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CHAPTER
VII.
THE
ADVANCE OF THE TURKS AND THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
The dogmatic
differences between the Greek and Latin Churches had been removed by the
Council of Florence, where Eastern and Western theologians had measured their
strength, and the re-establishment of actual communion with Rome seemed to be
the only means of healing the grievous wounds from which the Oriental Church,
like every other severed from the common centre of Christendom, was suffering,
and of imparting new life and vigour to the Byzantine Empire.
But when the
Greeks returned home from Florence they found it very hard to carry into effect
that which had been agreed upon at the Council, and the Union met with violent
opposition. Marcus Eugenicus soon produced his
polemical letters, and Sylvester Syropulus his
"True History of the False Union”, a work which still constitutes the
chief polemical arsenal of the Oriental schismatics. Gennadius and numerous other writers followed in the same line, and as they fostered the
national enmity of the Greeks against the Latins, their works produced more
effect than those of the friends of the Union, many of whom, however, were
distinguished and worthy men. The celebrated Cardinal Bessarion, for example,
laboured indefatigably in the cause to the end of his days, and the Protosyncellus Gregory, Archbishop Andrew of Rhodes, and
Bishop Joseph of Methone are also worthy of
honourable mention.
On this
occasion, however, as it generally happens, the defensive party was at a
disadvantage. The excellent men whom we have mentioned were unable to silence
the calumnies of the schismatics, whose champion, Marcus Eugenicus,
combined great talent and learning with extreme vehemence of character. He did
everything in his power to stir up monks, clergy, and laity against the peace
which had been concluded between Rome and Constantinople. The friends of the
Union were treated with contempt and scorn, and called azymites, traitors,
apostates, and heretics. The opposition of the majority of the clergy and of
the populace to any tokens of fellowship with those who acknowledge the
authority of Rome daily increased, while the Emperor hesitated to express his
will in such decided terms as might have given a firm basis to the Union.
Carried away by the prevailing tone of feeling, many even of those prelates who
had taken part in the negotiations at Florence now repented of their
co-operation, and openly proclaimed their regret that they had allowed themselves
to be persuaded into signing the act of Union.
Antagonism to
the West was so deeply rooted that it was absolutely impossible for the Union
to gain any ground. When Metrophanes, the new
Patriarch of Constantinople, took decided measures against the violent
opponents of ecclesiastical unity, the three patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch,
and Jerusalem issued a strong protest, commanded the clergy appointed by Metrophanes, under pain of excommunication, to resign their
posts, and threatened the Emperor that unless he abandoned the dogmas imposed
at Florence his name should be omitted from their prayers.
In Russia also
the attempt at Union had proved ineffectual. The metropolitan of Kiew, Isidore, on his return to his country as cardinal and
legate for the North had been cast into prison. In 1443 he managed to escape,
and afterwards attained important ecclesiastical offices in Rome. It had been
hoped that the whole of the Russo-Greek Church would by his means have been
brought back to unity, but only the metropolitan province of Kiew, with its suffragan dioceses of Brjansk,
Smolensk, Peremyschl, Turow, Luzk, Wladimir, Polotsk, Chelm and Halitsch, was
reconciled to the Holy See, and Russia proper, with its metropolitan see of
Moscow, continued in schism.
Under these
circumstances the tidings of the terrible defeat of the Christian army at Varna
(10th November, 1444) had a disastrous effect on public feeling at
Constantinople by destroying the hope that the alliance with Rome might bring
about deliverance from the Turks. A few years after the battle Sultan Mahomet,
in a deadly conflict of three days' duration on the plain of the Amsel (Kossowo, 1448), wrested from the noble Hunyadi of Hungary
most of the laurels he had won.
The Turkish
forces were now directed towards the Peloponesus in
the South and Albania in the West, and Hungary also was seriously threatened.
It was natural therefore that these countries should engross the principal
attention of Europe, while the Greeks were comparatively neglected. Moreover the
attitude of the Court during the recent calamities had been one of shameful
inaction, a circumstance which was calculated to increase the indifference of
the West and to confirm the growing impression that Hungaryi rather than the Greek Empire, was the "shield against the Turks".
This view was
shared by Nicholas V, who, from the beginning of his pontificate, had taken a
lively interest in Eastern affairs and endeavoured directly and indirectly to
support the operations against the Turks.
The defeat of Kossowo greatly alarmed the timid Pope, and, by means of
his Legate, he made known to the Hungarians his opinion that, for the future,
they would do well to confine themselves within the limits of their own
kingdom. Hunyadi and his people, however, would not hear of such a course, and
only reiterated their petitions for the co-operation of the Holy See. These
were not in vain, for on occasion of the Jubilee, the Pope issued a Bull, by
which, in view of the impending danger from the Turks, he dispensed all prelates,
barons, knights, and commoners of the kingdom of Hungary, who should take part
in the war against the infidels, from personal appearance in Rome, and in order
that they might not be deprived of the benefit of the plenary indulgence, he,
in the fulness of his apostolic power, decreed that it should be extended to
them on condition that on three consecutive days they should visit the
Cathedral of Wardein and certain other churches in
the kingdom appointed for the purpose, and should there deposit half of the
money that would have been spent in their journey to and from Rome and in a
sojourn of fifteen days in that city. The fulfilment of these conditions was to
be deemed equivalent to fifteen days' visits to St. Peter's, St. Paul's, St.
John Lateran, and Sta. Maria Maggiore in Rome, provided that the persons in
question should not during the year leave Hungary save to make war on the
infidels. Chests, furnished with triple locks, were to be placed in the
churches referred to to receive the offerings, and
extensive faculties, even in regard to reserved cases, were granted to all
priests.
Nicholas V also
rendered important service to the cause by endeavouring to compose the strife
which had broken out between Hunyadi and Gislira, the
captain of the kingdom, and by absolving Hunyadi, on the 12th April, 1450, from
an oath not to pass through Servia, which had been extorted from him by fear
and violence. His glorious victory at Belgrade was thus rendered possible, and
the defeats at Varna and Kossowo were amply avenged.
While the Pope
thus favoured the Hungarians, he also supported the Albanians in their
resistance to the Turkish power, and sought to induce them to make common cause
with adjacent countries; of these, the most important was Bosnia, whose King,
Stephen, had, as we have already related, returned to the Catholic Church in
the time of Eugenius IV. Nicholas V at once took a warm interest in him, and in
June, 1447, ne placed him and the reconciled magnates under the protection of
the Holy See, and appointed Thomas, the Bishop of Lesina,
his Legate. Moreover, he did everything to promote the erection of Catholic
churches in this devastated country, and took vigorous measures against the
widespread sect of the Paterines. Being informed by
the Bishop of Lesina that their errors were,
nevertheless, gaining ground, Nicholas gave him full power to grant an
indulgence and spiritual favours to those who should fight against these
"unbelievers". Furthermore, in June, 1451, he sent a new Nuncio to
Bosnia, with the authority of a Legate, to labour for the pacification of the
country. The action of the Pope was not due solely to considerations of a
spiritual nature, for the Paterines were secretly and
even openly in league with the Turks, and thus, as Rome perceived, constituted
a terrible danger to the country. Even members of the secular and regular
clergy, among the latter some few unworthy Benedictine monks, were implicated
in their treachery, and, counting on the Sultan's favour, endeavoured to lay
hands on the property of the Church. The Pope commanded his Nuncio first to
admonish these offenders in a friendly manner, but afterwards to proceed to
ecclesiastical penalties, and eventually to invoke the assistance of the civil
authorities.
The names of
Hunyadi and Skanderbeg are generally coupled together on the roll of heroes who in the fifteenth century made a valiant
warfare against the ancestral foes of Christendom. We shall speak of Skanderbeg
later on, when we come to deal with the history of Calixtus III, and must only
here observe that Nicholas V gave every support in his power to "this
champion and buckler of Christendom against the Turk"s,
who defeated them in an important engagement in the year 1449.
The action of
the Pope against the Turks was not limited to the cases we have mentioned. He
carefully watched each phase of the struggle for Rhodes, and in various ways
assisted the Knights of St. John in their gallant resistance. In 1451, when the
Island of Cyprus was seriously menaced by the infidel power, he showed the
utmost solicitude for its defence, and addressed an urgent appeal for
assistance, coupled with the grant of an indulgence of three years not only to
the Emperor but to the whole of Christendom; to France, Poland, Sweden,
Denmark, Norway, England, Scotland, Castile and Leon, Aragon, Portugal, and
Navarre, as well as to the different Italian States. At a later period Nicholas
gave half of the offerings received from France to the King of Cyprus to enable
him to rebuild the citadel of Nicosia.
The facts which
we have adduced sufficiently prove with what injustice the Pope has been
charged with neglecting the war against the infidels. The statement that he did
as little as possible for the deliverance of the Greeks is equally false. It is
perfectly true that Nicholas made the fulfilment of the terms of the Union
agreed upon at Florence a condition of his assistance, and this was evidently
his duty as Pope, for it was incumbent on him to resist the encroachments of
the schismatical Greek propaganda.
The prospects of
the Union were most gloomy in the Byzantine Empire. The new Emperor,
Constantine, the last of the Palaeologi, was unable
to withstand the fanaticism of the people, and sent a special ambassador to
Rome in the year 1451 in order to appease the Pope for the non-fulfilment of
the agreements Nicholas replied in a long and incisive brief dated October
11th, 1451.
"The matter
in question", Nicholas V declares, "is the unity of the Church, a
fundamental article of the Christian confession of faith. A united Church is an
impossibility unless there is one visible head to take the place of that
Eternal High Priest whose throne is in heaven, and unless all members obey this
one head. Where two rulers command there can be no united empire. Outside the
Church's unity there is no salvation; he who was not in Noe's ark perished in
the deluge. Schism has always been punished more severely than other crimes.
Core, Dathan and Abiron,
who sought to divide the people of God, were punished more terribly than those
who had defiled themselves by idolatry.
"The Greek
Empire itself is a living witness to this truth. This glorious nation, once so
rich in learned and holy men, has now become the most miserable of all nations;
almost the whole of Greece is given into the hands of the enemies of the cross.
What is the reason of this heavy judgment of God? The once chosen people of God
were sorely chastened by Him for two crimes. They were led into captivity in
Babylon for idolatry; and for their putting to death our Redeemer Jesus Christ
they were wholly given over into the power of the Romans, the city of Jerusalem
was destroyed, and until this very hour the whole nation is scattered in exile
throughout the world. Now we know that since the Greeks received the Catholic
Faith they have never committed either of the above-mentioned crimes, on
account of which the wrath of God might have given them into Turkish bondage.
Some other sin must have provoked the Divine Justice, and this sin is the
schism which was begun under Photius, and has since
lasted for five hundred years. Full of sorrow and with a heavy heart do we make
this complaint, and we would willingly have buried it in everlasting silence,
but if a remedy is to be applied the wound must be laid bare. For almost five
hundred years Satan, the author of all evil, and especially of division, has
seduced the Church of Constantinople into disobedience to the Roman Bishop, the
successor of St. Peter and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ. Innumerable
negotiations have meanwhile been undertaken, a great many Councils have been
held, countless embassies have been sent to and fro,
until at last Emperor John and the Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople,
accompanied by numerous prelates and great men, met Pope Eugenius IV, the
Cardinals of the Roman Church, and a considerable body of Western Prelates at
Florence in order, with the blessing of God, to put an end to the schism and
establish unity.
"These
negotiations were carried on before the eyes of the whole world, and the decree
of Union drawn up in Greek and Latin and signed by all present has been made
known to the whole world. Spain, with its four Christian kingdoms, Castile,
Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre; Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland, the great
islands lying beyond the continent; Germany, inhabited by numerous nations, and
extending over far countries; the kingdom of the Danes, Norway, and Sweden,
situated towards the extremest north; Poland,
Hungary, and Pannonia; Gaul, which stretches between Spain and Germany from the
western ocean to the Mediterranean, are its witnesses. All these countries
possess copies of the decree of Union by which that ancient schism is at last
removed, according to the testimony of the Greek Emperor, John Palaeologus, of
the Patriarch Joseph, and of all the others who came from Greece to the Council
of Florence, and by their signatures sanctioned the Union.
"And now so
many years have already passed during which the decree of the Union has been
disregarded by the Greeks, and there appears no hope of any readiness to accept
it, the matter is put off from one day to another, and the same excuses are
always brought forward. The Greeks cannot really believe the Pope and the whole
Western Church to have lost their senses so as not to perceive the meaning of
these constant excuses and delays. They understand it perfectly, but bear with
it after the example of the Eternal Chief Pastor, who gave the barren fig tree
two years more to bring forth fruit.
"Be it
known to your Imperial Highness", continues the Pope, "that we also
will wait until this letter of ours has received your consideration, and if
you, with your great men and your people, think better of it, and accept the
decree of the Union, you will find us, the Cardinals and the whole Western
Church always ready for you and well disposed towards you. But should you and
your people refuse this, you compel us to do that which is demanded by your
welfare and our honour". The Pope then lays down as conditions of peace
that the Emperor should recall the Patriarch Gregory and reinstate him in all
his dignities, that the name of the Pope should be inserted in the Diptychs,
and that prayers should be offered for him in all the Greek Churches. Should
any persons be in doubt regarding the decree of the Union the Emperor was to
send them to Rome, where they would be honourably treated and every care taken
to remove their doubts.
The Papal letter
of the 11th October, 1451, is also interesting, inasmuch as it implies that
Rome had recognized the utter fruitlessness of the often repeated public
disputations at Constantinople, where the excited populace not only supported
the speakers opposed to the Union, but from the beginning rendered any
concession to the Latins impossible.
Meanwhile, the
danger which, during more than a generation, had been threatening
Constantinople and the whole of the East, seemed to be averted. Sultan Mahomet,
instead of attacking Cyprus, as had been apprehended, directed his forces
against the ancient enemy of his kingdom, the Mahometan Prince of Karamania.
The Greeks,
seeing their most dangerous adversary thus occupied in Asia, were deluded
enough to adopt a tone of menace towards him, and sent an embassy to his camp
to inform him that unless the pension, paid for Urchan,
the Sultan's nephew, who was being brought up at Constantinople, were doubled,
they would put him forward as claimant to the throne. Mahomet answered this
preposterous demand in a furious speech, hastily made peace with the Prince of Karamania, and satisfied the Janissaries with money, so as
to be able, without annoyance from internal or external foes, to turn his whole
power against Constantinople. As soon as he reached Adrianople he refused to
pay to the Emperor the revenue of the region on the Strymon,
which was destined for Urchan's maintenance, and then
began to take measures for the subjugation of the capital. Early in the winter
of 1451-1452 he sent orders throughout the different provinces of his kingdom,
requiring that a thousand builders, with a corresponding number of hodmen and
bricklayers, should be sent, and the necessary materials prepared for the
erection of a fortress on the Bosphorus above Constantinople. The tidings
caused the greatest consternation among the Christian population in that city, in
Thrace, and in the Archipelago. "The end of the City has come” they
exclaimed, "these things are the forerunners of the downfall of our race;
the days of anti-Christ are upon us. What will become of us? Rather let our
lives be taken from us, O Lord, than that the eyes of Thy servants should see
the destruction of the City, and let not Thine enemies say 'Where are the
saints who watch over it?’.” The Emperor Constantine despatched ambassadors to
Adrianople to remonstrate against the building of the proposed fortress. The
Sultan's answer was a declaration that he would have anyone, who again came to
him about this business, flayed. The fortress was begun in the spring of 1452,
the Sultan himself having made the plan and selected the site at the narrowest
part of the Bosphorus, where a strong current drives vessels from the Asiatic
to the European side, on the promontory of Hermaeum.
Here, then, a
fortress rapidly arose, with walls from two-and-twenty to five-and-twenty feet
thick, and towers with leaden roofs, sixty feet high. The Turks gave it the
name of Bogaz Kessen, which
means cutter off of the Straits and also cutter-off of the neck. As master of
this castle and one opposite to it, named Anatoli Hissar,
which had been built by Bajazet, the Sultan had it in
his power to cut off all communication between the republics of Genoa and
Venice and their colonies on the Black Sea, and also to deprive the city of
Constantinople of the access to that Sea which was absolutely necessary to its
inhabitants.
During the
progress of the work disputes arose with some of the inhabitants of
Constantinople who had corn-fields in the neighbourhood, and bloodshed ensued.
The Greek Emperor then addressed a grave and dignified letter to the Sultan,
who vouchsafed no other reply than a declaration of war (June, 1452), and
caused the messengers who brought it to be beheaded. Mahomet was, however, too
wise immediately to begin hostilities; for the time being, he merely
reconnoitred the walls, trenches, and gates of Constantinople, and on the ist September retired to Adrianople.
The following
winter passed by in quietness, but preparations were vigorously carried on on both sides for the decisive struggle. The Emperor again
showed himself disposed for Union with the Latins, no doubt with the view of
obtaining their assistance against the Turks. Whether in this matter he acted
in perfect good faith may be left an open question; but even granting that his
purpose was sincere, it would have been impossible for him to carry it into
effect in face of the fanatical opposition of his people. This must have become
evident at Rome, where the long-cherished hope that the whole Greek Church
would accept the Union effected at Florence had now died out.f It was necessary, however, in order not to make too light of the Pope's
dignity, that appearances should be kept up, and that his rights, which had
been acknowledged at Florence, should be officially recognized at
Constantinople, for on no other grounds could he be held bound to afford
material assistance to the Greeks.
The question of
helping the Greeks was warmly discussed in Rome, where great differences of
opinion prevailed on the subject. An anonymous treatise written there in the
December of 1452, gives us some interesting details, and endeavours, with the
learning and rhetoric peculiar to the humanists, to show that the preservation
of Constantinople was a necessity for Christendom. Conflicting opinions
prevailed in Rome as to the line of conduct pursued towards the Greeks.
Starting from the principle that no communication is to be held with heretics,
schismatics and excommunicated persons, one party was absolutely opposed to the
idea of giving them any assistance, and held that the impious schismatics would
but meet with due punishment. This view is strongly condemned by the author of
the treatise who adduces passages from the fathers of the Church, and from
Aristotle, Sallust, Valerius Maximus, Seneca, and
other classical writers. He then appeals to the principle of Christian charity,
and to the love of sinners inculcated by our Saviour, and maintains that,
notwithstanding their schism and their ingratitude, the Greeks ought to be
helped. Should assistance be refused, there is, he continues, reason to fear
that the conquest of Constantinople may be followed by a general massacre of
the Christians. If it be said that the Greeks will persist in their schism,
this is indeed true with regard to many of them, but not to all, for amongst
them are distinguished and religious men. No one knows what course these will
take; we need not trouble ourselves about the future; for the present the first
thing to be done is to grant the prayer of those who are so hardly beset by the
enemies of the Christian name. He then urges the glorious past of the City of
Constantinople. Men remarkable for their learning, their piety, and purity of
life have dwelt within her walls, which contain countless relics of the Saints
and richly adorned churches; moreover tor the sake of the great Emperor
Constantine to whom the Christian people and the Roman Church are so deeply
indebted, it is, he declares, a duty to preserve his city from falling into the
hands of the unbelievers.
He then proceeds
to point out the motives which render it incumbent on the Pope to take measures
for the preservation of Constantinople, making honourable mention of the
exertions of Eugenius IV against the Turks; he gives a lively picture of the
threatening peril, enumerates the horrible cruelties practised by the infidels,
and insists on the necessity of re-establishing peace, if only in a temporary
manner, in Italy. In view of the dangers which threaten Constantinople, Cyprus,
and the shores of the Mediterranean, Christian kings and princes, and
especially all prelates and ecclesiastics, are bound, he concludes, to arm
themselves for the defence of Christendom.
Warnings of this
nature, as a modern historian has observed, coupled with the well-grounded
apprehension that the Turks might, after the conquest of the Greek Empire,
attack Italy, produced their effect in Rome, and greatly promoted the
favourable consideration of the ceaseless petitions for aid, especially as the
Emperor accepted the conditions proposed by the Pope. In May, 1452, Cardinal
Isidore, an enthusiastic Greek patriot, was sent as Legate to Constantinople.
He was accompanied by about two hundred auxiliary troops, and by Archbishop
Leonard of Mytilene, who has left us an account of the siege of Constantinople.
The selection of Isidore as Legate was a most excellent one, and if the
reconciliation was not effected, he certainly cannot
be held responsible for its failure. The great majority of the Greeks were not
even now in earnest in the matter, and the solemn function in honour of the
Union celebrated on the 12th December, 1452, in the church of St. Sophia, with
prayers for the Pope and the exiled Patriarch Gregorius, was a mere farce.
Many Greeks did
not shrink from openly expressing their sentiments. "Once we are rid of
the Turkish dragon," they said, "you shall see whether we will hold
with the Azymites or not". Both laity and clergy conspired to frustrate
the Union, and a wild outburst of fanaticism ensued while the Turks were
actually approaching the very walls of Constantinople. The schismatic clergy,
incensed by the Emperor's open adhesion to the decrees of the Council of
Florence, solemnly anathematized all its partisans, refused absolution to those
who had been present at the function held in honour of the Union, and exhorted
the sick rather to die without the sacraments thin receive them from a Uniate
priest. The populace cursed the Uniates, the sailors in the harbour drank to
the destruction of the Pope and his slaves, and emptied their cups to the
honour of the Blessed Virgin, shouting, "What need have we of the help of
the Latins?" The friends of the Union were naturally too weak to hold
their ground against the violence of popular feeling, and succumbed in their
unequal conflict with the national will, which, impotent in all besides, proved
itself obstinate and unbending on the one point of opposition to Rome. The
Union was again rent asunder, and St. Sophia, which the schismatics called a
cave of demons and synagogue of Jews, became a mosque. This furious antagonism
to Rome extended to the highest classes of Byzantine society. The Grand Duke
Lukas Notaras, the most powerful man in the powerless
empire, was not afraid to say that he would rather see the Turkish turban in
the city than the Tiara of Rome.
It is not
surprising that the Latins showed but little zeal on behalf of a nation so
hopelessly deluded, and that both in Rome and elsewhere some were found to
maintain that no help ought to be given to the schismatics. The violently
anti-Latin temper of the Greeks explains, and in some degree excuses, the fact
that the Western Powers did not render the speedy assistance which might have
saved the glorious capital of the East.
Besides the Pope
and the King of Naples, the Republics of Venice and Genoa were the only
Christian Powers who helped the Greek Emperor, and their help was given from
mercenary motives. The Venetians and Genoese were well aware that their own
interests would be seriously affected by a Turkish occupation of the Greek
capital. Constantinople and its suburbs had become a second home to many of
their citizens. Within its walls the two republics possessed much valuable
property, both public and private, and its fall would involve the severance of
their connection with their colonies on the Black Sea, and their consequent
loss. Genoa and its colony of Chios accordingly sent war material and a
considerable body of soldiers, and, unlike their vacillating fellow-countrymen
in Pera, devoted themselves heart and soul to the
cause.
The powerful
Republic of Venice displayed far less zeal. Twice in the year 1452 did the
Ambassadors of the Greek Emperor repair to the city, earnestly imploring
counsel and aid against the threatened attack of the Turks; but no decided
promise was made to them, for the interest of the principal personages was at
this time concentrated almost exclusively on the war against the Duke of Milan.
Material considerations alone induced the Signoria to send some few ships to
Constantinople, but the despatch of a fleet was postponed until the 7th May,
1453, because it was feared that it would have to act in concert with the ships
promised by the Pope and King Alfonso. The ten vesselscommanded by Jacopo Loredano, whose arrival had been so eagerly
desired by the besieged, naturally came too late. Indeed, the following
instructions, given to Jacopo Loredano, are calculated
to awaken some misgivings as to the real intentions of the Venetian Republic.
"On the way to Constantinople you are not in any way to cause any injury
to the cities, troops, or vessels of the Turks, inasmuch as we are at peace
with them. For although we have prepared this fleet for the honour of God and
the defence of the City of Constantinople, we will not — if it can possibly be
avoided — involve ourselves in war with the Turks".
Regarding the
assistance afforded by Pope Nicholas V, the accounts which have reached us are
unfortunately very defective, and in some cases contradictory. The diary of Infessura, the Secretary to the Senate, a somewhat
untrustworthy document, informs us that the Emperor's ambassadors were detained
in Rome, and were unable to obtain a decided answer. St. Antoninus of Florence says in his Chronicle, that Nicholas V directly refused them a
grant of pecuniary assistance. As, however, the fact that this Pope sent money
in the year 1452 for the purpose of fortifying the walls of Galata, is proved
by an inscription, these accounts cannot be correct. We have, moreover, the
testimony given by the Pope himself when on the very brink of eternity.
Nicholas V
informed the Cardinals assembled around his death-bed that, on receiving the tidings
of the siege of Constantinople, he had at once determined to help the Greeks to
the best of his power. He was, however, well aware that his own unassisted
resources were insufficient to oppose an adequate resistance to the immense
armies of the Turks. He had, therefore, openly and plainly, declared to the
Greek ambassadors that his money, his ships, and his troops were at the
disposal of the Emperor, but that, inasmuch as this help was inadequate, his
Majesty ought without delay to seek the assistance of other princes; assuring
them of the support of the Papal forces. The Ambassadors had departed, well
pleased with his answer, but, after making unsuccessful application to many
princes, had returned to Rome, whereupon he had given them his help, such as it
was.
Accordingly, on
the 28th April, Nicholas V commanded the Archbishop of Ragusa, Jacopo Veniero of Recanati, to proceed
as Legate to Constantinople, with the ten Papal galleys and a number of ships,
furnished by Naples, Genoa, and Venice. The united Italian fleet did not,
however, come into action, for on the 29th of May the fate of the city was
decided.
On the 23rd
March, 1453, Mahomet II left Adrianople, and on the 6th April took up his
position within a mile of Constantinople. According to the lowest, and
therefore most probable estimate, his army numbered a hundred and sixty
thousand men. To meet this powerful, rapacious, and fanatical host, the Emperor
had, in all, four thousand nine hundred and seventy-three Greeks, and about two
thousand foreigners, Genoese, Venetians, Cretans, Romans, and Spaniards.
The siege, of
which we have details from a number of eye-witnesses, began immediately.
Besides fourteen batteries, which were planted opposite to the walls of the
city, the Sultan had twelve large pieces of artillery destined for special
positions, and discharging stone cannon-balls of from two hundred to five
hundred pounds' weight. One giant cannon, made by a Hungarian, is perhaps the
largest mentioned in history, and its stone balls weighed from eight hundred to
twelve hundred pounds.
It was evident
that the city, with its slender garrison, would ultimately be compelled to
yield to such a force. The catastrophe was delayed by the position of
Constantinople, which rendered it very difficult of assault, and by the
personal courage of the Emperor and of some few other Greeks. But the chief
credit of the defence is due to the skilful tactics of the Italian ships, and
to the foreign troops and the Venetian Catalan, and other colonists, together
with the Genoese, who had secretly come from Pera.
They ceaselessly repaired the breaches made by the enemy's artillery, and
brilliantly repelled many Turkish attacks. Moreover, under the direction of a
German engineer, countermining was carried on with such success that the Turks
finally abandoned their mines. A dangerous bastion constructed by the infidels
was destroyed in a single night, and the astonished Sultan exclaimed,
"Never could I have believed the Giaours capable of such great deeds, not
even if all the Prophets had assured me of the fact!"
The greater
number of the Greeks, however, played a pitiful part during the siege. Instead
of fighting, they consoled themselves with the foolish predictions of their
monks, wept and prayed in the churches, called upon Our I Lady to deliver them,
never considering that God is wont to help those who exert themselves, and at
the same time humbly place their confidence in Him. A historian justly
observes, "They loudly confessed their sins, but no one confessed his cowardice,
the unpardonable sin of a nation devoid of patriotism". The Emperor alone
distinguished himself by his courage, but one man could not save a nation, many
of whose members, from their bigoted hatred of the Latins, preferred quiet and
toleration under the Turkish sway.
The cowardice of
the Greeks was equalled by their avarice, which kept them from employing the
number of troops required for the defence of the widely extended walls of their
city. The unreasoning covetousness which had been the proximate occasion of
this terrible siege now contributed in great measure to bring about the final
catastrophe. The small force of defenders could no longer hold the long chain
of fortifications, partly ruined as they were by the enemy's artillery, and on
the 29th of May the Janissaries made another desperate attack. The Emperor,
with a great many of his faithful followers, fell. Cardinal Isidore, who was
not recognized, was sold as a slave. Thousands of the Greeks who escaped death
shared his fate, especially all those who had taken refuge in the church of St.
Sophia. An ancient prophecy had foretold that the Turks would advance as far as
the Pillar of Constantine, but would then be driven by an angel from heaven not
only out of the city but back to the Persian frontier. As soon accordingly as
they had entered the city, crowds pressed into the great church, which, with
all its vestibules, corridors, and galleries, was densely thronged, multitudes
who, ever since the feast held in honour of the Union had scorned the spiritual
graces which they might there have found, now seeking within its walls to save
their lives. "Had an angel really descended from heaven at this
moment", says the Greek historian Dukas,
"and brought them word to accept the Union, they would not have
acknowledged it, and would rather have given themselves up to the Turks than to
the Roman Church."
The infidels,
meanwhile, had become masters of the city, and had slain some thousands of its
inhabitants before the idea of making gain out of them as slaves arrested the
work of bloodshed. On reaching the church of St. Sophia they burst open the
doors and dragged the helpless fugitives off to slavery. The beautiful church
was desecrated by all sorts of horrors, and then turned into a mosque. A
crucifix was borne through the streets, with a Janissary's cap on its head,
while the miscreants shouted, "Behold the God of the Christians".
The Sultan did
not compel the Greeks to conform to Islam, but rather sought to win their
priesthood to his side by espousing the cause of the enemies of the Union. He
brought about the election to the Patriarchate of Gennadius,
a zealous member of the orthodox party and a violent opponent of the Latins.
The ceremony of installation took place on the 1st of June, and the procession
passed through streets still stained with blood. The Sultan, adopting the
ancient custom of the Byzantine Emperors, delivered a golden staff to the
newly-elected Patriarch, in token of investiture. The last traces of the Union
were thus obliterated in the great Turkish Empire. Henceforth it survived only
in Lithuania and Poland, in some Mediterranean Islands subject to the Latin
rule, and in the isolated Greek communities in Italy, Hungary, and Sclavonia. The Sultan jealously claimed for himself all privileges
enjoyed by the Emperors, especially the power of granting confirmation and
investiture to the Patriarchs, and it soon became the custom for each Patriarch
to pay a considerable sum of money for his investiture, and thus to purchase
his high dignity from the infidel ruler. As time went on, other Turkish
magnates also received tribute from the Patriarch; money was the only means of
obtaining anything at the Porte, and yet its magic power was not always a
certain defence from bitter humiliations, from ill-treatment and plunder.
Turkish despotism and Greek corruption brought the Patriarchate to the lowest
depths of degradation to which the head of a Church with such a history could
fall.
The tidings of
the great victory of the Turks over the "Christian dogs" were borne
on the wings of the wind throughout the East. Success was now on the side of
Mahomet II, and the consequences were more immediately disastrous there than in
the West. The Oriental Christians at once felt the shock of the great blow
which had fallen on their cause in the Bosphorus. In their first panic the
whole population of these districts thought of nothing but speedy flight, and
flocked to the seaside in order to embark for the West, on the first appearance
of the Turkish flag. Slowly but surely was the way prepared for the complete
closing up and barbarizing of the glorious lands bordering on the Mediterranean
Sea. No pause in the victorious advance of the Turks was to be expected,
although for a time the Sultan retired with his army to Adrianople, and sent
his fleet to the harbours of the Asiatic shore.
Soon indeed it
became clear that, not content with victory on land, the Porte aspired to
supremacy in the Archipelago and the Black Sea. Mahomet II spared no pains to
create a formidable fleet, and Constantinople and Gallipoli afforded him every
facility for his operations. No resource remained to the terrified Christians
on these shores but to purchase the permission to exist by the payment of a
heavy tribute. The Sultan was not slow to take advantage of their distress. On
his return to Adrianople he announced to the ambassadors, who came to
congratulate him, that for the future Chios must pay six thousand instead of
four thousand ducats, and Lesbos three thousand as a tribute. Thomas and
Demetrius, the cowardly Byzantine despots of the Peloponesus,
who had meditated flight to Italy, laid a present of a thousand gold pieces at
his feet, and received in return empty promises of peace and friendship. The
Emperor of Trebizond was required by the Porte to pay the annual tribute of two
thousand gold pieces for himself and the neighbouring shores of the Black Sea,
and also to appear at an appointed time every year in the Sultan's Court. The
despot of Servia had to purchase Mahomet's good will by a tribute of twelve
thousand ducats a year.
It would be
difficult to describe the terror of Western Christendom on learning that
"the centre of the old world and the bulwark which protected European
civilization from Asiatic barbarism" had fallen into the hands of the
infidels. Men felt the event to be a turning point in the history of the world.
In the downfall of the Byzantine Empire, which united Eastern Europe with Asia,
and which had been so instrumental in the civilization of the Slavonic races, the
ruin of all that the first great medieval period had accomplished was begun.
The Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 was tardily avenged by the
foundation of a Turkish Empire on European soil, which had the effect of
paralyzing the whole political system of Europe. All common action on the part
of Christian nations was crippled, and Stamboul became that smouldering centre of discord which it still continues to be in the
Eastern question of the present day. In face of the constant danger from the
Turks the reforms, social as well as ecclesiastical, so urgently needed by
Christendom, were neglected, and the Holy Roman Empire, second only in prestige
to that of Byzantium, was drawn into the vortex of revolution.
"The
Kingdom of Mahomet II” according to a modern historian, "was for the first
time thoroughly consolidated by the conquest of that magnificent central
position uniting the great lines of communication between the Adriatic and
Mesopotamia, and Belgrade and Alexandria, and carrying with it the sovereignty
of the Empire of the Caesars and the Constantines.
The magnitude and danger of the Eastern question dates from this event".
The Republic of
Venice was the first among the Western powers to learn that Constantinople had
fallen, and that the bravest of the Palaeologi had
died a hero's death. The tidings came on the 29th June, when the great Council
was sitting; Luigi Bevazan, the Secretary of the
Council of Ten, read the letters in which the Castellan of Modone and the Bailo of Negroponte announced the calamity.
The consternation and grief which overpowered all present were so great that no
one ventured to ask for a copy of the terrible news.
From Venice it
soon spread in all directions. On the 30th June the Signoria sent word to the
Pope, adding that they deemed it likely that His Holiness would have already
heard of the disaster by some other means.
On the 8th July
it was known in Rome. The celebrated preacher, Fra Roberto of Lecce, told the
populace, who broke out into loud lamentations. As it was a long time before
any other accounts arrived to confirm those received from Venice, and as
Constantinople was known to be well-provisioned, many persons both in Rome and
Genoa considered them to be false. Later on some maintained that the city had
been reconquered in a marvellous manner. "This", wrote Cardinal d'Estouteville, on the 19th July, "is possible but not
probable". The consternation at Rome was increased by a report that the
Papal ships had been captured by the infidels, and that the Turks were
preparing, with a fleet of three hundred vessels, to follow up the conquest of
New Rome by that of the ancient city.
All writers
agree in stating that the Pope and the Cardinals were overwhelmed at the
tidings of the fate of Constantinople. The dominant feeling, however, in the
mind of Nicholas V and throughout the West was rather apprehension of further
advances of the infidels than pity for the Greeks, who, by their dishonesty in
regard of the Union and by the hatred which they never failed to manifest for
the Latins had alienated the sympathy of the rest of Christendom. Moreover, the
rich Greeks had been as unwilling to make material sacrifices for the defence
of their metropolis as they were to put aside their animosity. The
well-informed chronicle of Bologna expressly attributes the fall of
Constantinople to their avarice in not furnishing money for the payment of the
troops, and St. Antoninus of Florence declares that
in the year 1453, the Pope was extremely indignant at their again beseeching
the impoverished Italians to give them pecuniary aid, although themselves
possessed of hoards of wealth which would have amply
sufficed to pay for troops.
The Pope's first
measure on hearing of the calamity was to despatch legates to the different
Italian powers in order to put an end to the internecine wars which raged
amongst them. The excellent Cardinal Capranica accordingly left Rome for Naples on the 18th of July, and two days later
Cardinal Carvajal started on his mission to Florence, Venice, and the camp of
the Duke of Milan. Nicholas V also ordered five triremes to be equipped at
Venice at his expense (the cost amounted to seventeen thousand three hundred
and fifty-two Venetian gold ducats); and the Genoese, Angelo Ambrogini was sent with three galleys to the Greek waters.
He found the Mediterranean already swarming with Turkish ships, and had great
difficulty in making his escape.
On the 30th
September the Pope addressed a Bull of Crusade to Christendom in general. In it
he declared Sultan Mahomet to be a forerunner of anti-Christ, and to restrain
his diabolical arrogance called upon all Christian princes to defend the faith
with their lives and their money, reminding them of their Coronation Oath. A
plenary Indulgence was granted to everyone who should for six months, from the
1st February of the following year (1454), personally take part in the holy
war, or send a substitute. Every warrior was, as in former times, to wear the
cross on his shoulder. The Church aided the cause by contributing money. The Apostolic
exchequer devoted to the Crusade all the revenues which it received from
greater or smaller benefices, from archbishoprics, bishoprics, convents, and
abbeys. The cardinals and all the officials of the Roman Court were to give the
tenth part of their whole income, and anyone who should be guilty of fraud or
fail to pay this tenth was to be excommunicated and deprived of his post. A
tithe was also imposed on Christendom at large under pain of excommunication,
and anyone who should treacherously provide the infidels with arms, provisions,
or materials of war was to be severely punished. Furthermore, that the
undertaking might not in any way be hindered, the Pope, acting under the
authority of Almighty God, determined and commanded that there should be peace
throughout the Christian world. Prelates and dignitaries of the Church were
authorized to mediate between contending parties, and, if possible, effect a
reconciliation. In any case a truce was to be concluded. The refractory were to
be punished by excommunication, or, in the case of whole communities proving
obstinate, by interdict. "Western Europe", to quote the words of the
historian of Bohemia, "now witnessed a renewal of the scenes which had
taken place at the beginning of the Hussite war. Missioners were preaching, distributing crosses and indulgences, collecting tithes,
holding popular assemblies, and promoting warlike preparations, but the
indifference was greater, and the results smaller than they had previously
been, for the institutions and symbols which had once been able to inflame the
world with ardent zeal in the cause of the Holy Sepulchre and the Promised Land
had now but little power over men's minds." The states of Europe were too
much divided and too much occupied with their own internal affairs to rise up
and unite in resisting the Turk. The great political unity of the Middle Ages
was broken, Christendom as a corporate body had ceased to exist. Clear-sighted
contemporaries were fully alive to the melancholy fact. Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini
bitterly complained that Christendom had no longer a head who could command
general obedience. "People", he says, "neither give to the Pope
what is the Pope's, nor to the Emperor what is the Emperor's. Respect and
obedience are nowhere to be found. Pope and Emperor are considered as nothing
but proud titles and splendid figure-heads. Each State has its particular
Prince, and each Prince his particular interest What eloquence could avail to
unite so many discordant and hostile powers under one banner? And if they were
assembled in arms, who would venture to assume the general command? What
tactics are to be followed? What discipline is to prevail? How is obedience to
be secured? Who is to be the shepherd of this flock of nations? Who understands
the many utterly different languages, and is able to control and guide the
varying manners and characters? What mortal could reconcile the English with
the French, the Genoese with the men of Aragon? If a small number go to the
Holy War they will be overpowered by the infidel, and if great hosts proceed
together, their own hatred and confusions will be their ruin. There is
difficulty everywhere. Only look at the state of Christendom." Under these
circumstances Hungary, whose danger was the most imminent, had to undertake
alone the war with the terrible enemy.
The decision
arrived at by the Parliament assembled at Buda in January, 1454, corresponded
to the urgency of the case. The celebrated Hunyadi was chosen General for a
year, and a summons was issued declaring that not merely the landed
proprietors, great and small, but also the Prelates were bound to perform
military service. Nobles who, without adequate cause, should leave the camp
were to be punished by the confiscation of their property, and com-moners by death. Nevertheless, Hunyadi could not but see
that his army was far too weak to gain complete success
After Hungary
the Republic of Venice was undoubtedly the power exposed to greatest danger.
The Sultan had offered her a direct insult by causing the Venetian Bailo at Constantinople to be executed, and imprisoning
upwards of five hundred Venetian subjects. Added to this was the serious loss
of merchandise, estimated by Sanudo at two hundred thousand ducats. Immediately
on receiving tidings of the fall of Constantinople, Cardinal Bessarion had
addressed an urgent letter to Francesco Foscari, the Doge, calling upon him to
defend the cause of Christendom. If we may credit Filelfo the appeal was not in
vain. He says that the Doge made an impressive speech, declaring that no time
was to be lost, but that hostilities with the Turks ought at once to be
commenced in order to avenge the affronts offered to the Republic at
Constantinople.
During the
consultations at Venice, however, the opinion that every effort should be made
to arrive at some kind of understanding with the Sultan prevailed. The
threatening attitude of Milan, solicitude for the five hundred captives, the
increasing financial difficulties of the Republic and the mercantile interests
which overruled everything, all tended to confirm this decision. The merchants
well knew what the fall of Constantinople implied; they were perfectly aware
that their rich possessions in the East were in the most serious danger, and
that the Italian Peninsula itself might next be imperilled. Yet, with their
usual short-sighted egotism, their first thought was to save anything that
might at this critical moment be saved, to gain an undue advantage over all
other naval powers by securing the favour of the Porte, and to maintain their
mercantile importance at the high point which it had reached before the
catastrophe at Constantinople.
We cannot,
therefore, be surprised to find that the words of the Papal Legate fell upon
deaf ears. Instead of beginning the holy war, the Signoria recognized the peace
which formally existed with the Sultan, and employed Bartolomeo Marcello to
open negotiations for the release of the captive Venetians and the renewal of
friendly relations with the Porte, and also to prepare the way for the conclusion
of a commercial treaty. Jacopo Loredano was in the
meantime sent with twelve galleys to protect Negroponte.
Marcello was
successful in his mission, and on the 18th April, 1454, concluded a treaty with
the ruler of the infidels, which served as a basis for all subsequent relations
between Venice and the Porte. The first paragraph of this shameful compact runs
as follows: — "Between Sultan Mahomet and the Signoria of Venice,
including all its present and future possessions, as far as the banner of St.
Mark floats, henceforth, as formerly, there is peace and friendship".
Another article expressly lays down that Venice shall not in any way, by ships,
weapons, provisions, or money, support the Sultan's enemies in their
undertakings against the Turkish kingdom. "And thus", indignantly
exclaims the historian of Turkey, "the Republic of Venice was the first
Christian power which, after the fall of Constantinople, neglected all other
considerations, and, simply for its own advantage, entered into a treaty of
peace with the Sultan, and secured for itself freedom of commerce throughout
the whole Turkish Empire and the right of employing its own representatives to
look after the interests of its subjects settled there.
It cannot be
said that the Signoria was unconscious of the shameful nature of this
proceeding, for, before the conclusion of peace with the Sultan, it addressed a
somewhat confused letter of apology to Nicholas V.
The Republic of
Genoa, which, next to Venice, was the naval power of Italy most interested in
Eastern affairs, also endeavoured to enter into friendly alliance with the
Sultan. The tidings of the fall of Constantinople had caused unexampled alarm
and discouragement amongst her inhabitants, and here, as elsewhere, many had
clung to the hope that they were false. It was at once decided in Council that
all available ships should be made ready, that ambassadors should immediately
go to King Alfonso, and that if the terrible report were confirmed, an envoy
should be sent to all States of Christendom to bring about a general peace,
inasmuch as the loss of the whole of the Levant and of the Archipelago appeared
in such a case to be imminent.
But these good
resolutions ended the matter, and the Genoese, weakened by internal dissensions
and by the war with Naples, took no decisive step; indeed, in their utter
helplessness and despondency they would have nothing more to do with their
possessions on the Black Sea, and on the 15th November, 1453, made them over by
a formal contract to the Bank of St. George. This great financial company,
which by its immense pecuniary resources, the well-known rectitude and solidity
of its administration, its considerable landed possessions, and its widely
extended foreign connections, had acquired the position of a State within the
State, seemed alone able to accomplish that which the exhausted Republic could
no longer undertake. But even the Bank of St. George was unable to prevent
Caffa, the chief emporium on the Black Sea, from becoming tributary to the
Porte.
The cause of the
crusade found no better support from King Alfonso of Naples than from the
Republics of Venice and Genoa. This crafty politician was, indeed, lavish of
fair words, and in the spring of 1454 he seemed ready to come forward as the
champion of Italy and the avenger of the terrible disgrace which the conquest
of Constantinople had brought upon Christendom. By his example, he wrote to the
Cardinals, he hoped to incite the other Christian princes to an expedition
which should drive the Turks completely out of Europe. But his professions were
not followed by action. He cared for nothing but his own exaltation and that of
his dynasty, and never struck a single blow for the defence of Christendom.
The conduct of
the Duke of Milan was equally unworthy. Delighted to see his enemies, the
Venetians, fully occupied by Eastern affairs he caused his troops to advance
into the territory of Brescia. This circumstance must be taken into account in
extenuation of the attitude of the Venetian Republic.
The Republic of
Florence, allied as it was with the Duke of Milan in opposition to Venice and
Naples, shared his sentiments. From reliable sources we learn the almost
incredible fact that in the blind hatred of Venice the Florentines viewed the
terrible blow dealt to the Christian cause in the East with satisfaction.
Nicodemus of Poutremoli, Francesco Sforza's
Ambassador to Florence, when announcing the disaster, wrote: "I also wish
that it may go ill with the Venetians, but not in this manner to the detriment
of the Christian faith. I doubt not that your feeling is the same. Would to God
that Pope Nicholas had built less and had believed me! How often have I told
him that, besides its other innumerable advantages, the pacification of Italy
would greatly tend to the honour of His Holiness".
While the
Italians, to quote the words of a contemporary chronicler, were thus tearing
each other to pieces like dogs, most of the other Western States held aloof
from the proposed crusade. None of them, indeed, openly refused assistance; on
the contrary, all the princes formally professed themselves ready to take part
in the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, but when it came to the point not
one was prepared to act. Aeneas Sylvius openly admits that nothing was to be
expected from the northern kingdoms. England was a prey to perpetual civil
wars, and Nicholas V vainly endeavoured to restore her to peace and unity. We
shall have to relate the utter failure of the crusading projects of the
powerful Duke Philip of Burgundy, and all through the great kingdom of France
the Pope's summons was almost unheeded. The French King, Charles VII, had not
even deigned to answer Filelfo, who, before the fall of Constantinople,
submitted to him the plan of an expedition. The Emperor Frederick III, who, according
to the medieval view, was above all other princes bound to defend the Christian
cause, was not, as the following pages will show, the man to make up his mind
to such an undertaking. Portugal was perhaps the only power, with the exception
of Hungary, which made serious preparations for war against the infidels. Its
King, Alfonso, promised to maintain twelve thousand soldiers at his own expense
for a year, and at a considerable cost and amid many complaints from his people
made ready for action, but obstacles of various kinds made it impossible for
him to accomplish his purpose.
The words-which
Aeneas Sylvius had written to the Pope were but too true; discord was rampant
in Europe, and the different nations hardly ventured to move against the common
foe of Christendom. Moreover, the tranquillity of the past months had persuaded
them that the danger which threatened from the East was not so imminent as it
had seemed in the first shock of the catastrophe. The Papal summons to the Holy
War failed to evoke a sympathetic response throughout Europe, and it became
evident that the bond which in the great medieval ages held princes and peoples
together had grown slack.
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