140 Byzantine Empire and Byzantium
West failed, even when prompted by the threat of the
Turkish and Islamic conquest. A western Crusade was
assembled but met massive defeat at NICOPOLISin 1396.
In May 1453, Constantinople fell permanently to the
assault of the Ottomans under the sultan MEHMEDII. It
became modern Istanbul. Many Greek scholars fled to the
West and helped make possible the serious study of the
Greek language and ancient Greek literature that the cul-
ture of the Byzantine Empire had so long preserved.
See alsoART AND ARCHITECTURE,BYZANTINE; CHURCH,
EASTERN ORTHODOX;CONSTANTINOPLE,LATIN OCCUPATION
OF;CUMANS;DANDOLO,ENRICO;DURAZZO;FERRARA-
FLORENCECOUNCIL OF;HAGIASOPHIA;IRENE;ISLAMIC
CONQUEST;MISTRA; PAPACY.
Further reading:Cyril Mongo, ed., The Oxford His-
tory of Byzantium (Oxford; Oxford University Press,
2002); Thomas J. Mathews, Byzantium: From Antiquity to
the Renaissance (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998);
George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State,transl.
Joan Hussey (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1956); Warren
Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society
(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997).