The Renaissance

her forces were defeated. The son and his
mother were reconciled in 1622, with
Marie advancing her ally Cardinal Rich-
elieu to the position of the king’s chief
minister. Within a few years Richelieu and
Marie de’ Médicis were adversaries, with
the king eventually siding with Richelieu
and again banishing Marie. After she
mounted a foiled coup against the king,
she was exiled by the king, this time to the
city of Compiegne and then out of the
kingdom permanently. Marie fled to the
Netherlands, where she continued to rally
opponents of Richelieu in hopes of return-
ing to Paris in control of the royal court.
She failed, however, and lived a shadowy
life as an exile until her death in 1642.

SEEALSO: Bourbon dynasty

Mehmed II .....................................

(1432–1481)

Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and con-
queror of Constantinople and the Eastern
Roman or Byzantine Empire. Born in the
Ottoman capital of Edirne, Mehmed II was
the son of Sultan Murad II. He was trained
as a ruler in the province of Amasya, and
at the age of twelve became the titular Ot-
toman ruler after his father abdicated his
throne. Hard-pressed to rally troops be-
hind him for an assault against Christians
in the Balkans, Mehmed ordered his father
out of retirement to lead the Turks in the
Battle of Varna in 1444, a complete victory
for the Ottoman forces. In 1451 Murad II
died and Mehmed became the unques-
tioned leader of the empire. Over the next
two years, he rallied his forces for an as-
sault on Constantinople, defended by a
stout ring of fortifications. The siege of
Constantinople ended in May 1453, with
the fall of the city and the death of the
last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI.

After this victory, Mehmed was able to

extend his authority throughout Anatolia

and use Constantinople as a base for fur-

ther assaults against Christian states in the

Balkan Peninsula. Mehmed besieged Bel-

grade in 1456 and in the following years

battled an army led by Prince Vlad Dracula

of Wallachia. Mehmed seized the last rem-

nants of the Byzantine Empire in the

Peloponnesus in 1460 and Trebizond, in

Anatolia, in 1461.

Mehmed allowed Byzantine Christians

to remain in Constantinople and freely

practice their faith. He attempted to forge

cultural links with European nations, in-

viting artists and scholars to work under

his patronage. He improved roads and ca-

nals in his newly conquered capital and

also raised important structures, including

the Topkapi Palace, which remained the

home of the sultans throughout Ottoman

history. Mehmed’s personal ambitions

were unsatisfied by the fall of Constanti-

nople, however. He attacked the Italian

peninsula in 1480, intending to besiege

Rome and become the ruler of a reunited

Roman Empire. Although he captured the

southern Italian port of Otranto, his lines

of retreat were threatened by a rebellion in

Albania and, under pressure from a Chris-

tian army gathered by Pope Sixtus IV, he

retreated from Italy in 1481.

SEEALSO: Fall of Constantinople

Melanchthon, Philipp ......................

German theologian, ally of Martin Luther,

and early leader of the Protestant Refor-

mation in Germany. Born in the town of

Bretten in the Palatine, Melanchthon stud-

ied the Latin and Greek classics and, at the

age of thirteen, was admitted to the Uni-

versity of Heidelberg. Too young to earn a

degree, he moved to the University of Tub-

ingen in 1512, and took up the study of

Mehmed II