The emperor is aware that at this point in the site and with so much blood spilled on both sides, both he and Mehmed , they are fighting not only for the city of Constantine, but for his Empire and for his own life. In the Ottoman camp, the advisability of continuing with a siege that has been going on for almost two merciless months has been questioned for weeks. Too many have been Muslim attempts to take Constantinople, the longed-for Red Apple in Islamic tradition, since almost the time of the Prophet. And they have always ended in terrible defeats for the weapons of Islam. Mehmed knows that if his modern army is unable to take Constantinople, his reign will be short. The next assault, regardless of who wins it, will be the last, as both sides have already reached the physical limits of their strength and resources. The Ottomans have brought with them bombardments capable of demolishing centuries-old land walls that have never yielded to the assault, but which, in the face of the attacks of this new weapon, collapse canvases of the fortification that was once the jewel of the ancient world's poliorcetica, undefeated throughout the Middle Ages[1]. Nothing will be the same. Fortresses considered impregnable for centuries will fall in a few hours.
Also the position of the basileus is extremely precarious. Constantine XI He has inherited from his brother John VIII a thousand-year-old empire that, in practice, is reduced to a dilapidated city-state and a handful of small possessions, distributed between the Black Sea and the Morea [2]. Ironically, the Rome of the East has dwindled over the centuries to something close to its original self:a classical Greek polis. Far away are the days when the Empire stretched across three continents, from distant Hispania, Italy, Greece and Macedonia, crossing all of ancient Roman Africa; to rich Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. In the mid-15th century, Constantinople It is made up of a series of walled neighborhoods, scattered among farm fields and impressive monuments and ruins, witnesses of a power that was far away. In addition, the coffers of the State suffer from a chronic deficit since trade is in the hands of Venice and Genoa. Disturbing and forced bedfellows, who represent both a gift and a curse for Constantinople, while with their mercantile activity they pulverize the imperial accounts; In the same way, they safeguard with their powerful naval fleets what little remains in Christian hands of an East, which has been turning into a growing Turkish ocean.
The doctrinal dispute is added to the economic dispute, since for centuries Christianity has been divided into two great families[3] that are very ill-advised:Western Catholics of the Latin rite and obedience to the pope of Rome; and Eastern Orthodox of the Greek rite and obedience to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Surprisingly, the crusades which, in theory, should have united both Christian hemispheres in the fight against Islam, only served in practice to deepen the differences between Latins and Greeks, Catholics and Orthodox, Franks and Romans. Reaching the paroxysm in the fourth crusade, initially aimed at the conquest of Egypt, in which the crusaders took Constantinople by assault, chopping up and dividing up the still succulent spoils of the Eastern Roman Empire (see The sieges of Constantinople 1203- 1204 in Ancient and Medieval #4:The Siege of Constantinople). Nor does it help to alleviate this situation the fact that the Latins, knowing that the Greeks are isolated and very weak, have imposed the submission of the Orthodox Church to the Catholic as a sine qua non requirement. to receive military aid from Western Christians. The population of Byzantium, ruined but proud, clings to its tradition and its ecclesiastical rite as the only balm in the face of an apocalyptic scenario, in which they have to choose between the pope's miter or the Turkish turban. Thus, centuries of rancor, mutual mistrust, xenophobia, and periodic virulent outbursts of widespread violence, contribute to woefully strained Greek-Latin relations.
To add insult to injury, the legitimacy of the emperor himself is in dispute . When the future Constantine XI learned of the death of the sovereign John VIII, he was in Mistra, serving as despot or governor of the Morea, so he could not be properly crowned basileus[4] by the patriarch of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia, the fabulous and almost thousand-year-old church built by Justinian the Great, seriously violating tradition. Furthermore, Constantine XI ascended to the purple fully aware that if he did not get help from his fellow Western faith theorists, the imminent loss of the Empire was assured. For this reason, he decided to bet on supporting the union of the churches despite being aware that, thanks to this Catholic vassalage, he would earn the contempt, if not the open hostility, of a good part of the nobility, the clergy and the proletariat of the Empire. Few Westerners have responded to the Greek prodigal son's desperate plea for help. Two figures stand out, the Genoese Giovanni Giustiniani , a professional soldier expert in siege warfare, who, in charge of four hundred western soldiers, will support the defense of the land walls in the Lico valley, the most exposed area; and Don Francisco de Toledo, a Castilian nobleman of obscure origins who, under the pretext of being allegedly related to the Palaiologos, is going to be admitted to the court of the Basileus due to his resolute courage and bravery in combat.
To end our story, let's return to the top of Caligaria tower. Two motionless figures gaze hypnotized at the panorama that is shown to their eyes. A cold breeze shakes the emperor's body, just a slight tremor concealed by the dim light. Constantine XI reflects that, in recent weeks, even the weather seems to be working against the City of God , since many have been thedisturbing phenomena that seem to herald the End of the World :fogs capable of muffling all kinds of sounds, strange lights in the sky, sudden waterspouts that destroy everything in their path, etc.; even the moon, ancient symbol of Byzantium[5], seems to be on the Turkish side, inexplicably adopting for a few hours its crescent shape, emblem of the sultan. A mixture of bitter melancholy and infinite weariness falls on his shoulders. He has spent almost half a century trying to reverse the terminal prostration of his homeland, since he tried (and almost succeeded) in implanting a Byzantine offshoot in the Morea and in Greece itself, he was repeatedly widowed and does not even have an heir to continue the discussed trajectory of the Paleologists , seeing his accession to the throne discussed by his brothers. He is not lord in his own house either, since it is the hated flag of San Marcos and not the Roman double-headed eagle, which rules over the palace of Blanquerna. Let us leave him lost in his daydreams, ruminating on the defense of the approaching assault, escorted by his friend Jorge Frantzés, whom he will soon have to say goodbye to, perhaps forever, since we are at nightfall on Monday, May 28, 1453. Constantinople, dazzling capital of a thousand-year-old Empire, heritage of Roman institutions, Greek philosophy and Christianity, faces its decisive hour. Nobody knows what the light of the next day will bring. The only sure thing is that, for better or worse, tomorrow everything will be over.
Bibliography
- Crowley, R. (2005). Constantinople 1453. The last great siege . Barcelona, Spain:Attic of the books.
- Emecen, F.M. (2011). "1453:The Fall of Constantinople" in Desperta Ferro Antigua y medieval no. 4, p. 44-51.
Notes
[1] Let us remember that the crusaders in 1204 took Constantinople by storm from the sea walls of the Golden Horn.
[2] The Peloponnese peninsula was known as the Morea in the Middle Ages because of its characteristic mulberry leaf shape.
[3] Specifically, the Eastern Schism occurred in 1054. Although the differences between the Latin and Greek rites had been widening over the centuries, One of the doctrinal issues that made the Schism possible was the inclusion of the clause:“Filioque ” in the creed. That is, according to Catholic doctrine the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, emanated from the Father and the Son. Latin addition considered heretical by the Greek Orthodox.
[4] The Basileans of Byzantium bore the official nomenclature of:“True Emperor in Christ and autocrat of the Romans ”. Title as beautiful as it is empty of content.
[5] An ancient legend tells that the Greek polis of Byzantium was miraculously saved from a night attack by the troops of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, since the sky cleared of clouds, and by the light of the crescent the Byzantines became aware of the attack and repelled it. Since then, the grateful Byzantines adopted that saving crescent as their emblem.