CONSTANTINE XI PALAEOLOGUS (1449-1453)
FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE "Ealo h Polis"

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Constantine XI Palaeologos (1404-1453), also called Dragases, last Byzantine emperor, was born in 1404 in Mistra, was the son of Emperor Manuel II. He was trained as a soldier, and in 1430 liberated the peninsula of Morea in Greece, which had been under the Frankish principality of Achaia, a state established by the Crusaders.

In 1442 Turks under Murad, sieged Constantinople which was defended by emperor John VIII Palaeologos, while Constantine fought Turks in island of Limnos. There he lost his wife Katherine.

Constantine in 1444 with his brother Thomas Palaeologos and a small army liberated Roumeli and Thessalia. The Greek populations loved and admired their leader. They called him "Drakos". Those were the last victories of Byzantium.

His friend was George Plithon or Gemistos a philosopher who had created school of Philosophy in Athens. He was teaching Greek Philosophy in Mystras. He advised Constantine to take the property from church and rich men and to give it to the poor farmers. When John VIII traveled in Florence he escorted him together with other Byzantine intellectuals. There Europeans argued with the Greeks about the religion. Plithon told them:

"Why are you arguing to unify the two churches? In the future there will be only one religion, and this is the union of christianism and the ideas of ancient Greeks."

In 1446, the Turkish ruler Murad II reconquered and devastated these lands. The Turks had begun their invasions of the Balkans nearly a century before, and now began to close in on Constantinople.

Constantine was crowned emperor on Jan. 6, 1449, succeeding his brother, John VIII. The last Christian Greek Emperor entered, two months later, on March 12, the isolated Imperial capital. A little less than three years later, on Dec. 12, 1452, the union of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches was proclaimed in Constantinople in the presence of the papal legate and the Patriarch Gregory. Constantine had been a strong advocate of this union, but the people generally opposed it, and riots ensued. The popular insistence on Byzantine religious autonomy furthered the estrangement between eastern and western Roman Christendom and weakened Byzantine resistance to the Turks. Catholics never sent army or navy as they were commited from the agreement. They prefered that the most glorious christian city be destroyed and pillaged from the muslims.

On 1452 the sultan demolished the old church of Archaggelos Michael and constructed at the narrowest point of the Bosporus strait, a huge complex of strong fortifications, Rumeli Hisar, whose task was to shut completely, by its artillery, to Western and Byzantine vessels the route to and from the Black Sea (Euxeinos Pontus). Indeed, on 26 November 1452, according to the Venetian doctor Nicolao Barbaro, a Venetian vessel under the command of Antonio Ritzo attempted to pass without paying the required tolls. It was sank by the new fortress's guns, its crew of thirty men was taken prisoners in Adrianople (Eridne). The officers and sailors were brought in front of Mehmet, who ordered their immediate impalement.

The Turkish sultan, Mehmed II, advanced on Constantinople on the beginning of 1453. Troops came from every region of the Empire, including thousands of irregulars, from many nationalities, who were attracted by the prospect of looting. The regular troops were well equipped and well trained. The elite corps of the Janissaries composed of abducted Christian children, forcibly converted to Islam, and subsequently trained as professional soldiers, constituted the spear-head of the Ottoman army. The besieging army included a number of artillery pieces, which were made with the help of a Hungarian named Ourvanos. The hugest canons faced the Military Gate of St Romanus, and was expected to cause heavy damage to the 1000 years old walls in that area. The army, accompanied by crowds of fanatic Dervishes, started moving slowly towards Constantinople. A few small towns, still in Greek hands, near the capital were soon occupied by the Sultan's army. Of those towns Selyvria resisted longer. His army included finally 200000 soldiers (29000 of them were Europeans).

Constantinople was defended only from 10000 soldiers (3000 of them were Europeans mostly Italians). Among the Europeans who had come to help was the brave Giovanni Giustiniani. He was from Genoa were he had recruited 400 men and another 300 he had recruited on the island of Chios. Others were the cardinal Isidoros who was of Greek origin, the latin bishop of Chios, Leonardos, the venetian captains Kokkos, Trevizas, Aloisio, Contarini and others. Also great was the help of German engineer Johannes Grant who managed to destroy all the tunnels that Sultan attempted to build in order to enter to the City. So the greatest christian city was defended only by some Greeks and some Italians. No other European leader accepted the emperor's appeal for help.

The defenders lacked in training and armament but possessed fighting spirit. Indeed, most were killed fighting. The civilian population supported the Emperor overwhelmingly. The alternative was disastrous. The people, men and women, participated in the repairs of the walls and in the deepening of the foss, volunteers manned observation posts, food provisions were collected, gold and silver objects held in the churches were melted to make coins in order to pay the foreign soldiers. With the exception of about 700 Italian residents of the city who fled on board seven ships, on the night of February 26, no one else imitated them. The rest of the population, Greek and foreigner, fought until the bitter end. On April 2, 1453 the city's harbor, the Golden Horn, was shut by a huge chain, and ten galleys were put behind to protect it.

During the first week of April the Ottoman troops began taking their assigned positions in front of the city walls. The Sultan had his tent installed north of the civil Gate of St Romanus, near the river Lycus, facing the 5th Military Gate, also known as Military Gate of St Romanus. He ordered the big canon to be installed in the same area. To protect the troops, a protective trench was opened in front of the Ottoman units, the earth from it was accumulated on the city side and on top of it was erected a palissade. On the 12th arrived from Gallipoli the Ottoman fleet. Composed of approximately 200 ships of various sizes and displacements, it sealed the Byzantine capital from the sea. Mehmed's admiral was the Bulgarian renegade Suleiman Baltoghlu. On his side the Emperor distributed his troops as best as he could. It was impossible, with the available garrison, to cover the entire walled circumference of the capital, about fourteen miles long. However, it was clear to all that the main attack would be delivered by the enemy along the land-walls, about four miles long. With the exception of the Blachernae section of the walls, at the north-eastern end of the land side, the city was protected, on the land side, by a triple wall, with a deep foss in front of it. On the sea side, including the Golden Horn port area, the city was protected by a single wall.

Given the availability of troops and the critical sections of the walls, Giustiniani, with most of his men, as well as the Emperor and his best troops, took position in the Military St Romanus's Gate sector, where heavy damage was expected to be inflicted by the canon and the main Ottoman assault to be launched. The Venetian Bailo (the Head of the Venetian Community at Constantinople) Girolamo Minotto and his countrymen were charged with the defence of the region of Blachernae, where the Imperial Palace was located. Minotto and his men faced the European troops of Karadja Pasha. Across the Golden Horn, to the left of Pera, ready to intervene, stood the troops of Zaganos Pasha. Along the southern section of the land-walls the defenders faced the Anatolian troops under the command of Ishak Pasha. The Grand Duke Luke Notaras and Alexios Disipatos with a reserve unit took position near the walls, at the Petra neighborhood, in the north-eastern section of the city. Another reserve unit of 700 men under the command of Theofilos Palaeologus, Demetrius Cantakouzenos and Nicephorus Palaeologus was stationed near the church of the Holy Apostles, at the center of the city. Most units were positioned on and behind the land-walls. The sea-walls were thinly manned. To protect the entrance to the port, the Venetian commander of the small fleet of the defenders, Alviso Diedo, ordered ten ships to take position behind the chain.

In the city everyone realized that the great moment had come. During Monday, May 28, some last repairs were done on the walls and the stockades, in the collapsed sections, were reinforced. In the city, while the bells of the churches rang mournfully, citizens and soldiers joined a long procession behind the holy relics brought out of the churches. Singing hymns in Greek, Italian or Catalan, Orthodox and Catholic, men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, clergy, monks and nuns, knowing that they were going to die shortly, made peace with themselves, with God and with eternity.

When the procession ended the Emperor met with his commanders and the notables of the city. In a philosophical speech he told his subjects that the end of their time had come. In essence he told them that Man had to be ready to face death when he had to fight for his faith, for his country, for his family or for his sovereign. All four reasons were now present. Furthermore, his subjects, who were the descendants of Greeks, had to emulate their great ancestors. They had to fight and sacrifice themselves without fear. They had lived in a great city and they were now going to die defending it. As for himself, he was going to die fighting for his faith, for his city and for his people. He also thanked the Italian soldiers, who had not abandoned the great city in its final moments. He still believed that the garrison could repulse the enemy. They all had to be brave, proud warriors and do their duty. He thanked all present for their contribution to the defence of the city and asked them to forgive him, if he had ever treated them without kindness. Constantine asked Guistiniani to take his beloved Anna Notara to his ship, so that she whould not fall in the hands of the enemy. Everyone knew the fate of of those who whould be alive when Turks entered in the city.

Meanwhile the great church of Saint Sophia was crowded. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding mass (THE LAST CHRISTIAN SERVICE AFTER 1000 YEARS). People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness. Those who were not serving on the ramparts also went to the church, among them was seen, for a brief moment, the Emperor. People confessed and took communion. Then those who were going to fight rode or walked back to the ramparts. They prayed and chanted for the last time the "Akathistos Hymn" in front of the holy icon of "Odigitria", an icon of Virgin Mary, made by Apostole Loukas. The next day most of them whould be dead.

From the great church the Emperor rode to the Palace at Blachernae. There he asked his household to forgive him. He bade the emotionally shattered men and women farewell, left his Palace and rode away, into the night, for a last inspection of the defence positions. Then he took his battle position.

The assault began after midnight, into the 29th of May 1453. Wave after wave the attackers charged. Battle cries, accompanied by the sound of drums, trumpets and fifes, filled the air. The bells of the city churches began ringing frantically. Orders, screams and the sound of trumpets shattered the night. First came the irregulars, an unreliable, multinational crowd of Christians and Moslems, who were attracted by the opportunity of enriching themselves by looting the glorious city, the great capital of the East Roman Empire. They attacked throughout the line of fortifications and they were massacred by the tough professionals, who were fighting under the orders of Giustiniani. The battle lasted two hours and the irregulars withdrew in disorder, leaving behind an unknown number of dead and wounded.

Next came the Anatolian troops of Ishak Pasha. They tried to storm the stockades. They fought tenaciously, even desperately trying to break through the compact ranks of the defenders. The narrow area in which fighting went on helped the defenders. The could hack left and right with their maces and swords and shoot missiles onto the mass of attackers without having to aim. A group of attackers crashed through a gap and for a moment it seemed that they could enter the city. The were assaulted by the Emperor and his men and were soon slain. This second attack also failed.

But now came the Janissaries (what an irony that they were born Greek Orthodox), disciplined, professional, ruthless warriors, superbly trained, ready to die for their master, the Sultan. They assaulted the now exhausted defenders, they were pushing their way over bodies of dead and dying Moslem and Christian soldiers. With tremendous effort the Greek and Italian fighters were hitting back and continued repulsing the enemy. Then a group of enemy soldiers unexpectedly entered the city from a small sally-port called Kerkoporta, on the wall of Blachernae, where this wall joined the triple wall. Fighting broke near the small gate with the defenders trying to eliminate the intruders.

It was almost day now, the first light, before sunrise, when a shot fired from a calverin hit Giustiniani. The shot pierced his breastplate and he fell on the ground. Shaken by his wound and physically exhausted, his fighting spirit collapsed. Despite the pleas of the Emperor, who was fighting nearby, not to leave his post, the Genoese commander ordered his men to take him out of the battle-field. A Gate in the inner wall was opened for the group of Genoese soldiers, who were carrying their wounded commander, to come into the city. The soldiers who were fighting near the area saw the Gate open, their comrades carrying their leader crossing into the city, and they thought that the defence line had been broken. They all rushed through the Gate leaving the Emperor and the Greek fighters alone between the two walls. This sudden movement did not escape the attention of the Ottoman commanders. Frantic orders were issued to the troops to concentrate their attack on the weakened position. Thousands rushed to the area. The stockade was broken. The Greeks were now squeezed by crowds of Janissaries between the stockade and the wall. More Janissaries came in and many reached the inner wall.

Meanwhile more were pouring in through the Kerkoporta, where the defenders had not been able to eliminate the first intruders. Soon the first enemy flags were seen on the walls. The Emperor and his commanders were trying frantically to rally their troops and push back the enemy. It was too late. Waves of Janissaries, followed by other regular units of the Ottoman army, were crashing throught the open Gates, mixed with fleeing and slaughtered Christian soldiers. Then the Emperor, realizing that everything was lost, removed his Imperial insignia, and followed by his cousin Theophilus Palaeologus, the lord Branas, the Castilian Don Francisco of Toledo, Katakouzinos, Mathaios Sgouromalis and John Dalmatus, all seven holding their swords, charged into the sea of the enemy soldiers, hitting left and right in a final act of defiance. They were never seen again.