Do you have a link to a description of what happened to Constantinople after it fell in 1453? How the people were treated, how many killed, women taken as slaves or concubines, etc.
THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
http://www.helleniccomserve.com/fallofconstantinoplefinaltragey.html
In 1451, Sultan Mehmet came to the Ottoman throne upon the passing of his father who had signed a treaty of peace with the Greeks in 1444. Mehmed was well known as a drunkard and pedophile.
On the day after Orthodox Easter in 1453, the Ottoman siege began. The Sultan had offered the Emperor and his people safety if they willingly surrendered, otherwise he warned Constantinople would be subject to the fate of all infidel Cities that resisted conquest by the Muslims. The people of Constantinople backed the Emperor in his defiance of the aggressors. The Christians of Constantinople held out with great devotion and enthusiasm for fifty seven days. Monks, elderly people, children and women brought food and water to the soldiers who were at the walls defending the City.
At one point, a procession carrying an Icon of the Theotokos resulted in the Icon falling to the ground and being smashed. This was considered a terrible sign.
The Emperor himself remained positive as much as he could. Before the end came, his Italian ally the General Giustiniani sustained serious injuries and withdrew from the fight. There were seven thousand men fighting in defense of Constantinople. Five thousand were Greek, and two thousand were from Venice and Genoa.
The Sultan in contrast, had under arms eighty thousand soldiers including unscrupulous “Christian” mercenaries of Greek, Serbian, and Hungarian background. There were also Turks fighting on the side of the Emperor. Prince Orhan had been used by the Greeks in a failed effort to blackmail the Sultan since Orhan himself had a claim to the Ottoman throne. Now Orhan knew Mehmeds ruthlessness and he and his followers recognized that their lives depended on a successful defense of Constantinople.
“The Christian troops had been waiting silently; but when the watchmen on the towers gave the alarm the Churches near the wall began to ring their bells, and Church after Church throughout the City took up the warning sound until every belfry was clanging. Three miles away, in the Church of the Holy Wisdom the worshippers knew that the battle had begun.
Every man of fighting age returned to his post; and women, nuns amongst them hurried to the walls to help bring up stones and beams to strengthen the defenses and pails of water to strengthen the defenses. Old folk and children came out of their houses and crowded into the Churches, trusting that the Saints and Angels would protect them.”
The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by Sir Steven Runciman
Emperor Constantinos XI Dragases Palaeologos, loyal servant of Christ humbled himself in his final hours. He asked forgiveness from all those whom he may have offended at any time. Up to the end, he encouraged his soldiers to fight and not to be afraid. During the siege, he had been encouraged by the Church to choose exile to ensure the Palaeologan line would survive, and perhaps one day an heir might liberate the City. His response was simple, “As my City falls, I shall fall with it”. And so he did.
Constantinos XI Dragases Palaelogos last successor to Constantine the Great, weakest of all Emperors politically but just as great in terms of his dedication and bravery fell defending the holy and imperial City of Constantinople against the Turkish Jihad.
The horror of the fall of the City is best described by the following two citations. The first is an eyewitness account from George Sphrantzes, a close friend of the Emperor Constantine and one of his ministers.
“As soon as the Turks were inside the City, they began to seize and enslave every person who came their way, all those who tried to offer resistance were put to the sword.
In many places the ground could not be seen, as it was covered by heaps of corpses. There were unprecedented events: all sorts of lamentations, countless rows of slaves consisting of noble ladies, virgins, and nuns, who were being dragged by the Turks by their headgear, hair, and braids out of the shelter of Churches, to the acompaniment of mourning. There was the crying of children, the looting of our sacred and holy buildings. What horror can such sounds cause! The Turks did not hesitate to trample over the body and blood of Christ poured all over the ground and were passing his precious vessels from hand to hand;
“Christ our Lord, how inscrutable and incomprehensible your wise judgements! Our greatest and holiest Church of Saint Sophia, the earthly heaven, the throne of God’s glory, the vehicle of the cherubim and second firmament, God’s creation, such edifice and monument, the joy of all earth, the beautiful and more beautiful than the beautiful, became a place of feasting; its inner sanctum was turned into a dining room; its holy altars supported food and wine, and were also employed in the enactment of their perversions with our women, virgins, and children. Who could have been so insensitive as not to wail Holy Church?
The above account comes from “The Fall of the Byzantine Empire A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes 1401-1477 Translated by Marios Phillipides
The following passage pertains to the horrible fate suffered by the Grand Duke Lukas Notaras and his family. The quote comes from Franz Babinger’s Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time:
” the Sultan prepared a great banquet near the imperial Palace. Drunk with wine, he ordered the chief of the black eunuchs to go to the grand duke’s home and bring back his youngest son, a handsome lad of fourteen. When the order was transmitted to the boy’s father, he refused to comply, saying he would rather be beheaded than allow his son to be dishonored. With this reply, the eunuch returned to the sultan, who sent the executioner to bring him the duke and his sons. Notaras took leave of his wife and accompanied by his eldest son and his son in law Cantacuzenos, followed the executioner. The sultan ordered all three beheaded. The three heads were brought to the Sultan; the bodies remained unburied. Notaras, popularly known as the “pillar of the Rhomaioi (Romans) had once declared “Rather the Turkish Turban in the City than the Roman miteir”. His wish had been fulfilled”.
During the siege of Constantinople in 1453, there were two different parties advising the Sultan. One was represented by Halil, who was working for the Greeks and tried to discourage Mehmed’s ambitions to conquer the City. The other party was represented by the views put forward by a General named Zaganos Pasha who was reportedly a Greek that had converted to Islam. Zaganos Pasha took a hard line and encouraged the Sultan to move against Constantinople, and encouraged Mehmed’s view that it was his destiny to capture Constantinople for Islam.
How the 800 Martyrs of Otranto Saved Rome
By: Matthew E. Bunson
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http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/how-the-800-martyrs-of-otranto-saved-rome