The death of Byzantium is brief. Death of the Byzantine Empire. Why Byzantium fell
Exactly 555 years ago, on May 29, 1453, the capital of the great Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks; The Eastern Roman Empire ceased to exist. In Islamic history, this event is called Fath ul-Istanbul - the Islamic discovery of Istanbul, and Sultan Muhammad II (Mehmet) - Muhammad the Liberator. The medieval Latin chronicler wrote correctly: "Constantinople is not only the eye of the Christian faith, but also the object of desires of the whole world." April 13 of this year marks 804 years since the Catholic crusaders "deviated" from the goal of their campaign (IV) - the liberation of the "Holy Sepulcher", and instead captured and plundered the city of Emperor Constantine, after which Byzantium could no longer recover and became easy prey for conquerors ...
In more than a thousand-year history of the Second Rome, these two events stand apart, their role in the genesis of civilization is enormous. With the transition of the Patriarch of Constantinople to the citizenship of the Ottomans, all the patriarchs of the Orthodox world lived in Muslim states: Constantinople, Jerusalem (Palestine), Antioch (Syria), Alexandria (Egypt). When the Grand Duke of Moscow decided to establish a department of the patriarchate in Moscow, he sent an embassy to the Ottoman sultan with a request to authorize its organization.
For the Orthodox world, Constantinople is more than a symbol. Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Romanians, Moldovans, Georgians, Ethiopians, Egyptian Copts and Armenians are still connected with the heritage and traditions of Byzantium by visible and invisible threads. The influence of the Second Rome on all spheres of life of Eastern Christianity remains enormous.
"The second death of Homer and Plato"
Fatal "deviation"
In Izantia she died long and painfully. After the death of Basileus Manuel Comnenus in 1180, the empire plunged into the abyss of rebellions, uprisings, and palace coups. Representatives of the dynasty of Angels became the gravediggers of the former greatness of the richest city in the world. The crusaders, sent to the IV Crusade by the greedy hand of the 90-year-old Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, with the tacit consent of Pope Innocent III, were drawn into palace intrigues on the Bosphorus, pledging to help one representative of the dynasty as opposed to another. Immediately after the first, unsuccessful assault on the Latins on July 17, 1203, the usurper of the throne, Alexei III, fled, taking the treasury. It seemed that the goal of the campaign had been achieved, and it was time to go to Palestine to fight the Saracens: returned to the throne, the blinded Isaac and his co-ruler son Alexei paid the crusaders a huge amount - about 100 thousand silver marks, almost half of the money stipulated in the agreement. But the Venetians are adamant and demand final retribution. They convince the French, Germans, Sicilians to stay under the walls of Constantinople.
The final denouement came after another coup and the coming to power of an ardent opponent of the Latins, Alexei IV Murzufla. But in the open field the "Franks" (as the Byzantines called their enemies) had no equal. The Greeks were defeated under the walls of the city in February. A bad omen was the loss in battle of the imperial shrine - the icon of the Mother of God, written, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke. On April 9, the assault collapsed, and the crusaders began to talk about the displeasure of God with their enterprise. And here the church hierarchs entered the business, who in the name of the Pope of Rome forgave sins to everyone who rushed to the stronghold of heretics - "schismatics". On April 12, the crusaders captured part of the city; Theodore Laskaris, elected by the nobility as the new emperor, was forced with his supporters to leave through the Bosphorus to Asia Minor, where he created the Nicene Empire - in the next 55 years a constant rival of the Latin Empire.
"Palace City" at the feet of the barbarians
As the Greek Nikita Choniates describes in his Chronicles the sack of Constantinople by the crusaders on April 13, 1204: absolutely not leaving those who had anything! .. These zealots, who raised the cross on their shoulders and repeatedly swore by it and the word of God to pass Christian countries without bloodshed ... arm their hands against the Saracens and stain their swords with the blood of the devastators of Jerusalem! " And the Latins do not hesitate to describe the sack of Constantinople - Marshal of Champagne Geoffroy Villardouin in his memoirs “testifies to you in conscience and in truth that for many centuries they have never found so much booty in one city. Everyone took a house for himself, whatever he wanted, and there were enough such houses for everyone ”(sources say about 30-50 thousand warriors-“ pilgrims ”).
One of the reasons for the irreconcilable rivalry between Rome and Constantinople was the spiritual, intellectual, economic abyss that separated them. Catholics also spoke about the wealth of Byzantium, for example, Chrétien de Troyes, who spoke with admiration in the novel "Klijes": "I dare not describe it, since there are no words for such miracles in our nature." One of the participants in the campaign, Robert de Clari, in the book "The Conquest of Constantinople", talking about the plundering of the Church of Pharos, notes: side, and two nails with which his arms and legs were pierced ... "," the pilgrims looked at the vastness of the city, and palaces, and rich abbeys, and rich monasteries, and great wonders that were in the city; they marveled at this for a long time and especially marveled at the monastery of St. Sophia and the wealth that was there. " The surprise of the barbarians is evident!
The Great Empire, the successor to the Roman Empire, was never able to recover from the terrible pogrom of 1204. The Latin Crusaders, with an ecstasy worthy of better use, destroyed the city of Emperor Constantine. Gelena Grineva, a researcher of the Western European Middle Ages, remarked very subtly: “The garden city, the palace city was destroyed ... The West was, as before, a stranger ... The Latin Empire languished for half a century, for the West, having dismembered the bird, but never found a mechanism, who makes her chirp and flutter, turned away with boredom and bewilderment. "
Revenge of the Byzantines and geopolitical tsuntswang
After almost half a century of exile in Nicaea and the restoration of the empire by Michael Palaeologus, Byzantium did not become the dominant power in the Christian East. In the Balkans in the XIII-XIV centuries. Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary fought for hegemony; in Greece, dozens of Frankish principalities arose (fragments of the Latin Empire), the Venetian and Genoese republics strengthened their influence in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was impossible to discount the Epirus despotism of the dynasty of Angels, Albanians, Bosnians, Vlachs and Great Comnenos - emperors of the Trebizond Empire on the southeast coast of the Black Sea. But the main danger for Constantinople came from the Ottoman Turks. After the battle on the Kosovo field in 1389, Serbia lost its independence, and soon it was the turn of Bulgaria. The Ottoman "noose" around the pitiful remnants of the possessions of Byzantium was tightened ever tighter. The city of Constantine, several cities in Thrace, Thessalonica, a dozen islands in the Aegean Sea and the Peloponnese Peninsula - that's all that remains of the great empire.
In 1396, Sultan Bayazid Lightning defeated the crusaders in the battle of Nikopol. But already in 1402 an event took place that postponed the capture of Constantinople by the Turks by as much as 50 years. At the beginning of the year, Bayazid tried to starve out the capital of Byzantium, but, worried about the invasion of Timur's troops into Asia Minor, rushed to meet Khromts. The defeat of the Ottoman Turks was complete, and Bayazid himself died in captivity. There was a pause. Sultan Murad II in 1422 found himself under the walls of Constantinople, but literally a few hours later, worried about the conspiracy, retreated.
Paleologians tried to save the state. Emperor Manuel II even managed to conquer a number of cities in Thrace from the Turks and strengthen the "Byzantine party" at the Sultan's court. But the West remained the main force that could really help. Emperor John VIII was convinced that only an alliance with Rome could save the empire, and "the only way to force his subjects to accept the union is to approve it at a council that, as far as possible, would approach the Ecumenical in its representation." (Stephen Runciman. The Fall of Constantinople in 1453).
Union with Rome - the last chance?
Having spent many years in his youth in the West, John VIII Palaeologus was familiar with the mood of the pope and sovereigns. In 1437 he left for Italy. In Ferrara, the emperor, patriarch Joseph, representatives of the eastern patriarchs, bishops and scholars began negotiations with the papal curia on union. The plague forced everyone to move to Florence. Among the main issues is the correct interpretation of the canons of the Ecumenical Councils and the works of the Church Fathers. Many Orthodox hierarchs ignored the Council, and therefore the emperor elevated three learned monks to the rank of metropolitan: Vissarion from Trebizond, Isidore from Kiev, and Mark Eugenicus. Each Byzantine spoke at the debates on his own (hierarchs, including the patriarch, are considered equally enlightened from above in understanding the dogmas of faith, and the interpretation of the works of theologians is the prerogative of the laity); because the Latins, acting as a single team, looked stronger.
The emperor, an educated man, tried in every possible way to smooth over the conflicts that arose; the question of the doctrine of the Divine energy hung in the air. Patriarch Joseph agreed with Rome on such a matter as the formula of the Latins about the Holy Spirit proceeding from both the Father and the Son (filiogue). The Latin doctrine was adopted about the posthumous cleansing of the souls of the dead through the prayers of the Church without remission of sins. The Roman high priest was recognized as the administrator of the Ecumenical Church, but the Eastern patriarchs retained their rights and privileges. All the Greeks refused to kiss the papal shoe, except for Isidore. The question arose - are the Orthodox churches of the countries of the Danube basin, Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia ready for union? Having retained only ceremonies and worship, the emperor and patriarch (the latter died in Italy; one scientist said that he, “as a decent person who had lost the remnants of his prestige, had nothing else to do”) signed a union, where they recognized the dogmas of Rome and the supremacy popes, making most of the priests and philosophers do the same. The philosopher Plithon and, even under the threat of being deprived of dignity, Mark of Ephesus, avoided signing the documents.
On May 29, 1453, the capital of the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Turks. Tuesday May 29 is one of the most important dates in the world. On this day, the Byzantine Empire, created back in 395 as a result of the final partition of the Roman Empire after the death of Emperor Theodosius I into the western and eastern parts, ceased to exist. With her death, a huge period of human history ended. In the life of many peoples of Europe, Asia and North Africa, a radical change occurred due to the establishment of Turkish rule and the creation of the Ottoman Empire.
It is clear that the fall of Constantinople is not a clear line between the two eras. The Turks established themselves in Europe a century before the fall of the great capital. Yes, and the Byzantine Empire by the time of the fall was already a fragment of its former greatness - the emperor's power extended only to Constantinople with the outskirts and part of the territory of Greece with islands. Byzantium of 13-15 centuries can be called an empire only conditionally. At the same time, Constantinople was a symbol of the ancient empire, it was considered the "Second Rome".
Prehistory of the fall
In the XIII century, one of the Turkic tribes - the Kayy - led by Ertogrul-bey, squeezed out of the nomads in the Turkmen steppes, migrated westward and settled in Asia Minor. The tribe assisted the Sultan of the largest of the Turkish states (founded by the Seljuk Turks) - the Rum (Kony) Sultanate - Alaeddin Kay-Kubad in his struggle against the Byzantine Empire. For this, the sultan gave Ertogrul to the fief of the land in the region of Bithynia. The son of the leader Ertogrul - Osman I (1281-1326), despite the constantly growing power, recognized his dependence on Konya. Only in 1299 he took the title of sultan and soon subdued the entire western part of Asia Minor, having won a series of victories over the Byzantines. By the name of Sultan Osman, his subjects began to be called Ottoman Turks, or Ottomans (Ottomans). In addition to the wars with the Byzantines, the Ottomans fought for the subjugation of other Muslim possessions - by 1487 the Ottoman Turks had asserted their power over all Muslim possessions of the Asia Minor Peninsula.
The Muslim clergy, including the local orders of dervishes, played an important role in strengthening the power of Osman and his successors. The clergy not only played a significant role in the creation of a new great power, but justified the policy of expansion as a "fight for the faith." In 1326, the Ottoman Turks captured the largest trading city of Bursa, an important transit point for caravan trade between the West and the East. Then Nicaea and Nicomedia fell. The lands seized from the Byzantines were distributed by the sultans to the nobility and distinguished soldiers as timars - conditional possessions received for serving (estates). Gradually, the Timar system became the basis of the socio-economic and military-administrative structure of the Ottoman state. Under Sultan Orhan I (reigned from 1326 to 1359) and his son Murad I (reigned from 1359 to 1389), important military reforms were carried out: the irregular cavalry was reorganized - horse and infantry troops called from the Turks-farmers were created. The soldiers of the cavalry and infantry troops in peacetime were farmers, receiving benefits, during the war they were obliged to join the army. In addition, the army was supplemented with a militia of peasants of the Christian faith and a corps of janissaries. The janissaries initially took captive Christian youths who were forced to convert to Islam, and from the first half of the 15th century - from the sons of Christian subjects of the Ottoman Sultan (in the form of a special tax). The Sipahs (a kind of noblemen of the Ottoman state who received income from the Timars) and the janissaries became the core of the army of the Ottoman sultans. In addition, divisions of gunners, gunsmiths, and other units were created in the army. As a result, a powerful state arose on the borders of Byzantium, which claimed dominance in the region.
It must be said that the Byzantine Empire and the Balkan states themselves accelerated their fall. During this period, there was a sharp struggle between Byzantium, Genoa, Venice and the Balkan states. Often the fighting sides sought to enlist the military support of the Ottomans. Naturally, this greatly facilitated the expansion of the Ottoman state. The Ottomans received information about the routes, possible crossings, fortifications, the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy's troops, the internal situation, etc. The Christians themselves helped to cross the straits to Europe.
The Ottoman Turks achieved great success during the reign of Sultan Murad II (ruled in 1421-1444 and 1446-1451). Under him, the Turks recovered from the heavy defeat inflicted by Tamerlane in the Battle of Angora in 1402. In many ways, it was this defeat that delayed the death of Constantinople by half a century. The Sultan suppressed all the uprisings of the Muslim rulers. In June 1422, Murad laid siege to Constantinople, but could not take it. Affected by the lack of a fleet and powerful artillery. In 1430, the large city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece was captured, it belonged to the Venetians. Murad II won a number of important victories in the Balkan Peninsula, significantly expanding the possessions of his state. So in October 1448 the battle took place on the Kosovo field. In this battle, the Ottoman army opposed the combined forces of Hungary and Wallachia under the command of the Hungarian general Janos Hunyadi. A fierce three-day battle ended with the complete victory of the Ottomans, and decided the fate of the Balkan peoples - for several centuries they were under the rule of the Turks. After this battle, the crusaders suffered a final defeat and no longer made any serious attempts to recapture the Balkan Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire. The fate of Constantinople was decided, the Turks were able to solve the problem of capturing the ancient city. Byzantium itself no longer posed a great threat to the Turks, but a coalition of Christian countries, relying on Constantinople, could do significant harm. The city was located practically in the middle of the Ottoman possessions, between Europe and Asia. The task of capturing Constantinople was solved by Sultan Mehmed II.
Byzantium. By the 15th century, the Byzantine state had lost most of its possessions. The entire XIV century was a period of political setbacks. For several decades it seemed that Serbia would be able to seize Constantinople. Various internal strife have been a constant source of civil wars. So the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus (who ruled from 1341 - 1391) was dethroned three times: by his father-in-law, his son and then his grandson. In 1347, an epidemic of "black death" swept, which claimed the lives of at least a third of the population of Byzantium. The Turks crossed over to Europe, and taking advantage of the troubles of Byzantium and the Balkan countries, by the end of the century they reached the Danube. As a result, Constantinople was surrounded on almost all sides. In 1357, the Turks took possession of Gallipoli, in 1361 - Adrianople, which became the center of Turkish possessions on the Balkan Peninsula. In 1368, Nissa (the suburban residence of the Byzantine emperors) submitted to Sultan Murad I, and the Ottomans were already under the walls of Constantinople.
In addition, there was the problem of the struggle of supporters and opponents of the union with the Catholic Church. For many Byzantine politicians, it was obvious that without the help of the West, the empire would not survive. Back in 1274, at the Lyons Cathedral, the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII promised the pope to seek reconciliation of the churches for political and economic reasons. True, his son Emperor Andronicus II convened a council of the Eastern Church, which rejected the decisions of the Lyon Council. Then John Palaeologus went to Rome, where he solemnly accepted the faith according to the Latin rite, but did not receive help from the West. The supporters of the union with Rome were mainly politicians, or belonged to the intellectual elite. The lower clergy were the open enemies of the union. John VIII Palaeologus (Byzantine emperor in 1425-1448) believed that Constantinople could be saved only with the help of the West, so he tried to conclude a union with the Roman church as soon as possible. In 1437, together with the patriarch and a delegation of Orthodox bishops, the Byzantine emperor went to Italy and spent more than two years there without a break, first in Ferrara, and then at the Ecumenical Council in Florence. At these meetings, both sides often reached an impasse and were ready to stop negotiations. But, John forbade his bishops to leave the cathedral until a compromise decision was made. In the end, the Orthodox delegation was forced to concede to the Catholics on almost all major issues. On July 6, 1439, the Florentine Union was adopted, and the Eastern churches were reunited with the Latin. True, the union turned out to be fragile; after a few years, many Orthodox hierarchs present at the Council began to openly deny their agreement with the union or say that the decisions of the Council were caused by bribery and threats from Catholics. As a result, the union was rejected by most of the Eastern churches. Most of the clergy and people did not accept this union. In 1444, the Pope was able to organize a crusade against the Turks (the main force was the Hungarians), but at Varna the crusaders suffered a crushing defeat.
The controversy over the union took place against the backdrop of the country's economic decline. Constantinople at the end of the 14th century was a sad city, a city of decline and destruction. The loss of Anatolia deprived the capital of the empire of almost all agricultural land. The population of Constantinople, which in the XII century numbered up to 1 million people (including the suburbs), fell to 100 thousand and continued to decline - by the time of the fall, there were about 50 thousand people in the city. The suburb on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus was captured by the Turks. The suburb of Pera (Galata) on the other side of the Golden Horn was a colony of Genoa. The city itself, surrounded by a 14-mile wall, has lost a number of neighborhoods. In fact, the city turned into several separate settlements, separated by vegetable gardens, orchards, abandoned parks, and ruins of buildings. Many had their own walls and fences. The most populous villages were located along the banks of the Golden Horn. The richest quarter, adjacent to the bay, belonged to the Venetians. Nearby were the streets where people from the West lived - Florentines, Anconians, Raguzians, Catalans and Jews. But, the marinas and bazaars were still full of traders from Italian cities, Slavic and Muslim lands. Pilgrims arrived in the city annually, mainly from Russia.
The last years before the fall of Constantinople, preparation for war
The last emperor of Byzantium was Constantine XI Palaeologus (who ruled 1449-1453). Before becoming emperor, he was the despot of Morea - the Greek province of Byzantium. Constantine had a sound mind, was a good warrior and administrator. He had the gift of arousing the love and respect of his subjects, he was greeted in the capital with great joy. For the short years of his reign, he was engaged in preparing Constantinople for the siege, seeking help and alliance in the West and trying to calm the turmoil caused by the union with the Roman Church. He appointed Luca Notaras as his first minister and commander-in-chief of the fleet.
Sultan Mehmed II received the throne in 1451. He was a purposeful, energetic, intelligent person. Although initially it was believed that this was not a young man shining with talents, such an impression was formed on the first attempt at reign in 1444-1446, when his father Murad II (he handed over the throne to his son in order to distance himself from state affairs) had to return to the throne to resolve the emerging problems. This calmed the European rulers, all their problems were enough. Already in the winter of 1451-1452. Sultan Mehmed ordered to start building a fortress in the narrowest part of the Bosphorus, thus cutting off Constantinople from the Black Sea. The Byzantines were confused - this was the first step towards a siege. An embassy was sent with a reminder of the oath of the Sultan, who promised to preserve the territorial integrity of Byzantium. The embassy was left unanswered. Constantine sent messengers with gifts and asked not to touch the Greek villages located on the Bosphorus. The Sultan also ignored this mission. In June, a third embassy was sent - this time the Greeks were arrested and then beheaded. In fact, it was a declaration of war.
By the end of August 1452, the Bogaz-Kesen fortress (“cutting the strait”, or “cutting the throat”) was built. They installed powerful guns in the fortress and announced a ban on passing the Bosphorus without inspection. Two Venetian ships were driven away and the third was sunk. The crew was beheaded, and the captain was impaled - this dispelled all illusions about Mehmed's intentions. The actions of the Ottomans caused concern not only in Constantinople. The Venetians in the Byzantine capital owned a whole block, they had significant privileges and benefits from trade. It was clear that after the fall of Constantinople, the Turks would not stop, the possessions of Venice in Greece and the Aegean Sea were under attack. The problem was that the Venetians were bogged down in an expensive war in Lombardy. An alliance with Genoa was impossible, relations with Rome were strained. Yes, and I did not want to spoil relations with the Turks - the Venetians carried on profitable trade in the Ottoman ports. Venice allowed Constantine to recruit soldiers and sailors in Crete. In general, Venice remained neutral during this war.
Genoa found itself in about the same situation. Concern was caused by the fate of Pera and the Black Sea colonies. The Genoese, like the Venetians, were flexible. The government appealed to the Christian world to send aid to Constantinople, but they themselves did not provide such support. Private citizens were given the right to act at their own discretion. The administrations of Pera and the island of Chios have been instructed to adhere to such policies towards the Turks as they deem most appropriate in the circumstances.
Raguzan - the inhabitants of the city of Raguz (Dubrovnik), as well as the Venetians, have recently received confirmation of their privileges in Constantinople from the Byzantine emperor. But the Dubrovnik Republic did not want to jeopardize its trade in the Ottoman ports. In addition, the city-state had a small fleet and they did not want to risk it if there was no broad coalition of Christian states.
Pope Nicholas V (head of the Catholic Church from 1447 to 1455), having received a letter from Constantine agreeing to accept the union, in vain turned to various sovereigns for help. There was no proper response to these calls. In October 1452 alone, the papal legate to the emperor Isidore brought with him 200 archers hired in Naples. The problem of union with Rome again caused controversy and unrest in Constantinople. December 12, 1452 in the church of St. Sophia served a solemn liturgy in the presence of the emperor and the entire court. It mentioned the names of the Pope, the Patriarch and officially proclaimed the provisions of the Union of Florence. Most of the townspeople received this news with sullen passivity. Many hoped that if the city survived, the union could be rejected. But having paid this price for help, the Byzantine elite miscalculated - the ships with the soldiers of the Western states did not come to the aid of the dying empire.
At the end of January 1453, the issue of the war was finally resolved. Turkish troops in Europe were ordered to attack Byzantine cities in Thrace. The cities on the Black Sea surrendered without a fight and escaped the pogrom. Some cities on the coast of the Sea of Marmara tried to defend themselves and were destroyed. Part of the army invaded the Peloponnese and attacked the brothers of the emperor Constantine, so that they could not come to the aid of the capital. The Sultan took into account the fact that a number of previous attempts to take Constantinople (by his predecessors) failed due to the lack of a fleet. The Byzantines had the opportunity to bring up reinforcements and supplies by sea. In March, all ships at the disposal of the Turks are brought together in Gallipoli. Some of the ships were new, built over the past few months. In the Turkish fleet there were 6 triremes (two-masted sailing-rowing ships, one oar held by three oarsmen), 10 biremes (a single-masted ship, where there were two oarsmen on one oar), 15 galleys, about 75 fust (light, high-speed ships), 20 parandarium (heavy transport barges) and a lot of small sailing boats, lifeboats. Suleiman Baltoglu was at the head of the Turkish fleet. The rowers and sailors were prisoners, criminals, slaves and partly volunteers. At the end of March, the Turkish fleet passed through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara, causing horror among the Greeks and Italians. This was another blow to the Byzantine elite, they did not expect that the Turks would prepare such a significant naval force and be able to blockade the city from the sea.
At the same time, an army was being trained in Thrace. Throughout the winter, gunsmiths tirelessly did various kinds, engineers created battering and stone-throwing machines. A powerful shock fist was assembled from about 100 thousand people. Of these, 80 thousand were regular troops - cavalry and infantry, janissaries (12 thousand). There were about 20-25 thousand irregular troops - militias, bashibuzuki (irregular cavalry, "reckless" did not receive salaries and "rewarded" themselves with looting), rear units. The sultan also paid great attention to artillery - the Hungarian master Urban cast several powerful cannons capable of sinking ships (with the help of one of them they sank a Venetian ship) and destroying powerful fortifications. The largest of them was dragged by 60 bulls, and a team of several hundred people was assigned to it. The cannon fired cannonballs weighing approximately 1,200 pounds (about 500 kg). During March, the sultan's huge army began to gradually move towards the Bosphorus. On April 5, Mehmed II himself arrived under the walls of Constantinople. The morale of the army was high, everyone believed in success and hoped for rich booty.
The people in Constantinople were suppressed. The huge Turkish fleet in the Sea of Marmara and strong enemy artillery only added to the worry. People remembered the predictions about the fall of the empire and the coming of the Antichrist. But it cannot be said that the threat deprived all people of the will to resist. Throughout the winter, men and women, encouraged by the emperor, labored clearing ditches and fortifying walls. A contingency fund was created, with investments from the emperor, churches, monasteries and individuals. It should be noted that the problem was not the availability of money, but the lack of the required number of people, weapons (especially firearms), the problem of food. All weapons were collected in one place, in order to distribute them to the most threatened areas, if necessary.
There was no hope for outside help. Only a few private individuals supported Byzantium. Thus, the Venetian colony in Constantinople offered its assistance to the emperor. Two captains of Venetian ships returning from the Black Sea - Gabriele Trevisano and Alvizo Diedo, took an oath to participate in the fight. In total, the fleet defending Constantinople consisted of 26 ships: 10 of them belonged to the Byzantines proper, 5 to the Venetians, 5 to the Genoese, 3 to the Cretans, 1 arrived from Catalonia, 1 from Ancona and 1 from Provence. Several noble Genoese arrived to fight for the Christian faith. For example, a volunteer from Genoa, Giovanni Giustiniani Longo, brought 700 soldiers with him. Giustiniani was known as an experienced military man, therefore he was appointed commander of the defense of the land walls by the emperor. In general, the Byzantine emperor, not including allies, had about 5-7 thousand soldiers. It should be noted that part of the city's population left Constantinople before the start of the siege. Part of the Genoese - the colony of Pera and the Venetians remained neutral. On the night of February 26, seven ships - 1 from Venice and 6 from Crete left the Golden Horn, taking 700 Italians away.
To be continued…
“The death of an empire. Byzantine lesson "- a publicistic film of the governor of the Moscow Sretensky monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov). The premiere took place on the state channel "Russia" on January 30, 2008. The host - Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) - gives his version of the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in the first person.
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With the onset of night, the crusaders stopped their attacks and moved the camp within the city fortifications and settled down for the night. A terrible night fell on the ancient capital of Byzantium, all as if woven from fear and anxiety. Murzufl, abandoned by all, found nothing better than to flee the city.
The fall of the empire could no longer be stopped. In a hurry, they choose a new emperor - Theodore Laskaris. But neither the nobility nor the people respond to his calls. Desperate, he also leaves the doomed city.
The fire that began during the attack, which no one was involved in extinguishing, by nightfall turned into a raging element that destroyed several blocks (interestingly, from this fire, about the same number of houses perished in Constantinople alone as there could have been in three large cities of France and Germany).
In the morning, the crusaders in battle formation marched through the streets of Constantinople. But instead of battles and deaths, they were met by a delegation of residents, led by the clergy, who prayed only for mercy. Constantinople fell. All the losses from military operations were not so many - up to 2000 people. In addition, after the surrender of the city, the crusaders were ordered not to commit violence to the local population, so a lot of blood was initially avoided.
But if the crusaders spared the lives of their enemies, then nothing could keep their thirst for prey. They furiously and indiscriminately searched for treasures in rich and poor dwellings, not retreating either before the shrine of churches, or before the peaceful repose under the roof of the coffin, or before the innocence of young creatures.
The altarpiece of the Mother of God, which served as an adornment of the church of St. Sophia and aroused surprise as a work of art, was crushed into small pieces, and the altar curtain was turned into rags. The winners played dice on marble boards depicting the apostles and drank to the point of drunkenness from vessels intended for use in the divine service.
Suburban areas, in the vicinity of the Bosphorus, presented no less deplorable sight than the capital: villages and dachas were all devastated, patricians of royal origin, senators wandered in rags around the imperial city. Meanwhile, the plundering of the church of St. Sofia, the patriarch fled from the city, begging for alms from passing. All the rich people turned into beggars, and the scum of the people, rejoicing in social disaster, called these unfortunate days days of equality and just retribution.
Between different scenes in the devastated capital, the Crusaders loved dressing up in Greek costumes. In mockery of the effeminacy of the vanquished, they draped themselves in their wide flowing robes, painted in different colors.
They made their comrades laugh, putting on the heads of the horses linen hats with silk laces, in which the inhabitants of the East dressed, some of them walked the streets, carrying paper and ink instead of weapons in their hands in a mockery of the Greeks, whom they called the nation of scribes and scribes.
Constantinople, which has survived to this day among the ruins of many states, inherited from them the remnants of the arts and possessed many more great works spared by time and barbarism. When it was conquered by the crusaders, they began to make a rough coin from bronze objects on which the antique genius was imprinted. The heroes and gods of the Nile, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome fell under the blows of the victors.
Venice, in which marble palaces have appeared since that time, was enriched with some rich remnants of Byzantium, but the Flemings and Champagne neglected this kind of war booty - other monuments, other treasures, more precious to the Greeks of that era, were kept within the walls of Constantinople: relics and images of saints. Most of the warriors were content with more "mundane" things - they seized gold, precious stones, carpets and luxurious oriental fabrics.
Many of them acted contrary to the prohibitions of the command and were not afraid to resort to threats and violence in order to take possession of some particles of relics, this object of their reverent reverence.
Most of the Byzantine churches were thus deprived of their adornments and riches that constituted their splendor and glory. Greek priests and monks with tears parted with the remains of the martyrs and apostles and the instruments of the Savior's suffering, the protection of which was entrusted to them by religion. These sacred remains were now to decorate churches in France and Italy, and they were accepted by the believers of the West as the most glorious trophy of the Crusade.
Constantinople was taken on April 12. Marshal of Champagne, describing the scenes and troubles that followed the victory, naively says: "This is how Palm Sunday was celebrated."
All the spoils collected in Constantinople were decided to be deposited in three churches. On pain of death and excommunication, it was forbidden to appropriate any of these items. Despite this double threat, there were certainly disobedient crusaders among the crusaders.
Villegaruen, referring to the severity of the trial of the guilty, says: "Many were executed by hanging and Monsieur de Saint-Paul ordered to hang one of his own with a shield around his neck."
Three parts of the booty were divided between the French and the Venetians, and the fourth part was put aside. From the part of the booty, which fell to the French, they took values of 50,000 marks in payment of their debt to the Republic of Venice.
Although Villegarduen exclaims that "such a rich booty was not seen from the creation of the world," the total distribution turned out to be no more than 20 silver marks for each knight, 10 for a mounted warrior and 5 marks for an infantryman. All the wealth of Byzantium amounted to an amount not exceeding 1,100,000 marks.
Source - Compilation based on Joseph Michaud's History of the Crusades and other freely available materials
Posted by Melphys K.
Lecture 8. The main features and stages of development of the Eastern Christian
Civilization. West and East during the heyday of the Middle Ages.
Basic concepts:
Order; parliament; Renaissance; reconquista; hussites; taborites; scholasticism; alchy; humanism.
Lecture text.
Eastern Roman Empire.
From the IV century. the center of the economic and cultural life of the Roman state moved to the East. The best architects, jewelers and artists lived in Constantinople. In special workshops, handwritten books were made, decorated with magnificent miniatures. Throughout the early Middle Ages, the empire remained an entirely maritime power.
The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire included territories with ancient agricultural traditions. Free and semi-free peasants continued to play a significant role in agricultural production, in contrast to the West, where slave labor was widespread. Relying on the economic power of the state, the eastern emperors managed to repel the attacks of the barbarians.
The Byzantine Empire reached its highest peak during the reign of the emperor Justinian(527-565). Justinian tried to restore the Roman Empire and all its former borders. In 534, under the blows of his troops, the state of the pandas in North Africa fell. Then the war began with the Ostrogothic kingdom.
Justinian also waged war with the Visigoths in Spain, where he achieved significant success. It seemed that dreams of rebuilding the Roman Empire were about to come true. But the domination of the Byzantines, their restoration of the former order and heavy taxes everywhere caused discontent. Justinian's conquests were fragile. So, almost all of Italy was soon captured by the tribes of the Lombards, who created a kingdom there.
During the reign of Justinian, "Code of Civil Law" - collection of Byzantine laws. It included the laws of the Roman emperors II - the beginning)
