The Siege and Fall of Constantinople

[ckleisch]

After, much consideration as to a best approach on presenting the battle and seige I initially decided to explain it in my own words based on the data I had. I then decided to just copy a large story that I had from a wargame i have on the subject produced by SPI in 1978. The clever author at that time was an individual named Ralph Vickers. He did a lot of research about the battle in an effort to produce a playable war game and it was very successful. I happen to have a copy of this game with all the revelant data. To my amazement i found the entire story already produced on the net. So in fairness I attach the site for fair reading giving all the details of the battle and seige as well as the naval campaign.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/5990/byzantine/

[dragos03]

Here is a photo of a fresco from the Monastery of Moldovita in Romania, depicting the Siege of Constantinople.
Many of the old Romanian monasteries have a fresco of the siege.

[ckleisch]

As I continue with this subject I must mention I have in my possession three Osprey series books which have a lot of plates for the city and uniforms etc for each side involved. Is there a continued interest and to share the information what is the proper procedure ie copyright data. can I download and jut quote the source. The amount of information brings everything previous intp perspective.

[Victor]

We regard posting one or two images from a book, cd, website etc while giving proper credit to the source as acceptable use, but posting large amounts of images from books etc without first recieving permission from the author or publisher is not acceptable.

from the Forum Guidelines.

[ckleisch]

I have obtained a Book called the " Walls of Constantinople' bu Stephen Turnbull. Inside are illustrations and pictures credited to many sources. I would like to share some of these so as to give a perspective of the city as seen during the siege. the first shows the cannon in use which were used to bombard the walls. The walls show the compound and what was neccessary to reduce the walls.:

[Karl]

Like something out C.S.Lewis.

[Musashi]

I'm reading too.

By all means, please continue.

Me too, and for the second time, BTW

[ckleisch]

My last posting on the subject of the walls is this pic from the same aource of the modern day perspective of the thrills of beating down these walls to access the interior

[ckleisch]

over the period of two hundred years with the deminsihing population a majority of the wars fought by the Byzantines were by hired mercenaries, Surprising to me was the places the mercenaries came from in quantity as long as the gold and pay lasted. Fighting for then were;
Alans- nomadic Christian Turks from the Caucasus
albanians- Calvary mainstay
Armenians
Bulgarians
Burgundians
Catlans
Cretans
Cumans
Englishmen- part of the Varangian Guards axe men
georgians
hungarians
Latins
Mongols
Patzinaks
Russians
Scandinavians
Serbs
Turks
Uzes
Vlachs

What remained of the army at the seige of pure citizens were dressed and armored as follows the source for same being "Byzantine Armies " by Ian Heath Osprey Men at Arms

[Victor]

The use of large number of mercenaries was due to the abolishment of the system of warrior peasants, who were excused from paying taxes in exchange of their military service, by the Paleologues. The Lascarids have reintroduced on a smaller scale this old system (the statiots), which had been in use during the glory days of the Empire, coupled with the newer pronaion system. Thus they had at their disposal a good and loyal army with which they could reclaim Constantinople. Unfortunately, the large expenses required by Michael VIII's foreign policy meant the end of these peasant soldiers and with them of the Empire itself. The treasury needed money and they were an untapped resource for taxes. Without Roman sentinels on the border, the Ottomans found it much more easier to infiltrate in Western Anatolia and occupy it.

The exact same thing happened before Manzikert. Folowing Basil II Bulgaroctonus' rule, which left the Empire with a huge treasury, a very powerful army and stable borders, the weak emperors depleated the resources they had and thus the stratiot system was abolished in order to gain more taxpayers. Thus the Empire lost its trusty defenders in exchange for mercenaries and disaster followed.

Such a great civilization, such a sad end...

[ckleisch]

It is only fair that a plate of the involved Ottoman units be attached. It appears they purchased a lot of the weapondry they used from Serb vendors and from Iranian and mongol sources. Influences of each show up in the attire. Amazingly, I find that a majority of the units involved in the seige were of Christian 0rigin, former vassals of the Byzantines and amalgamations of peoples from all over the region. The Ottomans were a mixed group and not just ethnic, moslem citizens. In that time period units seemed to switch sides frequently. However, you might get away with it only once.

[lukeo]

Alans- nomadic Christian Turks from the Caucasus

They are now called Ossetians. And they were already not nomadic then.

[ckleisch]

Interesting about the latter days of Constantinople were the guard imperial called the "The Varangian Guard". Most famous of the mercenaries who were recruited from the Scandinavian North. mostly Swedes they came as pirates, then traders and finally they became the most trusted of the guards. During, the first half of the 11th century Harold Hardrada served in the guard. After the norman conquest of england a number anglo-saxons joined the ranks with the first scrolled records of them in 1088. The Varangians were axe wielders and struck fear into anyone that came up against them. they had a tendency to try and cleave you from head to shoulder. Chronicles have them remaining into the 1300s. How long they remained into the 1400s is unknown.

[ckleisch]

I notice that over a thousand have read the column with scarely any comment. Surely, someone has some question to put forth that I might answer on this rarely discussed subject. Does anyone from Greece or Turkey have any input, perhaps some pics?

[Tosun Saral]

Friends, There is a very interesting Legend about the siege of Constantinapolis by the Turks in 1453. We can find this legend in the book of H. Carnoy und J. Nicolaides "Folklore de Constantinople” Paris, 1894, pp. 74-5.
"During the siege of the city, God sent an angel tο deliver a wooden sword to the Emperor. The angel's intermediary was a holy hermit called Agapios, who hurried tο the palace to fulfil his divine mission. "My lord", he said to the Emperor, "here is a sword sent from God to exterminate your enemies the Turks." When Constantine saw that it was made of wood he was angry and exclaimed : "What am Ι going to do with a wooden sword when Ι already have the wonderful sword of the glorious David, father of Solomon, which is forty cubits long?" He chased the monk away, and he, in high dudgeon, went to present his sword to the Sultan Mehmed who gladly accepted it. It was thanks to this wooden sword that Mehmed succeeded in capturing Constantinople. The monk Agapios was so upset by Constantine's impious scepticism that he became a Muslim

For more information those who new Turkish can read my article about wooden sword published in the magazine of Ankara Gazi University.
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:...%BCl+Baba&hl=tr

Freunde,
Es gibt ein sehr interassentes Legend um die Belagerung Constantinapolis durch den Tuerken im Jahre 1453. Ueber Dieses Legend wurde von H. Carnoy und J. Nicolaides im "Folklore de Constantinople” Paris, 1894, pp. 74-5 zum erstenmale berichtet: Der Gott hat einen Engel pflichtet einen holzernen Schwert als Geschenk an den letzte Keiser Constantin zu presentieren. der Engel fand einen Vermittler namens Agagios. Agagiosging promp an den Kaiser und presentierte den holzernen Schwert und sagte "Mein Keiser der Gott hat diesen holzernen Schwert durch Vermittlung einen seinen Engel geschicht damit Sie mit diesen Schwert den Tuerken besiegen koennen". Kaiser Constantin aergerte sich und sagte wuetend "Ich besitze den Schwert des Koenig Davit's der vater des Salomons. Wie kann ich mit einen holzernen Schwert gegen den Tuerken kaempfen?" Constantin befahl den arme Agagion aus dem Palast vertreiben. Agagios ging zum Sultan Mehmet der Turken Khan und presentierte den Schwert. Sultan Mehmet nahm den Schwert. Mit diesen Schwert eroberte der Sultan Constantinopolis. Agagios convertierte ins Islam."
Fuer weitere Auskunf koennen Sişe an meinen Artikel " Gul baba und Seinen Holzernen Schwer" lesen.
Mit gruessen


Istanbul'un fethi ile ilgili ilginç bir Rum efsanesine 1894 yılında yazılmış Constantinopolis Folkloru isimli bir kitapta rastlıyoruz H. Carnoy and J. Nicolaides,” Folklore de Constantinople” Paris, 1894, pp. 74-5.)
“Constantinopolis şehri Türkler tarafından kuşatıldığı zaman Tanrı, Bizans’ın son kayser’i Constantine Palaiologos’a bir tahta kılıç vermesi için bir meleği görevlendirdi. Meleğin aracısı Agagios isimli bir ermişti. Agapios derhal saraya koştu. “İmparatorum, Tanrı Türkleri yenmen için bu kılıcı gönderdi.” dedi. Constantine kılıcın tahtadan yapılmış olduğunu görünce çok kızdı ve hiddetle “Bende Süleyman’ın babası muzaffer Davut’un 40 cubit uzunluğunda eşsiz kılıcı var. Bu tahta kılıçla nasıl savaşayım?” dedi ve Agapiosu huzurundan kovdu. Agapios büyük bir üzüntü ile Sultan Mehmed’e koştu. Kılıcı ona takdim etti. Sultan Mehmed memnuniyetle kabul etti. Bu tahta kılıç sayesinde Sultan Mehmet Constantinopolis’i fetheyledi. Ermiş Agapios ise İslâmiyeti kabul ederek Müslüman oldu