Constantine XI Palaiologos

Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, romanized: Kōnstantinos Dragasēs Palaiologos; 8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453), known in later Greek folklore as the Marble Emperor (Greek: Μαρμαρωμένος Βασιλιάς, romanized: Marmaromenos Vasilias, lit. 'Emperor/King turned into Marble'), was the final Byzantine emperor, reigning from 1449 to his death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantine's death marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, an institution tracing its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. Since the Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire's medieval continuation, with its citizens continually referring to themselves as Romans, Constantine XI's death and Constantinople's fall also marked the final end of the Roman Empire, founded by Augustus almost 1,500 years prior.

Constantine XI Palaiologos
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
15th-century portrait of Constantine XI (from a 15th-century codex containing a copy of the Extracts of History by Joannes Zonaras)
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign6 January 1449 – 29 May 1453
[n 1]
PredecessorJohn VIII Palaiologos
Despot of the Morea
Reign1 May 1428 – March 1449
[n 2]
PredecessorTheodore II Palaiologos (alone)
SuccessorThomas and Demetrios Palaiologos
Co-regentTheodore II Palaiologos
(1428–1443)
Thomas Palaiologos
(1428–1449)
Born8 February 1405
Constantinople
Died29 May 1453(1453-05-29) (aged 48)
Constantinople
Spouse
Theodora Tocco
(m. 1428; died 1429)

Caterina Gattilusio
(m. 1441; died 1442)
Full name
Kōnstantinos Dragasēs Palaiologos
DynastyPalaiologos
FatherManuel II Palaiologos
MotherHelena Dragaš
ReligionCatholic/Orthodox
Signature

Constantine was the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of Serbian ruler Konstantin Dejanović. Little is known of his early life, but from the 1420s onwards, he is repeatedly demonstrated to have been a skilled general. Based on his career and surviving contemporary sources, Constantine appears to above all else have been a soldier. This does not mean that Constantine was not also a skilled administrator. He was trusted and favored to such an extent by his older brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, that he was designated as regent twice during John VIII's journeys away from Constantinople; from 1423 to 1424 and from 1437 to 1440. In 1427–1428, Constantine and John fended off an attack on the Morea (the Peloponnese) by Carlo II Tocco, ruler of Epirus, and in 1428 Constantine was proclaimed as Despot of the Morea, to rule the province together with his older brother Theodore and his younger brother Thomas. Together, they extended Byzantine rule to cover almost the entire Peloponnese for the first time since the Fourth Crusade more than two hundred years prior and rebuilt the ancient Hexamilion wall, which defended the peninsula from outside attacks. Although ultimately unsuccessful, Constantine personally led a campaign into Central Greece and Thessaly in 1444–1446, attempting to extend Byzantine rule into Greece once more.

In 1448, John VIII died without children, and as his favored successor, Constantine was proclaimed emperor on 6 January 1449. Constantine's brief reign would see the emperor grapple with three primary concerns. First of all, there was the issue of an heir, as Constantine too was childless. Despite attempts of finding him a wife by Constantine's friend and confidant George Sphrantzes, Constantine would ultimately die unmarried. The second concern was the religious disunity within what little remained of his empire; with much of the Byzantine populace refusing to accept a union between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, something Constantine and his predecessor John VIII had believed necessary to secure military aid from Catholic Europe. The third, and ultimately most pressing, concern was the growing Ottoman Empire, which by 1449 completely surrounded Constantinople. In April 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II laid siege to Constantinople with an army perhaps numbering as many as 80,000 men. Even though the city's defenders might not even have numbered a tenth of the sultan's army, Constantine considered the idea of abandoning Constantinople unthinkable. The emperor stayed to defend the city and on 29 May, Constantinople fell. Constantine died the same day. Though no reliable eyewitness accounts survive of his death, most historical accounts agree that the emperor led a last charge against the Ottomans and died fighting.

Constantine was the last Christian ruler of Constantinople, something, which alongside his bravery at the city's fall helped cement him as a near-legendary figure in later histories and in Greek folklore. Some saw the foundation of Constantinople (the New Rome) under Constantine the Great and its loss under another Constantine as fulfillment of the city's destiny, just as Old Rome had been founded by a Romulus and lost under another. A popular legend, which would endure for centuries, was that Constantine had not actually died, but had been rescued by an angel and turned into marble, hidden beneath the Golden Gate of Constantinople awaiting a call from God to be restored to life and reconquer both the city and the old empire.

Early life

Family and background

Miniature from an early 15th-century manuscript depicting Constantine's father Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, his mother Helena Dragaš and his three older brothers John, Theodore and Andronikos

Constantine Dragases Palaiologos was born on 8 February 1405[n 3] as the fourth son of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (r. 1391–1425), the eighth emperor of the Palaiologos dynasty.[4] Constantine's mother (from whom he took his second last name) was Helena Dragaš, the daughter of Serbian ruler Konstantin Dejanović. Constantine is frequently described as Porphyrogénnētos ("born in the purple"), a distinction granted to sons born to a reigning emperor in the imperial palace.[5]

Manuel ruled a disintegrating and dwindling Byzantine Empire.[4] The catalyst of Byzantium's fall had been the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia in the 11th century. Though some emperors, such as Alexios I and Manuel I, had successfully recovered portions of Anatolia through help from western crusaders, their gains were only temporary. Anatolia was the empire's most fertile, populated and wealthy region, and after its loss, Byzantium more or less experienced constant decline. Though most of it was eventually reconquered, the Byzantine Empire had also been crippled by the 1204 Fourth Crusade and the loss of Constantinople to the Latin Empire, formed by the crusaders. Though the Byzantine Empire, under the founder of the Palaiologos dynasty, Michael VIII, retook Constantinople in 1261, the damage to the empire was irreversible and the emprie further declined over the course of the 14th century as the result of frequent civil wars.[6] Over the course of the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks had conquered vast swaths of territories and by 1405, they ruled much of Anatolia, Bulgaria, central Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Thessaly. The Byzantine Empire, once extending throughout the eastern Mediterranean, was more or less reduced to the imperial capital of Constantinople itself, the Peloponnese and a handful of islands in the Aegean Sea, and was furthermore forced to pay tribute to the Ottomans.[4]

As the empire dwindled, the emperors came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure that their remaining territory was kept intact was to grant some of their holdings to their sons, who received the title of despot, as appanages to defend and govern. Manuel's oldest son, John, was raised to co-emperor and designated to succeed his father. The second son, Theodore, was designated as the Despot of the Morea (the prosperous province constituting the Peloponnese) and the third son, Andronikos, was proclaimed as Despot of Thessaloniki in 1408. The younger sons; Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas, were kept in Constantinople as there was not sufficient land left to grant them.[7]

Little is known of Constantine's early life. From an early age, he was admired by George Sphrantzes (later a famed Byzantine historian), who would later enter his service, and later encomiasts often wrote that Constantine had always been courageous and adventerous, skilled in martial arts, horsemanship and hunting.[5] Because of a lack of contemporary sources, most writings of Constantine having been composed after his death, accounts of his life, before and after he eventually became emperor, are often heavily skewed, portraying his life with a view of his final fate, typically highly eulogizing in nature.[8] Based on his actions and the surviving commentary of some his advisors and contemporaries, Constantine appears to have been more comfortable with military matters than with matters of state or diplomacy, though he was also a competent administrator, as illustrated by his tenures as regent, and tended to heed the advice of his councilors on important matters of state.[9] With the exception of stylized and smudged depictions on seals and coins, no contemporary depictions of Constantine survive.[10] Notable images of Constantine include a seal, now in Vienna (of unknown provenance, probably from an imperial chrysobull), a few coins, and his portrait among the other Byzantine emperors in the Biblioteca Estense copy of the history of Zonaras. In the latter he is shown with a rounded beard, in noted contrast to his forked-bearded relatives, but it is unclear whether that reflects his actual appearance.[11]

Early career

1422 map of Constantinople by catographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti, the oldest surviving map of the city

After an unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422, Manuel II suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed in one side of his body. Though he would live for another three years, the government of the empire was effectively in the hands of Constantine's brother John. The situation looked grim. Thessaloniki was also under siege by the Ottomans and to spare it from falling into their hands, John gave the city to the Republic of Venice. As Manuel II had once hoped years prior, John too hoped to rally support from Western Europe. John thus left Constantinople in November 1423, travelling to Venice and Hungary.[12] By this time, Manuel II had abandoned his hope of western aid and had even attempted to dissuade John from pursuing it. Manuel believed that an eventual church union, which would become John's goal, would only antagonize the Turks and the empire's populace, possibly even leading to civil war.[13]

Having been impressed by his brother during the 1422 Ottoman siege,[3] and trusting him more than his other brothers, Constantine was given the title of despot and left to rule Constantinople as regent. With the aid of his bedridden father, Constantine drew up a new peace treaty with the Ottoman sultan Murad II, momentarily sparing Constantinople from further Turkish attacks. John returned from his journey in November 1424, having been unsuccessful in his search for help. On 21 July 1425, Manuel died and John became the senior emperor as John VIII Palaiologos. Constantine was granted a strip of land to the north of Constantinople, running from the town of Mesembria in the north to Derkos in the south and also including the port of Selymbria, as his appanage in 1425.[12] Though this strip of land was small, it was close to Constantinople and strategically important, demonstrating that Constantine was trusted by both Manuel II and John.[9]

Following Constantine's successful tenure as regent, John deemed that his brother had proven his loyalty and ability. Because their brother Theodore had expressed some unhappiness in regards to his position as Despot of the Morea to John when John visited him on his way to Venice in 1423, John soon recalled Constantine from Mesembria and designated him as Theodore's successor as Despot of the Morea. These plans were thwarted once Theodore changed his mind about the whole affair, but John still wished to place Constantine in the Morea. Though Theodore was now happy to rule in the Morea, he could use some support as he had been beset by enemies throughout the 1420s. In 1423, the Ottomans had broken through the ancient Hexamilion wall, which guarded the Peloponnese, and had devastated the Morea. In addition to the Ottoman threat, the Morea was also constantly threatened by Carlo II Tocco, the Italian ruler of Epirus, who campaigned against Theodore shortly before the Ottoman invasion and again in 1426, occupying territory in the northwestern parts of the Morea.[14]

In 1427, John VIII personally set out to deal with Tocco, bringing Constantine and George Sphrantzes with him. On 26 December 1427, the two brothers reached Mystras, the capital of the Morea, and from there they made their way to the town of Glarentza, captured by the Epirotes. In the Battle of the Echinades, a naval skirmish off the coast of Glarentza, Tocco was defeated and he agreed to relinquish his conquests in the Morea. In order to seal the peace, Tocco offered his daughter, Maddalena Tocco (whose name was later changed to the Greek Theodora), in marriage to Constantine, her dowry being Glarentza and the other Moreot territories. Glarentza was given to the Byzantines on 1 May 1428 and on 1 July, Constantine married Theodora.[15][16]

Despot of the Morea

Early rule in the Morea

Map of the Peloponnese in the Middle Ages

The transfer of Tocco's conquered Moreot territories to Constantine made the system of government in the Morea complex. Since his brother Theodore refused to step down from his role as despot, the despotate became governed by two members of the imperial family for the first time since its creation in 1349. Soon thereafter, the younger Thomas (aged 19) was also appointed as a third Despot of the Morea, meaning that the nominally undivided despotate had effectively disintegrated into three smaller principalities. Theodore did not make way for Constantine or Thomas at Mystras. Instead, Theodore granted Constantine lands throughout the Morea, including the northern harbor town of Aigio, fortresses and towns in Laconia (in the south), and Kalamata and Messenia in the west. Constantine made Glarentza, which he was entitled to by marriage, his capital. Meanwhile, Thomas was given lands in the north and based himself in the castle of Kalavryta.[17] During his tenure as despot, Constantine was brave and energetic, but generally cautious.[1]

Shortly after being appointed as despots, Constantine and Thomas, together with Theodore, decided to join forces in an attempt to seize the flourishing and strategic port of Patras in the north-west of the Morea, then under the rule of its Catholic Archbishop, Pandolfo Malatesta (Theodore's brother-in-law). The campaign, which was unsuccessful, possibly due to Theodore's reluctance to partake, was Thomas's first experience of war. Confiding with Sphrantzes and John at a secret meeting in Mystras, Constantine decided that he, on his own, would make a second attempt to retake Patras and if unsuccessful, would return to his old appanage by the Black Sea. Constantine and Sphrantzes, confident that the city's many Greek inhabitants would support their takeover, marched towards Patras on 1 March 1429 and on 20 March, he besieged the city. The siege developed into a long and drawn-out engagement, with occassional skirmishes. At one point, Constantine's horse was shot and killed under him and the despot nearly died, being saved by Sphrantzes at the cost of Sphrantzes being captured by the defenders of Patras (though he would be released, albeit in a state of near-death, on 23 April). After almost two months, the defenders opened up to the possibility of negotiation in May. Pandolfo Malatesta had journeyed to Italy in an attempt to recruit reinforcements and the defenders agreed that if he did not return to them by the end of the month, Patras would surrender. Constantine agreed to this and withdrew his army. On 1 June, Constantine returned to the city and since the Archbishop had not returned, he met with the city's leading men in the city's Cathedral of St. Andrew on 4 June and they accepted him as their new lord. The Archbishop's castle, located on a hill nearby, would hold out against Constantine for another 12 months before surrendering.[18]

Ruins of the castle at Patras, captured by Constantine in 1430

Constantine's capture of Patras was seen as an affront by the Pope, the Venetians and the Ottomans. In order to pacify any threats, Constantine sent ambassadors to all three, with Sphrantzes being sent to talk with the Ottoman governor of Thessaly, Turahan. Though Sphrantzes was successful in removing the threat of Turkish reprisal, the threat from the West was realized as the dispossessed Archbishop arrived at the head of an mercenary army of Catalans. Unfortunately for Malatesta, the Catalans proved to have little interest in helping him recover Patras, and they instead attacked and seized Glarentza, which Constantine had to buy back from them for 6,000 Venetian ducats, and began plundering the Moreot coastline. For fear of Glarentza being seized by pirates, Constantine eventually ordered it to be destroyed.[19] During this perilous time, Constantine suffered another loss, as Theodora died in November 1429. The grief-stricken Constantine first had her buried at Glarentza, but then moved to Mystras.[20] Once the Archbishop's castle surrendered to Constantine in July 1430, the city was fully restored to Byzantine rule after 225 years of foreign occupation. In November, Sphrantzes was rewarded through being proclaimed as the city's governor.[19]

By the early 1430s, the efforts of Constantine and his younger brother Thomas had ensured that nearly all of the Peloponnese was once more under Byzantine rule, for the first time since the Fourth Crusade. Thomas brought an end to the Principality of Achaea by marrying Catherine Zaccaria, daughter and heir of the final prince, Centurione II Zaccaria. With Centurione's death in 1432, Thomas could claim control over all of his remaining territories by right of marriage. The only lands in the Peloponnese remaining under foreign rule were the few port towns and cities still held by the Republic of Venice. Sultan Murad II felt uneasy about the recent string of Byzantine successes in the Morea. In 1431, Turahan sent his troops south on Murad's orders to demolish the Hexamilion wall in an effort to remind the despots that they were the Sultan's vassals.[21]

Second tenure as regent

In March 1432, Constantine, possibly desiring to be closer to Mystras, made a new territorial agreement, presumably approved by Theodore and John VIII, with Thomas. Thomas agreed to cede his fortress Kalavryta to Constantine, who made it his new capital, in exchange for Elis, which Thomas made his new capital.[22] Though relations between the three despots thus appears to have been good in 1432, they soon soured. John VIII had no sons to succeed him and it was thus assumed that his successor would be one of his four surviving brothers (Andronikos having died some time before). John VIII's preferred successor was known to be Constantine and though this choice was accepted by Thomas, who had developed good relations with his older brother, it was resented by the still older Theodore. When Constantine was summoned to the capital in 1435, Theodore believed this was to appoint Constantine as co-emperor and designated heir, which was not actually the case, and he too travelled to Constantinople to raise his objections. The quarrel between Constantine and Theodore was not resolved until the end of 1436, when the future Patriarch Gregory Mammas was sent to reconcile them and prevent civil war. The brothers agreed that Constantine was to return to Constantinople, and that Theodore and Thomas would remain in the Morea. John needed Constantine in Constantinople since he was to shortly depart for a new journey to Italy. On 24 September 1437, Constantine reached Constantinople. Though he was not proclaimed as co-emperor,[20] his appointment as regent for a second time, suggested to John by their mother Helena,[16] clearly indicated that he was to be regarded as John's intended heir,[20] much to the dismay of his other brothers.[16]

Contemporary sketches by Pisanello of the Byzantine delegation at the Council of Florence. The figure mounted on the horse is Constantine's brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos.

John left for Italy in November. He was to attend the Council of Ferrara in an effort to unite the Eastern and Western churches. Although many in the Byzantine Empire opposed a Union of the Churches, as it would mean religious submission under the Papacy, John viewed a union as necessary. Although the Papacy did not view the distressing situation of the Christians in the East as something positive, they would not call for any aid to the disintegrating empire if it did not renounce what the Catholics perceived as errors and acknowledged obedience to the Catholic Church. With him to Italy, John brought an impressive delegation, including Joseph II, the Patriarch of Constantinople, representatives of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem, large numbers of bishops, monks and priests, and his younger brother Demetrios. Though Demetrios was known to be opposed to a church union, John dared not to leave him in the East since he had shown rebellious tendencies, fearing that Demetrios might try to take the throne with Ottoman support. Constantine was not left without supporting courtiers in Constantinople. Constantine's and John's cousin, Demetrios Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, was left in the city, as was the experienced statesman Loukas Notaras. Futhermore, their mother, Helena Dragaš, was there to advise Constantine, as was Constantine's friend and companion George Sphrantzes.[23] In 1438, Constantine served as the best man at Sphrantzes's wedding,[23] and would later be the godfather to two of Sphrantzes's children.[24]

During John's time away in Italy, the Ottomans held to the previously established peace, possibly a testiment to Constantine's careful handling of the situation during his time as regent. Trouble appeared to have brewed only once; in early 1439, Constantine wrote to his brother in Italy to remind the Pope that the Byzantines had been promised two warships by the end of the spring. Constantine hoped that the ships would leave Italy within fiteen days, believing that Murad II was planning a great attack on Constantinople. Though the ships were not sent, Constantinople had not been in danger at the time as Murad's campaign was aimed at taking Smederevo in Serbia.[25]

The council in Italy dragged on for years, not concluding until June 1439, now at Florence with a declaration that the churches had been reunited. John did not return to Constantinople until 1 February 1440. Although he was received with a grand and pomp ceremony, organized by Constantine and Demetrios (who had returned sometime earlier), the news that the churches had been unified stirred a wave of resentment and bitterness among the general populace,[26] who felt that John had betrayed their faith and their world view.[27] Many also feared that the union would arouse suspicion among the Ottomans.[26] Constantine's view on the union was in line with his brother's views. If a sacrifice of the independence of their church resulted in the Westerners organizing a crusade and saving Constantinople, it would not have been in vain.[26]

Second marriage and Ottoman threats

Despite having been relieved of his duties as regent upon John's return, Constantine stayed in the capital for the rest of 1440. He may have stayed in order to find a suitable wife, wishing to remarry since it had been more than ten years since the death of Theodora. The bride eventually decided on was Caterina Gattilusio, daughter of Dorino I Gattilusio, the Genoese lord of the island Lesbos. Sphrantzes was sent to Lesbos in December 1440 to propose and arrange the marriage. In late 1441, Constantine then sailed to Lesbos in the company of Sphrantzes and Loukas Notaras, and in August he married Caterina. In September, he left Lesbos, leaving Caterina with her father on Lesbos, to travel to the Morea.[28]

Upon his return to the Morea, Constantine observed that Theodore and Thomas had rule well without him and he believed that he might serve the empire's needs better if he was closer to the capital. His younger brother Demetrios now governed Constantine's former appanage around Mesembria in Thrace, and Constantine pondered the possibility that he and Demetrios could switch places, with Constantine regaining the Black Sea appanage and Demetrios being granted Constantine's holdings in the Morea. Constantine sent Sphrantzes to forward the idea to both Demetrios and Murad II, who by this point had to be consulted about any appointments.[29]

By 1442, Demetrios had no desire for new appointments, instead eyeing the imperial throne. He had just made a deal with Murad himself and had raised an army, portraying himself as the champion of the anti-unionist cause, which opposed the union of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a cause supported by the Turks, declaring war on his brother John. When Sphrantzes reached Demetrios to forward Constantine's offer, Demetrios was already preparing to march on Constantinople. The danger he posed to the city was so great that Constantine was summoned from the Morea by John VIII to oversee the city's defenses. In April 1442, Demetrios and the Ottomans began their attack and in July, Constantine left the Morea to relieve his brother in the capital. On the way, Constantine met his wife at Lesbos and together they sailed to Lemnos, where they were met with an Ottoman blockade, being trapped for months. Though Venice sent ships to relieve them, Caterina had fallen ill and she died in August. She would be buried at Myrina on Lemnos. Constantine did not reach Constantinople until November and by then, the Ottoman attack had already been repulsed.[30] Demetrios's punishment was a brief imprisonment.[31] In March 1443, Sphrantzes was made governor of Selymbria in Constantine's name. From Selymbria, Sphrantzes and Constantine would be able to keep a watchful eye on the activities of Demetrios. In November, Constantine gave over control of Selymbria to Theodore, who in turn abandoned his position as Despot of the Morea, making Constantine and Thomas the sole Despots of the Morea and giving Constantine Mystras, the despotate's prosperous capital.[32]

Despot at Mystras

The Despot's Palace in Mystras, from which Constantine ruled as Despot of the Morea 1443–1449

With Theodore and Demetrios out of their way, Constantine and Thomas hoped to strengthen the Morea. By this time, the Morea was the cultural center of the Byzantine world, providing a much less hopeless atmosphere than Constantinople. Patrons of art and science had settled there on Theodore's invitation and churches, monasteries and mansions continued to be built. The two Palaiologos brothers hoped to make the Morea into a safe and nearly self-sufficient principality. The philosopher Gemistus Pletho, employed in Constantine's service, advocated that while Constantinople had once been the New Rome, Mystras and the Morea could become the "New Sparta", a centralized and strong hellenic kingdom in its own right.[33]

Among the actions taken during the brothers' project of strengthening the despotate was to reconstruct the Hexamilion wall, destroyed by the Turks in 1431. Together, they completely restored the wall, which being finished with the project in March 1444. The project impressed many of their subjects and contemporaries, including the Venetian lords in the Peloponnese, who had politely declined to help with its funding. The restoration had cost much in both money and manpower; many of the Moreot landowners had momentarily fled to Venetian lands to avoid helping to finance the venture, whereas others had rebelled and been forced into submission through military means.[34] Constantine attampted to attract the loyalty of the Moreot landowners by granting them both further lands and various privileges. He also staged local athletic games, where young Moreots could run races for prizes.[35]

The Crusade of Varna, sent to aid the Byzantines against the Ottomans, was crushed by Sultan Murad II at the Battle of Varna (pictured) in 1444.

In the summer of 1444, perhaps encouraged by news from the West that a crusade had set out from Hungary in 1443, Constantine invaded the Latin Duchy of Athens, his direct northern neighbor and an Ottoman vassal. Constantine, through having sent Sphrantzes, was in contact with Cardinal Julian Cesarini, who along with Władysław III of Poland and Hungary was the leader of the crusade. Cesarini was made aware of Constantine's intentions and that he was ready to aid the crusade in striking at the Ottomans from the south. Constantine swiftly captured Athens and Thebes, forcing Duke Nerio II Acciaioli to pay the tribute otherwise paid to the Ottomans to him instead. The recapture of Athens was seen as a particularly glorious feat. One of Constantine's counsellers compared the despot to the legendary ancient Athenian general Themistocles. Though the crusading army was destroyed by the Ottoman army, personally led by Murad II, at the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444, Constantine was not deterred. His initial campaign had been remarkably successful and he had now even received foreign support from Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, who had sent him 300 soldiers. With the Burgundian soldiers and his own men, Constantine raided central Greece as far north as the Pindus mountains in Thessaly, where the locals happily welcomed him as their new lord. As Constantine's campaign progressed, one of his governors, Constantine Kantakouzenos, also made his way north, attacking Thessaly and seizing the town of Lidoriki from the Ottomans. The townspeople were so excited at their liberation that they renamed the town to Kantakouzinopolis in his honor.[36]

Tiring of Constantine's successes, Murad II, accompanied by Duke Nerio II of Athens, marched on the Morea in 1446, with an army possibly numbering as many as 60,000 men.[37] Despite the overwhelming number of Ottoman troops, Constantine refused to surrender his gains in Greece and instead prepared for battle.[38] The Ottomans quickly restored control over Thessaly; Constantine and Thomas rallied at the Hexamilion wall, which the Ottomans reached on 27 November.[37] Constantine and Thomas were determined to hold the wall and had brought all their available forces, amounting to perhaps as many as 20,000 men, to defend it.[39] Though the wall mighth have held against the great Ottoman army under normal circumstances, Murad had brought cannons with him and by 10 December, the wall had been reduced to rubble, most of the defenders either killed or captured. Constantine and Thomas barely escaped the catastrophic defeat. Turahan was sent south to take Mystras and devastate Constantine's lands while Sultan Murad II led his forces in the north of the Peloponnese. Although Turahan failed to take Mystras, this was of little consequence as Murad did not wish to conquer the Morea at the time, merely to instill terror, and the Turks soon left the peninsula, devastated and depopulated. Constantine and Thomas were in no position to ask for a truce and were forced to accept Murad as their lord and pay him tribute, promising to never again restore the Hexamilion wall.[40]

Reign as emperor

Accesion to the throne

Marble relief of a double-headed eagle in the Church of St. Demetrios in Mystras, marking the spot where Constantine XI was supposedly crowned

Theodore, once Despot of the Morea, died in June 1448 and on 31 October that same year, John VIII Palaiologos died in Constantinople.[41] Compared to his other living brothers, Constantine was by far the most popular of the Palaiologoi, both in the Morea and in the capital.[42] It was well-known that his favored successor was Constantine and ultimately, the will of the mother of the Palaiologos brothers, Helena Dragaš (who also preferred Constantine), prevailed in the matter. Both Thomas, who seems to have had no intention of claiming the throne, and Demetrios, who most certainly did, hurried to Constantinople and reached the capital before Constantine had time to leave the Morea. Though Demetrios was favored by many due to his anti-unionist sentiment, Helena reserved her right to act as regent until her eldest son, Constantine arrived, stalling Demetrios's attempt at seizing the throne. Thomas accepted Constantine's appointment and Demetrios, who soon thereafter joined in proclaiming Constantine as his new emperor, was overruled.[41] Soon thereafter, Sphrantzes informed Sultan Murad II,[41] who also accepted the appointment on 6 December 1448.[43] With the question of succession peacefully resolved, Helena sent two envoys, Manuel Palaiologos Iagros and Alexios Philanthropenos Laskaris, to the Morea, invest Constantine as emperor and bring him to the capital. Thomas also accompanied them.[41]

In a small civil ceremony on 6 January 1449, Constantine was invested with the title of Emperor of the Romans at Mystras, possibly in one of the churches or in the Despot's Palace. Constantine was not given a crown, instead he put on a smaller form of imperial headgear, a pilon, on his head with his own hands. Although emperors were traditionally crowned in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, there was historical prescedent for smaller and local ceremonies. Centuries prior, Manuel I Komnenos had been invested with the title by his dying father, John II Komnenos, in Cilicia. Constantine's own great-grandfather, John VI Kantakouzenos, had been proclaimed emperor at Didymoteicho in Thrace. Both Manuel I and John VI had however been careful to perform the traditional coronation ceremony in Constantinople once they reached the capital. In Constantine's case, no such ceremony was ever performed. Both Constantine and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory III Mammas, were supporters of the Union of the Churches. A ceremony in which Gregory crowned Constantine emperor might well have led the anti-unionists in the capital to rebel. Constantine's rise to emperor was controversial; though he was accepted on account of his lineage and there not being many other choices, his lack of a full coronation and his support for the Union of the Churches damaged public perception of the new emperor.[44]

Careful not to anger the anti-unionists through being crowned by Gregory III, Constantine believed that his proclamation at Mystras had sufficed as an imperial coronation and had given him all the constitutional rights of the one true emperor. In his earliest known imperial document, a chrysobull from February 1439, he refers to himself as "Constantine Palaiologos in Christ true Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans". Constantine arrived at Constantinople on 12 March 1449, having been provided means of travel by a Catalan ship.[45]

Having served as regent twice, and having ruled numerous fiefs throughout the crumbling empire, Constantine was well prepared for his accesion to the throne.[9] By Constantine's time, Constantinople was a shadow of its former glory. The city had never truly recovered from the 1204 sack by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, instead of the grand imperial capital it once was, Constantinople in the 15th century was an almost rural network of population centers, with many of the city's churches and palaces, including the former imperial palace, being abandoned and in disrepair. Instead of the former imperial palace, the Palaiologoi emperors used the Palace of Blachernae, located considerably closer to the city's walls, as their main residence. As a result of the Latin occupation and the 14th century civil wars, the population of the city had experienced a significant decline, made worse by outbreaks of the Black Death in 1347, 1409 and 1410. By the time Constantine became emperor, only about 50,000 people lived in the city.[46]

Initial concerns

1/8 stavraton, minted 1448–1453. One of the last coins minted by the Byzantine Empire, the coin features a bust of Constantine XI (left) and Christ Pantocrator (right).

One of Constantine's most pressing concerns was the Ottomans. One of his first acts as emperor, just two weeks after arriving in the capital, was to attempt to secure the empire by arranging a truce with Murad II, sending an ambassador, Andronikos Iagaris, to the sultan. Iagaris was successful, and the agreed-upon truce also included Constantine's brothers in the Morea, as to secure the province from further Ottoman attacks.[47] In order to remove his rebellious brother Demetrios from the capital and its vicinity, Constantine had made Demetrios his replacement as Despot of the Morea, to rule the despotate together with Thomas. Demetrios was granted the Constantine's former capital, Mystras, and primarily ruled the southern and eastern parts of the despotate, with Thomas ruling Corinthia and the north-west, variously using Patras or Leontari as his capital.[2]

Constantine XI's seal as emperor

Constantine tried to hold numerous discussions with the anti-unionists in the capital, who had organized themselves as a synaxis to oppose Patriarch Gregory III, whose authority, on account of him being unionist, they refused to accept. Constantine was far from a fanatical unionist, merely viewing the Union of the Churches as necessary for the empire's survival. The unionists found this argument to be baseless and materialistic, believing that help would be more likely to come through trust in God, rather than hope for a western crusading campaign.[48]

Another pressing concern was the continuation of the imperial family as neither Constantine nor his brothers had male children at the time. In February 1449, Constantine had sent Manuel Dishypatos as an envoy to Italy to speak with Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples in order to secure military aid against the Ottomans and to attempt to forge a marriage alliance. The intended match was Beatrice of Coimbra, daughter of Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Alfonso's nephew. Nothing came of this plan. In October 1449, Constantine sent Sphrantzes to the east to visit the Empire of Trebizond and the Kingdom of Georgia and see if there were any suitable brides there. Sphrantzes, accompanied by a large retinue of priests, nobles, musicians and soldiers, was away from the capital for nearly two years.[49]

While at the court of Emperor John IV Megas Komnenos in Trebizond, Sphrantzes was made aware that Murad II had recently passed away. Though John IV saw this as positive news, Sphrantzes was more anxious. The old sultan had been tired and old and had given up all hopes of conquering Constantinople. His young son and successor, Mehmed II, was ambitious, young and energetic. Sphrantzes had the idea that the sultan might be kept in check if Constantine was to marry Murad II's widow, Mara Branković. Constantine was positive to the idea once he received Sphrantzes's report in May 1451 and sent envoys to Serbia, which Mara had returned to after Murad II's death.[50] Many of Constantine's courtiers opposed the idea due to a distrust of the Serbians, which led to Constantine beginning to question the viability of the match.[51] Ultimately, the opposition of the courtiers to the marriage proved pointless. Mara had no wish to remarry, having vowed to live a life of celibacy and chastity for the rest of her life once released from the Ottomans. Sphrantzes then decided that a Georgian bride would befit the emperor best and returned to Constantinople in September 1451, bringing a Georgian ambassador with him. Constantine thanked Sphrantzes for his efforts and they agreed that Sphrantzes was to return to Georgia in the spring of 1452 and forge a marriage alliance. As before in Constantine's life, other things would get in the way and Sphrantzes ultimately did not return to Georgia.[50]

On 23 March 1450, Constantine's mother passed away. She was highly respected among the Byzantines and there was much mourning. Constantine, who had often looked to her for advise and comfort, missed her dearly. Gemistus Pletho, the Moreot philosopher previously at Constantine's court in the Morea, and Gennadios Scholarios, future Patriarch of Constantinople, both wrote funeral orations praising her. Pletho praised Helena's fortitude and intellect, comparing her, on account of her prudence, to legendary Greek heroine Penelope. Constantine's other advisors were often at odds with the emperor and each other.[52] Her death left Constantine somewhat unsure of which advisor to rely on the most.[53] Andronikos Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, the megas domestikos (or commander-in-chief), disagreed with the emperor on a number of matters, including that he had chosen to marry a Georgian princess, rather than an imperial princess from Trebizond. The most powerful figure at the court was Loukas Notaras, an experienced statesman and now megas doux (commander-in-chief of the navy). Although Sphrantzes disliked Notaras,[52] he was a close friend of Constantine. As the Byzantine Empire no longer had a navy, Notaras's position was more of an informal prime minister-type role than a position of military command. Notaras believed that Constantinople's massive defenses would stall any attack on the city, allowing western Christians to arrive to aid them and due to his influence and friendship with the emperor, Constantine was probably influenced by his hopes and ideas.[54] Sphrantzes also held a position of influence at Constantine's court, having been promoted to "First Lord of the Imperial Wardrobe". His office would have given Sphrantzes near unhindered access to the imperial residence and he was thus also in a position to influence the emperor. Sphrantzes was even more cautious towards the Ottomans than Notaras, and believed the megas doux risked antagonizing the new sultan. Though Sphrantzes also approved of appealing to the west for aid, he believed that any appeals had to be highly discrete in order to avoid Ottoman attention.[55]

Search for allies

Political map of the eastern Mediterranean in 1450

Shortly after Murad II's death, Constantine had been quick to send envoys to the new sultan Mehmed II in an attempt to arrange a new truce. Supposedly, Mehmed received Constantine's envoys with great respect and put their minds to rest through swearing by Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, by the Quran, and by the angels and archangels that he would live in peace with the Byzantines and their emperor for the rest of his life. Constantine was not convinced, suspecting that Mehmed's mood could abruptly change in the future. In order to prepare for the future possibility of Ottoman attack, Constantine needed to secure alliances and the most powerful realms that might be inclined to aid him were in the West.[56]

The nearest and most concerned potential ally was Venice, which operated a large commercial colony in their quarter of Constantinople. The Venetians were however not to be trusted. During the first few months of his rule as emperor, Constantine had raised the taxes on the goods the Venetians imported to Constantinople since the imperial treasury was dangerously empty and funds had to be raised through some means. In August 1450, the Venetians had threatened to transfer their trade to another port, perhaps one under Ottoman control, and despite Constantine writing to the Doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari, in October 1450, the Venetians were unconvinced and signed a formal treaty with Mehmed II in 1451. To annoy the Venetians, Constantine attempted to seal a deal with the Republic of Ragusa in 1451, offering them a place to trade in Constantinople with limited tax concessions, though the Ragusans could offer little military aid to the empire.[57]

Most of the kingdoms in Western Europe were occupied with their own wars at the time and the crushing defeat at the Battle of Varna had quelled most of the crusading spirit. The news that Murad II had died and been succeeded by his young son also lulled the western Europeans into a false sense of security. To the Papacy, the Union of the Churches was a far more pressing concern than the threat of Ottoman attack. In August 1451, Constantine's ambassador Andronikos Bryennios Leontaris arrived in Rome to deliver a letter to Pope Nicholas V, which contained a statement from the anti-unionist synaxis at Constantinople. Constantine hoped that the Pope would read the letter and understand Constantine's difficulties with making the Union of the Churches a reality in the East. The letter contained the synaxis's proposal that a new council be held at Constantinople, with an equal number of representatives from both churches (since the Orthodox had been heavily outnumbered at the previous council). On 27 September, Nicholas V replied to Constantine after he heard that the unionist Patriarch Gregory III had resigned following the opposition against him. Nicholas V merely wrote that Constantine had to try harder to convince his people and clergy and that the price of further military aid from the West was full acceptance of the union achieved at Florence. The name of the Pope had to be commemorated in the churches in Greece and Gregory III had to be reinstated as patriarch. The ultimatum was a setback for Constantine, who had done his best to enforce the union without enciting riots in Constantinople. The Pope appeared to have completely ignored the sentiment of the anti-unionist synaxis. Nicholas V sent a papal legate, Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, to Constantinople to attempt to help Constantine enforce the union, but Isidore did not arrive until October 1452, when the city faced more pressing concerns.[58]

Dealings with Mehmed II

Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II by Gentile Bellini (1480)

A great-grandson of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, Orhan Çelebi, lived as a hostage in Constantinople. Other than Mehmed II, Orhan was the only known living male member of the Ottoman dynasty and he represented a potential rival claimant to the sultanate. Mehmed had previously agreed to pay annually for Orhan being kept at Constantinople, but in 1451, Constantine sent a message to the sultan complaining that the payment was not sufficient and hinted that unless the money was increased, Orhan might be released, possibly sparking an Ottoman civil war. This strategy of attempting to use hostage Ottoman princes had been used before, by Constantine's father Manuel II, but it was a risky one. Mehmed's grand vizier, Çandarlı Halil Pasha, received the message at Bursa and was appalled at the threat, considering the Byzantine to be inept.[59] Çandarlı Halil Pasha had long been relied upon by the Byzantines, through bribes and friendship, to maintain peaceful relations with the Ottomans, but his influence over Mehmed was limited and he was ultimately loyal to the Ottomans, not the Byzantines.[60] Because of the blatant provocation to the sultan, he lost his temper with the Byzantine messengers,[59][61] supposedly shouting:

You stupid Greeks, I have had enough of your devious ways. The late sultan was a lenient and conscientous friend to you. The present sultan is not of the same mind. If Constantine eludes his bold and impetuous grasp, it will only be because God continues to overlook your cunning and wicked schemes. You are fools to think you can frighten us with your fantasies, and that when the ink on our recent treaty is barely dry. We are not children without strength or reason. If you think you can start something, then do so. If you want to proclaim Orhan as Sultan in Thrace, go ahead. If you want to bring the Hungarians across the Danube, let them come. If you want to recover the places which you lost long since, try it. But know this: you will make no headway in any of these things. All that you will achieve is to lose what little you still have.[62]

Constantine and his advisors had catastrophically misjudged the determination of the new sultan.[63] Throughout his brief reign, Constantine and his advisors had been unable to form an effective foreign policy towards the Ottoman Empire. Constantine mainly continued the policy of his predecessors, doing what he could to brace Constantinople for attack, but also alternated between supplicating and confronting the Ottomans. Constantine's advisors had little knowledge and expertise on the Ottoman court and disagreed in how to deal with the Ottoman threat and as Constantine vacillated between the opinions of his different councilors, his policy towards Murad and Mehmed had not been coherent, which had ultimately resulted in disaster.[64]

Mehmed II considered Constantine to have broken the terms of their 1449 truce and quickly revoked the small concessions he had given to the Byzantines. The threat of releasing Orhan gave Mehmed a pretext for concentrating all of his efforts on seizing Constantinople, his true goal since he had become sultan.[65] Mehmed believed that the conquest of Constantinople was essential to the survival of the Ottoman state; by taking the city, he would prevent any potential crusade from using it as a base and prevent it falling into the hands of a rival more dangerous than the Byzantines.[66] Furthermore, Mehmed had an intense interest in ancient Greco-Roman and medieval Byzantine history, his childhood heroes being figures like Achilles and Alexander the Great.[67]

The Rumelihisarı castle, seen from the Bosphorus strait

Mehmed began preparations immediately. In the spring of 1452, work had begun on the Rumelihisarı castle, constructed on the western side of the Bosporus strait, opposite to the already existing Anadoluhisarı castle on the eastern side. With the two castles, Mehmed could control sea traffic in the Bosporus and thus blockade Constantinople both by land and sea. Constantine, horrified by the implications of the construction project, protested that Mehmed's grandfather Mehmed I had respectfully asked the permission of Emperor Manuel II before constructing the eastern castle and reminded the sultan of their existing truce.[65] Based on his actions in the Morea, especially during at the time of the Crusade of Varna, Constantine was clearly anti-Turkish and he preferred himself to take aggressive action against the Ottoman Empire. His attempts to appeal to Mehmed were simply a stalling tactic.[68] Mehmed's respone to Constantine was that the area he built the fortress on had been uninhabited and that Constantine owned nothing outside of Constantinople's walls.[69]

As panic ensued in Constantinople, the Rumelihisarı was completed in August 1452, intended not only to serve as a means to blockade Constantinople but also to be the base from which Mehmed's conquest of Constantinople was to be directed. To clear the site of the new castle, some local churches were demolished, which angered the local Greek populace. Mehmed had them massacred. The Ottomans had sent some animals to graze on Byzantine farmland on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, which also angered the locals. When the Greek farmers protested, Mehmed sent his troops to attack them, killing about forty. Outraged, Constantine formally declared war on Mehmed II, closing the gates of Constantinople and arresting all Turks within the city walls. Seeing the futility in this move, Constantine renounced his actions three days later and set the prisoners free.[65] After the capture of several Italian ships and the execution of their crews during Mehmed's eventual siege of Constantinople, Constantine would reluctantly order the execution of all Turks within the city walls.[70]

Constantine began to prepare for what was at best a blockade, and at worst a siege, gathering provisions and working to repair Constantinople's walls.[71] Manuel Palaiologos Iagros, one of the envoys who had invested Constantine as emperor in 1449, was put in charge of the restoration of the formidable walls, a project which was completed late in 1452.[72] He also began to send more urgent requests for aid to the West. Near the end of 1451, he had sent a message to Venice stating that unless they sent reinforcements to him at once, Constantinople would fall to the Ottomans. Although the Venetians were sympathetic to the Byzantine cause, they explained in their reply in February 1452 that although they could ship armor and gunpowder to him, they had no troops to spare as they were fighting against neighboring city-states in Italy at the time. When the Ottomans sank a Venetian trading ship in the Bosporus in November 1452 and executed the ship's survivors on account of the ship refusing to pay a new toll instituted by Mehmed, the Venetian attitude changed as they now also found themselves at war with the Ottomans. Desperate for aid, Constantine also sent pleas to his brothers in the Morea to bring reinforcements. He also sent offers to Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples, promising him the island of Lemnos if he brought help. The Hungarian warrior John Hunyadi was invited to help, being promised Selymbria or Mesembria if he came with aid. The Genoese on the island Chios were also sent a plea, being promised payment in return for military assistance. Constantine received little practical response to his pleas.[71]

Religious disunity in Constantinople

Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, sent as a papal legate to Constantinople in October 1452

Above all, Constantine sent many appeals for aid to Pope Nicholas V. Although sympathetic, Nicholas V believed that the Papacy could not go to the rescue of the Byzantines unless they fully accepted the Union of the Churches and his spiritual authority. Furthermore, he knew that the Papacy alone could not do much against the formidable Ottoman Turks, a similar response to one given by Venice, which promised military assistance only if others in Western Europe also came to Constantinople's defense. On 26 October 1452, Nicholas V's legate, Isidore of Kiev, arrived at Constantinople together with the Latin Archbishop of Mytilene, Leonard of Chios. With them, they brought a small force of 200 Neapolitan archers. Though they would make little difference in the battle to come, the reinforcements were probably more appreciated by Constantinople's citizens than the actual purpose of Isidore's and Leonard's visit; cementing the Union of the Churches. Their arrival in the city spurred the anti-unionists into a frenzy. On 13 September 1452, a month before Isidore and Leonard arrived, the lawyer and anti-unionist Theodore Agallianos had written a short chronicle of contemporary events,[73] concluding with the following words:

This was written in the third year of the reign of Constantine Palaiologos, who remains uncrowned because the church has no leader and is indeed in disarray as the result of the turmoil and confusion brought upon it by the falsely named union which his brother and predecessor John Palaiologos engineered... This union was evil and displeasing to God and has instead split the church and scattered its children and destroyed us utterly. Truth to tell, this is the source of all our other misfortunes.[74]

Constantine and John VIII before him had badly misjudged the level of opposition against the church union.[1] Loukas Notaras was successful in calming down the situation in Constantinople somewhat, explaining to an assembly of nobles that the Catholic visit was made with good intentions and that the soldiers who had accompanied Isidore and Leonard might just be an advance guard; more military aid might have been on its way. Many nobles were convinced that a spiritual price could be paid for material rewards and that if they were rescued from the immediate danger, there would be time later to think more clearly in a calmer atmosphere. Sphrantzes suggested to Constantine that he name Isidore as the new Patriarch of Constantinople as Gregory III had not been seen for some time and was unlikely to return. Although such an appointment might have gratified the Pope and led to further aid being sent, Constantine realized that it would only stir up the anti-unionists more. Once the populace of Constantinople realized that no further immediate aid in addition to the 200 soldiers was coming from the Papacy, there was rioting in the streets.[75]

Leonard of Chios confided in the emperor that he believed him to be far too lenient with the anti-unionists, urging him to arrest their leaders and try harder to push back the opposition to the Union of the Churches. Constantine declined the idea, perhaps seeing that arresting the leaders would make them into martyrs for their cause. Instead, Constantine summoned the leaders of the synaxis to the imperial palace on 15 November 1452, and once again asked them to write a document with their objections to the union achieved at Florence, which they were eager to do. On 25 November, the Ottomans sank yet another Venetian trading ship, this time with cannon fire from the new Rumelihisarı castle, an event which captured the minds of the Byzantines and united them in common fear and panic. As such, the anti-unionist cause gradually died down. On 12 December, a Catholic liturgy, commemorating the names of the Pope and Patriarch Gregory III, was held in the Hagia Sophia by Isidore. Constantine and his court was present, as was a large number of the city's citizens (Isidore stating that all of its inhabitants attended the ceremony). Whether all the attendants agreed with the theology used might not have made much difference; it might simply have been comforting to be in a large crowd in the face of the imminent danger.[76]

Final preparations

Modern painting of Mehmed II and his army approaching Constantinople, by Fausto Zonaro (1903)

Constantine's brothers in the Morea could not bring him any help. Turahan had been called on by Mehmed to invade and devastate the Morea once more in October 1452 to keep the two despots occupied. As before, the Morea was devastated, with Constantine's brothers only achieving one small success with the capture of Turahan's son, Ahmed, in battle. Constantine then had to pin much of his hopes on Venice, the Pope and Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples, the only other parties which had expressed interest in aiding him. Although Venice had been slow to act, the Venetians in Constantinople acted immediately without waiting for orders once their ships were sunk by the Ottomans. The Venetian bailie in Constantinople, Girolamo Minotto, called an emergency meeting with the Venetians in the city, attended by Constantine and Cardinal Isidore. Most of the Venetians voted to stay in Constantinople and aid the Byzantines in their defense of the city, agreeing that no Venetian ships were to leave Constantinople's harbor. The decision of the local Venetians to stay and die for the city had a significantly greater effect on the Venetian government than Constantine's pleas.[77]

In February 1453, Doge Foscari ordered that warships should be prepared and an army recruited, ready to make for Constantinople in April. He sent letters to the Pope, Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples, King Ladislaus V of Hungary and even the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, informing them that unless Western Christianity acted, Constantinople would fall to the Ottomans. Though the increase in diplomatic acitivity was impressive, it came too late to save Constantinople. The equipment and financing of a joint Papal-Venetian armada took longer than expected.[77] The Venetians had misjudged the amount of time on their hands, and messages took at least a month to travel from Constantinople to Venice.[78] Emperor Frederick III's only response to the crisis was a letter sent to Mehmed II in which he threatened the sultan with an attack from all of western Christendom unless the sultan demolished the Rumelihisarı castle and abandoned his plans of conquering Constantinople. Constantine continued to hope for help and sent more letters in early 1453 to Venice and Alfonso V, asking not only for soldiers but also food as his people were beginning to suffer from the Ottoman blockade of the city. Alfonso responded to his plea by quickly sending a ship with provisions.[77]

Restored section of the Walls of Constantinople

Throughout the long winter of 1452 and 1453, Constantine put the citizens of Constantinople, both men and women, to work at restoring the city's imposing walls and stacking up as many weapons as they could. Ships were sent to the islands still under Byzantine rule to gather further supplies and provisions. The defenders grew anxious as the news of a huge cannon having been assembled at the Ottoman camp by the Hungarian engineer Orban reached the city. If he had any fears about the impending battle, Constantine kept them to himself and instead, he prepared for the impending attack. Loukas Notaras was given command of the walls along the sea walls of the Golden Horn and various sons of the Palaiologos and Kantakouzenos family were appointed to man other positions. Many of the city's foreign inhabitants came forth to offer their aid, notably the Venetians. Constantine asked them to man the battlements as to show the Ottomans how many defenders they were to face. When the Venetians offered their service to guard four of the city's land gates, Constantine accepted and even entrusted them with the keys. Some of the city's Genoese population also aided the Byzantines, and notable Genoese aid came in the form of Giovanni Giustiniani, a renowned soldier known for his skill in siege warfare, who arrived as a volunteer in January 1453, bringing 700 soldiers with him. Giustiniani was appointed by Constantine as the general commander for the walls on Constantinople's land side.[79] Giustiniani was given the rank of protostrator and promised the island of Lemnos as a reward (though it had already been promised to Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples, should he come to the city's aid).[80] In addition to the limited western aid, the Ottoman pretender held as a hostage in the city, Orhan Çelebi, and his considerable retinue of Ottoman troops, also assisted in the city's defense.[81]

On 2 April 1453, Mehmed's advance guard arrived outside Constantinople and began pitching up a camp. On 5 April, the sultan himself arrived at the head of his army and encamped within firing rage of the city's Gate of St. Romanus. Bombardment of the city walls began on almost immediately, on 6 April.[82][83] Most estimates of the amount of soldiers defending Constantinople's walls in 1453 range from 6,000–8,500, out of which 5,000–6,000 were Greeks, most of whom were untrained militia soldiers.[84] An additional 1,000 Byzantine soldiers were kept as reserves inside the city.[85] Mehmed's army massively outnumbered the Christian defenders, his forces might have been as many as 80,000 men,[86] including about 5,000 elite janissaries.[87] Even then, Constantinople's fall was not inevitable; the strength of the walls made the Ottoman numerical advantage irrelevant at first and under other circumstances, the Byzantines and their allies may have been able to hold out until help arrived. The Ottoman use of cannons intensified and sped up the siege considerably.[88]

Fall of Constantinople

Siege

Map of Constantinople and the dispositions of the defenders and the besiegers in 1453

At the same time as Mehmed began bombarding Constantinople's land walls, a Ottoman fleet was attempting to get into the Golden Horn. Foreseeing this possibility, Constantine had constructed a massive chain laid across the Golden Horn which prevented their passage. The chain was only lifted temporarily a few days after the siege began to allow the passage of three Genoese ships sent by the Papacy and a large ship with food sent by Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples.[82] The arrival of these ships on 20 April, and the failure of the Ottomans to stop them had been a serious victory for the Christians, and significantly increased their morale. The ships, carrying soldiers, weapons and supplies, had passed by Mehmed's scouts alongside the Bosphorus unnoticed. Mehmed had ordered his admiral, Suleiman Baltoghlu, to capture the ships and their crews, or not return alive. As the naval battle between the smaller Ottoman ships and the large western ships commenced, Mehmed had rode his horse into the water to shout unhelpful naval commands to Baltoghlu, who pretended not to hear them. Baltoghlu had withdrawn the smaller ships so that the few large Ottoman vessels could fire on the western ships, but the Ottoman cannons were too low to do damage to the crews and decks and their shots were too small to seriously damage the hulls. As the sun set, the wind suddenly returned and the ships passed through the Ottoman blockade, aided by three Venetian ships which had sailed out to meet and cover them.[89]

The sea walls were weaker than Constantinople's land walls, and Mehmed was determined to get his fleet into the Golden Horn, only needing some way to circumvent Constantine's chain. On 23 April, the defenders of Constantinople observed the horrific news that the Ottoman fleet had managed to get into the Golden Horn through being pulled across a massive series of tracks, constructed on Mehmed's orders, across the hill behind Galata, the Genoese colony on the opposite side of the Bosporus. Although the Venetians attempted to attack the ships and set fire to them, their attempt was unsuccessful.[82]

Modern painting of the Ottoman fleet being transported over land to the Golden Horn, by Fausto Zonaro (1903)

As the siege progressed, it became more and more clear that the forces defending the city would not be enough to man both the sea walls and the land walls. Furthermore, food was running out and as food prices rose to compensate, many of the poor began to starve. On Constantine's orders, the Byzantine garrison collected money from churches, monasteries and private residences to pay for food for the poor. Objects of precious metal held by the churches were seized and melted down, though Constantine promised the clergy that he would repay them four-fold once the battle had been won. The Ottoman bombarded the city's outer walls continously, and soon opened up a small breach which exposed the inner defenses. Constantine grew more and more anxious. He sent messages begging to sultan to withdraw, promising whatever amount of tribute he wanted, but Mehmed was determined to take the city.[90] The sultan supposedly responded:

Either I shall take this city, or the city will take me, dead or alive. If you will admit defeat and withdraw in peace, I shall give you the Peloponnese and other provinces for your brothers and we shall be friends. If you persist in denying me peaceful entry into the city, I shall force my way in and I shall slay you and all your nobles; and I shall slaughter all the survivors and allow my troops to plunder at will. The city is all I want, even if it is empty.[90]

To Constantine, the idea of abandoning Constantinople was unthinkable. He did not bother to reply to the sultan's suggestion. Some days after offering Constantine the chance to surrender, Mehmed sent a new messenger to address the citizens of Constantinople, imploring them to surrender and save themselves from death or slavery. The sultan informed them that he would let them live as they were, in exchange for an annual tribute, or allow them to leave the city unharmed with their belongings. Some of Constantine's companions and councilors implored him to escape the city, rather than die in its defense. If he got away unharmed, Constantine could set up an empire-in-exile in the Morea or somewhere else and carry on the war against the Ottomans. Constantine did not share accept their ideas; he was determined to not be remembered as the emperor who ran away.[90] According to later chroniclers, Constantine's response to the idea of escaping was the following:

God forbid that I should live as an Emperor without an Empire. As my city falls, I will fall with it. Whosoever wishes to escape, let him save himself if he can, and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me.[91]

Constantine then sent a response to the sultan, the last communication between a Byzantine emperor and an Ottoman sultan:[90]

As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives.[92]

The only hope the citizens could cling to was the news that the Venetian fleet was on its way to relieve Constantinople. Once a Venetian reconnaisance ship which had slipped through the Ottoman blockade returned to the city to report that no relief force had been seen, it was made clear that the little forces who had gathered at Constantinople would have to fight the Ottoman army alone. The news that the whole of Christendom seemed to have deserted them unnerved some of the Venetians and Genoese defenders and fighting broke out between them, forcing Constantine to remind them that there were more important enemies at hand. Constantine resolved to commit himself and the city to the mercy of Christ.[93] If the city fell, it would be God's will.[90]

Final days and final assault

The Last Siege, French miniature by Jean Le Tavernier painted sometime after 1455

The Byzantines observed strange and ominous signs in the days leading up to the final Ottoman assault on the city. On 24 May, there was a lunar eclipse for three hours, harkening to a prophecy that Constantinople would fall when the moon was on wane. In order to encourage the defenders, Constantine commanded that the icon of Mary, the city's protector, was to be carried in procession through the streets. The procession was abandoned once the icon slipped from its frame and the weather turned into rain and hail. Carrying out the procession on the next day was impossible as the city became engulfed in a thick fog.[94]

On 26 May, the Ottomans held a war council. Çandarlı Halil Pasha, who believed western military aid to the city was imminent, councilled Mehmed to come to a compromise with the Byzantines and withdraw whereas Zagan Pasha, a military officer, urged the sultan to push on and pointed out that Alexander the Great had conquered almost the entire known world when he was young. Perhaps knowing that they would support a final assault, Mehmed ordered Zagan to tour the camp and gather the opinions of the soldiers.[95] On the evening of 26 May, the dome of the Hagia Sophia was lit up by a strange and mysterious light phenomenon, also spotted by the Ottomans from their camp outside the city. The Ottomans saw it as a great omen for their victory and the Byzantines saw it as indicating impending doom. 28 May was calm, as Mehmed had ordered a day of rest before his final assault. The citizens who had not been put to work on repairing the crumbling walls or manning them prayed in the streets. On Constantine's orders, icons and relics from all the monasteries and churches in the city were carried along the walls. Both Catholics and Orthodox defenders joined together in prayers and hymns and Constantine led the procession himself.[94] Giustiniani sent word to Loukas Notaras to request that Notaras's artillery be brought to defend the land walls, which Notaras refused. Giustiniani accused Notaras of treachery and they almost descended into fighting each other before Constantine intervened.[95]

In the evening, the crowds moved to the Hagia Sophia, with Orthodox and Catholic Christians joining together and praying, the fear of impending doom having done more to unite them than the hated councils ever could. Cardinal Isidore was in attendance, as was Emperor Constantine. Constantine prayed and asked for forgiveness and remission of his sins from all the bishops there before he received communion at the church's altar. The emperor then left the church, going to the imperial palace and asking his household there for forgiveness and saying farewell to them before again disappearing into the night, going to make a final inspection of the soldiers manning the city walls.[96]

Without warning, the Ottomans began their final assault in the early hours of 29 May.[97] The service in the Hagia Sophia was interrupted, with the fighting-age men having to rush to the walls to defend the city and the other men and women helping the parts of the army stationed within the city.[98] Waves of Mehmed's troops charged at Constantinople's land walls, hammering at the weakest section for more than two hours. Despite the relentless attack, the defense, led by Giustiniani and supported by Constantine, held firm.[97] After six hours of fighting, just before the sunrise,[97] Giustiniani was mortally wounded (though no one had yet realized that) through being shot through the arm-hole of his cuirass.[99] Constantine begged Giustiniani to stay and continue the fighting,[97] supposedly saying:

My brother, fight bravely. Do not forsake us in your distress. The salvation of the City depends on you. Return to your post. Where are you going?[99]

Giustiniani was too weak, however, and his bodyguards carried him to the harbor and escaped the city onboard a Genoese ship. Seeing their commander leave them, the Genoese troops wavered, and though the Byzantine defenders fought on, the Ottomans soon gained control of both the outer and inner walls. About fifty Ottoman soldiers made it through one of the gates, the Kerkoporta, the first of the enemy to enter Constantinople; it had been left unlocked and ajar by a Venetian party the night before. Ascending up the tower above the Kerkoporta, they managed to raise an Ottoman flag above the wall. The Ottomans stormed through the wall and many of the defenders panicked, being surrounded with no means of escape. Constantinople had fallen.[97] Giustiniani died of his wounds on his way home. Though he would be executed shortly after, Loukas Notaras was initially captured alive. Cardinal Isidore disguised himself as a slave and escaped across the Golden Horn to Galata. Orhan, Mehmed's cousin, disguised himself as a monk in an attempt to escape, but was identified and killed.[100]

Death

Romanticized depiction of the final fighting at the Fall of Constantinople by Greek folk painter Theophilos Hatzimihail (1932). Constantine is depicted as charging into battle on a white horse.

Constantine died the day Constantinople fell. There were no known surviving eyewitnesses to the death of the emperor and none of his entourage survived to offer any credible account of his death.[101][102] The Greek historian Michael Critobulus, who later worked in the service of Mehmed, wrote that Constantine died fighting the Ottomans. Later Greek historians accepted Critobulus's account, never doubting that Constantine died as a hero and martyr, an idea never seriously questioned in the Greek-speaking world.[103] Though none of the authors were eyewitnesses, a vast majority of those who wrote of Constantinople's fall, both Christians and Muslims, agree that Constantine died in the fighting, with only three accounts claiming that the emperor escaped the city. It also seems probable that his body was later found and decapitated.[104] According to Critobulus, the last words of Constantine before he charged at the Ottomans were "the city is fallen and I am still alive".[105] Constantine would thus have ended his life the way he wished, fighting for his faith, his city and his people.[106]

An icon of Constantine XI

There were other conflicting contemporary accounts of Constantine's demise. Leonard of Chios, who was taken prisoner by the Ottomans but later managed to escape, wrote that once Giustiniani had fled the battle, Constantine's courage failed and the emperor implored his young officers to kill him so that he would not be captured alive by the Ottomans. None of the soldiers were brave enough to kill the emperor and once the Ottomans broke through, Constantine fell in the ensuing fighting, only to briefly get up before falling again and being trampled. The Venetian physician Niccolò Barbaro, who was present at the siege, wrote that no one knew if the emperor had died or escaped the city alive, noting that some said that his corpse had been seen among the dead and others that he had hanged himself as soon as the Ottomans had broken through at the St. Romanus gate. Cardinal Isidore wrote, like Critobulus, that Constantine had died fighting at the St. Romanus gate. Isidore also added that he had heard that the Ottomans had found his body, cut off his head and presented it to Mehmed as a gift, who was delighted and showered the head with insults before taking it with him to Adrianople as a trophy. Jacopo Tedaldi, a merchant from Florence who had partaken in the final fighting, wrote that "some say that his head was cut off; others that he perished in the crush at the gate. Both stories may well be true".[107]

Ottoman accounts of Constantine's demise all agree that the emperor was decapitated. Tursun Beg, who was part of Mehmed's army at the battle, wrote a less heroic account of Constantine's death than the Christian authors. According to Tursun, Constantine had panicked and fled, making for the harbor in hopes of finding a ship to escape the city. On his way there, he had come across a band of Turkish marines, and after charging and nearly killing one of them, had his head cut off. A later account by Ottoman historian Ibn Kemal is similar to Tursun's account, but states that the emperor's head was cut off not just by an unnamed marine, but by a giant of a man, who killed Constantine without realizing who he was.[108]

Nicola Sagundino, a Venetian who had once been a prisoner of the Ottomans following their conquest of Thessaloniki decades prior, gave an account of Constantine's death to Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples in 1454 since he believed that the emperor's fate "deserved to be recorded and remembered for all time". Sagundino stated that Giustiniani had implored the emperor to escape as he was carried away after falling on the battlefield, but that Constantine would not have any of it, preferring to die with his empire. Constantine thus made for where the fighting appeared to be thickest and since it would be unworthy of him to be captured alive, implored his officers to kill him. Since none of them dared to do it, Constantine threw off his imperial regalia, as to not let himself be distinguished from the other soldiers, and disappeared into the fighting, sword in hand. When Mehmed wanted the defeated Constantine to brought to him, he was told it was too late as the emperor was dead. A search was made for the body and once it was found, the head was cut off and paraded through Constantinople before it was sent to the Sultan of Egypt as a gift, alongside twenty captured women and forty captured men.[109]

Legacy

Historiography

19th century depiction of Constantine XI with classical Greco-Roman armor

Constantine's death marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, an institution tracing its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330. The people of the Byzantine Empire, even as their realm became more and more restricted to just Greek-speaking lands, continually maintained that they were Romaioi (Romans), not Hellenes (Greeks), and as such, Constantine's death also marked the final end of the Roman Empire, founded by Augustus almost 1,500 years prior.[110] In addition to marking the end of the ancient Roman Empire, Constantine's death and the Fall of Constantinople also marked the true birth of the Ottoman Empire; which would come to dominate much of the eastern Mediterranean until its fall in 1922. The conquest of Constantinople had been a dream of Islamic armies since the 8th century and through its possession, Mehmed II and his successors were able to claim to be the heirs of the Roman emperors.[111]

Having spent much energy trying to make it a reality, there is no evidence that Constantine ever repudiated the hated Union of the Churches achieved at Florence in 1439. Many of his subjects had chastized him as a traitor and heretic while he lived and he, like many of his predecessors before him, died in communion with the Church of Rome. Nevertheless, Constantine's actions during the Fall of Constantinople and his death fighting the Turks redeemed the popular view of him. The Greeks forgot or ignored that Constantine had died a "heretic", many considering him a martyr. In the eyes of the Orthodox church, Constantine's death sanctified him and he died a hero.[112] In Athens, the modern capital of Greece, there are two statues of Constantine; a colossal monument depicting the emperor on horseback on the waterfront of Palaio Faliro and another, smaller statue, in the city's cathedral square, portraying the emperor on foot with a drawn sword. There are no statues of emperors such as Basil II or Alexios I, who were significantly more successful and died of natural causes after long and glorious reigns.[102]

Scholary works on Constantine and the fall of Constantinople tends to portray Constantine and his advisors and companions as victims of the events that surrounded the city's fall. There are three main works that deal with Constantine and his life. The earliest is Čedomilj Mijatović's Constantine Palaeologus (1448 – 1453) or The Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1892), written at a time when tensions were rising between the relatively new Kingdom of Greece and the Ottoman Empire. War looked to be on the horizon, and Mijatović's work was intended to serve as propaganda for the Greek cause, portraying Constantine as a tragic victim of events he had no possibility of affecting. The text is dedicated to the young Prince Constantine, of the same name as the old emperor and the heir to the Greek throne, and its preface states that "Constantinople may soon again change masters", alluding to the possibility that Greece might conquer the ancient city.[113]

The second major work on Constantine, Steven Runciman's The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (1965), also characterizes Constantine through Constantinople's fall, portraying Constantine as tragic figure who did all he could to save his empire from the Ottomans. Runciman however does partly blame Constantine for antagonizing Mehmed II through his threats concerning Orhan. The third major work, Donald Nicol's The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans (1992) examines Constantine's entire life, analyzing the trials and hardships he faced not only as emperor, but as Despot of the Morea as well. Nicol's work places considerably less emphasis on the importance of individuals than the preceding works do, though Constantine is again portrayed as a mostly tragic figure.[114]

A less positive assessment of Constantine was given by Marios Philippides in Constantine XI Dragaš Palaeologus (1404–1453): The Last Emperor of Byzantium (2019). Philippides sees no evidence that Constantine was a great statesman, nor a great soldier. Although the emperor had visionary plans, Philippides deem him as diplomatically ineffective and unable to inspire the support of his people to achieve his plans. Philippides is highly critical of Nicol's The Immortal Emperor, which he sees as unbalanced. In his book, Philippides points out that Constantine's reconquest of the Morea from the Latins had mostly been achieved through marriages, not military victories. Though much of Philippides's work relies on primary sources, some of his negative assessment seems speculative; he suggests that Constantine's campaigns in the Morea made the peninsula "easier prey for the Turks", something that cannot be substantiated through the actual events that unfolded.[102]

Legends of Constantine's family

Statue of Constantine XI in Athens

Constantine's two marriages had been brief and though he had attempted to find a third wife before the Fall of Constantinople, he died unmarried and without children.[115] His closest surviving relatives were his surviving brothers in the Morea; Thomas and Demetrios.[116] Despite this, there was a persistent story that Constantine had left a widow and several daughters. The earliest documented evidence of this idea can be found in a letter by Aeneas Silvius (the future Pope Pius II) to Pope Nicholas V, dated to July 1453. In Aeneas's Cosmographia (1456–1457), the legend is elaborated upon; supposedly Mehmed II is to have defiled and murdered the empress and Constantine's daughters in the celebrations after his victory. Aeneas also wrote of a imaginary son of Constantine, who escaped to Galata, across the Golden Horn. The story of Constantine's wife and daughters might have been further propagated through the spread of the late 15th-century or early 16th-century Russian tale Nestor Iskander's Tale on the Taking of Tsargrad, where a similar account appears. 16th-century French chronicler Mathieu d'Escouchy wrote that Mehmed raped the empress in the Hagia Sophia and then confined her to his harem.[115]

The story of Constantine's supposed family survived into modern Greek folklore. One story, propagated until as late as the 20th century, was that Constantine's supposed empress had been six months pregnant at the time of Constantinople's fall and that a son had been born to her while Mehmed was warring in the north. The empress raised the boy, and though he was well-versed in the Christian faith and the Greek language in his youth, he turned to Islam as an adult and eventually became sultan himself, meaning that all the later Ottoman sultans would have been Constantine's descendants.[117] Though the circumstances are completely fictional, the story might carry a shred of the truth; a grandson of Constantine's brother Thomas, Andreas Palaiologos, lived in Constantinople in the 16th century, converted to Islam and served as an Ottoman court official.[118][119]

Another late folk story told that Constantine's empress had shut herself in the imperial palace after Mehmed's victory and after the Ottomans failed to break her barricades and enter the palace, Mehmed had to agree to give her three concessions; that all coins minted by the sultans in the city should bear the names of Constantinople or Constantine, that there should be a street reserved for Greeks alone and that the bodies of the Christian dead should be given funerals according to Christian custom.[117]

Lamentations

Constantine XI as depicted in 1584 by André Thevet

The Fall of Constantinople came as a shock to Christians throughout Europe. In Orthodox Christianity, Constantinople and the Hagia Sophia became symbols of last grandeur. In the Russian Nestor Iskander tale, the foundation of Constantinople (the New Rome) by Constantine the Great and its loss under an emperor by the same name was not seen as a coincidence, but as the fulfilling of the city's destiny, just as Old Rome had been founded by Romulus and lost under Romulus Augustulus.[120]

Andronikos Kallistos, a prominent 15th-century Greek scholar and Byzantine refugee to Italy, wrote a text entitled Monodia in which he laments the fall of Constantinople and mourns Constantine Palaiologos, who he refers to as "a ruler more perceptive than Themistocles, more fluent than Nestor, wiser than Cyrus, more just than Rhadamanthus and braver than Hercules".[121]

The 1453 Greek long poem Capture of the City, of uncertain authorship, laments the bad luck of Constantine, blamed by the author on his ill-advised destruction of Glarentza (including its chuches) in the 1420s. According to the author, all of Constantine's other misfortunes; the destruction of the Hexamilion wall, the death of his brother John VIII and ultimately, the Fall of Constantinople, were the result of what happened at Glarentza. Even then, Constantine was not to blame for Constantinople's fall, he had done what he could and ultimately pinned his hopes on help from Western Europe, which never came. The poem concludes that people say Constantine died by his own sword,[122] and ends with personally addressing the dead emperor:

Tell me, where are you to be found? Are you alive, or did you die by your own sword? The conquering Sultan Mehmed searched among the severed heads and corpses, but he never found you ... There are those that say that you are hidden beneath the almighty right hand of the Lord. Would that you were really alive and not dead.[123]

The Marble Emperor

Marble statue of Constantine XI at the National Historical Museum in Athens

In 15th-century Byzantine historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles's The Histories, Chalkokondyles finished his account of Byzantine history with hope for a time when a Christian emperor would once again rule over the Greeks. In the late 15th century, a legend originated among the Greeks that Constantine had not actually died, but was merely asleep, waiting on a call from heaven to come and rescue his people.[124] This legend eventually became the legend of the "Marble Emperor" (Greek: Marmaromenos Vasilias, lit. the "Emperor/King turned into Marble").[125] Constantine Palaiologos, hero of the final Christian days of Constantinople, had not died, but had been rescued, turned into marble and immortalized by an angel moments before he was to be killed by the Ottomans. The angel then hid him in a secret cave beneath the Golden Gate of Constantinople (where emperors in the past had marched during triumphs), where he awaits the angel's call to wake up and retake the city. The Turks later walled up the Golden Gate, explained by the story as a precaution against Constantine's eventual resurrection. When God wills Constantinople to be restored, the angel will descend from heaven, resurrect Constantine, give him the sword he used in the final battle and Constantine will then march into his city and restore his fallen empire, driving the Turks as far away as the "Red Apple Tree", their legendary homeland. According to the legend, Constantine's resurrection would be heralded by the bellowing of a great ox.[126]

The story can be seen depicted in a series of seventeen miniatures in a 1590 chronicle by Cretan historian and painter George Klontzas. Klontzas's miniatures show the emperor sleeping beneath Constantinople and guarded by angels, being crowned once more in the Hagia Sophia, entering the imperial palace and then fighting a string of battles against the Turks. Following his inevitable victories, Constantine prays at Kayseri, marches on Palestine and returns triumphant to Constantinople before entering Jerusalem. At Jerusalem, Constantine delivers his crown and the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and finally travels to Calvary, where he dies, his mission completed. In the final miniature, Constantine is buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[127]

In 1625, Thomas Roe, an English diplomat, sought permission from the Ottoman government to remove some of the stones from the walled-up Golden Gate to send them to his friend, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who was collecting antiquities. Roe was denied permission and observed that the Turks had some sort of superstitious dread of the gate, recording that the statues placed on it by the Turks were enchanted and that if they were destroyed or taken down, a "great alteration" would occur to the city.[128]

The prophecy of the Marble Emperor endured until the time of the Greek War of Independence in the 19th century and beyond. It was fuelled when the King of the Hellenes, George I, named his son and heir Constantine in 1868. His name echoed the emperors of old and he was thus clearly in succession not just to the new Greek kings, but to the Byzantine emperors before them as well. Once he came to the throne as Constantine I of Greece, many in Greece hailed him as Constantine XII instead. Constantine I's conquest of Thessaloniki from the Turks in 1912 and his leadership in the Balkan Wars 1912–1913 seemed to be evidence that the prophecy was about to be realized; Constantinople and the Red Apple Tree were believed to be Constantine's next goal. Once Constantine was forced to abdicate in 1917, many believed he had been unjustly removed before completing his sacred destiny. The hope of capturing Constantinople would not be completely dashed until the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922.[129]

Regnal number

The larger, waterfront statue of Constantine XI in Athens

Constantine Palaiologos is generally reckoned to have been the eleventh emperor with that name.[110] As such, he is typically referred to as Constantine XI, with 'XI' being a regnal number, used in monarchies since the Middle Ages to differentiate among rulers with the same name in the same office, reigning of the same territory. Regnal numbers were never used in the Roman Empire and despite an increase in emperors of the same name during the Middle Ages, such as the many emperors named Michael, Leo, John or Constantine, the practice was never introduced in the Byzantine Empire. Instead, the Byzantines used nicknames (for instance "Michael the Drunkard", now given the number Michael III) or patronymics (for instance "Constantine, son of Manuel" rather than Constantine XI) to distinguish emperors of the same name. The modern numbering of the Byzantine emperors is a purely historiographical invention, created by historians beginning with Edward Gibbon in his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–1789).[130]

Since the name Constantine connected an emperor with the founder of Constantinople and the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, the name was particularly popular among emperors. Whilst modern historiography generally recognizes eleven emperors by the name, older works have occasionally numbered him differently. Gibbon numbered Constantine as Constantine XIII after counting two junior co-emperors, Constantine Lekapenos (co-emperor 924–945) and Constantine Doukas (co-emperor 1074–1078 and 1081–1087). The modern number, XI, was established with the publication of the revised edition of Charles le Beau's Histoire du Bas-Empire en commençant à Constantin le Grand in 1836. Early numismastic (coin-related) works typically assigned Constantine Palaiologos higher numerals since there were numerous coins minted by junior co-emperors of the name Constantine as well.[131]

There is particular confusion in the correct number of Constantines since there are two different Roman emperors commonly numbered as Constantine III, the Western usurper Constantine III (r. 407–411) of the early 5th century and the briefly reigning Byzantine Constantine III (r. 641) of the 7th century. In addition to them, the emperor commonly known today as Constans II (r. 641–668) actually reigned under the name Constantine, and has sometimes been referred to as Constantine III.[131] A difficult case is Constantine Laskaris, who might have been the first, albeit ephemeral, emperor of the Empire of Nicaea, one of the Byzantine successor states after the Fourth Crusade. It is unclear whether Constantine Laskaris ruled as emperor or not and he is sometimes counted as Constantine XI,[132] which would make Constantine Palaiologos Constantine XII. Constantine Laskaris is sometimes referred to as Constantine (XI), with Constantine Palaiologos numbered Constantine XI (XII).[133]

Counting comprehensively those who were officially recognized as rulers under the name Constantine, including those that only ruled nominally as co-emperors but with the supreme title, the total number of emperors named Constantine would be 18. By counting and numbering all previous co-emperors with that name, including Constantine (son of Leo V), Constantine (son of Basil I), Constantine Lekapenos and Constantine Doukas, in addition to Constans II, Constantine Laskaris and the western Constantine III, Constantine Palaiologos would most appropriately be numbered as Constantine XVIII. Scholars commonly do not number co-emperors as the extent of their rule was mostly nominal and, unless they inherited the throne later, did not hold independent supreme power. By counting the western Constantine III, Constans II and Constantine Laskaris, all emperors reigning with supreme power under the name of Constantine (though it is questionable in Laskaris's case), the numbering of Constantine Palaiologos would be Constantine XIV.[134]

See also

Notes

  1. Constantine was proclaimed emperor at Mystras on 6 January 1449, which is the most commonly cited date for the beginning of his reign. Another date sometimes used is 12 March 1449, the day he arrived in Constantinople.[1]
  2. Though he was made emperor in January 1449, Constantine also retained his territories in the Morea until he gave Mystras to his brother Demetrios Palaiologos in March.[2]
  3. Contemporary historian George Sphrantzes, who actually knew Constantine, gives his year of birth as 1404, but other sources confirms that he was born in 1405.[3]

References

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  2. Gilliland Wright 2013, p. 63.
  3. Hellebuyck 2006, p. 6.
  4. Nicol 1992, p. 2.
  5. Nicol 1992, p. 4.
  6. Hellebuyck 2006, pp. 4–6.
  7. Nicol 1992, pp. 3–4.
  8. Carroll 2017, pp. 331–332.
  9. Hellebuyck 2006, p. 7.
  10. Nicol 1992, p. 5.
  11. Carroll 2017, pp. 329–330.
  12. Nicol 1992, pp. 5–7.
  13. Hellebuyck 2006, p. 52.
  14. Nicol 1992, pp. 7–8.
  15. Nicol 1992, p. 8.
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  17. Nicol 1992, p. 9.
  18. Nicol 1992, pp. 9–11.
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  24. Hellebuyck 2006, p. 31.
  25. Nicol 1992, pp. 15–16.
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  27. Nicol 1967, p. 333.
  28. Nicol 1992, pp. 17–18.
  29. Nicol 1992, p. 18.
  30. Nicol 1992, pp. 18–19.
  31. PLP, 21454. Παλαιολόγος ∆ημήτριος.
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  103. Nicol 1992, p. 70.
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  105. Sherrard 1965, p. 139.
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  111. Nicolle, Haldon & Turnbull 2007, p. 174.
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  113. Hellebuyck 2006, pp. 1–2.
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  123. Nicol 1992, pp. 99–100.
  124. Nicol 1992, p. 98.
  125. Clogg 1992, p. 19.
  126. Nicol 1992, pp. 101–102, 104.
  127. Nicol 1992, p. 102.
  128. Nicol 1992, pp. 102–103.
  129. Nicol 1992, pp. 107–108.
  130. Foss 2005, p. 94.
  131. Foss 2005, pp. 93–94.
  132. Foss 2005, pp. 98–99.
  133. Haldon 2005, p. 176.
  134. Foss 2005, pp. 101–102.

Cited bibliography

  • Carr, John C. (2015). Fighting Emperors of Byzantium. East Yorkshire: Pen & Sword. ISBN 978-1783831166.
  • Carroll, Margaret (2017). "Constantine XI Palaeologus; some problems of image". In Moffatt, Ann (ed.). Maistor: Classical, Byzantine and Renaissance Studies for Robert Browning. Brill. pp. 329–343. ISBN 9789004344617.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Clogg, Richard (1992). A Concise History of Greece (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80872-3.
  • Foss, Clive (2005). "Emperors named Constantine". Revue numismatique (in French). 6 (161): 93–102. doi:10.3406/numi.2005.2594.
  • Gilliland Wright, Diana (2013). "The Fair of Agios Demetrios of 26 October 1449: Byzantine-Venetian Relations and Land Issues in Mid-Century". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 37 (1): 63–80.
  • Haldon, John (2005). The Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine History. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230243644.
  • Hellebuyck, Adam William (2006). "Foreign Relations and the End of Byzantium: The Use of Personal Diplomacy during the Reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos (1448 – 1453)" (PDF). Bachelor's Degree Thesis, University of Michigan.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1967). "The Byzantine View of Western Europe" (PDF). Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. 8 (4): 315–339.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1992). The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0511583698.
  • Nicolle, David; Haldon, John; Turnbull, Stephen (2007). The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman Conquest of Byzantium. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1846032004.
  • Philippides, Marios; Hanak, Walter K. (2011). The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography and Military Studies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4094-1064-5.
  • Runciman, Steven (1969) [1965]. The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521398329.
  • Runciman, Steven (2009) [1980]. Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese. New York: Tauris Parke Paperbacks. ISBN 978-1845118952.
  • Sherrard, Philip (1965). Constantinople: iconography of a sacred city. Oxford University Press.
  • Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.

Cited web sources

Constantine XI Palaiologos
Palaiologos dynasty
Born: 8 February 1405 Died: 29 May 1453
Regnal titles
Preceded by
John VIII Palaiologos
Byzantine Emperor
1449–1453
Succeeded by
None¹
Preceded by
Theodore II Palaiologos
Despot of the Morea
1428–1449
with Theodore II Palaiologos, 1428–1443
Thomas Palaiologos, 1428–1449
Succeeded by
Thomas and Demetrios Palaiologos
Notes and references
1. The Byzantine Empire was ended through the Fall of Constantinople. Mehmed II claimed to succeed Constantine and the Byzantines as a new "Caesar of Rome", similar claims would be forwarded by Russia through the idea that Moscow was the third Rome in succession to Rome (the first Rome) and Constantinople (the second Rome).
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