Lamentation for the Fall of Constantinople, 560 years ago

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• published: 29 May 2013
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A paraphrasing of Psalm 78/79, chanted in Greek by Capella Romana. 560 years ago today, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Austenasia today commemorates this event - the end of the Roman Empire - and the sacrifice and bravery of its emperor and people. Constantinople (today known by many as "Istanbul") was founded by Emperor Constantine I as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. While the Western Roman Empire had collapsed by the 480s, the Eastern Roman Empire continued on, reconquering much of the west during the 500s and experiencing a cultural and military zenith during the Macedonian dynasty of 867-1056. The citizens of the empire called themselves Romans, and the empire was known as the Empire of the Romans by its neighbours and contemporaries, with its emperors being in a direct line of succession from Augustus and Constantine - however, modern historians often refer to it as the "Byzantine Empire" as a result of various convoluted religious and cultural reasons, most notably that Greek was the main language in the eastern empire and that it was Orthodox Christian rather than Roman Catholic like western Europe. The Eastern Roman Empire lasted almost a thousand years after the fall of the West, but it constantly fought against numerous enemies. The conquering armies of Islam occupied much Roman territory from the 600s onwards, and a western crusading army sent to help fight them ended up attacking and taking Constantinople itself in 1204, dealing a fatal blow to the Roman Empire. Despite Constantinople being retaken 55 years later, the empire entered a terminal decline, with a new and powerful enemy - the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire - emerging in 1299. The Ottomans quickly became the new archnemesis of the Romans, conquering much of their remaining territory. By 1400, the once mighty Roman Empire consisted only of the Peloponnese, a few small Greek islands, and Constantinople itself and the surrounding few square miles. A Mongol invasion in 1402 and a crusade by Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Wallachia (Romania) in 1444 distracted the Ottomans for a while, but by 1452 the new Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, began preparations for the conquest of Constantinople. Constantinople was severely depopulated by this point, with no more than 50,000 citizens in contrast to roughly 800,000 during its heyday. The emperor, Constantine XI, conducted a levy to find that only 5,000 were able to fight in defence of their city, such a large proportion of its population consisted of old men and women, refugees, priests and monks, with what little remained of the Roman army having been all but wiped out in the previous conflicts with the Ottomans. 2,000 foreign mercenaries and volunteers, a large number of which were led by the Genoese captain Giovanni Giustiniani, also helped to defend the city, but the defending Roman force of 7,000 was up against an attacking Ottoman force of roughly 80,000. The siege began on 6 April 1453. The vastly outnumbered Romans held out bravely for many weeks, but were both greatly outnumbered and greatly outgunned. The Ottomans used the most technologically advanced cannon of the time, blasting holes in the thousand-year old city walls - it is also thought that the first use of mortars in history was by the Ottomans during this siege. Shortly after midnight on 29 May, the final assault began. Giustiniani was wounded, causing his mercenary troops to panic and retreat. The Ottomans breached the walls, and Constantine XI threw off his purple regalia and led the remains of the Roman army in a final charge, with the last Roman Emperor dying amongst his men in defence of his capital. Mehmed II took Constantinople, making it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. The fall of the city marks the final end of the Roman Empire, and is used by many historians to mark the end of the Middle Ages.