Reign and Character of Mahomet the Second. Siege, Assault, and Final Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. Death of Constantine Palaeologus. Servitude of the Greeks. Extinction of the Roman Empire in the East. Consternation of Europe. Conquests and Death of Mahomet the Second.
Character of Mahomet II.
The siege of Constantinople by the Turks attracts our first
attention to the person and character of the great
destroyer. Mahomet the Second (1) was the son of the second
Amurath; and though his mother has been decorated with the
titles of Christian and princess, she is more probably
confounded with the numerous concubines who peopled from
every climate the harem of the sultan. His first education
and sentiments were those of a devout Mussulman; and as
often as he conversed with an infidel, he purified his hands
and face by the legal rites of ablution. Age and empire
appear to have relaxed this narrow bigotry: his aspiring
genius disdained to acknowledge a power above his own; and
in his looser hours he presumed (it is said) to brand the
prophet of Mecca as a robber and impostor. Yet the sultan
persevered in a decent reverence for the doctrine and
discipline of the Koran: (2) his private indiscretion must
have been sacred from the vulgar ear; and we should suspect
the credulity of strangers and sectaries, so prone to
believe that a mind which is hardened against truth must be
armed with superior contempt for absurdity and error. Under
the tuition of the most skilful masters, Mahomet advanced
with an early and rapid progress in the paths of knowledge;
and besides his native tongue it is affirmed that he spoke
or understood five languages, (3) the Arabic, the Persian,
the Chaldaean or Hebrew, the Latin, and the Greek. The
Persian might indeed contribute to his amusement, and the
Arabic to his edification; and such studies are familiar to
the Oriental youth. In the intercourse of the Greeks and
Turks, a conqueror might wish to converse with the people
over which he was ambitious to reign: his own praises in
Latin poetry (4) or prose (5) might find a passage to the
royal ear; but what use or merit could recommend to the
statesman or the scholar the uncouth dialect of his Hebrew
slaves? The history and geography of the world were familiar
to his memory: the lives of the heroes of the East, perhaps
of the West, (6) excited his emulation: his skill in
astrology is excused by the folly of the times, and supposes
some rudiments of mathematical science; and a profane taste
for the arts is betrayed in his liberal invitation and
reward of the painters of Italy. (7) But the influence of
religion and learning were employed without effect on his
savage and licentious nature. I will not transcribe, nor do
I firmly believe, the stories of his fourteen pages, whose
bellies were ripped open in search of a stolen melon; or of
the beauteous slave, whose head he severed from her body, to
convince the Janizaries that their master was not the votary
of love. His sobriety is attested by the silence of the
Turkish annals, which accuse three, and three only, of the
Ottoman line of the vice of drunkenness. (8) But it cannot be
denied that his passions were at once furious and
inexorable; that in the palace, as in the field, a torrent
of blood was spilt on the slightest provocation; and that
the noblest of the captive youth were often dishonoured by
his unnatural lust. In the Albanian war he studied the
lessons, and soon surpassed the example, of his father; and
the conquest of two empires, twelve kingdoms, and two
hundred cities, a vain and flattering account, is ascribed
to his invincible sword. He was doubtless a soldier, and
possibly a general; Constantinople has sealed his glory; but
if we compare the means, the obstacles, and the
achievements, Mahomet the Second must blush to sustain a
parallel with Alexander or Timour. Under his command, the
Ottoman forces were always more numerous than their enemies;
yet their progress was bounded by the Euphrates and the
Adriatic; and his arms were checked by Huniades and
Scanderbeg, by the Rhodian knights and by the Persian king.
His reign, A.D. 1451,February 9- 1481,July 2.
In the reign of Amurath, he twice tasted of royalty, and
twice descended from the throne: his tender age was
incapable of opposing his father's restoration, but never
could he forgive the viziers who had recommended that
salutary measure. His nuptials were celebrated with the
daughter of a Turkman emir; and, after a festival of two
months, he departed from Adrianople with his bride, to
reside in the government of Magnesia. Before the end of six
weeks, he was recalled by a sudden message from the divan,
which announced the decease of Amurath, and the mutinous
spirit of the Janizaries. His speed and vigour commanded
their obedience: he passed the Hellespont with a chosen
guard: and at the distance of a mile from Adrianople, the
viziers and emirs, the imams and cadhis, the soldiers and
the people, fell prostrate before the new sultan. They
affected to weep, they affected to rejoice: he ascended the
throne at the age of twenty-one years, and removed the cause
of sedition by the death, the inevitable death, of his
infant brothers. (9) The ambassadors of Europe and Asia soon appeared to congratulate his accession and solicit his friendship; and to all he spoke the language of moderation
and peace. The confidence of the Greek emperor was revived
by the solemn oaths and fair assurances with which he sealed
the ratification of the treaty: and a rich domain on the
banks of the Strymon was assigned for the annual payment of
three hundred thousand aspers, the pension of an Ottoman
prince, who was detained at his request in the Byzantine
court. Yet the neighbours of Mahomet might tremble at the
severity with which a youthful monarch reformed the pomp of
his father's household: the expenses of luxury were applied
to those of ambition, and a useless train of seven thousand
falconers was either dismissed from his service, or enlisted
in his troops. In the first summer of his reign, he
visited with an army the Asiatic provinces; but after
humbling the pride, Mahomet accepted the submission, of the
Caramanian, that he might not be diverted by the smallest
obstacle from the execution of his great design. (10)
Hostile intentions of Mahomet, A.D. 1451.
The Mahometan, and more especially the Turkish casuists,
have pronounced that no promise can bind the faithful
against the interest and duty of their religion; and that
the sultan may abrogate his own treaties and those of his
predecessors. The justice and magnanimity of Amurath had
scorned this immoral privilege; but his son, though the
proudest of men, could stoop from ambition to the basest
arts of dissimulation and deceit. Peace was on his lips,
while war was in his heart: he incessantly sighed for the
possession of Constantinople; and the Greeks, by their own
indiscretion, afforded the first pretence of the fatal
rupture. (11) Instead of laboring to be forgotten, their
ambassadors pursued his camp, to demand the payment, and
even the increase, of their annual stipend: the divan was
importuned by their complaints, and the vizier, a secret
friend of the Christians, was constrained to deliver the
sense of his brethren. "Ye foolish and miserable Romans,"
said Calil, "we know your devices, and ye are ignorant of
your own danger! The scrupulous Amurath is no more; his
throne is occupied by a young conqueror, whom no laws can
bind, and no obstacles can resist: and if you escape from
his hands, give praise to the divine clemency, which yet
delays the chastisement of your sins. Why do ye seek to
affright us by vain and indirect menaces? Release the
fugitive Orchan, crown him sultan of Romania; call the
Hungarians from beyond the Danube; arm against us the
nations of the West; and be assured, that you will only
provoke and precipitate your ruin." But if the fears of the
ambassadors were alarmed by the stern language of the
vizier, they were soothed by the courteous audience and
friendly speeches of the Ottoman prince; and Mahomet assured
them that on his return to Adrianople he would redress the
grievances, and consult the true interests, of the Greeks.
No sooner had he repassed the Hellespont, than he issued a
mandate to suppress their pension, and to expel their
officers from the banks of the Strymon: in this measure he
betrayed a hostile mind; and the second order announced, and
in some degree commenced, the siege of Constantinople. In
the narrow pass of the Bosphorus, an Asiatic fortress had
formerly been raised by his grandfather; in the opposite
situation, on the European side, he resolved to erect a more
formidable castle; and a thousand masons were commanded to
assemble in the spring on a spot named Asomaton, about five
miles from the Greek metropolis. (12) Persuasion is the
resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade:
the ambassadors of the emperor attempted, without success,
to divert Mahomet from the execution of his design. They
represented, that his grandfather had solicited the
permission of Manuel to build a castle on his own
territories; but that this double fortification, which would
command the strait, could only tend to violate the alliance
of the nations; to intercept the Latins who traded in the
Black Sea, and perhaps to annihilate the subsistence of the
city. "I form the enterprise," replied the perfidious
sultan, "against the city; but the empire of Constantinople
is measured by her walls. Have you forgot the distress to
which my father was reduced when you formed a league with
the Hungarians; when they invaded our country by land, and
the Hellespont was occupied by the French galleys? Amurath
was compelled to force the passage of the Bosphorus; and
your strength was not equal to your malevolence. I was then
a child at Adrianople; the Moslems trembled; and, for a
while, the Gabours (13) insulted our disgrace. But when my
father had triumphed in the field of Warna, he vowed to
erect a fort on the western shore, and that vow it is my
duty to accomplish. Have ye the right, have ye the power,
to control my actions on my own ground? For that ground is
my own: as far as the shores of the Bosphorus, Asia is
inhabited by the Turks, and Europe is deserted by the
Romans. Return, and inform your king, that the present
Ottoman is far different from his predecessors; that his
resolutions surpass their wishes; and that he performs more
than they could resolve. Return in safety - but the next who
delivers a similar message may expect to be flayed alive."
After this declaration, Constantine, the first of the Greeks
in spirit as in rank, (14) had determined to unsheathe the
sword, and to resist the approach and establishment of the
Turks on the Bosphorus. He was disarmed by the advice of
his civil and ecclesiastical ministers, who recommended a
system less generous, and even less prudent, than his own,
to approve their patience and long-suffering, to brand the
Ottoman with the name and guilt of an aggressor, and to
depend on chance and time for their own safety, and the
destruction of a fort which could not long be maintained in
the neighbourhood of a great and populous city. Amidst hope
and fear, the fears of the wise, and the hopes of the
credulous, the winter rolled away; the proper business of
each man, and each hour, was postponed; and the Greeks shut
their eyes against the impending danger, till the arrival of
the spring and the sultan decide the assurance of their
ruin.
He builds a fortress on the Bosphorus, A.D. 1452, March.
Of a master who never forgives, the orders are seldom
disobeyed. On the twenty-sixth of March, the appointed spot
of Asomaton was covered with an active swarm of Turkish
artificers; and the materials by sea and land were
diligently transported from Europe and Asia. (15) The lime
had been burnt in Cataphrygia; the timber was cut down in
the woods of Heraclea and Nicomedia; and the stones were dug
from the Anatolian quarries. Each of the thousand masons
was assisted by two workmen; and a measure of two cubits was
marked for their daily task. The fortress (16) was built in
a triangular form; each angle was flanked by a strong and
massy tower; one on the declivity of the hill, two along the
sea-shore: a thickness of twenty-two feet was assigned for
the walls, thirty for the towers; and the whole building was
covered with a solid platform of lead. Mahomet himself
pressed and directed the work with indefatigable ardour: his
three viziers claimed the honour of finishing their
respective towers; the zeal of the cadhis emulated that of
the Janizaries; the meanest labor was ennobled by the
service of God and the sultan; and the diligence of the
multitude was quickened by the eye of a despot, whose smile
was the hope of fortune, and whose frown was the messenger
of death. The Greek emperor beheld with terror the
irresistible progress of the work; and vainly strove, by
flattery and gifts, to assuage an implacable foe, who
sought, and secretly fomented, the slightest occasion of a
quarrel. Such occasions must soon and inevitably be found.
The ruins of stately churches, and even the marble columns
which had been consecrated to Saint Michael the archangel,
were employed without scruple by the profane and rapacious
Moslems; and some Christians, who presumed to oppose the
removal, received from their hands the crown of martyrdom.
Constantine had solicited a Turkish guard to protect the
fields and harvests of his subjects: the guard was fixed;
but their first order was to allow free pasture to the mules
and horses of the camp, and to defend their brethren if they
should be molested by the natives. The retinue of an Ottoman
chief had left their horses to pass the night among the ripe
corn; the damage was felt; the insult was resented; and
several of both nations were slain in a tumultuous conflict.
Mahomet listened with joy to the complaint; and a detachment
was commanded to exterminate the guilty village: the guilty
had fled; but forty innocent and unsuspecting reapers were
massacred by the soldiers. The Turkish war, June.Till this provocation, Constantinople had been opened to the visits of commerce and
curiosity: on the first alarm, the gates were shut; but the
emperor, still anxious for peace, released on the third day
his Turkish captives; (17) and expressed, in a last message,
the firm resignation of a Christian and a soldier. "Since
neither oaths, nor treaty, nor submission, can secure peace,
pursue," said he to Mahomet, "your impious warfare. My
trust is in God alone; if it should please him to mollify
your heart, I shall rejoice in the happy change; if he
delivers the city into your hands, I submit without a murmur
to his holy will. But until the Judge of the earth shall
pronounce between us, it is my duty to live and die in the
defence of my people." The sultan's answer was hostile and
decisive: his fortifications were completed; and before his
departure for AdrianopleSeptember 1;, he stationed a vigilant Aga and
four hundred Janizaries, to levy a tribute on the ships of
every nation that should pass within the reach of their
cannon. A Venetian vessel, refusing obedience to the new
lords of the Bosphorus, was sunk with a single bullet. The master and thirty sailors escaped in the boat; but they
were dragged in chains to the Porte: the chief was impaled;
his companions were beheaded; and the historian Ducas (18)
beheld, at Demotica, their bodies exposed to the wild
beasts. The siege of Constantinople was deferred till the
ensuing spring; but an Ottoman army marched into the Morea
to divert the force of the brothers of Constantine. A.D. 1453, January 17.At this
aera of calamity, one of these princes, the despot Thomas,
was blessed or afflicted with the birth of a son; "the last
heir," says the plaintive Phranza, "of the last spark of the
Roman empire." (19)
Preparations for the siege of Constantinople, A.D. 1452, September-1453,April.
The Greeks and the Turks passed an anxious and sleepless
winter: the former were kept awake by their fears, the
latter by their hopes; both by the preparations of defence
and attack; and the two emperors, who had the most to lose
or to gain, were the most deeply affected by the national
sentiment. In Mahomet, that sentiment was inflamed by the
ardour of his youth and temper: he amused his leisure with
building at Adrianople (20) the lofty palace of Jehan Numa,
(the watchtower of the world;) but his serious thoughts were
irrevocably bent on the conquest of the city of Caesar. At
the dead of night, about the second watch, he started from
his bed, and commanded the instant attendance of his prime
vizier. The message, the hour, the prince, and his own
situation, alarmed the guilty conscience of Calil Basha; who
had possessed the confidence, and advised the restoration,
of Amurath. On the accession of the son, the vizier was
confirmed in his office and the appearances of favour; but
the veteran statesman was not insensible that he trod on a
thin and slippery ice, which might break under his
footsteps, and plunge him in the abyss. His friendship for
the Christians, which might be innocent under the late
reign, had stigmatized him with the name of Gabour Ortachi,
or foster-brother of the infidels; (21) and his avarice
entertained a venal and treasonable correspondence, which
was detected and punished after the conclusion of the war.
On receiving the royal mandate, he embraced, perhaps for the
last time, his wife and children; filled a cup with pieces
of gold, hastened to the palace, adored the sultan, and
offered, according to the Oriental custom, the slight
tribute of his duty and gratitude. (22) "It is not my wish,"
said Mahomet, "to resume my gifts, but rather to heap and
multiply them on thy head. In my turn, I ask a present far
more valuable and important; Constantinople." As soon as the
vizier had recovered from his surprise, "The same God," said
he, "who has already given thee so large a portion of the
Roman empire, will not deny the remnant, and the capital.
His providence, and thy power, assure thy success; and
myself, with the rest of thy faithful slaves, will sacrifice
our lives and fortunes." - "Lala," (23) (or preceptor,)
continued the sultan, "do you see this pillow? All the
night, in my agitation, I have pulled it on one side and the
other; I have risen from my bed, again have I lain down; yet
sleep has not visited these weary eyes. Beware of the gold
and silver of the Romans: in arms we are superior; and with
the aid of God, and the prayers of the prophet, we shall
speedily become masters of Constantinople." To sound the
disposition of his soldiers, he often wandered through the
streets alone, and in disguise; and it was fatal to discover
the sultan, when he wished to escape from the vulgar eye.
His hours were spent in delineating the plan of the hostile
city; in debating with his generals and engineers, on what
spot he should erect his batteries; on which side he should
assault the walls; where he should spring his mines; to what
place he should apply his scaling-ladders: and the exercises
of the day repeated and proved the lucubrations of the
night.
The great Cannon of Mahomet.
Among the implements of destruction, he studied with
peculiar care the recent and tremendous discovery of the
Latins; and his artillery surpassed whatever had yet
appeared in the world. A founder of cannon, a Dane or Hungarian, who had been almost starved in the Greek service, deserted to the Moslems, and was liberally entertained by
the Turkish sultan. Mahomet was satisfied with the answer to
his first question, which he eagerly pressed on the artist.
"Am I able to cast a cannon capable of throwing a ball or
stone of sufficient size to batter the walls of
Constantinople? I am not ignorant of their strength; but
were they more solid than those of Babylon, I could oppose
an engine of superior power: the position and management of
that engine must be left to your engineers." On this
assurance, a foundry was established at Adrianople: the
metal was prepared; and at the end of three months, Urban
produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupendous, and almost
incredible magnitude; a measure of twelve palms is assigned
to the bore; and the stone bullet weighed above six hundred
pounds. (24) A vacant place before the new palace was chosen for the first experiment; but to prevent the sudden and mischievous effects of astonishment and fear, a
proclamation was issued, that the cannon would be discharged
the ensuing day. The explosion was felt or heard in a
circuit of a hundred furlongs: the ball, by the force of
gunpowder, was driven above a mile; and on the spot where it
fell, it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground. For the
conveyance of this destructive engine, a frame or carriage
of thirty wagons was linked together and drawn along by a
team of sixty oxen: two hundred men on both sides were
stationed, to poise and support the rolling weight; two
hundred and fifty workmen marched before to smooth the way
and repair the bridges; and near two months were employed in
a laborious journey of one hundred and fifty miles. A lively
philosopher (25) derides on this occasion the credulity of
the Greeks, and observes, with much reason, that we should
always distrust the exaggerations of a vanquished people.
He calculates, that a ball, even o two hundred pounds, would
require a charge of one hundred and fifty pounds of powder;
and that the stroke would be feeble and impotent, since not
a fifteenth part of the mass could be inflamed at the same
moment. A stranger as I am to the art of destruction, I can
discern that the modern improvements of artillery prefer the
number of pieces to the weight of metal; the quickness of
the fire to the sound, or even the consequence, of a single
explosion. Yet I dare not reject the positive and unanimous
evidence of contemporary writers; nor can it seem
improbable, that the first artists, in their rude and
ambitious efforts, should have transgressed the standard of
moderation. A Turkish cannon, more enormous than that of
Mahomet, still guards the entrance of the Dardanelles; and
if the use be inconvenient, it has been found on a late
trial that the effect was far from contemptible. A stone
bullet of eleven hundred pounds' weight was once discharged
with three hundred and thirty pounds of powder: at the
distance of six hundred yards it shivered into three rocky
fragments; traversed the strait; and leaving the waters in a
foam, again rose and bounded against the opposite hill. (26)
Mahomet II. forms the siege of Constantinople, A.D. 1453, April 6.
While Mahomet threatened the capital of the East, the Greek
emperor implored with fervent prayers the assistance of
earth and heaven. But the invisible powers were deaf to his
supplications; and Christendom beheld with indifference the
fall of Constantinople, while she derived at least some
promise of supply from the jealous and temporal policy of
the sultan of Egypt. Some states were too weak, and others
too remote; by some the danger was considered as imaginary
by others as inevitable: the Western princes were involved
in their endless and domestic quarrels; and the Roman
pontiff was exasperated by the falsehood or obstinacy of the
Greeks. Instead of employing in their favour the arms and
treasures of Italy, Nicholas the Fifth had foretold their
approaching ruin; and his honour was engaged in the
accomplishment of his prophecy. Perhaps he was softened
by the last extremity o their distress; but his compassion
was tardy; his efforts were faint and unavailing; and
Constantinople had fallen, before the squadrons of Genoa and
Venice could sail from their harbours. (27) Even the princes of the Morea and of the Greek islands affected a cold neutrality: the Genoese colony of Galata negotiated a private treaty; and the sultan indulged them in the delusive hope, that by his clemency they might survive the ruin of the empire. A plebeian crowd, and some Byzantine nobles basely withdrew from the danger of their country; and the avarice of the rich denied the emperor, and reserved for the Turks, the secret treasures which might have raised in their defence whole armies of mercenaries. (28) The indigent and
solitary prince prepared, however, to sustain his formidable
adversary; but if his courage were equal to the peril, his
strength was inadequate to the contest. In the beginning of
the spring, the Turkish vanguard swept the towns and
villages as far as the gates of Constantinople: submission
was spared and protected; whatever presumed to resist was
exterminated with fire and sword. The Greek places on the
Black Sea, Mesembria, Acheloum, and Bizon, surrendered on
the first summons; Selybria alone deserved the honours of a
siege or blockade; and the bold inhabitants, while they were
invested by land, launched their boats, pillaged the
opposite coast of Cyzicus, and sold their captives in the
public market. But on the approach of Mahomet himself all
was silent and prostrate: he first halted at the distance of
five miles; and from thence advancing in battle array,
planted before the gates of St. Romanus the Imperial
standard; and on the sixth day of April formed the memorable
siege of Constantinople.
Forces of the Turks;
The troops of Asia and Europe extended on the right and left
from the Propontis to the harbour; the Janizaries in the
front were stationed before the sultan's tent; the Ottoman
line was covered by a deep entrenchment; and a subordinate
army enclosed the suburb of Galata, and watched the doubtful
faith of the Genoese. The inquisitive Philelphus, who
resided in Greece about thirty years before the siege, is
confident, that all the Turkish forces of any name or value
could not exceed the number of sixty thousand horse and
twenty thousand foot; and he upbraids the pusillanimity of
the nations, who had tamely yielded to a handful of
Barbarians. Such indeed might be the regular establishment
of the Capiculi, (29) the troops of the Porte who marched
with the prince, and were paid from his royal treasury. But
the bashaws, in their respective governments, maintained or
levied a provincial militia; many lands were held by a
military tenure; many volunteers were attracted by the hope
of spoil and the sound of the holy trumpet invited a swarm
of hungry and fearless fanatics, who might contribute at
least to multiply the terrors, and in a first attack to
blunt the swords, of the Christians. The whole mass of the
Turkish powers is magnified by Ducas, Chalcondyles, and
Leonard of Chios, to the amount of three or four hundred
thousand men; but Phranza was a less remote and more
accurate judge; and his precise definition of two hundred
and fifty-eight thousand does not exceed the measure of
experience and probability. (30) The navy of the besiegers
was less formidable: the Propontis was overspread with three
hundred and twenty sail; but of these no more than eighteen
could be rated as galleys of war; and the far greater part
must be degraded to the condition of store-ships and
transports, which poured into the camp fresh supplies of
men, ammunition, and provisions. of the Greeks. In her last decay, Constantinople was still peopled with more than a hundred
thousand inhabitants; but these numbers are found in the
accounts, not of war, but of captivity; and they mostly
consisted of mechanics, of priests, of women, and of men
devoid of that spirit which even women have sometimes
exerted for the common safety. I can suppose, I could
almost excuse, the reluctance of subjects to serve on a
distant frontier, at the will of a tyrant; but the man who
dares not expose his life in the defence of his children and
his property, has lost in society the first and most active
energies of nature. By the emperor's command, a particular
inquiry had been made through the streets and houses, how
many of the citizens, or even of the monks, were able and
willing to bear arms for their country. The lists were
entrusted to Phranza; (31) and, after a diligent addition, he
informed his master, with grief and surprise, that the
national defence was reduced to four thousand nine hundred
and seventy Romans. Between Constantine and his faithful
minister this comfortless secret was preserved; and a
sufficient proportion of shields, cross-bows, and muskets,
were distributed from the arsenal to the city bands. They
derived some accession from a body of two thousand
strangers, under the command of John Justiniani, a noble
Genoese; a liberal donative was advanced to these
auxiliaries; and a princely recompense, the Isle of Lemnos,
was promised to the valour and victory of their chief. A
strong chain was drawn across the mouth of the harbour: it
was supported by some Greek and Italian vessels of war and
merchandise; and the ships of every Christian nation, that
successively arrived from Candia and the Black Sea, were
detained for the public service. Against the powers of the
Ottoman empire, a city of the extent of thirteen, perhaps of
sixteen, miles was defended by a scanty garrison of seven or
eight thousand soldiers. Europe and Asia were open to the
besiegers; but the strength and provisions of the Greeks
must sustain a daily decrease; nor could they indulge the
expectation of any foreign succour or supply.
False union of the two churches, A.D. 1452, Dec. 12.
The primitive Romans would have drawn their swords in the resolution of death or conquest. The primitive Christians might have embraced each other, and awaited in patience and charity the stroke of martyrdom. But the Greeks of Constantinople were animated only by the spirit of religion, and that spirit was productive only of animosity and discord. Before his death, the emperor John Palaeologus had renounced the unpopular measure of a union with the Latins; nor was the idea revived, till the distress of his brother Constantine imposed a last trial of flattery and dissimulation. (32) With the demand of temporal aid, his ambassadors were instructed to mingle the assurance of spiritual obedience: his neglect of the church was excused by the urgent cares of the state; and his orthodox wishes solicited the presence of a Roman legate. The Vatican had been too often deluded; yet the signs of repentance could not decently be overlooked; a legate was more easily granted than an army; and about six months before the final destruction, the cardinal Isidore of Russia appeared in that character with a retinue of priests and soldiers. The emperor saluted him as a friend and father; respectfully listened to his public and private sermons; and with the most obsequious of the clergy and laymen subscribed the act of union, as it had been ratified in the council of Florence. On the twelfth of December, the two nations, in the church of St. Sophia, joined in the communion of
sacrifice and prayer; and the names of the two pontiffs were
solemnly commemorated; the names of Nicholas the Fifth, the
vicar of Christ, and of the patriarch Gregory, who had been
driven into exile by a rebellious people.
Obstinacy and fanaticism of the Greeks.
But the dress and language of the Latin priest who
officiated at the altar were an object of scandal; and it
was observed with horror, that he consecrated a cake or
wafer of unleavened bread, and poured cold water into the
cup of the sacrament. A national historian acknowledges
with a blush, that none of his countrymen, not the emperor
himself, were sincere in this occasional conformity. (33)
Their hasty and unconditional submission was palliated by a
promise of future revisal; but the best, or the worst, of
their excuses was the confession of their own perjury. When
they were pressed by the reproaches of their honest
brethren, "Have patience," they whispered, "have patience
till God shall have delivered the city from the great dragon
who seeks to devour us. You shall then perceive whether we
are truly reconciled with the Azymites." But patience is not
the attribute of zeal; nor can the arts of a court be
adapted to the freedom and violence of popular enthusiasm.
From the dome of St. Sophia the inhabitants of either sex,
and of every degree, rushed in crowds to the cell of the
monk Gennadius, (34) to consult the oracle of the church.
The holy man was invisible; entranced, as it should seem, in
deep meditation, or divine rapture: but he had exposed on
the door of his cell a speaking tablet; and they
successively withdrew, after reading those tremendous words:
"O miserable Romans, why will ye abandon the truth? and why,
instead of confiding in God, will ye put your trust in the
Italians? In losing your faith you will lose your city.
Have mercy on me, O Lord! I protest in thy presence that I
am innocent of the crime. O miserable Romans, consider,
pause, and repent. At the same moment that you renounce the
religion of your fathers, by embracing impiety, you submit
to a foreign servitude." According to the advice of
Gennadius, the religious virgins, as pure as angels, and as
proud as daemons, rejected the act of union, and abjured all
communion with the present and future associates of the
Latins; and their example was applauded and imitated by the
greatest part of the clergy and people. From the monastery,
the devout Greeks dispersed themselves in the taverns; drank
confusion to the slaves of the pope; emptied their glasses
in honour of the image of the holy Virgin; and besought her
to defend against Mahomet the city which she had formerly
saved from Chosroes and the Chagan. In the double
intoxication of zeal and wine, they valiantly exclaimed,
"What occasion have we for succour, or union, or Latins? Far
from us be the worship of the Azymites!" During the winter
that preceded the Turkish conquest, the nation was
distracted by this epidemical frenzy; and the season of
Lent, the approach of Easter, instead of breathing charity
and love, served only to fortify the obstinacy and influence
of the zealots. The confessors scrutinized and alarmed the
conscience of their votaries, and a rigorous penance was
imposed on those who had received the communion from a
priest who had given an express or tacit consent to the
union. His service at the altar propagated the infection to
the mute and simple spectators of the ceremony: they
forfeited, by the impure spectacle, the virtue of the
sacerdotal character; nor was it lawful, even in danger of
sudden death, to invoke the assistance of their prayers or
absolution. No sooner had the church of St. Sophia been
polluted by the Latin sacrifice, than it was deserted as a
Jewish synagogue, or a heathen temple, by the clergy and
people; and a vast and gloomy silence prevailed in that
venerable dome, which had so often smoked with a cloud of
incense, blazed with innumerable lights, and resounded with
the voice of prayer and thanksgiving. The Latins were the
most odious of heretics and infidels; and the first minister
of the empire, the great duke, was heard to declare, that he
had rather behold in Constantinople the turban of Mahomet,
than the pope's tiara or a cardinal's hat. (35) A sentiment
so unworthy of Christians and patriots was familiar and
fatal to the Greeks: the emperor was deprived of the
affection and support of his subjects; and their native
cowardice was sanctified by resignation to the divine
decree, or the visionary hope of a miraculous deliverance.
Siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II. A.D. 1453, April 6-May 29.
Of the triangle which composes the figure of Constantinople,
the two sides along the sea were made inaccessible to an
enemy; the Propontis by nature, and the harbour by art.
Between the two waters, the basis of the triangle, the land
side was protected by a double wall, and a deep ditch of the
depth of one hundred feet. Against this line of
fortification, which Phranza, an eye-witness, prolongs to
the measure of six miles, (36) the Ottomans directed their
principal attack; and the emperor, after distributing the
service and command of the most perilous stations, undertook
the defence of the external wall. In the first days of the
siege the Greek soldiers descended into the ditch, or
sallied into the field; but they soon discovered, that, in
the proportion of their numbers, one Christian was of more
value than twenty Turks: and, after these bold preludes,
they were prudently content to maintain the rampart with
their missile weapons. Nor should this prudence be accused
of pusillanimity. The nation was indeed pusillanimous and
base; but the last Constantine deserves the name of a hero:
his noble band of volunteers was inspired with Roman virtue;
and the foreign auxiliaries supported the honour of the
Western chivalry. The incessant volleys of lances and
arrows were accompanied with the smoke, the sound, and the
fire, of their musketry and cannon. Their small arms
discharged at the same time either five, or even ten, balls
of lead, of the size of a walnut; and, according to the
closeness of the ranks and the force of the powder, several
breastplates and bodies were transpierced by the same shot.
But the Turkish approaches were soon sunk in trenches, or
covered with ruins. Each day added to the science of the
Christians; but their inadequate stock of gunpowder was
wasted in the operations of each day. Their ordnance was not
powerful, either in size or number; and if they possessed
some heavy cannon, they feared to plant them on the walls,
lest the aged structure should be shaken and overthrown by
the explosion. (37) The same destructive secret had been
revealed to the Moslems; by whom it was employed with the
superior energy of zeal, riches, and despotism. The great
cannon of Mahomet has been separately noticed; an important
and visible object in the history of the times: but that
enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal
magnitude: (38) the long order of the Turkish artillery was
pointed against the walls; fourteen batteries thundered at
once on the most accessible places; and of one of these it
is ambiguously expressed, that it was mounted with one
hundred and thirty guns, or that it discharged one hundred
and thirty bullets. Yet in the power and activity of the
sultan, we may discern the infancy of the new science. Under a master who counted the moments, the great cannon could be loaded and fired no more than seven times in one day. (39) The heated metal unfortunately burst; several workmen were destroyed; and the skill of an artist was admired who bethought himself of preventing the danger and the accident, by pouring oil, after each explosion, into the mouth of the cannon.
Attack and defence.
The first random shots were productive of more sound than effect; and it was by the advice of a Christian, that the engineers were taught to level their aim against the two opposite sides of the salient angles of a bastion. However imperfect, the weight and repetition of the fire made some impression on the walls; and the Turks, pushing their approaches to the edge of the ditch, attempted to fill the enormous chasm, and to build a road to the assault. (40) Innumerable fascines, and hogsheads, and trunks of trees, were heaped on each other; and such was the impetuosity of the throng, that the foremost and the weakest were pushed headlong down the precipice, and instantly buried under the accumulated mass. To fill the ditch, was the toil of the besiegers; to clear away the rubbish, was the safety of the besieged; and, after a long and bloody conflict, the web that had been woven in the day was still unravelled in the night. The next resource of Mahomet was the practice of mines; but the soil was rocky; in every attempt he was stopped and undermined by the Christian engineers; nor had the .art been yet invented of replenishing those subterraneous passages with gunpowder, and blowing whole towers and cities into the air. (41) A circumstance that distinguishes the siege of Constantinople, is the re-union of the ancient and modern artillery. The cannon were intermingled with the mechanical engines for casting stones and darts; the bullet and the battering-ram were directed against the same walls; nor had the discovery of gunpowder superseded the use of the liquid and unextinguishable fire. A wooden turret of the largest size was advanced on rollers: this portable magazine of ammunition and fascines was protected by a threefold covering of bulls hides; incessant vollies were securely discharged from the loop-holes; in the front, three doors were contrived for the alternate sally and retreat of the soldiers and workmen. They ascended by a stair-case to the upper platform; and, as high as the level of that platform, a scaling-ladder could be raised by pullies to form a bridge and grapple with the adverse rampart. By these various arts of annoyance, some as new as they were pernicious to the Greeks, the tower of St. Romanus was at length overturned: after a severe struggle, the Turks were repulsed from the breach and interrupted by darkness; but they trusted, that with the return of light they should renew the attack with fresh vigour and decisive success. Of this pause of action, this interval of hope, each moment was improved by the activity of the emperor and Justinian, who passed the night on the spot, and urged the labours which involved the safety of the church and city. At the dawn of day, the impatient sultan perceived, with astonishment and grief, that his wooden turret had been reduced to ashes: the ditch was cleared and restored; and the tower of St. Romanus was again strong and entire. He deplored the failure of his design; and uttered a profane exclamation, that the word of the thirty-seven thousand prophets should not have compelled him to believe that such a work, in so short a time, could have been accomplished by the infidels.
Succour and victory of the four ships
The generosity of the Christian princes was cold and tardy; but in the first apprehension of a siege, Constantine had negotiated, in the isles of the Archipelago, the Morea, and Sicily, the most indispensable supplies. As early as the beginning of April, five (42) great ships, equipped for merchandise and war, would have sailed from the harbour of Chios, had not the wind blown obstinately from the north. (43) One of these ships bore the imperial flag; the remaining four belonged to the Genoese; and they were laden with wheat and barley, with wine, oil, and vegetables, and, above all, with soldiers and mariners for the service of the capital.
After a tedious delay, a gentle breeze, and, on the second
day, a strong gale from the south, carried them through the
Hellespont and the Propontis: but the city was already
invested by sea and land; and the Turkish fleet, at the
entrance of the Bosphorus, was stretched from shore to
shore, in the form of a crescent, to intercept, or at least
to repel, these bold auxiliaries. The reader who has
present to his mind the geographical picture of
Constantinople, will conceive and admire the greatness of
the spectacle. The five Christian ships continued to
advance with joyful shouts, and a full press both of sails
and oars, against a hostile fleet of three hundred vessels;
and the rampart, the camp, the coasts of Europe and Asia,
were lined with innumerable spectators, who anxiously
awaited the event of this momentous succour. At the first
view that event could not appear doubtful; the superiority
of the Moslems was beyond all measure or account: and, in a
calm, their numbers and valour must inevitably have
prevailed. But their hasty and imperfect navy had been
created, not by the genius of the people, but by the will of
the sultan: in the height of their prosperity, the Turks
have acknowledged, that if God had given them the earth, he
had left the sea to the infidels; (44) and a series of
defeats, a rapid progress of decay, has established the
truth of their modest confession. Except eighteen galleys of
some force, the rest of their fleet consisted of open boats,
rudely constructed and awkwardly managed, crowded with
troops, and destitute of cannon; and since courage arises in
a great measure from the consciousness of strength, the
bravest of the Janizaries might tremble on a new element.
In the Christian squadron, five stout and lofty ships were
guided by skilful pilots, and manned with the veterans of
Italy and Greece, long practised in the arts and perils of
the sea. Their weight was directed to sink or scatter the
weak obstacles that impeded their passage: their artillery
swept the waters: their liquid fire was poured on the heads
of the adversaries, who, with the design of boarding,
presumed to approach them; and the winds and waves are
always on the side of the ablest navigators. In this
conflict, the Imperial vessel, which had been almost
overpowered, was rescued by the Genoese; but the Turks, in a
distant and closer attack, were twice repulsed with
considerable loss. Mahomet himself sat on horseback on the
beach to encourage their valour by his voice and presence, by
the promise of reward, and by fear more potent than the fear
of the enemy. The passions of his soul, and even the
gestures of his body, (45) seemed to imitate the actions of
the combatants; and, as if he had been the lord of nature,
he spurred his horse with a fearless and impotent effort
into the sea. His loud reproaches, and the clamours of the
camp, urged the Ottomans to a third attack, more fatal and
bloody than the two former; and I must repeat, though I
cannot credit, the evidence of Phranza, who affirms, from
their own mouth, that they lost above twelve thousand men in
the slaughter of the day. They fled in disorder to the
shores of Europe and Asia, while the Christian squadron,
triumphant and unhurt, steered along the Bosphorus, and
securely anchored within the chain of the harbour. In the
confidence of victory, they boasted that the whole Turkish
power must have yielded to their arms; but the admiral, or
captain bashaw, found some consolation for a painful wound
in his eye, by representing that accident as the cause of
his defeat. Balthi Ogli was a renegade of the race of the
Bulgarian princes: his military character was tainted with
the unpopular vice of avarice; and under the despotism of
the prince or people, misfortune is a sufficient evidence of
guilt. His rank and services were annihilated by the displeasure of Mahomet. In the royal presence, the captain
bashaw was extended on the ground by four slaves, and
received one hundred strokes with a golden rod: (46) his
death had been pronounced; and he adored the clemency of the
sultan, who was satisfied with the milder punishment of
confiscation and exile. The introduction of this supply
revived the hopes of the Greeks, and accused the supineness
of their Western allies. Amidst the deserts of Anatolia and
the rocks of Palestine, the millions of the crusades had
buried themselves in a voluntary and inevitable grave; but
the situation of the Imperial city was strong against her
enemies, and accessible to her friends; and a rational and
moderate armament of the marine states might have saved the
relics of the Roman name, and maintained a Christian
fortress in the heart of the Ottoman empire. Yet this was
the sole and feeble attempt for the deliverance of
Constantinople: the more distant powers were insensible of
its danger; and the ambassador of Hungary, or at least of
Huniades, resided in the Turkish camp, to remove the fears,
and to direct the operations, of the sultan. (47)
Mahomet transports his navy over land.
It was difficult for the Greeks to penetrate the secret of
the divan; yet the Greeks are persuaded, that a resistance
so obstinate and surprising, had fatigued the perseverance
of Mahomet. He began to meditate a retreat; and the siege
would have been speedily raised, if the ambition and
jealousy of the second vizier had not opposed the perfidious
advice of Calil Bashaw, who still maintained a secret
correspondence with the Byzantine court. The reduction of
the city appeared to be hopeless, unless a double attack
could be made from the harbour as well as from the land; but
the harbour was inaccessible: an impenetrable chain was now
defended by eight large ships, more than twenty of a smaller
size, with several galleys and sloops; and, instead of
forcing this barrier, the Turks might apprehend a naval
sally, and a second encounter in the open sea. In this
perplexity, the genius of Mahomet conceived and executed a
plan of a bold and marvellous cast, of transporting by land
his lighter vessels and military stores from the Bosphorus
into the higher part of the harbour. The distance is about
ten miles; the ground is uneven, and was overspread with thickets; and, as the road must be opened behind the suburb
of Galata, their free passage or total destruction must
depend on the option of the Genoese. But these selfish
merchants were ambitious of the favour of being the last
devoured; and the deficiency of art was supplied by the
strength of obedient myraids. A level way was covered with
a broad platform of strong and solid planks; and to render
them more slippery and smooth, they were anointed with the
fat of sheep and oxen. Fourscore light galleys and
brigantines, of fifty and thirty oars, were disembarked on
the Bosphorus shore; arranged successively on rollers; and
drawn forwards by the power of men and pulleys. Two guides
or pilots were stationed at the helm, and the prow, of each
vessel: the sails were unfurled to the winds; and the labor
was cheered by song and acclamation. In the course of a
single night, this Turkish fleet painfully climbed the hill,
steered over the plain, and was launched from the declivity
into the shallow waters of the harbour, far above the
molestation of the deeper vessels of the Greeks. The real
importance of this operation was magnified by the
consternation and confidence which it inspired: but the
notorious, unquestionable fact was displayed before the
eyes, and is recorded by the pens, of the two nations. (48) A
similar stratagem had been repeatedly practised by the
ancients; (49) the Ottoman galleys (I must again repeat)
should be considered as large boats; and, if we compare the
magnitude and the distance, the obstacles and the means, the
boasted miracle (50) has perhaps been equalled by the
industry of our own times. (51) As soon as Mahomet had
occupied the upper harbour with a fleet and army, he
constructed, in the narrowest part, a bridge, or rather
mole, of fifty cubits in breadth, and one hundred in length:
it was formed of casks and hogsheads; joined with rafters,
linked with iron, and covered with a solid floor. On this
floating battery he planted one of his largest cannon, while
the fourscore galleys, with troops and scaling ladders,
approached the most accessible side, which had formerly been
stormed by the Latin conquerors. The indolence of the
Christians has been accused for not destroying these
unfinished works; but their fire, by a superior fire, was controlled and silenced; nor were they wanting in a
nocturnal attempt to burn the vessels as well as the bridge
of the sultan. His vigilance prevented their approach; their
foremost galiots were sunk or taken; forty youths, the
bravest of Italy and Greece, were inhumanly massacred at his
command; nor could the emperor's grief be assuaged by the
just though cruel retaliation, of exposing from the walls
the heads of two hundred and sixty Mussulman captives.
Distress of the city.After a siege of forty days, the fate of Constantinople could no longer be averted. The diminutive garrison was exhausted by a double attack: the fortifications, which had stood for ages against hostile violence, were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon: many breaches were opened; and near the gate of St. Romanus, four towers had been levelled with the ground. For the payment of his feeble and mutinous troops, Constantine was compelled to despoil the churches with the promise of a fourfold restitution; and his sacrilege offered a new reproach to the enemies of the union. A spirit of discord impaired the remnant of the Christian strength; the Genoese and Venetian auxiliaries asserted the preeminence of their respective service; and
Justiniani and the great duke, whose ambition was not extinguished by the common danger, accused each other of treachery and cowardice.
Preparations of the Turks for the general assault, May 26.
During the siege of Constantinople, the words of peace and capitulation had been sometimes pronounced; and several embassies had passed between the camp and the city. (52) The Greek emperor was humbled by adversity; and would have
yielded to any terms compatible with religion and royalty. The Turkish sultan was desirous of sparing the blood of his soldiers; still more desirous of securing for his own use the Byzantine treasures: and he accomplished a sacred duty in presenting to the Gabours the choice of circumcision, of tribute, or of death. The avarice of Mahomet might have been satisfied with an annual sum of one hundred thousand ducats; but his ambition grasped the capital of the East: to the prince he offered a rich equivalent, to the people a free toleration, or a safe departure: but after some fruitless treaty, he declared his resolution of finding either a throne, or a grave, under the walls of Constantinople. A sense of honour, and the fear of universal reproach, forbade Palaeologus to resign the city into the hands of the Ottomans; and he determined to abide the last extremities of war. Several days were employed by the sultan in the
preparations of the assault; and a respite was granted by his favourite science of astrology, which had fixed on the twenty-ninth of May, as the fortunate and fatal hour. On
the evening of the twenty-seventh, he issued his final
orders; assembled in his presence the military chiefs, and
dispersed his heralds through the camp to proclaim the duty,
and the motives, of the perilous enterprise. Fear is the
first principle of a despotic government; and his menaces
were expressed in the Oriental style, that the fugitives and
deserters, had they the wings of a bird, (53) should not
escape from his inexorable justice. The greatest part of
his bashaws and Janizaries were the offspring of Christian
parents: but the glories of the Turkish name were
perpetuated by successive adoption; and in the gradual
change of individuals, the spirit of a legion, a regiment,
or an oda, is kept alive by imitation and discipline. In
this holy warfare, the Moslems were exhorted to purify their
minds with prayer, their bodies with seven ablutions; and to
abstain from food till the close of the ensuing day. A crowd
of dervises visited the tents, to instil the desire of
martyrdom, and the assurance of spending an immortal youth
amidst the rivers and gardens of paradise, and in the
embraces of the black-eyed virgins. Yet Mahomet principally
trusted to the efficacy of temporal and visible rewards. A
double pay was promised to the victorious troops: "The city
and the buildings," said Mahomet, "are mine; but I resign to
your valour the captives and the spoil, the treasures of gold
and beauty; be rich and be happy. Many are the provinces of
my empire: the intrepid soldier who first ascends the walls
of Constantinople shall be rewarded with the government of
the fairest and most wealthy; and my gratitude shall
accumulate his honours and fortunes above the measure of his
own hopes." Such various and potent motives diffused among
the Turks a general ardour, regardless of life and impatient
for action: the camp reechoed with the Moslem shouts of "God
is God: there is but one God, and Mahomet is the apostle of
God;" (54) and the sea and land, from Galata to the seven
towers, were illuminated by the blaze of their nocturnal
fires.
Last farewell of the emperor and the Greeks.
Far different was the state of the Christians; who, with
loud and impotent complaints, deplored the guilt, or the
punishment, of their sins. The celestial image of the Virgin
had been exposed in solemn procession; but their divine
patroness was deaf to their entreaties: they accused the
obstinacy of the emperor for refusing a timely surrender;
anticipated the horrors of their fate; and sighed for the
repose and security of Turkish servitude. The noblest of
the Greeks, and the bravest of the allies, were summoned to
the palace, to prepare them, on the evening of the
twenty-eighth, for the duties and dangers of the general
assault. The last speech of Palaeologus was the funeral
oration of the Roman empire: (55) he promised, he conjured,
and he vainly attempted to infuse the hope which was
extinguished in his own mind. In this world all was
comfortless and gloomy; and neither the gospel nor the
church have proposed any conspicuous recompense to the
heroes who fall in the service of their country. But the
example of their prince, and the confinement of a siege, had
armed these warriors with the courage of despair, and the
pathetic scene is described by the feelings of the historian
Phranza, who was himself present at this mournful assembly.
They wept, they embraced; regardless of their families and
fortunes, they devoted their lives; and each commander,
departing to his station, maintained all night a vigilant
and anxious watch on the rampart. The emperor, and some
faithful companions, entered the dome of St. Sophia, which
in a few hours was to be converted into a mosque; and
devoutly received, with tears and prayers, the sacrament of
the holy communion. He reposed some moments in the palace,
which resounded with cries and lamentations; solicited the
pardon of all whom he might have injured; (56) and mounted on
horseback to visit the guards, and explore the motions of
the enemy. The distress and fall of the last Constantine
are more glorious than the long prosperity of the Byzantine
Caesars.
The general assault, May 29.
In the confusion of darkness, an assailant may sometimes
succeed; out in this great and general attack, the military
judgment and astrological knowledge of Mahomet advised him
to expect the morning, the memorable twenty- ninth of May,
in the fourteen hundred and fifty-third year of the
Christian aera. The preceding night had been strenuously
employed: the troops, the cannons, and the fascines, were
advanced to the edge of the ditch, which in many parts
presented a smooth and level passage to the breach; and his
fourscore galleys almost touched, with the prows and their
scaling-ladders, the less defensible walls of the harbour.
Under pain of death, silence was enjoined: but the physical
laws of motion and sound are not obedient to discipline or
fear; each individual might suppress his voice and measure
his footsteps; but the march and labor of thousands must
inevitably produce a strange confusion of dissonant clamours,
which reached the ears of the watchmen of the towers. At
daybreak, without the customary signal of the morning gun,
the Turks assaulted the city by sea and land; and the
similitude of a twined or twisted thread has been applied to
the closeness and continuity of their line of attack. (57)
The foremost ranks consisted of the refuse of the host, a
voluntary crowd who fought without order or command; of the
feebleness of age or childhood, of peasants and vagrants,
and of all who had joined the camp in the blind hope of
plunder and martyrdom. The common impulse drove them
onwards to the wall; the most audacious to climb were
instantly precipitated; and not a dart, not a bullet, of the
Christians, was idly wasted on the accumulated throng. But
their strength and ammunition were exhausted in this
laborious defence: the ditch was filled with the bodies of
the slain; they supported the footsteps of their companions;
and of this devoted vanguard the death was more serviceable
than the life. Under their respective bashaws and sanjaks,
the troops of Anatolia and Romania were successively led to
the charge: their progress was various and doubtful; but,
after a conflict of two hours, the Greeks still maintained,
and improved their advantage; and the voice of the emperor
was heard, encouraging his soldiers to achieve, by a last
effort, the deliverance of their country. In that fatal
moment, the Janizaries arose, fresh, vigorous, and
invincible. The sultan himself on horseback, with an iron
mace in his hand, was the spectator and judge of their
valour: he was surrounded by ten thousand of his domestic
troops, whom he reserved for the decisive occasion; and the
tide of battle was directed and impelled by his voice and
eye. His numerous ministers of justice were posted behind
the line, to urge, to restrain, and to punish; and if danger
was in the front, shame and inevitable death were in the
rear, of the fugitives. The cries of fear and of pain were
drowned in the martial music of drums, trumpets, and
attaballs; and experience has proved, that the mechanical
operation of sounds, by quickening the circulation of the
blood and spirits, will act on the human machine more
forcibly than the eloquence of reason and honour. From the
lines, the galleys, and the bridge, the Ottoman artillery
thundered on all sides; and the camp and city, the Greeks
and the Turks, were involved in a cloud of smoke which could
only be dispelled by the final deliverance or destruction of
the Roman empire. The single combats of the heroes of
history or fable amuse our fancy and engage our affections:
the skilful evolutions of war may inform the mind, and
improve a necessary, though pernicious, science. But in the
uniform and odious pictures of a general assault, all is
blood, and horror, and confusion nor shall I strive, at the
distance of three centuries, and a thousand miles, to
delineate a scene of which there could be no spectators, and
of which the actors themselves were incapable of forming any
just or adequate idea.
The immediate loss of Constantinople may be ascribed to the bullet, or arrow, which pierced the gauntlet of John Justiniani. The sight of his blood, and the exquisite pain, appalled the courage of the chief, whose arms and counsels were the firmest rampart of the city. As he withdrew from his station in quest of a surgeon, his flight was perceived and stopped by the indefatigable emperor. "Your wound," exclaimed Palaeologus, "is slight; the danger is pressing: your presence is necessary; and whither will you retire?" - "I will retire," said the trembling Genoese, "by the same road which God has opened to the Turks;" and at these words he hastily passed through one of the breaches of the inner wall. By this pusillanimous act he stained the honours of a military life; and the few days which he survived in Galata, or the Isle of Chios, were embittered by his own and the public reproach. (58) His example was imitated by the greatest part of the Latin auxiliaries, and the defence began to slacken when the attack was pressed with redoubled vigour. The number of the Ottomans was fifty, perhaps a hundred, times superior to that of the Christians; the double walls were reduced by the cannon to a heap of ruins: in a circuit of several miles, some places must be found more easy of access, or more feebly guarded; and if the besiegers could penetrate in a single point, the whole city was irrecoverably lost. The first who deserved the sultan's reward was Hassan the Janizary, of gigantic stature and strength. With his cimeter in one hand and his buckler in the other, he ascended the outward fortification: of the thirty Janizaries, who were emulous of his valour, eighteen perished in the bold adventure. Hassan and his twelve companions had reached the summit: the giant was precipitated from the rampart: he rose on one knee, and was again oppressed by a shower of darts and stones. But his success had proved that the achievement was possible: the walls and towers were instantly covered with a swarm of Turks; and the Greeks, now driven from the vantage ground, were overwhelmed by increasing multitudes. Amidst these multitudes, the emperor, (59) who accomplished all the duties of a general and a soldier, was long seen and finally lost. The nobles, who fought round his person, sustained, till their last breath, the honourable names of Palaeologus and Cantacuzene: his mournful exclamation was heard, "Cannot there be found a Christian to cut off my head?" (60) and his last fear was that of falling alive into the hands of the infidels. (61) Death of the emperor Constantine PalaeologusThe prudent despair of Constantine cast away the purple: amidst the tumult he fell by an unknown hand, and his body was buried under a mountain of the slain. After his death, resistance and order were no more: the Greeks fled towards the city; and many were pressed and stifled in the narrow pass of the gate of St. Romanus. The victorious Turks rushed through the breaches of the inner wall; and as they advanced into the streets, they were soon joined by their brethren, who had forced the gate Phenar on the side of the harbour. (62) In the first heat of the pursuit, about two thousand Christians were put to the sword; but avarice soon prevailed over cruelty; and the victors acknowledged, that they should immediately have given quarter if the valour of the emperor and his chosen bands had not prepared them for a similar opposition in every part of the capital. Loss of the city and empire. It was thus, after a siege of fifty-three days, that Constantinople, which had defied the power of Chosroes, the Chagan, and the caliphs, was irretrievably subdued by the arms of Mahomet the Second. Her empire only had been subverted by the Latins: her religion was trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors. (63)
The Turks enter and pillage Constantinople.
The tidings of misfortune fly with a rapid wing; yet such
was the extent of Constantinople, that the more distant
quarters might prolong, some moments, the happy ignorance of
their ruin. (64) But in the general consternation, in the
feelings of selfish or social anxiety, in the tumult and
thunder of the assault, a sleepless night and morning
must have elapsed; nor can I believe that many Grecian
ladies were awakened by the Janizaries from a sound and
tranquil slumber. On the assurance of the public calamity,
the houses and convents were instantly deserted; and the
trembling inhabitants flocked together in the streets, like
a herd of timid animals, as if accumulated weakness could be
productive of strength, or in the vain hope, that amid the
crowd each individual might be safe and invisible. From
every part of the capital, they flowed into the church of
St. Sophia: in the space of an hour, the sanctuary, the
choir, the nave, the upper and lower galleries, were filled
with the multitudes of fathers and husbands, of women and
children, of priests, monks, and religious virgins: the
doors were barred on the inside, and they sought protection
from the sacred dome, which they had so lately abhorred as a
profane and polluted edifice. Their confidence was founded
on the prophecy of an enthusiast or impostor; that one day
the Turks would enter Constantinople, and pursue the Romans
as far as the column of Constantine in the square before St.
Sophia: but that this would be the term of their calamities:
that an angel would descend from heaven, with a sword in his
hand, and would deliver the empire, with that celestial
weapon, to a poor man seated at the foot of the column.
"Take this sword," would he say, "and avenge the people of
the Lord." At these animating words, the Turks would
instantly fly, and the victorious Romans would drive them
from the West, and from all Anatolia as far as the frontiers
of Persia. It is on this occasion that Ducas, with some
fancy and much truth, upbraids the discord and obstinacy of
the Greeks. "Had that angel appeared," exclaims the
historian, "had he offered to exterminate your foes if you
would consent to the union of the church, even event then,
in that fatal moment, you would have rejected your safety,
or have deceived your God." (65)
Captivity of the Greeks.
While they expected the descent of the tardy angel, the
doors were broken with axes; and as the Turks encountered no
resistance, their bloodless hands were employed in selecting
and securing the multitude of their prisoners. Youth,
beauty, and the appearance of wealth, attracted their
choice; and the right of property was decided among
themselves by a prior seizure, by personal strength, and by
the authority of command. In the space of an hour the male
captives were bound with cords, the females with their veils
and girdles. The senators were linked with their slaves; the
prelates with the porters of the church; and young men of a
plebeian class with noble maids whose faces had been
invisible to the sun and their nearest kindred. In this
common captivity the ranks of society were confounded; the ties of
nature were cut asunder; and the inexorable soldier was
careless of the father's groans, the tears of the mother,
and the lamentations of the children. The loudest in their
wailings were the nuns, who were torn from the altar with
naked bosoms, outstretched hands, and dishevelled hair; and
we should piously believe that few could be tempted to
prefer the vigils of the harem to those of the monastery. Of
these unfortunate Greeks, of these domestic animals, whole
strings were rudely driven through the streets; and as the
conquerors were eager to return for more prey, their
trembling pace was quickened with menaces and blows. At the
same hour a similar rapine was exercised in all the churches
and monasteries, in all the palaces and habitations, of the
capital; nor could any place, however sacred or sequestered,
protect the persons or the property of the Greeks. Above
sixty thousand of this devoted people were transported from
the city to the camp and fleet, exchanged or sold according
to the caprice or interest of their masters, and dispersed
in remote servitude through the provinces of the Ottoman
empire. Among these we may notice some remarkable
characters. The historian Phranza, first chamberlain and
principal secretary, was involved with his family in the
common lot. After suffering four months the hardships of
slavery, he recovered his freedom: in the ensuing winter he
ventured to Adrianople, and ransomed his wife from the mir
bashi, or master of the horse; but his two children, in the
flower of youth and beauty, had been seized for the use of
Mohammed himself. The daughter of Phranza died in the seraglio, perhaps a
virgin: his son, in the fifteenth year of his age, preferred
death to infamy, and was stabbed by the hand of the royal
lover. (66) A deed thus inhuman cannot surely be expiated by
the taste and liberality with which he released a Grecian
matron and her two daughters, on receiving a Latin ode from
Philelphus, who had chosen a wife in that noble family.(67)
The pride or cruelty of Mohammed would have been most sensibly gratified by the capture of a Roman legate; but the dexterity of Cardinal Isidore eluded the search, and he escaped from Galata in a plebeian habit.(69) The chain and entrance of the outward harbour was still occupied by the Italian ships of merchandise and war. They had signalised their valour in the siege: they embraced the moment of retreat, while the Turkish mariners were dissipated in the pillage of the city. When they hoisted sail, the beach was covered with a suppliant and lamentable crowd; but the means of transportation were scanty, the Venetians and Genoese selected their countrymen; and, notwithstanding the fairest promises of the sultan, the inhabitants of Galata evacuated their houses, and embarked with their most precious effects.
Amount of the spoil.
In the fall and the sack of great cities an historian is
condemned to repeat the tale of uniform calamity: the same
effects must be produced by the same passions; and when
those passions may be indulged with out control, small,
alas! is the difference between civilised and savage man.
Amidst the vague exclamations of bigotry and hatred, the
Turks are not accused of a wanton or immoderate effusion of
Christian blood: but according to their maxims (the maxims
of antiquity), the lives of the vanquished were forfeited;
and the legitimate reward of the conqueror was derived from
the service, the sale, or the ransom of his captives of both
sexes. (69) The wealth of Constantinople had been granted by
the sultan to his victorious troops; and the rapine of an
hour is more productive than the industry of years. But as
no regular division was attempted of the spoil, the
respective shares were not determined by merit; and the
rewards of valour were stolen away by the followers of the
camp, who had declined the toil and danger of the battle.
The narrative of their depredations could not afford either
amusement or instruction: the total amount, in the last
poverty of the empire, has been valued at four millions of
ducats; (70) and of this sum a small part was the property of
the Venetians, the Genoese, the Florentines, and the
merchants of Ancona. Of these foreigners the stock was
improved ,in quick and perpetual circulation: but the riches
of the Greeks were displayed in the idle ostentation of
palaces and wardrobes, or deeply buried in treasures of
ingots and old coin, lest it should be demanded at their
hands for the defence of their country. The profanation and
plunder of the monasteries and churches excited the most
tragic complaints. The dome of St. Sophia itself, the
earthly heaven, the second firmament, the vehicle of the
cherubim, the throne of the glory of God, (71) was despoiled
of the oblations of ages; and the gold and silver, the
pearls and jewels, the vases and sacerdotal ornaments, were
most wickedly converted to the service of mankind. After the
divine images had been stripped of all that could be
valuable to a profane eye, the canvas, or the wood, was
torn, or broken, or burnt, or trod under foot or applied, in the stables or the kitchen, to the vilest
uses. The example of sacrilege was imitated, however, from
the Latin conquerors of Constantinople; and the treatment
which Christ, the Virgin, and the saints had sustained from
the guilty Catholic, might be inflicted by the zealous
Musulman on the monuments of idolatry. Perhaps, instead of
joining the public clamour, a philosopher will observe that
in the decline of the arts the workmanship could not be more
valuable than the work, and that a fresh supply of visions
and miracles would speedily be renewed by the craft of the
priest and the credulity of the people. He will more
seriously deplore the loss of the Byzantine libraries, which
were destroyed or scattered in the general confusion: one
hundred and twenty thousand manuscripts are said to have
disappeared; (72) ten volumes might be purchased for a single
ducat; and the same ignominious price, too high perhaps for
a shelf of theology, included the whole works of Aristotle
and Homer, the noblest productions of the science and
literature of ancient Greece. We may reflect with pleasure
that an inestimable portion of our classic treasures was
safely deposited in Italy; and that the mechanics of a
German town had invented an art which derides the havoc of
time and barbarism.
Mahomet II. visits the city, St. Sophia, the palace etc.
From the first hour (73) of the memorable twenty-ninth of
May, disorder and rapine prevailed in Constantinople till
the eighth hour of the same day, when the sultan himself
passed in triumph through the gate of St. Romanus. He was
attended by his vizirs, bashaws, and guards, each of whom
(says a Byzantine historian) was robust as Hercules,
dexterous as Apollo, and equal in battle to any ten of the
race of ordinary mortals. The conqueror (74) gazed with
satisfaction and wonder on the strange though splendid
appearance of the domes and palaces, so dissimilar from the
style of Oriental architecture. In the hippodrome, or
atmeidan, his eye was attracted by the twisted column of
the three serpents; and, as a trial of his strength, he
shattered with his iron mace or battle-axe the under jaw of
one of these monsters, (75) which in the eyes of the Turks
were the idols or talismans of the city. At the principal
door of St. Sophia he alighted from his horse and entered
the dome; and such was his jealous regard for that monument
of his glory, that, on observing a zealous Musulman in the
act of breaking the marble pavement, he admonished him with
his scimitar that, if the spoil and captives were granted to
the soldiers, the public and private buildings had been
reserved for the prince. By his command the metropolis of
the Eastern church was transformed into a mosque: the rich
and portable instruments of superstition had been removed; the
crosses were thrown down; and the walls, which were covered
with images and mosaics, were washed and purified, and
restored to a state of naked simplicity. On the same day, or
on the ensuing Friday, the muezin, or crier, ascended the
most lofty turret, and proclaimed the esan, or public
invitation, in the name of God and his prophet; the imam
preached and Mohammed the Second performed the namaz of
prayer and thanks giving on the great altar, where the
Christian mysteries had so lately been celebrated before the
last of the Caesars. (76) From St. Sophia he proceeded to the
august but desolate mansion of a hundred successors of the
great Constantine, but which in a few hours had been
stripped of the pomp of royalty. A melancholy reflection on
the vicissitudes of human greatness forced itself on his
mind, and he repeated an elegant distich of Persian poetry:
" The spider has wove his web in the Imperial palace, and
the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of Afrasiab."
(77)
His behaviour to the Greeks.
Yet his mind was not satisfied, nor did the victory seem
complete, till he was informed of the fate of Constantine -
whether he had escaped or been made prisoner, or had fallen
in the battle. Two Janizaries claimed the honour and reward
of his death: the body, under a heap of slain, was
discovered by the golden eagles embroidered on his shoes;
the Greeks acknowledged with tears the head of their late
emperor and, after exposing the bloody trophy, (78) Mohammed
bestowed on his rival the honours of a decent funeral. After
his decease Lucas Notaras, great duke (79) and first minister
of the empire, was the most important prisoner. When he
offered his person and his treasures at the foot of the
throne, " And why," said the indignant sultan, " did you not
employ these treasures in the defence of your prince and
country? "-" They were yours," answered the slave; " God had
reserved them for your hands."-" If he reserved them for
me," replied the despot, " how have you presumed to withhold
them so long by a fruitless and fatal resistance? " The
great duke alleged the obstinacy of the strangers, and some
secret encouragement from the Turkish vizir; and from this perilous interview he was at length dismissed with the assurance of pardon and protection. Mohammed
condescended to visit his wife, a venerable princess
oppressed with sickness and grief; and his consolation for
her misfortunes was in the most tender strain of humanity
and filial reverence. A similar clemency was extended to the
principal officers of state, of whom several were ransomed
at his expense; and during some days he declared himself the
friend and father of the vanquished people. But the scene
was soon changed, and before his departure the hippodrome
streamed with the blood of his noblest captives. His
perfidious cruelty is execrated by the Christians: they
adorn with the colours of heroic martyrdom the execution of
the great duke and his two sons, and his death is ascribed
to the generous refusal of delivering his children to the
tyrant's lust. Yet a Byzantine historian has dropped an
unguarded word of conspiracy, deliverance, and Italian
succour: such treason may be glorious; but the rebel who
bravely ventures, has justly forfeited his life; nor should
we blame a conqueror for destroying the enemies whom he can
no longer trust. On the eighteenth of June the victorious
sultan returned to Adrianople, and smiled at the base and
hollow embassies of the Christian princes, who viewed their
approaching ruin in the fall of the Eastern empire.
He repeoples and adorns Constantinople.
Constantinople had been left naked and desolate, without a
prince or a people. But she could not be despoiled of the
incomparable situation which marks her for the metropolis of
a great empire; and the genius of the place will ever
triumph over the accidents of time and fortune. Boursa and
Adrianople, the ancient seats of the Ottomans, sunk into
provincial towns; and Mohammed the Second established his
own residence and that of his successors on the same
commanding spot which had been chosen by Constantine. (80)
The fortifications of Galata, which might afford a shelter
to the Latins, were prudently destroyed; but the damage of
the Turkish cannon was soon repaired, and before the month
of August great quantities of lime had been burnt for the
restoration of the walls of the capital. As the entire
property of the soil and buildings, whether public or
private, or profane or sacred, was now transferred to the
conqueror, he first separated a space of eight furlongs from
the point of the triangle for the establishment of his
seraglio or palace. It is here, in the bosom of luxury, that
the Grand Signor (as he has been emphatically named by the
Italians) appears to reign over Europe and Asia; but his
person on the shores of the Bosphorus may not always be
secure from the insults of a hostile navy. In the new
character of a mosque, the cathedral of St. Sophia was
endowed with an ample revenue, crowned with lofty minarets,
and surrounded with groves and fountains for the devotion and refreshment of the
Moslems The same model was imitated in the jami, or royal
mosques; and the first of these was built by Mohammed
himself, on the ruins of the church of the holy apostles and
the tombs of the Greek emperors. On the third day after the
conquest the grave of Abou Ayub, or Job, who had fallen in
the first siege of the Arabs, was revealed in a vision; and
it is before the sepulchre of the martyr that the new
sultans are girded with the sword of empire. (81)
Constantinople no longer appertains to the Roman historian;
nor shall I enumerate the civil and religious edifices that
were profaned or erected by its Turkish masters: the
population was speedily renewed, and before the end of
September five thousand families of Anatolia and Romania had
obeyed the royal mandate, which enjoined them, under pain of
death, to occupy their new habitations in the capital. The
throne of Mohammed was guarded by the numbers and fidelity
of his Moslem subjects; but his rational policy aspired to
collect the remnant of the Greeks, and they returned in
crowds as soon as they were assured of their lives, their
liberties, and the free exercise of their religion. In the
election and investiture of a patriarch the ceremonial of
the Byzantine court was revived and imitated. With a mixture
of satisfaction and horror, they beheld the sultan on his
throne, who delivered into the hands of Gennadius the
crosier or pastoral staff, the symbol of his ecclesiastical
office; who conducted the patriarch to the gate of the
seraglio, presented him with a horse richly caparisoned, and
directed the vizirs and bashaws to lead him to the palace
which had been allotted for his residence. (82) The churches
of Constantinople were shared between the two religions:
their limits were marked; and, till it was infringed by
Selim, the grandson of Mohammed, the Greeks (83) enjoyed
above sixty years the benefit of this equal partition.
Encouraged by the ministers of the divan, who wished to
elude the fanaticism of the sultan, the Christian advocates
presumed to allege that this division had been an act, not
of generosity, but of justice; not a concession, but a
compact; and that, if one-half of the city had been taken by
storm, the other moiety had surrendered on the faith of a
sacred capitulation. The original grant had indeed been consumed by fire; but the loss was supplied by the testimony of three aged Janizaries who remembered the transaction, and their venal oaths are of more weight in the opinion of Cantemir than the positive and unanimous consent of the history of the times. (84)
Extinction of the imperial families of Comnenus and Palaeologus.
The remaining fragments of the Greek kingdom in Europe and
Asia I shall abandon to the Turkish arms; but the final
extinction of the two last dynasties (85) which have reigned
in Constantinople should terminate the decline and fall of
the Roman empire in the East. The despots of the Morea,
Demetrius and Thomas, (86) the two surviving brothers of the
name of PALAEOLOGUS, were astonished by the death of the
emperor Constantine and the ruin of the monarchy. Hopeless
of defence, they prepared, with the noble Greeks who adhered
to their fortune, to seek a refuge in Italy, beyond the
reach of the Ottoman thunder. Their first apprehensions were
dispelled by the victorious sultan, who contented himself
with a tribute of twelve thousand ducats; and while his
ambition explored the continent and the islands in search of
prey, he indulged the Morea in a respite of seven years. But
this respite was a period of grief, discord, and misery. The
hexamilion, the rampart of the Isthmus, so often raised
and so often subverted, could not long be defended by three
hundred Italian archers: the keys of Corinth were seized by
the Turks; they returned from their summer excursions with a
train of captives and spoil, and the complaints of the
injured Greeks were heard with indifference and disdain. The
Albanians, a vagrant tribe of shepherds and robbers, filled
the peninsula with rapine and murder: the two despots
implored the dangerous and humiliating aid of a neighbouring
bashaw; and when he had quelled the revolt, his lessons
inculcated the rule of their future conduct. Neither the
ties of blood, nor the oaths which they repeatedly pledged
in the communion and before the altar, nor the stronger
pressure of necessity, could reconcile or suspend their
domestic quarrels. They ravaged each other's patrimony with
fire and sword; the alms and succours of the West were
consumed in civil hostility, and their power was only exerted in savage and arbitrary executions. The distress and revenge of the weaker rival invoked their supreme lord; Loss of the Morea, A.D. 1460;.and,
in the season of maturity and revenge, Mohammed declared
himself the friend of Demetrius, and marched into the Morea
with an irresistible force. When he had taken possession of
Sparta, " You are too weak," said the sultan, " to control
this turbulent province; I will take your daughter to my
bed, and you shall pass the remainder of your life in
security and honour." Demetrius sighed and obeyed;
surrendered his daughter and his castles, followed to
Adrianople his sovereign and son, and received for his own
maintenance and that of his followers a city in Thrace, and
the adjacent isles of Imbros, Lemnos, and Samothrace. He was
joined the next year by a companion of misfortune, the last
of the COMNENIAN race, who, after the taking of
Constantinople by the Latins, had founded a new empire on
the coast of the Black Sea. (87) In the progress of his
Anatolian conquests, Mohammed invested with a fleet and arm
the capital of David, who presumed to style himself emperor
of Trebizond; (88) and the negotiation was comprised in a
short and peremptory question. " Will you secure your life
and treasures by resigning your kingdom? or had you rather
forfeit your kingdom, your treasures, and your life?" of Trebizond, A.D. 1461.The feeble Comnenus was subdued by his own fears, and the
example of a Musulman neighbour, the prince of Sinope, (89)
who, on a similar summons, had yielded a fortified city with
four hundred cannon and ten or twelve thousand soldiers. The
capitulation of Trebizond was faithfully performed, and the
emperor, with his family, was transported to a castle in
Romania; but on a slight suspicion of corresponding with the
Persian king, David, and the whole Comnenian race, were
sacrificed to the jealousy or avarice of the conqueror. Nor
could the name of father long protect the unfortunate
Demetrius from exile and confiscation: his abject submission
moved the pity and contempt of the sultan; his followers
were transplanted to Constantinople, and his poverty was
alleviated by a pension of fifty thousand aspers, till a
monastic habit and a tardy death released Palaeologus from an
earthly master. It is not easy to pronounce whether the
servitude of Demetrius, or the exile of his brother Thomas,(90) be the most inglorious. On the conquest of the Morea the despot escaped
to Corfu, and from thence to Italy, with some naked
adherents: his name, his sufferings, and the head of the
apostle St. Andrew, entitled him to the hospitality of the
Vatican; and his misery was prolonged by a pension of six
thousand ducats from the pope and cardinals. His two sons,
Andrew and Manuel, were educated in Italy; but the eldest,
contemptible to his enemies and burdensome to his friends,
was degraded by the baseness of his life and marriage. A
title was his sole inheritance; and that inheritance he
successively sold to the kings of France and Arragon. (91)
During his transient prosperity, Charles the Eighth was
ambitious of joining the empire of the East with the kingdom
of Naples: in a public festival he assumed the appellation
and the purple of Augustus; the Greeks rejoiced, and the
Ottoman already trembled, at the approach of the French
chivalry. (92) Manuel Palaelogus, the second son, was tempted
to revisit his native country: his return might be grateful,
and could not be dangerous, to the Porte; he was maintained
at Constantinople in safety and ease, and an honourable
train of Christians and Moslems attended him to the grave.
If there be some animals of so generous a nature that they
refuse to propagate in a domestic state, the last of the
Imperial race must be ascribed to an inferior kind; he
accepted from the sultan's liberality two beautiful females,
and his surviving son was lost in the habit and religion of
a Turkish slave.
Grief and terror of Europe, A.D. 1453.
The importance of Constantinople was felt and magnified in
its loss: the pontificate of Nicholas the Fifth, however
peaceful and prosperous, was dishonoured by the fall of the
Eastern empire; and the grief and terror of the Latins
revived, or seemed to revive, the old enthusiasm of the
crusades. In one of the most distant countries of the West,
Philip duke of Burgundy entertained, at Lisle in Flanders,
an assembly of his nobles; and the pompous pageants of the
feast were skilfully adapted to their fancy and feelings.(93)
In the midst of the banquet a gigantic Saracen entered the
hall, leading a fictitious elephant with a castle on his
back: a matron in a mourning robe, the symbol of religion, was seen to issue from the castle: she deplored her oppression and accused the slowness of her champions:
the principal herald of the golden fleece advanced, bearing
on his fist a live pheasant, which, according to the rites
of chivalry, he presented to the duke. At this extraordinary summons, Philip, a wise and aged prince, engaged his person and powers in the holy war against the Turks: his
example was imitated by the barons and knights of the
assembly: they swore to God the Virgin, the ladies, and the
pheasant; and their particular vows were not less
extravagant than the general sanction of their oath. But the
performance was made to depend on some future and foreign
contingency; and during twelve years, till the last hour of
his life, the duke of Burgundy might be scrupulously, and
perhaps sincerely, on the eve of his departure. Had every
breast glowed with the same ardour, had the union of the
Christians corresponded with their bravery; had every
country from Sweden (94) to Naples supplied a just proportion
of cavalry and infantry, of men and money, it is indeed
probable that Constantinople would have been delivered, and
that the Turks might have been chased beyond the Hellespont
or the Euphrates. But the secretary of the emperor, who
composed every epistle, and attended every meeting, Aeneas
Sylvius, (95) a statesman and orator, describes from his own
experience the repugnant state and spirit of Christendom. "
It is a body," says he, "without a head; a republic without
laws or magistrates. The pope and the emperor may shine as
lofty titles, as splendid images; but they are unable to
command, and none are willing to obey: every state has a
separate prince, and every prince has a separate interest.
What eloquence could unite so many discordant and hostile
powers under the same standard? Could they be assembled in
arms, who would dare to assume the office of general? What
order could be maintained? - what military discipline? Who
would undertake to feed such an enormous multitude? Who
would understand their various languages, or direct their
stranger and incompatible manners? What mortal could
reconcile the English with the French, Genoa with Arragon,
the Germans with the natives of Hungary and Bohemia? If a
small number enlisted in the holy war, they must be
overthrown by the infidels: if many, by their own weight and
confusion." Yet the same Aeneas, when he was raised to the
papal throne, under the name of Pius the Second, devoted his
life to the prosecution of the Turkish war. In the council
of Mantua he excited some sparks of a false or feeble
enthusiasm; but when the pontiff appeared at Ancona, to
embark in person with the troops, engagements vanished in
excuses; a precise day was adjourned to an indefinite term;
and his effective army consisted of some German pilgrims, whom he was obliged to disband with indulgences and alms. Regardless of futurity, his successors and the
powers of Italy were involved in the schemes of present and
domestic ambition; and the distance or proximity of each
object determined in their eyes its apparent magnitude. A
more enlarged view of their interest would have taught them
to maintain a defensive and naval war against the common
enemy; and the support of Scanderbeg and his brave Albanians
might have prevented the subsequent invasion of the kingdom
of Naples. Death of Mahomet II. A.D. 1481, May 3, or July 2. The siege and sack of Otranto by the Turks diffused a general consternation; and Pope Sixtus was preparing to fly beyond the Alps, when the storm was instantly dispelled by the death of Mohammed the Second, in the fifty-first year of his age. (96) His lofty genius aspired to the conquest of Italy: he was possessed of a strong city and a capacious harbour; and the same reign might have been decorated with the trophies of the NEW and the ANCIENT ROME.(97)
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