STRANGE
BUT TRUE
by Sarah Novak37Sometimes, he had to persuade
his soldiers not to fight each
other.
Early in the morning of
May 29, the Turks broke through
a gate in the city walls. As they
poured in, Constantine rushed
right into the battle. “Brave
soldiers!” he shouted. “Keep
fighting!” Constantine died along
with many of his soldiers. His
body was never found or
recognized.
With Constantine’s death the
Byzantine Empire ended. But the
emperor’s legend lived on. Stories
say that even now Constantine is
sleeping beneath Constantinople’s
walls. There he waits, until some
day when he will return to the city
he so loved and defended.T
hey were outnumbered. How much longer could they hold
out? The defenders of Constantinople were trapped in their
once-mighty city, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The
massive city walls still protected them. But outside the walls was a
vast enemy force — the Ottoman Turks. The Turks had arrived on
April 6, 1453, to besiege the city. Their leader was Sultan Mehmet II.
He was only 21 years old. But he commanded an army of at least
50,000 soldiers, probably thousands more. He also commanded a
fleet of more than 100 ships. His fearsome cannons could blast their
stone balls for a mile (see also pages 50–53).
And the forces of Constantinople? Maybe 7,000, and that
number included Greek troops and soldiers from Genoa and Venice
in Italy. Citizens with their own weapons volunteered. Even the city’s
monks joined the battle. The ordinary people of Constantinople did
their part, too. They served as watchmen on the walls, and they
gathered food. They fixed the battered city walls the best they could.
The Turkish siege dragged on. But Constantinople’s defenders
stayed put. Their inspiration? The Byzantine emperor himself.
Constantine XI Paleologus (statue of him above) refused to
surrender to Mehmet. And he refused to leave his city. During the
siege, he fought off Turkish attacks alongside his soldiers.The Last Emperor