destined to see the empire lose its most important possession beyond the
walls of Constantinople. His brother Andronicus, governor of Thessalonica,
traitorously sold that city to the Venetians for 50,000 zecchins. The
Sultan, incensed at a transfer of Greek territory having taken place
without his permission, pounced down on the place, expelled the Venetians
and annexed Thessalonica to the Ottoman Empire [1430].
The chief feature of the reign of the last John Paleologus was his attempt
to win aid for the empire by enlisting sympathy in Western Europe. He
determined to conform to Roman Catholicism and to throw himself on the
generosity of the Pope. Accordingly he betook himself to Italy in 1438,
with the Patriarch of Constantinople and many bishops in his train. He
appeared at the Councils of Ferrara and Florence, and was solemnly
received into the Roman Church in the Florentine Duomo, on July 6, 1439.
It had apparently escaped John’s notice that Eugenius IV., the pope of his
own day, was a very different personage from the great pontiffs of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, who were able to depose sovereigns and
send forth Crusades at their good pleasure. Since the Great Schism the
papacy had been hopelessly discredited in Christendom. Eugenius IV. was
engaged in waging a defensive war against the Council of Basle, which was
attempting to depose him, and had little thought or power to spend on
aiding the Eastern Christians. All that John could get from him was a sum
of money and a body of three hundred mercenary troops. This was a poor
return for his journey and conversion.
Only one thing of importance was accomplished by the apostasy of the
Emperor—the outbreak of a venomous ecclesiastical struggle at
Constantinople between the conformists who had taken the oath at Florence,
and the bulk of the clergy, who disowned the treaty of union. John was
practically boycotted by the majority of his subjects; the Orthodox
priests ceased to pray for him, and the populace refused to enter St.
Sophia again, when it had been profaned by the celebration of the Roman
Mass. The opinion of the majority of the Greeks was summed up in the
exclamation of the Grand-Duke John Notaras—“Better the turban of the Turk
in Constantinople than the Pope’s Tiara.”
The last years of the reign of John VI. coincided with the great campaigns
of Huniades and Ladislas of Poland against the Turks. For a moment it
seemed as if the gallant king of Poland and Hungary, backed by his great
Warden of the Marches, might restore the Balkan lands to Christendom. They
thrust Murad II. back over the Balkans, and appeared in triumph at Sophia.
But the fatal battle of Varna [1444] ended the career of King Ladislas in
an untimely death, and after that fight the Ottomans were obviously fated
to accomplish their destiny without a check. John Paleologus watched the
struggle without movement if not without concern. He was too cautious to
stir a finger to aid the Hungarians, for he knew that if he once offended
the Sultan his days would be numbered.
John VI. passed away in 1448, and Sultan Murad in 1451. The one was
succeeded by his brother Constantine, the last Christian sovereign of
Byzantium, the other by his young son Mohammed the Conqueror. Constantine
was a Romanist like his elder brother, and was therefore treated with
great suspicion and coolness by his handful of subjects. He was the best
man that the house of Paleologus had ever reared, brave, pious, generous,
and forgiving. Like King Hosea of Israel, “he did not evil as the kings
that were before him,” yet was destined to bear the penalty for all the
sins and follies of his long line of predecessors.
Mohammed II., the most commanding personality among the whole race of
Ottoman Sultans, set his heart from the first on seizing Constantinople,
the natural centre of his empire, and making it his capital. Some excuse
had to be found for falling on his vassal: the one that he chose was a
rather unwise request which Constantine had made. There dwelt at
Constantinople a Turkish prince of the royal house named Orkhan, for whom
Mohammed paid a considerable subsidy, on condition that he was kept out of
the way of mischief and plotting. Some unhappy inspiration impelled
Constantine to ask for an increase in the subsidy, and to hint that Orkhan
had claims to the Sultanate. This was excuse enough for Mohammed: without
taking the trouble to declare war he sent out troops and engineers, and
began to erect forts on Greek soil, only four miles away from
Constantinople, at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus, so as to block
the approach to the city from the Black Sea. The Emperor did not dare to
remonstrate, but when the Turks began to pull down a much-venerated
church, in order to utilize its stones in the new fort, a few Greeks took
arms and drove the masons away. They were at once cut down by the Turkish
guards: Constantine demanded redress, and then Mohammed, having fairly
picked his wolf-and-lamb quarrel with his unfortunate vassal, commenced
open hostilities [Autumn 1452].
Turkish light troops at once appeared to blockade the city while the
Sultan began to collect a great train of cannon at Adrianople, and to
build a large fleet of war galleys in the ports of Asia: the siege was to
begin in the ensuing spring.
The empire was now in its death agony, and Constantine recognized the
fact. He spent the winter in making frantic appeals to the Pope and the
Italian naval powers to save him from destruction. Nicholas V. was willing
enough to help; now that the Emperor was a convert to Catholicism
something must be done to aid him. But all that the Pope could send was a
cardinal, a moderate sum of money, and a few hundred soldiers of fortune
hastily hired in Italy. Venice and Genoa could have done much more, but
they had so often heard the cry of “Wolf” raised that they did not realize
the danger to their Eastern trade at its true extent. From Genoa, Giovanni
Giustiniani brought no more than two galleys and three hundred men. Venice
did even less, only commissioning the bailiff of its factory at Galata to
arm such able-bodied Venetians as were with him for the protection of the
city. Altogether the Franks, counting both trained mercenaries and armed
burghers, who co-operated in the defence of Constantinople, were not more
than three thousand strong. Yet either Genoa or Venice could have thrown a
hundred galleys and twenty thousand men into the scale if they had chosen.
[Illustration]
Details Of St. Sophia.
Constantine’s own troops were about four thousand strong, but he hoped to
recruit them by a general levy of the male population of the city. He
issued a passionate appeal to his subjects to join in saving the holy
city, the centre of Eastern Christendom. But the Greeks only remembered
that he was an apostate, who had foresworn the faith of his fathers and
done homage to the Pope. They stood aside in sullen apathy, and from the
whole population of the city only two thousand volunteers were enlisted.
Theological bitterness led the blind multitude to cry with Notaras that it
preferred the Turk to the Roman.
In April, 1453, the young Sultan, with seventy thousand picked troops at
his back, laid formal siege to the city on the land side, while a fleet of
several hundred war galleys beset the Bosphorus. The end could not be for
a moment doubtful; nine thousand men could not hope to defend the vast
circuit of the land and sea-wall against a veteran army urged on by a
young and fiery general. Mohammed set his cannon to play on the walls, and
it was soon seen that the tough old Roman mortar and stone that had
blunted the siege engines of so many foes could not resist the force of
gunpowder. The Sultan’s artillery was rude, but it was heavy and numerous;
ere long the walls began to come down in flakes, and breaches commenced to
show themselves in several places.
Constantine XIII. and his second in command, the Genoese Giustiniani, did
all that brave and skilful men might, in protracting the siege. They led
sorties, organized attacks by water on the Turkish fleet, and endeavoured
to drive off the siege artillery of the enemy by a counter fire of cannon.
But it was found that the old walls were too narrow to bear the guns, and
where any were hoisted up and brought to bear, their recoil shook the
fabric in such a dangerous way that the fire was soon obliged to cease.
At sea the Christians won one great success, when four galleys from the
Aegean forced their way in through the whole Turkish fleet, and reached
the Golden Horn in safety, after sinking many of their assailants. But the
Turks had as great a numerical superiority on the water as on land, and
the inevitable could only be delayed. Mohammed even succeeded in getting
control of the harbour of the city, above its mouth, by dragging light
galleys on rollers over the neck of land between the Bosphorus and the
Golden Horn, and launching them in the inland waters just above Galata.
Thus the inner, as well as the outer, sea-face of the city was beset by
enemies.
The end came on May 29, 1453. The Sultan had opened several practicable
breaches, of which the chief lay in the north-west angle of the city by
the gate of St. Romanus, where two whole towers and the curtain between
them had been battered down and choked the ditch. The storm was obviously
at hand, and the doomed Emperor was obliged to face his fate. Greek
historians dwelt with loving sorrow on the last hours of the unfortunate
prince. He left the breach at midnight, partook of the sacrament according
to the Latin rite in St. Sophia, and snatched a few hours of troubled
sleep in his half-ruined palace. Next morning, with the dawn, he rose to
ride back to the post of danger. His ministers and attendants crowded
round his horse as he started on what all knew to be his last journey.
Looking steadfastly on them he prayed one and all to pardon him for any
offence that he might wittingly or unwittingly have committed against any
man. The crowd answered with sobs and wails, and with the sounds of woe
ringing in his ears Constantine rode slowly off to meet his death.
The assault commenced at dawn; three main attacks and several secondary
ones were directed against weak spots in the wall. But the chief stress
was on the great breach by the gate of St. Romanus. There the Emperor
himself and Giustiniani at his side stood in the midst of the yawning gap
with their best men around them, and opposed a barrier of steel to the
oncoming assailants. Twelve thousand Janissaries, sabre in hand, formed
successive columns of attack; as soon as one was beaten off another
delivered its assault. They fell by hundreds before the swords of the
mailed men in the breach, for their felt caps and unarmoured bodies were
easy marks for the ponderous weapons of the fifteenth century. But the
ranks of the defenders grew thin and weary; Giustiniani was wounded in the
face by an arrow, and taken on board his galley to die. Constantine at
last stood almost alone in the breach, and a forlorn hope of Janissaries
headed by one Hassan of Ulubad, whom Turkish chroniclers delight to
honour, at last forced their way over the wall. The Emperor and his
companions were trodden under foot, and the victorious army rushed into
the desolate streets of Constantinople, seeking in vain for foes to fight.
The Greeks, half expecting that God would interfere to save the queen of
Christian cities by a miracle, had crowded into the churches, and were
passing the fatal hour in frantic prayer! The shouts of the victorious
enemy soon showed them how the day had gone, and the worshippers were
dragged out in crowds, to be claimed as slaves and divided among the
conquerors.
Mohammed II. rode through the breach after his men, and descended into the
city, scanning from within the streets that so many Eastern conquerors had
in vain desired to see. He bade his men search for the Emperor, and the
corpse of Constantine was found at last beneath a heap of slain, so gashed
and mauled that it was only identified by the golden eagles on his mail
shoes. The Turk struck off his head, and sent it round their chief cities
as a token of triumph. Riding through the hippodrome towards St. Sophia,
Mohammed noted the Delphic tripod with its three snakes,(33) standing
where Constantine the Great had placed it eleven hundred years before.
Either because the menacing heads of the serpents provoked him, or merely
because he wished to try the strength of his arm, the Sultan rose in his
stirrups and smote away the jaws of the nearest snake with one blow of his
mace. There was something typical in the deed though Mohammed knew it not.
He had defaced the monument of the first great victory of the West over
the East. He, the successor in spirit not only of Xerxes but of Chosroës
and Moslemah and many another Oriental potentate, who had failed where he
succeeded, could not better signalize the end of Greek freedom than by
dealing a scornful blow at that ancient memorial, erected in the first
days of Grecian greatness, to celebrate the turning back of the Persians
on the field of Plataea.
At last the Sultan came to St. Sophia, where the crowd of wailing captives
was being divided among his soldiery. He rode in at the eastern door, and
bade a mollah ascend the pulpit and repeat there the formula of the Moslem
faith. So the cry that God was great and Mohammed his prophet rang through
the dome where thirty generations of patriarchs had celebrated the Holy
Mysteries, and all Europe and Asia knew the end was come of the longest
tale of Empire that Christendom has yet seen.
Finis.
TABLE OF EMPERORS.
Arcadius, 395-408
Theodosius II., 408-450
Marcianus, 450-457
Leo I., 457-474
Zeno, 474-491
Anastasius I., 491-518
Justinus I., 518-527
Justinianus I., 527-565
Justinus II., 565-578
Tiberius II., Constantinus, 578-582
Mauricius, 582-602
Phocas, 602-610
Heraclius, 610-641
Heraclius Constantinus and Heracleonas, 641-2
Constans II., 642-668
Constantine IV., 668-685
Justinian II., 685-695
Leontius, 695-697
Tiberius III., Apsimarus, 697-705
Justinian II. (restored), 705-711
Philippicus, 711-713
Anastasius II., Artemius, 713-715
Theodosius III., 715-717
Leo III., the Isaurian, 717-740
Constantine V., Copronymus, 740-775
Leo IV., 775-779
Constantine VI., 779-797
Irene, 797-802
Nicephorus I., 802-811
Stauracius, 811
Michael I., Rhangabe, 811-813
Leo V., the Armenian, 813-820
Michael II., the Amorian, 820-829
Theophilus, 829-842
Michael III., 842-867
Basil I., the Macedonian, 867-886
Leo VI., the Wise, 886-912
Constantine VII., Porphyrogenitus, 912-958
[Co-regent Emperors—
Alexander, 912-913
Romanus I., Lecapenus, 919-945]
Romanus II., 958-963
Basil II., Bulgaroktonos, 963-1025
[Co-regent Emperors—
Nicephorus II., Phocas, 963-969
John I., Zimisces, 969-976]
Constantine VIII., 1025-28
Romanus III., Argyrus, 1028-34
Michael IV., the Paphlagonian, 1034-42
Michael V., 1042
Constantine IX., Monomachus, 1042-55
Theodora, 1055-57
Michael VI., Stratioticus, 1056-57
Isaac I., Comnenus, 1057-59
Constantine X., Ducas, 1059-67
Michael VII., Ducas, 1067-78
[Co-regent Emperor—
Romanus IV., Diogenes, 1067-71]
Nicephorus III., Botaniates, 1078-81
Alexius I., Comnenus, 1081-1118
John II., Comnenus, 1118-43
Manuel I., Comnenus, 1143-80
Alexius II., Comnenus, 1180-83
Andronicus I., Comnenus, 1183-85
Isaac II., Angelus, 1185-95
Alexius III., Angelus, 1195-1203
Isaac II. (restored), 1203-4
Alexius V., Ducas, 1204
LATIN EMPERORS.
Baldwin I., 1204-5
Henry, 1205-16
Peter, 1217-19
Robert, 1219-28
Baldwin II., 1228-61
NICAEAN EMPERORS.
Theodore I., Lascaris, 1204-22
John III., Ducas, 1222-54
Theodore II., Ducas, 1254-59
John IV., Ducas, 1259-60
EMPIRE RESTORED.
Michael VIII., Paleologus, 1260-82
Andronicus II., Paleologus, 1282-1328
Andronicus III., Paleologus, 1328-41
John V., Paleologus, 1341-91
[Co-regent—
John VI., Cantacuzenus, 1347-54]
Manuel II., 1391-1425
John VII., 1425-48
Constantine XI., 1448-53
INDEX.
Abdalmelik, the Caliph, wars of, with Justinian II., 174-6
Abubekr, the Caliph, wars of, with Heraclius, 160
Achaia, Frank principality of, 296
Acroinon, battle of, 188
Adana, taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 230
Adrianople, battle of, 40;
besieged by the Goths, 41;
captured by the Turks, 329
Africa, conquered by Belisarius, 84-5;
overrun by the Saracens, 176
Aijnadin, battle of, 162
Alaric the Goth, 47;
wars with Stilicho, 48;
departs to Italy, 49
Alaeddin, Sultan of the Seljouks, 322
Alboin the Lombard invades and conquers Italy, 116
Aleppo, Emirate of, 227;
attacked by Nicephorus Phocas, 231;
tributary to the empire, 270
Alexander, emperor-regent, 217
Alexandria, stormed by the Arabs, 166
Alexius I. (Comnenus), usurpation of, 257;
wars with the Normans, 259;
conquests of in Asia Minor, 205;
commercial policy of, 268
Alexius II. (Comnenus), short reign and murder of, 272
Alexius III. (Angelus), usurpation of, 278;
attacked by the Crusaders, 282;
flies, 284
Alexius IV. (Angelus), takes refuge in Germany, 279;
persuades the Crusaders, 280;
made emperor, 284;
murdered, 285
Alexius V. (Ducas), murders Alexius IV., 285;
defends Constantinople, 287;
slain, 293
Alexius Comnenus, emperor of Trebizond, 298
Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljouk Turks, attacks the empire, 252;
defeats Romanus IV., 254
Amalasuntha, Gothic queen, murdered, 82
Amalphi, commerce of, 225
Amorium, stormed by the Saracens, 210
Amour, Turkish Emir, 327
Amrou conquers Egypt, 166
Anastasius I., reign of, 61
Anastasius II., usurpation of, 181
Anatolic theme, 167
Andreas murders Constans II., 169
Andronicus I. (Comnenus), crimes and fall of, 272-3
Andronicus II. (Paleologus), reign of, 315-20
Andronicus III. (Paleologus), reign of, 321-2
Angelus, house of, _see_ Isaac II. Alexius III. and Theodore of Epirus
Angora, battle of, 334
Ani, taken by the Turks, 251
Anthemius, prime minister of Theodosius II., 54-5
Anthemius, architect of St. Sophia, 107
Anne of Savoy, empress-regent, 326
Antioch, taken by the Persians, 99;
taken a second time, 129;
stormed by the Saracens, 163;
retaken by Nicephorus Phocas, 231;
lost to the Turks, 256;
besieged by the Crusaders, 265;
tributary to the Comneni, 270
Antioch-on-Maeander, battle of, 299.
Antonia, wife of Belisarius, 74
Apsimarus, Tiberius, emperor, 177;
executed, 179
Arabs, _see_ Saracens
Arcadius, reign of, 47-54;
his dealings with the Goths, 48;
quarrels with Chrysostom, 52
Armenia, conquered by the Byzantines, 243;
overrun by the Turks, 251
Army, reformed by Leo and Zeno, 61;
description of, in tenth century, 218
Artemius Anastasius, reign of, 61
Art, decay and revival of, 222-4
Aspar, executed by Leo I., 60
Athalaric, Gothic king, 81
Athanarich, Gothic king, 42;
visits Constantinople, 44
Athens, early Byzantines at war with, 6;
schools of, closed by Justinian, 150;
Frank duchy of, 297;
conquered by the “Grand Company,” 319
Attila, king of the Huns, wars of with the empire, 57
Augustaeum, description of the, 19
Avars, invasions of, the 122;
war of, with Heraclius, 134;
besiege Constantinople, 137
Baanes, rebel in Syria, 163
Baduila, Gothic king, victories of, 92;
takes Rome, 94;
slain in battle, 95
Baldwin I., emperor, his character,281;
crowned, 292;
slain by the Bulgarians, 295
Baldwin II., reign of, 301;
his travels, 305;
expelled from Constantinople, 306
Bardas Caesar, 212;
murdered by Michael III., 213
Bari, taken by the Normans, 259
Basil I., made Caesar, 213;
assassinates Michael III., 213;
laws of, 214
Basil II., ascends the throne, 229;
assumes the full power, 240;
his Bulgarian victories, 241-3;
campaigns in Asia, 243;
dies, 244
Bayezid, Turkish Sultan, 334
Belisarius, Persian victories of, 73;
quells the _Nika_ riots, 79;
conquers Africa, 84;
takes Palermo, 88;
takes Rome, 89;
takes Ravenna, 91;
recalled, 92;
acts against Persia, 100;
defeats the Huns, 104;
disgraced, 105
Beneventum, Lombard duchy of, 117;
wars of with Constans II., 169
Black Sea, Greek trade with, 2
“Blues and Greens,” Circus factions, 22, 75;
great riot of, against Justinian, 76-7;
armed by Maurice, 127
Bohemund the Norman, wars of with Alexius I., 267
Boniface of Montserrat, 281-2;
made king of Thessalonica, 292;
slain in battle, 296
Bosphorus, the, 1-2
Bostra, stormed by the Saracens, 162
Branas, Alexius, rebellion of, 277
Brienne, house of, at Athens, 308;
expelled by the “Grand Company,” 319
Broussa, _see_ Prusa
Bucellarian Theme, 167-8
Buhawides, Persian dynasty, 226-7
Bulgarians, invade and settle in Moesia, 171;
defeated by Justinian II., 173;
aid Justinian, 179;
defeat the Saracens, 187;
at war with Constantine V., 196;
defeat Constantine VI., 198;
slay Nicephorus I., 203;
besiege Constantinople, 204;
routed by Leo V., 205;
defeat Leo VI, 216;
conquered by the Russians, 235;
conquered by Basil II., 241-3;
revolt against Isaac II., 276-7;
slay Baldwin I., 295;
conquests of, 308;
subdued by the Turks, 330
Burtzes storms Antioch, 231
Byzantium, founded, 1;
early history of, 2-8;
under the Romans, 9-12;
chosen as Constantine’s capital, 17;
_see afterwards under_ Constantinople
Candia taken by Nicephorus Phocas, 228
Cantacuzenus, John, usurpation of, 325-8
Caracalla, grants privileges to Byzantium, 10
Carthage, taken by Belisarius, 85;
taken by the Saracens, 176
Cassiodorus, his work in literary copying, 149
Chalcedon, founded. 3;
taken by the Persians, 134
Champlitte, William of, founds principality of Achaia, 296
Charles the Great crowned emperor, 109
Cherson. Justinian II. at, 177;
sacked, 180
Chosroës I., king of Persia, wars of, with Justinian, 72-4, 90-100
Chosroës II.. wars with Phocas and Heraclius, 120-135;
death of, 138
Chosroantiocheia, foundation of, 72
Christianity, influence of, on the empire and society, 145-149
Chrysostom, _see under_ John Chrysostom
Cilicia, conquered by Nicephorus Phocas, 230;
lost to the Turks, 236;
reconquered by the Comneni, 270
Column, of the Hippodrome, 25;
of Constantine, 25
Commerce, centralization of, at Constantinople, 224, 225;
decline of, under the Comneni, 267;
effects of Fourth Crusade on, 310
Comnena, Anna, writes her father’s life, 264
Comnenus, _see under_ Alexius, John, Andronicus, Manuel, David, Isaac
Conrad of Montserrat defeats Branas, 277
Constans II., reign of, 166;
wars of with the Saracens, 167;
murdered, 169
Constantine I., besieges Byzantium, 12;
master of the world, 14;
seeks a capital, 16;
founds Constantinople, 18
Constantine III., defeated by the Saracens, 164;
short reign of, 165
Constantine IV. (Pogonatus), wars of with the Saracens, 170;
defeats Moawiah, 171;
holds the Council of Constantinople, 172
Constantine V. (Copronymus), wars of, 196;
persecutes the Image-worshippers, 197
Constantine VI., reign of, 198;
blinded by his mother, 198
Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus), reign of, 216, 217;
literary works of, 220, 221
Constantine VIII., reign of, 245
Constantine IX. (Monomachus), reign of, 247
Constantine X. (Ducas), reign of, 250, 251
Constantine XI. (Paleologus), accession of, 343;
attacked by the Turks, 344;
last hours of, 347;
death of, 348
Constantinople founded by Constantine, 18;
topography of, 19-29;
besieged by the Goths, 41;
street fighting in, 51;
besieged by Avars and Persians, 136, 137;
besieged for the first time by the Saracens, 170;
besieged for the second time by the Saracens, 185, 186;
besieged by Bulgarians, 205;
commercial importance of, 224;
riots in, 247;
the Crusaders at, 264;
taken by the Franks and Venetians, 284;
stormed and sacked a second time, 287, 288;
devastation of, by the Latins, 291;
besieged by John Ducas, 301;
recovered by the Greeks, 305;
taken by John Paleologus, 329;
besieged by Murad II., 337;
last siege of, 346;
taken by the Turks, 348
Corippus, poem of, 144
Council of Constantinople, under Constantine IV., 172;
under Constantine V., 197;
under Leo V., 206
Council of Florence, John VI. at, 341
Courtenay, house of at Constantinople, 300, 301
Crete, conquered by the Saracens, 208;
recovered by Nicephorus Phocas, 228;
taken by the Venetians, 292
Cross, the Holy, captured by the Persians, 132;
recovered by Heraclius, 139;
removed to Constantinople, 163
Crumn, king of Bulgaria, defeats Nicephorus I., 203;
besieges Constantinople, 205