, 5 .

216 r N CONQUEST o CONSTA TINOPLE .

Giustiniani paused an instant, hesitated , looked l gloomi y before him, and with the expression of great physical suffering on his face went away without a 1 word . Ex treme fatigue and intense physical pain had in that supreme hour shaken the heroic spirit of the man who had done so much for the defence of

Constantinople, and who is denied immortal renown o nly by this one moment of weakness . A group of Turks noticed confusion among the

Ulubadli Christians at that particular point . Hassan ,

an issar a his a J y of gig ntic stature, hastily called on

u companions to follow him , and ran p a ladder.

an issaries his Some thirty J crowded close at heels , shouting loudly the name of A llah . Under showers of stones and arrows, half of them fell back into the moat wounded or killed . But Hassan sprang on the

fe w ﬁercel wall with a of his comrades, and slashed y A about him with his scimitar. fresh shower of stones and arrows struck him down , another shower

m him he wellnigh s othered , but rose on one knee and

u o n fo ght , until at length , covered with wounds, he d sank own and died. A gallant soldier and a true

Mu ul i ss ma n was this Hassan Ulubadl. At many other points of the land wall the ﬁght

1 P hra n tzes 283 Du cas 1 60 Leon a rdo 98 ha lo hond las 269 , ; , ; , ; C e c y , . Th e w o rds asci ibed by P hran tz es to Giustin ian i seem to me psycho l ica m o o ll i ssible while tho se uo ted b Ducas are far mo re n atural. g y p , q y THE LAST NIGHT. 21 7

a n d raged with ﬁ erce desperate fury . Sometimes it seemed that all the efforts of the choicest troops o f the Sultan could not prevail against the grand o ld walls and the steadfast courage of their de fenders.

man - But suddenly a , apparently terror struck, rode in great haste towards the spot where the Emperor stood, and shouted from the distance that the Turks had entered the city, and would speedily assail the rear of the Emperor’s position !

This is what had happened . In th e walls which defended the palace and suburb o f H ebdo mo n w as there an old gate, quite low and on

“ a level with the bottom of the moat , called Kerko ” porta. One of the Byzantine emperors had ordered

u it to be closed long ago because, as the legend r ns , someone had prophesied that through that gate the e nemy would enter the city. During the present ff siege the Greek general sta , when considering the

th e plan of a sortie against Turkish positions, had found that it would be easy for a large body of troops to issue through this old gateway and come unawares u pon the left wing of the Turks . In preparation for such an emergency, the gate was reopened , and a guard told out to keep watch there . The proposed sortie

the had been abandoned , and during great anxieties of

- the last days the Kerko porta w as quite forgotten . While the main force of the assault w as being con 1 8 o r 2 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

c en trate d St R against the position of oman , a body of

n u Turks, passing in the moat along the walls, came expectedly upon this old lo w - lying gate and found it

in open. They rushed , killed the few guards, hurried on upon the wall , and hoisted a lance with the horse ta il on the nearest tower Other Turks followed them , running and shouting exultingly, and soon thousands had pressed into the city through this fata l

K r o gate. y Lucas N taras vainly tried to stem this torrent ; his brave Greeks were speedily overpowered , he was forced to retreat , and with a remnant of his men shut himself up in his own palace, which was like iﬁ a fo rt e d castle. Some Turks at once took possession of the palace

H ebdo mo n i of , wh le others hurried through the streets

’ towards the position at StRoman s Gate . Their path was red with blood and strewn with wounded and dying men .

220 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

ﬂ ed th o u h an in wild terror through the streets, as g . earthquake had suddenly left them homeless and maddened with fright . The shrieks of terror and wails of despair of the unfortunate Christians were ri r sing to the skies, mingled with the exulting c ies of the victorious Turks. A tthe n ews of what had happened the Emperor w stood for a fe moments as if thunderstruck. The ﬂightof the Italians towards the harbour caused some one in the imperial suite to suggest that there was, perhaps, still time for the Emperor to reach the harbour safely. Constantin e answered simply Godforbid tha tI should live a n E mperor w itho ut a n E mpire ! A s my cit a lls I w ill a llw ith it y f , f The wild cries of the Turks were distinctly heard a pproaching from the neighbouring streets .

Constantine turned towards his suite, and said

Whoever wishes to esca e lethimsave himse he ca n p , lfif a n d whoever is rea d to a ce dea th lethim ollow me y f , f

’ Theophilus Palaeologus answered the Emperor s last

! I w ould ra ther die tha n live words, exclaiming

n Co stantine spurred his horse, and he rode forward , sword in hand , to meet the Turks appearing in the

w o next street. About t hundred Greek and Italian nobles and other volun teers followed the Emperor l close y. Don Francesco di Toledo rode on the

1 ' — S a ndu in Ca n ta cuz in Comen ta ri . 1 90 6 . p g , , p THE LAS T HOURS. 221

’ D Emperor s right hand, while emetrius Cantacuzene w as on his left. A few moments later they were all engaged in a

ﬁerce ﬁght with the advancing crowds of Turks . Ivan the Dalmatian spurred his horse into the

P hran tz es midst of a company of Turks, and , as ” mow ed them down as thou h the w ere rass. writes, g y g

H e fell soon covered with wounds , dying the death of a hero at the post of honour.

a Theophilus Pal eologus, who so nobly preferred death to life , fell from his horse mortally wounded . F The splendid Spaniard , Don rancesco, fought bravely for some time longer. In the excitement of the ﬁght the Emperor was soon separated from his followers . His Arabian horse

fell under him, covered with blood and wounds . The

Emperor on foot fought desperately o u . A n Assa b him struck him in the face . The Emperor cut down

with his sword , but the next moment fell forward mortally wounded 1 Not one of the Turkish soldiers on the spot knew at that moment who the brave man

ﬁ htin was who had died g g so valiantly.

r The struggle continued some time a ound the spot, until heaps of slain covered the groun d san ctiﬁe d for

ever by the heroic death of the las t Greek Emperor.

1 ’ his ca n be ta ken as the descri tio n curren tatthe ultan s co urt T p S , ’ d b a ad-ud-din s ra i n am n an d use y S . I tw as alo the po pular t d tio o g ' reeks — Cha nsons P o ua t 4 th e G l res . . , p , p 7 2 S o r 22 CONQUE T CONSTANTINOPLE .

36 $6 =X<

The Turks in the ﬁrst moments of excitement mowed down all whom they met . But as the dawn di of the day was approaching, they were able to scern that in the principal streets no more ﬁghtin g men

terriﬁed remained , but only a crowd of men , who seemed unable to think or act, and of women , who , at the sight of the Turks and their bloody scimitars ,

an d . shrieked fainted Then the Turks ceased killing,

o and began to capture the pe ple for slaves, binding men , women , and children indiscriminately with ropes. Many of the Jan issaries did not care for the slaves S t to be captured in the streets, but hastened to Sophia.

Most of them believed in the old legends, which had

‘ l u been di igently spread thro gh the camp, that there was accumulated in the catacombs of that church an enormous treasure of gold , silver, and precious stones. i Those who f rst arrived found all the doors fastened .

They broke open the principal entrance . The splendid inte rior of the sacred building produced no impression

m n e . r on these thirsting for blood and hung y for prey .

The ro ceeded to c y p at once pillage the church, whi h q

s was blazing with gold and silver ornament , and to divide 1among themselves the thousands of men and ’ ﬁn d women who had hoped to shelter in God s house ,

n o w and who , in sight of the holy eikons, became the

u slaves of the T rks. The men were roughly bound

A THE L ST HOURS . 223

with ropes, in the presence of their wailing wives ,

i . Th e t mothers, and s sters poor women were fas ened by their own girdles and long scarves. The saddest possible scenes of human agony were enacted under the grand cupola, amidst the resplendent marble columns, and on the beautiful mosaic pavement of the

ma n iﬁcen t . g church It was a picture which, with all

u its wealth in types of human beauty and gliness, and

l the all its richness of form and colour, sti l awaits

brush of a great artist. N0 other event in history can

it a Jerusalern be compared with , unless it be the f ll of .

r Before the arrival of the Turks , that pa t of the church where the altar stood was ﬁlled with the Greek

e clergy , some of them reading the Morning S rvice.

an issaries n When the J broke open the pri cipal door, A the priests had mysteriously disappeared. legend was afterwards spread that at the approach of the J an issaries one of the church walls near the altar miraculously opened to admit the priest carryin g th e

s acred chalice, and closed again after he had entered. A ccording to the legend, the same priest will reappear ,

c oming out from the same wall, to continue the inter

ru ted da p service, on the y on which an orthodox

e a Emp ror reconquers Const ntinople from the Tu rks . The storming of the city h ad begun at about two

’ n o clock in the morni g of the 29th of May. A bout

’ e A ight o clock M. Constantinople was completely in

the possession of the conquerors. In more outlying 224 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

streets, and around some churches and strongly 1 fo rtiﬁed ﬁ htin o n houses, g g still went , but this could not change the great fact that ea rly on Tuesda y mo rn in the 29th o M a the Turks beca me masters o g, f y, f

ta in o le Con s n t p . In the dawn of that fatal day the great and all absorbing problem with most of the defenders of the

h o w . city was, they could save life and liberty Those few morning hours must have been full of

- heart stirring episodes . But only one or two of them have been recorded.

Te dardi The Florentine , and some other Italians , fought for full two hours after the Turks had entered

h e the city , and , realizing at last the true situation , tried to save himself, and passed through many perils

e . before he r ached the harbour Once there, he threw himself into the waves, as so many other people did ,

w as b and fortunately soon picked up y a Venetian boat. The captains of the ships in the harbour were untiring in their attempts to rescue the people. For this purpose they remained in the Golden Horn

r i n several hours after the captu e of the city, sa li g away only at n oon .

Many fugitives crossed in small boats to Galata .

A Bro cciardi who mong these were the three brothers , h commanded at the position of C arsias.

1 This is sta ted b P hra n tzes 288 as wellas b th e S la von ic y , p. , y le an d Teda rdi Chron ic r, .

226 r CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

n o w ui full of faith , but despairing amidst the r ns of an Empire.

at a as as

Towards noon Mohammed entered the city by the

P olian drium -Ka oussi H e gate of (Edirne p ) . was

ni b his accompa ed y Viziers, Pashas, and Ulemas, and escorted by his bodyguards, who were all men espe ciall y selected for their strength and manly beauty. The Sultan rode straight to the Church of S t A t Sophia. There he dismounted . its threshold he stooped down , and collecting some earth he let it fall on his turbaned head, as an act of humiliation before 1 who . God, had given him the victory

e diﬁce Then he arose and entered the , but in the doorway he stopped some moments and gazed in silence before him. The grand dimensions of the temple, its beauty and harmony, seemed to have a ff subduing e ect on his spirit, even in that hour of triumph

saw Stepping forward , he a Turk breaking the

Whe ore dostthou tha t mosaic ﬂo o r with an axe. ref

For the Fa ith asked the Sultan . replied the fanatic. Mohammed , in an impulse of anger, struck ! You have ot en ou h b the man , saying angrily g g y pillaging the city a n d taking the citiz ens for sla ves The buildings a re min e

H e advanced then further on towards the altar,

1 lv n r 21 S a o ic Chro nicle , . L THE AST HOURS . 227 passin g groups of his soldiers with their Christian slaves . Suddenly a door in the screen separating the altar from the nave was opened, and a number of it priests came through , and advanced to meet the

Sultan . While still at some distance from him , they fell on their knees and cried Aman 1 Be merci ful to us I

Mohammed looked on them with pity. Our chronicler says ! H e made a sign with his hand to the

‘ Be - priests to rise, and said , not to day afraid of my

’ ! H e wrath , neither of death nor of pillage then

r turned to his followe s , and ordered them at once to send public criers to prohibit all further molestation

An d in of the people . to the people the church he ” 1 ! N o w o o w n said , let every man g to his home

S la von ic This remarkable episode , described by the

Chron icler ui , is q te consistent with the character of

Mohammed and with all other circumstances . It is most probable that the priests, at the approach of the

Jan issaries , retired to one of the secret passages in the

al to w ls , and there after some time decided avail

’ themselves of the Sultan s expected comin g to the

ir church , to implore his protection . The disappearance for a time through a secret door in the cathedral walls would explain the origin of the legend we have already mentioned .

Chron icler The Sultan , continues the , waited for

1 la vo n r ler 22 S ic Ch on ic , . 228 r C CONQUEST o ONSTANTINOPLE . some time until the people should quit the church ” d. then unable to stay to the end , he himself departe From other sources we know that before he left

- the building, he ordered one of his Court Ulemas to ascend the pulpit and deliver a prayer. H e himself mounted on the marble table , which had been the

St ﬁrst Christian altar of Sophia, and there made his ’ — Rika a certain movements accompanying a Mus

’ sulman s prayer. From that moment the St Sophia of the Christian Constantinople was transformed into the Aya- S o ﬁa of

ul the Muss man Stamboul.

ui Coming out of the temple, Mohammed inq red of

n o w his suite, among whom were several Greek dignitaries, whether any one knew what had become

0 . of the Emperor. N one had any certain information Some thought that he had very likely fallen in the ﬁght; others said more probably he had been carried away on the Italian ships which had sailed from the harbour. It is possible that even at that moment the version was current that the Emperor was amon gst those who were squeezed to death when a panic stricken crowd pressed through a gate. A s the Sultan proceeded along the street leading St A from Sophia to the cropolis, a Serbian soldier,

’ carrying in his hand a man s head, met the imperial

. H e l cavalcade ifted up the bloody trophy, shouting “ Glorious Lord ma ha i loudly to the Padishah , ( y pp

2 r 3 0 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

The next day the Sultan installed himself in the palace in which the Byzantine Emperors had resided f or centuries. Pillaging warriors had already stripped

it c ompletely of all that was portable. The great

halls, which had glittered in gold and scarlet, were

dismantled and bare. The fate of the ancient Empire and the fate of its

last Emperor stirred the heart of the young conqueror. His poetical instincts were aroused ; he paused some

time in deep thought, and then entered the large hall

! of the palace , reciting the verses of the Persian poet

’ N o w the s ider dra ws the curta in in the Cessa re a lace ha ll p p , ’ A n d the owlprocla ims the wa tch ben eath Afrasia b s va u lted dome.

3? 3? 96 1?

We ffa- In the neighbourhood of the Mosque, in a yard surrounded by the dwellings and huts of poor

artisans, there stands an old willow , whose branches are wreathed round by a profusion of climbin g roses

and wild vines . In the shadow of this tree a slab of white marble

without any inscription covers a grave, at whose head

an oil lamp is lit every evening. The spot ought to be hallowed to every one who

respects faithfulness to duty and patriotism, and who has sympathy with the single - hearted hero of a great

historic tragedy. The slab covers the remains of the last Greek Emperor, the patriotic and brave Constan

tine Dragasses . TH E B I B LI OGR A P H Y

OF WORKS U S E D OR CON S ULTE D FOR THE E P RE CE DIN G S K TCH.

- EP RTS T E E rs Wrrn nssss o r TH E I E GE . 1. R O o r H S

l. An n a lee Geo r i e P hra n tza e P ro toves tia ri z i e in g , pr nt d

mH istr es B z n tina e Bo n n ao 1 Co r us S eri toru o i a 83 8 . p p y , ,

’ Ge o rge P hran tz a s fath er w as a

u o f the m e o M a uel P alaeo l at th e Co rt E p r r n II . o gue his

a d a he w as th e Go ve o o f i ce Co s a i e o n e o f gr n f t r rn r Pr n n t nt n , f h m e th e yo un ger sons o t at E p ro r. Geo rge P hran tz a an d Prince Co nstantine (w ho w as late r to be th e last Greek Empero r) w ere e ducated to geth e r ; their friendship co m

men ced e i e a lies o o o an d las e h o u li e . in th r r t b yh d , t d t r gh f As an able diplo matist P hran tz a w as o ften sent as envoy o f ’ Bein n f h th e Empero r to different co urts. g o e o t eE mpe ro rs sui e h e w as e so all e a e in th e e e ce o f o s a i t , p r n y ng g d d f n C n t nt

ma e a iso e th e u n 0 le . H e w as b s but suc p d pr n r y T rk ,

ceeded in a in his a som an d e e to Co u w e p y g r n r tir d rf , h re in th e ea 146 2 e ed the M o as e o f S tE lias an d y r he ent r n t ry , at th e pressing request o f the Gre ek patrio ts w ro te his

M emo irs.

2 Lettera de la resa di Consta nti o o li di Leona rd d . p n p , o a

S eio Arcivescovo di M etelin o scritta a P a a ico l , , p N o V., 2 2 r 3 CONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE .

in to rn a la esa di Co n stan tin 0 o li ex cio x vi. A u us o pr p , S , g t

1 45 3 . Archbisho p Leo nardo came to th e Greek capital in N o vember 1 45 2 acco m a i Ca di al sido e th e Le a e , p ny ng r n I r , g t

f h e H w as e s all e a e in th e de e ce o f o t e Po p . e p r on y ng g d f n

th e ci H is e o to th e o e is u s l c o side ed a s mo s ty. r p rt P p j t y n r t

valu l u r h h e e ex is seve ale di io s o f ab e an d tr stw o t y . T r t r t n

his le e h a e u sed a o n e i e in th e co llec io o f tt r. I v th t pr nt d t n

a so i o Ve ic e 15 7 3 . S n v n , n ,

’ 3 Letter d I s idoro R uten o a rdin a le e Vescovo a bin a . a s , C S ,

della resa di Con sta n tin o o li n ella ua le e li si ritro vo p p , q g

Le a te delP a a . E d. an so vin o Ve e ia 15 3 . g p S , n t , 7

A to n e ime a R ussia A ch ish o an d a th e o u c t n r b p, fter C n il o f Flo renc e in 143 8 o n e o f th e staunchest suppo rters o f th e ’ u io w i h R ome h e came to Co s a i o le as th e o e s n n t , n t nt n p P p

Le a e to acce th e o malsubmissio o fth hu g t pt f r n e Greek C rch .

Du i th e sie e h e w as atleas n omi all th e c omma de r ng g , t n y, n r o f o n e o f th e mo s im o a o si io s at h t p rt nt p t n t e w alls.

’ ’ 4. Giorn a le dell Assedio di Con stan tin o oli 1 45 3 di p , ,

N ico lo B arba ra P . V. co rredeto o e d cume i , , di n t e o nt per

ico Co e Vie n a 185 6 . Enr rn t, n ,

Ba a o a V e e ia o ema w as msel in o sta i rb r , n t n n bl n, hi f C n nt

n o le w h e th e u s e a th e sie e an d h e o i ed his p n T rk b g n g , j n io s in i s e e ce H e c ompatr t t d f n . kept a J o urnalo f th e mo st s i i eve s ic e a les u s to o o w th e ea am tr k ng nt , wh h n b f ll gr t dr a day by day .

’ 5 I n o rma eion en vo ee ar F a cesco de Tres . f y p r n ves a J R . ’ e e en Dieu M o sei e le Ca i ald Avi n o n & c . a r p r , n gn ur rd n g , , p ’ J eh n B lan ehin et J a c ues Tedar i o ren ti a q d , Fl n , de len tre ’ rise de Co nsta n tin o le a iete a r lE m ereur Tur l 2 p p , f p p e e 9 fo ur ’ de M a i la n 145 3 a la uelle le dietJ a c ues etsto it r , q q p esen t. “ ” This I n fo rmacio n has been published in Ohron igues

23 4 C r ONQUEST o CONSTANTINOPLE . the ImperialA cademy o f S cience atS tPetersburg (M emoirs

' o m e the S eeon d Division 185 4 i. 99 H is o w n i s f , , pr sio w as ha so me G e e s wh o h ad esca ed to Russia n t t r k p , ela e th e e ails o f w ich h e w e e e e esse B ut r t d d t h t y r y witn s. th e ma sc i is so ullo f th e i io ms of th e Bal a la s nu r pt f d k n S v , that it is mo re likely itw as w ritten by some Bulgarian o r S erbian clo sely co nnected w ith th e Co urt an d Greek h ead

h e hic desc i i i cide s do n o t quarters. T grap r pt o ns o f n nt permit a doubt o f th e writer relating w ha t h e actually saw h a n th e i a i s a calld is M . th e ppen. I c t t o n I h ve e th S ” l i le S avo n ic Chro n c .

M s th n i sa M ie lK t n ie 9 . emoir of e J a s ry ha e o ns an ti ov h.

Mich aelKo n stan tin o vich w as a e bia i bo at S r n kn ght, rn

Ostrovitz a a e so e b th e u s in 145 5 an d e oled , t k n pri n r y T rk , nr l ’ h n i aries H e se e in h m amongst t e Ja ss . rv d t e S ultan s ar y so me ea s an d e w e to o la d w e e abou 1490 y r , th n nt P n , h r , t ,

H e de o e d a c a e e v e h e w rote his M emo irs. v t h pt r to nts

co ec ed w i th e sie e Co s a i o le iv so me nn t th g of n t nt n p , g ing

i e ails H e w as imsel wi th e e bia c n interest ng d t . h f th S r n o

i am H i a hme i tingent in th e Turk sh c p. s det c nt w as stat oned “ o o si e to th e a e o f A ia o le but as h e a s as a r pp t g t dr n p , , dd , f ” a s our hel wen t the Turk wo uld n ever ha ve taken the cit . p , y

ia mi u e o f e bia an The MS . w ri e in a ecul d , tt n p r xt r S r n

o lis w as ﬁrstta sla e i o Bo emia an d i e u de P h, r n t d nt h n, pr nt d n r

the i le H istoria n eb Kron ka Tureeha L to mi sc 15 6 5 . t t y , y , Th e o riginal text w as published under th e title P a mietn ilci J a n iez ara by Galez o wsky in his Zbior pisarz ow P o lshieh

vo W aw 1828 . l. v. . a s ( , p r ,

W T MP R R Y R T R . II. CON E O A I E S

1 D uea e M icha eli Dueae n e otis H isto ria B z an tin a cd. . , p , y (

Bo ac nn , THE BIBLIOGRAP HY . 23 5

This w riter w as a distin guished statesman an d Gre ek

a io o ud o f his amil co ec io w i th e o ld m e ial p tr t, pr f y nn t n th I p r

h o tl e i us h i dynasty o f Ducas. S r y pr v o to t e s ege h e w as at

Co s a o le but a a e l le th e ci e o e th e n t ntin p , pp r nt y ft ty b f r

H e c s ie i u sl sa h h e declaratio n o f w ar. o n c nt o y ys t at repea ts w hat h e heard fro m o thers. Perso nally h e belonged to tha t mino rity o f intelligen t Gre eks w h o w ere decidedly fo r th e allia ce w i W es e u o e ev e a t th e co s o f the sub n th t rn E r p , n t mis io o h ee c to th e o e s n f t e Gr k Chur h P p .

2. La on iei Cha leoehond la e Turcica historia Bo n n ae y , ( , 1 83 4) Lao n ic (N ico la) an d his bro ther Demetrius h ad be en

ima el co e c e d w i th e Co u to f th e i ce Deme i s int t y nn t th r Pr n tr u , Lao n ic bro th er o f th e u n fo rtunate Empero r Co nstantin . h ad ex ceptional o ppo rtun ities o f kno w in g th e interio r life o f bo th e G e e an d u ish Co u s his b o h e h avi ee th r k T rk rt , r t r ng b n ’ h o nce Prince Demetrius envo y to t e Sultan .

3 tb l rebus eats M eh metis I I . inde ab a n n o . Cri o u us, De y t e e

145 1 us ue a d a n n um 146 7 . i e in Ca o li M ulleri , q (Pr nt d r ,

me H to o m a eco rum o l v. a isii ra n ta is rie ru Gr v . s f g , , P r , “ ” Crito bulus o f mb o s a G ee in th e u is se vice I r , r k T rk h r ,

l h e a b li w as a man o f k een in te lect an d o f muc lit r ry a i ty. m I I H e edica ed his w o to th e Co u e o M o am e . d t rk nq r r h d , bu t in his acco unt o f men an d events he sho w s great im a iali p rt ty .

4. Ta rieh q n teche ba ti E vli Chelebi .

u This Turkish histo rian lived late in th e ﬁfteen th cent ry .

W i in o f th e co es h e s a es h a Korosh-Dede o n e o f r t g nqu t, t t t t , th e ur is e o es o f th e sie e w as a u ilo f h is o wn T k h h r g , p p

a a h e Turhha n Chod a Ahmed Yussu h . Dr M o rdt gr ndf t r, j p y ’ ma has ve a ra sla io o f Chelebi s e sio th e nn gi n t n t n v r n, in

A h ie ppendix to his o wn w o rk o n t e s ge. 23 o r 6 CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

5 Zorz i Do lhin Assedio e resa di Co n stan tin o o li n ell . p , p p a n n o 1 45 3 es a o alla C o aca e le ami lie o ili di , tr tt d r n d l f g n b ’ V enez ia e della ste ssa citta dalla sua o rigine sino lanno

1 478 .

Dolphin says th at h e u sed n o to nly th e written reports o f Leo a do o f Chio s an d o f P hili o da R ima o bu t a lso n r pp n , w 9 an d ha the hea rdfromtho se who were eye witn esses (pp. H i h S itsa n s s w ork w as printe d by Geo rge M . Thomas in t e g

B eriehte der K ischen Akademie der issenseha ten gl. bay er W f , M u ich 1868 n , .

6 Theodore S a n du in Ca n taeuz in en tilhu o mo Co s a . p y , g n t n

tin o o litan o Co men ta ri D elo ri in e e costumi Turchi p , J , g ,

m e e i a has M on u Fio e z a 15 5 1. o v d di o in C. N S t r n , I pr t n ,

men ta H istoria? H ellen icoe vo l. 1X. a is 1888 . , , P r ,

his comme a ies o n u ish u es io n s which w e e In nt r T rk q t , r

mu ch a ecia ed in al th e six ee h c e ur S an du ppr t It y in t nt nt y, p gin gave some interestin g particulars o f th e fallo f Constanti m n o le . B ei o n e o f the a il o f th e Can tacuz en s sev e al p ng f y , r

membe s o f ich ellde e din th e ca i al an d av r wh f f n g p t , h ing

been ea l ela ed to K r Lu cas N o a us th e Admi alo f n r y r t y t r , r

th e G ee ﬂ eet h e do ub less w o e do w de ails acce e d r k , t r t n t pt

as ac s o llo w him es eciall h e clo si by his family f t . I f p y in t ng

scene.

’ ’ ’ m th e A me ia 7 . Ab ah a M elodie e le ia ue sur la r r n n, y g mb l rise de S ta o u a ui e ar M . B o sse i e in p , tr d t p r t (pr nt d ’ - m Leb u s H istoire da B a s E ire vol. xxi. . 3 0 7 ea p , pp Ano ther translatio n into French was made by Mr E ugén e

Bo ré an d i e in th e J o urna lAsia ti ue fo r 1835 , pr nt d q . Th e Armenian po et declares in th e Intro ductio n th at h av in g visited Co nstantinople in its glo ry an d admired its h oly ” elics an d h a i n ow h ea d o f its allh e elmo ed to r , v ng r f , f t v put a o em ha w ich h a into p t t h he e rd .

23 8 o r CONQUEST CONSTANTINOPLE .

d e w his in o ma io w e e ! P h ran tz a D cas Ch alco r f r t n r , u , ch o n d las an d th e le e o f th e Archbish o o f C io s. y , tt r p h

mme eschichte es sm isehe c 2 o se h v . H a G d O an n R ei hes . J p r, ,

l b o o xii. I n addi io to th e B z a in e an d alian vo . i. k t n y nt It ’ - - w o s H amme was wellac uai ed w i h a ad ud din . rk , r q nt t S

3 Geo e F nla A H isto r o Greece edi ed b R ev. . rg i y, y f , t y

H F o z e Ox o d 187 7 . Th e allo f Co s a i o le is . . T r, f r , f n t nt n p desc i ed in th e hi d o lume o m . 496 . r b t r v , fr p

i eise J . “h Geschichte des Osman ischen R eiches 4. Z nk n, , . The auth or w as able to use so me le tters an d reports fo und in th e Vatican Library .

- M a in et M . B o sse H isto ire da B a s E m ire a r 5 . J . rt r t, p p

ebea u a is 1 83 5 . Th e e di o s w e e able to im o e L , P r , t r r pr v ’ Lebeau s descriptio n by a fe w details fo und in th e po em o f th e Armenian Abrah am an d in th e so -called Grusian ” Chronicle .

tassulevich Ossa da i a ti e Viz an tu Turka mi 6 . J . S , s y

t e e sbu co suled o l th e o ld B z a e (S P t r rg, n t n y y ntin ’ h o icle o f a a - ud—din sources an d th e C r n S d .

ez n evski P o v esto Tz a re ra d e S t e e s u 185 5 . 7 . S r y , y g y , P t r b rg,

ma h as e D. M o rdt nn u s o n e o f the m A . s 8 . Dr giv n o t in teresting descriptio ns in his B elagerun g un d E ro berung

O els dureh die Titrken imJ a hre 145 3 na eh ri Co n sta n tin p , O gin a l

bea rbeitet u t a u si la el th e o urn al quellen (St t g rt, ng rg y J o f N icolo Barbaro .

' r Y U . Krause Die E ro berun en i on o nsta n tin 9 . D . , g C opel

n xiv J a hrhun derte n a eh B z a n tin isch imxiii u d y en , Fra n kie

en und Turltischen uellen un d B erichten H alle 1870 ch , q , , ,

chieﬂ o mB z a i e au h o s e so me o io s drew y fr y nt n t r , r printing p rt n P THE BIBLIOGRA HY. 23 9

’ o m a ad-ud—din an d a i so me i cide s o mth e o fr S , t k ng n nt fr p em

e e e - w n ess o f a Gre k y it .

W Bro adribb an d M r Wale B s lO/ R ev. . J e a Con t r nt, sta n tin ople a Sketch o fits H isto ry fro mits Fo undatio n to its Co ues b th e u s in 145 3 Lo o 187 9 o llo w nq t y T rk , nd n, , f ed

Mo rdtman n an d K ause bu t c o sule a so i de e de tl r , n t d l n p n n y

B z a i e au h o s an d a ded som i e es i in o ma io y nt n t r , d e nt r t ng f r t n o n th e co i io o f Co s an i o le o mth e F e c k i h nd t n n t t n p fr r n h n g t,

B er ran do n de la Br c ier t o qu e .

' 1 The la s m o 1 . te t o n graph in Western lite rature is that w i e b E . H . Y as o Les dern iers o urs de Consta n tin O le r tt n y l t , j p ,

a is 18 83 . P r , ’ M r Vlasto s bibliography mentions as th e principal w o rk s in modern Gree k w hich treat o f this subject

S . D. B z an tio s Con sta n tino le. y , y

i Zambelio s B z an tine E ssa s Sp r. , y y .

M a c R e ie i H istorica lE ssa s. r n r , y

S . N S ath as H isto ic l rks , r a Wo .

Co s . P a arri o o ulo The Gen era l H isto r n t p g p , y

H ellen ic N to ns e a i , th .