After conquering the city, Mehmed II made Constantinople the new Ottoman capital, replacing Adrianople. Effectively taking control of the strait, Mehmed was able to cut off Constantinople from the Black Sea and any potential aid that might be received from the Genoese colonies in the region. 40 Italians escaped their sinking ships and swam to the northern shore. For a long time the Turks in Anatolia were divided up into a patchwork of small Islamic states. [9]:377 On 28 May, as the Ottoman army prepared for the final assault, large-scale religious processions were held in the city. The city fell on 29 May 1453, the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun on 6 April 1453. by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (Public Domain). In preparation for the final assault, Mehmed had an artillery train of 70 large pieces dragged from his headquarters at Edirne, in addition to the bombards cast on the spot. [9]:304 The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while the remainder of the Byzantine Empire splintered into a number of successor states, notably Nicaea, Epirus and Trebizond. Constantinople was made the new Ottoman capital, the massive Golden Gate of the Theodosian Walls was made part of the castle treasury of Mehmed, while the Christian community was permitted to survive, guided by the bishop Gennadeios II. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Another legend holds that two priests saying divine liturgy over the crowd disappeared into the cathedral's walls as the first Turkish soldiers entered. As initial assaults against the Theodosian Walls had repeatedly failed, Mehmed ordered his men to begin digging tunnels to mine beneath the Byzantine defenses. (Tedaldi:[34] 110; Barbaro:[33] 145; Ubertino Pusculo:[39] 160, Isidore of Kiev[36] and Leonardo di Chio:[40] 200–250; (Sphrantzes):[35][page needed] 430) A more realistic modern estimate predicts a fleet strength of 110 ships comprising 70 large galleys, 5 ordinary galleys, 10 smaller galleys, 25 large rowing boats, and 75 horse-transports. It was during this third wave that disaster struck the Byzantines who by now were forced to employ women and children to defend the walls. Theodosian Wallsby Bigdaddy1204 (CC BY-SA). Though no large-scale help was forthcoming, smaller groups of independent soldiers did come to the city's aid. They extended across the peninsula from the shores of the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn, eventually being fully completed in 439 CE and stretching some 6.5 kilometres. Poorly equipped, they were intended to tire and kill as many of the defenders as possible. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano. Cite This Work The Ancient History Encyclopedia logo is a registered EU trademark. [20]:93, Two tactical reserves were kept behind in the city: one in the Petra district just behind the land walls and one near the Church of the Holy Apostles, under the command of Loukas Notaras and Nicephorus Palaeologus, respectively. License. Furthermore, these Western rulers did not have the wherewithal to contribute to the effort, especially in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years' War, Spain's involvement in the Reconquista, the internecine fighting in the Holy Roman Empire, and Hungary and Poland's defeat at the Battle of Varna of 1444. S. Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Cambridge, 1965).Back to (8) A. Pertusi, La Caduta di Costantinopoli (2 vols., Milan, 1976); A. Pertusi, Testi inediti e poco noti sulla Caduta di Costantinopoli (Bologna, 1983).Back to (9) July 2011. The west would only provide the east with help against the Turks if the east converted from Orthodox to Catholic Christianity. He took Sultan Bayezid I as a prisoner. [58] Loukas Notaras and his son were executed after Notaras refused Mehmed's demand to offer his son for the sultan's pleasure. The Ottoman attack on the boom which blocked the city’s harbour was repelled, as were several direct assaults on the Land Walls. This device was one of two that gave the Byzantines some hope of extending the siege until the possible arrival of foreign help. 24 Oct 2020. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Yet in 1453, they fell to the Ottoman Turks. On 6 April the attack began. However, Istanbul only became the official name of the city in 1930 by the revised Turkish Postal Law as part of Atatürk's reforms. Various cannon and bombards At the same time, Constantine's attempts to appease the Sultan with gifts ended with the execution of the Emperor's ambassadors. [note 10]. This fleet narrowly escaped prior to the Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday.