Constantine Xi Palaeologus
Constantine XI (or XII) Paleologos said (in Greek : ' , in Serbian : born in 1405 in Constantinople , died on 29 May 1453 on the walls of Constantinople , is the last Emperor Byzantine of 31 October 1448 to 29 May 1453 , and thus the last Roman Emperor in history, after almost 1500 years during which the title was worn.
Biography
Son of Manuel II Palaeologus , Byzantine Emperor, and Helena Dragas ( Serbian ), he married twice: first in 1428 with Madeleine Tocco ( 1429), daughter of Leonardo II Tocco , lord of Zakynthos , then 27 July 1441 with Catherine Gattilusi ( 1442), daughter of Dorino I, lord of Lesbos.
In 1443 , he was despot of Mistra, and the death of his brother John VIII on 31 October 1448 , he ascended the Byzantine throne. It is not considered an emperor because he is crowned at Mistra and not Constantinople as was the case with his father and brother.
Tuesday 12 December 1452 , he read solemnly Laetentur Coeli, in the basilica Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and proclaimed the union of two churches, Roman and Byzantine periods.
Mehmed II becomes the Ottoman sultan in 1451 and threatened Constantinople. Constantine XI, without money, can not field six to seven thousand soldiers, including about two thousand Italians, facing a very large army whose numbers are uncertain: the Byzantines spoke of five hundred thousand men, the Italians of a hundred more reasonably 50,000 to 200,000 Turks, and most historians today believe that army to about eighty thousand soldiers, not counting the horde of non-combatants performing maintenance and refueling. Mehmet II laid siege to Constantinople Constantine defended heroically. On Tuesday, May 29, 1453 in the morning, a Turkish squad discovers a postern - the Kerkoporta near the palace Blachernae - the Italian garrison was left open by mistake: this is the beginning of the end. The battle is fierce, but the Greeks driven back to the wall are cut to pieces, and when all is lost, Constantine XI faithful surrounded by 3 with 2 close friends and a Spaniard claiming the house of Comnenus, gets rid of the imperial insignia and flows into the mass of Janissaries in a last heroic charge at the Porte Saint-Romain.
His body was never found: it is not excluded that it has been identified and buried in secret by the few Christian inhabitants remained in Constantinople after the conquest, or by Turkish soldiers during the counting of the dead version The most likely is that his body was never identified and buried in a mass grave with the bodies of his soldiers. Another popular legend is that he is buried in what is today hagiasma Aydabir of the district Unkapani. With him ended the Byzantine Empire Tuesday, 29 May 1453.
The emperors John VIII Constantine XI died without male heir. The last two son of Manuel II, Demetrius and Thomas , share the Government of despotate Morea (Peloponnese). The two brothers were unable to help besieged Constantinople, as they have themselves to defend the Morea against a Turkish army a diversion. Subsequently, they are waging a fratricidal war suicidal. Sultan Mehmed II decided to liquidate the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire. Demetrius chooses to go to the sultan, he received a large sum of money and some islands of the Aegean prerogative. Thomas took refuge first in Ragusa , which refuses to accept then moved to Rome where he is greeted by Pope Pius II. Until his death, he is considered the heir of the Byzantine Empire. One of his two son enters the service of the sultan, the other becomes a time head of the guard of the Vatican , before finally abandoned by all.
During the 1990s, workers were repairing the foundations of an old Greek church in Istanbul discovered a headless skeleton shod boots hit a purple eagle silver References
- History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire p. 43: Two Janissaries demanded honor and the price of his death, it is recognized under a pile of corpses, the golden eagles embroidered on his shoe: the Greeks recognized weeping head of their sovereign. Muhammad, after exposing to public view this bloody trophy, gave his rival the honors of burial.
| Preceded by | Constantine XI Dragases | Followed by | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John VIII Palaeologus |
| - |
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