The Last Emperor | Constantine XI And The Final Days Of The Byzantine Empire

on February 8th 1405 Constantine Palos was born he was the fourth of the seven sons of the emperor Emanuel II who had come to this throne in 1391 Manuel Palos ruled over a dwindling and disintegrating Empire the once vast Byzantine Empire was reduced to the city and suburbs of Constantinople parts of the pelones a few of the Greek Islands and whatever else the Turks would allow them for their Emperors were were obliged to pay tribute to the ottoman Sultans and to serve as their vassals little is known about Constantine's childhood and early years he was devoted to his mother Helena the daughter of a Serbian Prince Constantine dragas he was frequently described as porer genius implying that he had been born in the purple Chamber Of The Palace Constantine got on well with his elder brother John and he had his way in the end his relations with his younger brothers Demetrios born in 1407 and Thomas born in 1409 were less friendly one of Constantine's encomiast in later years makes passing reference to his youthful expertise in hunting horsemanship and the martial arts and there is testimony enough for his adventurous Spirit vitality and courage he may have inherited something of the character and presence of his father Manuel which so impressed those who met him on his travels in Western Europe no contemporary portraits of him survive except for those on his few coins and seals and these smudged and stylized Effigies do not give him the fine features of his brother John as portrayed by the Italian artists who saw him Constantine was born into a world whose ruling class was surprisingly multiethnic it was a society constantly under threat of Extinction intermarriage among its leaders was a means of survival many of his family members from grandfathers uncles aunts cousins and also his brothers either married into or were descended from an expansive list of the ruling classes from foreign Empires these families included people from seavoy Florence Genoa Bulgaria turkey Russia France trebizon and reminy Constantine himself married twice and both of his wives were Italian as the child of a Serbian mother and a half Italian father it is hard to describe Constantine as a Greek like most of his Greek speaking contemporaries he thought of himself as a Roman a Romos or Byzantine he was 17 years of age when in June 1422 the ottoman Sultan mad II laid Siege to Constantinople the byzantines had enjoyed a long respit from Turkish aggression the emperor Manuel II had got on well with the previous Sultan Meed the first Meed died in 1421 and it at once became clear that the respit was at an end the Turkish Siege was long and bitter the defense of the city was mainly directed by John thei who had recently been crowned as co-emperor with his father and was AA parent thanks to his vigilance the Turks withdrew before the year was out but the experience proved too much for the elderly Emperor Manuel in September 1422 he suffered a Str stroke which paralyzed one side of his body although he was to linger on for nearly 3 years the government of Constantinople was effectively in the hands of his eldest son John after Manuel's death in 1425 JN became emperor and the empire was divided among the sons with Constantine receiving the Greek ppenis he led a campaign against the important port city of patrus and captured it from Latin forces in 1430 ending 225 years of foreign occupation the region of aaya was brought under control by 1432 thus obtaining all of the pelonis except for the Venetian harbors and colonies at Argos noon modon and Kuran nearly all of Southern Greece had been cleared of foreign potentates and restored to Byzantine rule Constantine remained desperate in Mora until he was summoned to Constantinople by his brother Emperor John VII to act as Regent for the second time in 1437 John was leaving for Italy to meet Pope eugenius IV for discussions about the possible Union of the Latin and Greek churches and the relief of Constantinople in case of a Turkish attack he remained Regent until 1440 when the emperor returned from Italy with an agreement that would establish a union between the Western and Eastern churches he hoped this would lead to the survival of Constantinople but some of the important figures in the Orthodox Church were against it Constantine returned to the Mora and was made desperate of mistras the capital city of the province in 1443 he immediately began to strengthen his despotate against a future Turkish invasion however in 1446 the Turks under Sultan Morad attacked with a large army and left many of Constantine's defenses and cities in ruin before withdrawing it was only the winter weather that saved Maria from even greater destruction in June 1448 his brother Theodor died and on October 31st Emperor John VII died leaving Constantine as the likely successor the emperor's mother Helena also Widow of Manuel II chose Constantine and the two remaining Brothers accepted her decision he became emperor Constantine VI 11th on January 6th 1449 he immediately sought to seek a truce with the Turks and for a few years there weren't any new attacks but Sultan mad II died in February 1451 however his son and Heir mhmed II was young and ambitious and known to be hostile to the Christian cause he was only 19 years old when he succeeded his father and for a time he was able to hide his aggressive nature behind a facade of good will Constantine constantly sought Western allies to safeguard against a future Turkish Invasion but found few receptive to his cause some like Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples had Ambitions of their own wanting to make himself emperor of Constantinople in exchange for any help Pope Nicholas V was adamant that any help from Western Christian armies would require Constantine to accept a union with the Roman Catholic Church however many high-ranking officials in the Orthodox Byzantine Empire Still refus to accept such a union the pope made a profound mistake in compelling Constantine publicly to declare the union of the western Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches in the face of immense opposition from the Orthodox Church whose Bishops in the Turkish dominions much preferred the sultan to the pope by the end of 1451 Sultan Meed II made plans to encircle Constantinople partially angered by a proposal Constantine sent to him about an exiled member of the Sultan's family living in the city Constantine was demanding a double subsidy for the Detention of Orin the only only ottoman Prince whom the house of Osman had left alive by April 1452 construction of a ottoman Fortress began on the Asiatic side of The bosporus Straits and it was completed in August the Fortress would serve two purposes to block resupply of Constantinople and to deprive the Emperor of custom duties from Italian ships sailing up and down the bosis many Western Powers who saw what was going on were either preoccupied with other matters or felt the fall of Constantinople was inevitable some like the venetians offered assistance only if other christian powers would promise to join them it became clear to the emperor that little if any reinforcements were on their way to defend the city even his brothers Thomas and Demetrios were unable to provide troops to defend Constantinople due to the Mora being invaded by an army of Turks the Turks had specifically invaded to keep them there and away from reinforcing the city however after a Venetian ship was sunk by the Turks and news from their citizens from Constantinople reached home the Doge of Venice ordered warships in troops to be prepared in February 1453 unfortunately many of the preparations came too late and there were intolerable delays due to haggling over price and payment of men and equipment in April 1453 the Turkish Sultan and his army arrived near the land Gates of Constantinople and soon afterwards the rest of his forces arrived and camped within firing range of the city a steady bombardment of the defensive walls began as some of the land walls started getting damaged or destroyed constant sent a message to mehmed begging him to withdraw and make peace he offered whatever tribute the sultan might ask as long as the city remained in the hands of Constantine Meed too close to Victory to turn back now replied 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 pelones 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 Constantine did not trouble to reply for him the idea of abandoning Constantinople was Unthinkable he refused to run away or Escape as many urged him him to do he was going to stay and defend the city until The Bitter End his only hope was the promised Venetian Fleet but it too was not to arrive in time to help a genoes nobleman named Giovani giustiniani arrived at Constantinople as a volunteer in January 1453 bringing a company of 700 troops he was an experienced professional Soldier and renowned for his skill in Siege Warfare the emperor gladly appointed him to take General command of the defense of the walls on the landward side on May 28th 1453 constant gave a public speech to the people and Defenders of the great City clearly knowing the attack could come at any moment it did as the Turks attacked without warning in the early hours of the next day for 6 hours justiniani and Constantine held the Turks Relentless attacks back including from their best troops the Janis series everything changed when justiniani was badly wounded and had to be evacuated to a genoise ship in the harbor when they saw that their Commander had left them Justinian's men lost heart the defense wavered the janisar saw their chance Constantine and his troops fought on with desperation but without much hope after their genoise allies left them to it the janissaries gained control of the outer wall and then scaled the inner wall as well meanwhile a band of about 50 Turks broke in through a little gate in the wall called kaporta they were the first of the Sultan's Army to enter the city they mounted the tower above the gate and raised the ottoman flag their comrades understood the signal and echoed the shouts from within that the city had been taken they sto stormed in through the breaches that the guns had made in the walls The Defenders began to panic when they saw themselves surrounded with no way of escape the emperor did all that he could to Rally them at the end the fighting had become hand to hand it was fiercest at the gate called St Romanos where the inner wall had been breached and it was probably there that Constantine P olos was last seen alive he had thrown away his regalia he was killed fighting as a common Soldier to stem the flood of infidels pouring into his Christian City Greek historian kabos who was a civil servant working for Meed II recounts a firsthand account of the sack of the city nothing will ever equal the horror of this harrowing and terrible spectacle people frightened by the shouting ran out of their houses and were cut down by the sword before they knew what was happening and some were massacred in their houses where they tried to hide and some in churches where they sought Refuge the enraged Turkish soldiers gave No Quarter there were virgins who awoke from troubled sleep to find those brigin standing over them with bloody hands and faces full of abject Fury this medley of all Nations these frantic brutes stormed into their houses dragged them tore them forced them Dishonored them violated them at the crossroads and made them submit to the most terrible outrages old men of venerable appearance were dragged by their white hair and pitously beaten priests were led into captivity and batches as well as Reverend virgins Hermits and recluses who were dedicated to God alone and lived only for him to whom they sacrificed themselves who were dragged from their cells and others from the churches in which they had sought refuge in spite of their weeping and sobbs and their emaciated cheeks to be made objects of scorn before being struck down tender children were brutally snatched from their mother's breasts and girls were pitilessly given up to strange and horrible unions and a thousand other terrible things happened temples were desecrated ransacked and pillaged sacred objects were scornfully flung aside the holy icons and the holy vessels were desecrated when Muhammad saw the ravages the destruction and the deserted houses and all that had perished and become ruins then a great sadness took possession of him and he repented the pillage and all the destruction tears came to his eyes and sobbing he expressed his sadness what a town this was and we have allowed it to be destroyed his soul was full of sorrow and in truth it was natural so much did the horror of the situation exceed all limits Cabos also wrote of Constantine not long after his death in battle the emperor Constantine died fighting he was a wise and moderate man in his private life and did diligent to the highest degree in prudence and virtue sagacious as the most disciplined of men in political Affairs and in matters of government he yielded to no one of the Emperors before him in preeminence quick to perceive his duty and quicker still to do it he was eloquent in speech clever in thought and very accomplished in public speaking he was exact in his judgments of the present as someone said of Pericles and usually correct in regard to the future a splendid worker who chose to do and to suffer everything for his Fatherland and for his subjects Constantine Palos was more celebrated after his death than ever he had been during his short and unhappy reign as Emperor even the more sober and nearly contemporary reports however are at variance as to the fate of the emperor Constantine some make no mention of his death others record simply that he was killed in the fighting a few have it that he escaped however it is almost unanimous that by all accounts and evidence that Constantine died while defending the city from the Turkish attack it is likely that his body was eventually found and his head was cut off and stuffed with straw and paraded around the Muslim courts the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453 was an event that shocked the Christian world it was widely reported at the time and lamented for many years afterwards the reports were embellished and the tale grew with the telling laments and durges became a new Greek literary genre and added Legends to the facts Constantinople was transformed into the new capital of the Ottoman Empire symbolizing the Triumph of the Islamic conquest the city was adorned with magnificent Islamic architecture including domed mosques towering minettes and vibrant bazaars St Sophia a prominent Landmark was converted into the a sopia mosque mamt as ruler of the Ottoman Empire took great pride in his role as the champion of the Muslim world and the leader of the holy war under his rule the city was repopulated with Christians and Muslims ensuring the protection of Christian neighborhoods and appointing the anti-union gadius as the Orthodox Church patriarch mem's Empire extended from the Black Sea to the Adriatic and from the danu to the Taurus but it was the conquest of Constantinople that solidified his legacy as a powerful Islamic ruler Constantinople was renamed istambul in 1930 [Music]