The Grand Turk: Sultan Mehmet II - Conqueror of Constantinople and Master of an Empire by John Freely Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: John Freely
been making desperate attempts to obtain help from the West. Pope Nicholas V appointed Cardinal Isidore of Kiev as papal legate to Constantinople. Isidore arrived in Constantinople on 26 October 1452, accompanied by the archbishop Leonard of Chios, along with a contingent of 200 Neapolitan archers sent by the pope. Isidore pressed Constantine to agree to a formal declaration of Union, which was read out on 12 December of that year in Haghia Sophia, the Great Church, dedicated to the Divine Wisdom. But most of the populace refused to accept the Union, and thenceforth they stayed away from Haghia Sophia, where only priests who had accepted the delaration were allowed to serve. The Megadux (Grand Duke) Loukas Notaras is supposed to have said: ‘I would rather see the Sultan’s turban amongst us than the Cardinal’s tiara.’
The opposition party was led by George Scholarios, a monk at the Pantocrator monastery in Constantinople. Scholarios retired to his cell after Constantine’s acceptance of the Pope’s demands, pinning to the door of his room a manifesto condemning the Union, quoted by Doukas: ‘Wretched Romans, how you have been deceived! Trusting in the might of the Franks you have removed yourself from the hope of God. Together with the City which will soon be destroyed, you have lost your piety… Woe unto you in the judgment.’
As the year 1452 drew to a close Mehmet spent all his time drawing up his plans for the coming siege of the Byzantine capital. Doukas writes: ‘Night and day the ruler’s only care and concern, whether he was lying on his bed or standing on his feet, or within his courtyard or without, was what battle plan and stratagem to employ in order to capture Constantinople.’ One night he called in Halil Pasha, whom he knew opposed his plan of attacking the city, probably because he was being bribed by the Byzantines. Halil was so terrified by the nocturnal summons that he now readily agreed with Mehmet, who then bade the grand vezir goodnight, telling him: ‘Go in peace.’
Late in January 1453 Mehmet assembled his vezirs to hear his plans for the conquest of Constantinople and to obtain their agreement. Kritoboulos records the lengthy speech that Mehmet is supposed to have made on this occasion, in which he gave ‘a recital of previous deeds of his forefathers’, ending with a stirring call to arms. ‘Let us not then delay any longer, but let us attack the City swiftly with all our powers and with this conviction: that we shall either capture it with one blow or shall never withdraw from it, even if we must die, until we become masters of it.’
Kritoboulos writes that ‘practically all of those present applauded what was said by the Sultan, praising him for his good will and knowledge, bravery and valor, and agreeing with him, and still further inciting each other to war’. He goes on to say that there were a few vezirs who ‘wanted to advise against making war’, Halil undoubtedly being one of them. ‘However, seeing the insistence and zeal of the Sultan, they were afraid, as it seems to me, and unwillingly yielded and were carried along by the majority. So the war was sanctioned by all.’
And so now, two months before his twenty-first birthday, Mehmet could at last begin to see the fulfilment of his dream of conquering Constantinople.
3
The Conquest of Constantinople
Constantinople was built on a more or less triangular peninsula that forms the south-easternmost extension of Europe. The peninsula is bounded on its south by the Sea of Marmara and on its north by the Golden Horn, a scimitar-shaped body of water that opens into the Bosphorus at the southern end of the strait. The city was protected on its landward side by its mighty defence walls, originally built in AD 447 by the emperor Theodosius II. These walls enclose seven hills, the first of which is the acropolis at the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, where the original Greek colony of Byzantium
The opposition party was led by George Scholarios, a monk at the Pantocrator monastery in Constantinople. Scholarios retired to his cell after Constantine’s acceptance of the Pope’s demands, pinning to the door of his room a manifesto condemning the Union, quoted by Doukas: ‘Wretched Romans, how you have been deceived! Trusting in the might of the Franks you have removed yourself from the hope of God. Together with the City which will soon be destroyed, you have lost your piety… Woe unto you in the judgment.’
As the year 1452 drew to a close Mehmet spent all his time drawing up his plans for the coming siege of the Byzantine capital. Doukas writes: ‘Night and day the ruler’s only care and concern, whether he was lying on his bed or standing on his feet, or within his courtyard or without, was what battle plan and stratagem to employ in order to capture Constantinople.’ One night he called in Halil Pasha, whom he knew opposed his plan of attacking the city, probably because he was being bribed by the Byzantines. Halil was so terrified by the nocturnal summons that he now readily agreed with Mehmet, who then bade the grand vezir goodnight, telling him: ‘Go in peace.’
Late in January 1453 Mehmet assembled his vezirs to hear his plans for the conquest of Constantinople and to obtain their agreement. Kritoboulos records the lengthy speech that Mehmet is supposed to have made on this occasion, in which he gave ‘a recital of previous deeds of his forefathers’, ending with a stirring call to arms. ‘Let us not then delay any longer, but let us attack the City swiftly with all our powers and with this conviction: that we shall either capture it with one blow or shall never withdraw from it, even if we must die, until we become masters of it.’
Kritoboulos writes that ‘practically all of those present applauded what was said by the Sultan, praising him for his good will and knowledge, bravery and valor, and agreeing with him, and still further inciting each other to war’. He goes on to say that there were a few vezirs who ‘wanted to advise against making war’, Halil undoubtedly being one of them. ‘However, seeing the insistence and zeal of the Sultan, they were afraid, as it seems to me, and unwillingly yielded and were carried along by the majority. So the war was sanctioned by all.’
And so now, two months before his twenty-first birthday, Mehmet could at last begin to see the fulfilment of his dream of conquering Constantinople.
3
The Conquest of Constantinople
Constantinople was built on a more or less triangular peninsula that forms the south-easternmost extension of Europe. The peninsula is bounded on its south by the Sea of Marmara and on its north by the Golden Horn, a scimitar-shaped body of water that opens into the Bosphorus at the southern end of the strait. The city was protected on its landward side by its mighty defence walls, originally built in AD 447 by the emperor Theodosius II. These walls enclose seven hills, the first of which is the acropolis at the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, where the original Greek colony of Byzantium
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