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men to service and support it you can bet they gave it a name and fifteen pairs of oxen to haul it roads and bridges had to be strengthened along the route from the sultan s foundry in adrianople such a combined artillery force had never before been seen in the east although it had been fairly common in western europe for the last one hundred years the charisius gate in the walls of constantinople the bombardment that day was unprecedented by the end of the first day a section of the wall near the charisius gate was reduced to rubble and turkish soldiers attempted to storm the walls despite repeated charges they were driven back and night fell bringing a degree of peace however a pattern now emerged over the coming weeks the turks would create breaches by day only for the defenders to rebuild the walls and towers overnight sometimes using brick and stone at other times using wooden stockades and earth filled barrels with his 100 000 men the sultan could rest his men and attack in relays the defenders had no such opportunity fighting by day patrolling and rebuilding by night they must have reached a state of exhaustion but they had survived the first day and it was the sultan who had suffered more casualties and had to rethink his plans this he did and displayed genuine tactical agility and improvisation as we shall see in the coming weeks share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in the fall of constantinople 1453 tagged adrianople artillery bosphorus byzantine emperor istanbul mehmet sultan turks leave a comment the siege one of history s most important recruitment decisions posted on may 24 2024 by proverbs6to10 the siege has been running in full force for over a week now ottoman troops began to take up their positions along the walls during the first week of april the sultan himself erected his tent north of the civil gate of saint romanos near the river lycus facing military gate of st romanos a defensive trench was dug in front of the ottoman units and the earth from it was piled on the city side and on top of which a palisade was erected on 6 april the sultan s cannon started their bombardment of the city s defences after the emperor had turned down the obligatory islamic offer to spare the lives of the inhabitants if they surrendered the turkish artillery included a massive cannon cast on mehmet s specific orders it was designed for him by an itinerant engineer named orban or urban who was appointed by the sultan in 1452 he may have been either german or hungarian and was an expert armourer urban had previously approached the emperor of the romans with an offer to design and build cannon for the empire however constantine had to send him away empty handed the empire was by that time too impoverished to employ him and could not obtain the required raw materials we know history turns on many small events in this case a recruiting decision how different might it have been had urban offered his services elsewhere in europe and not then to the ottomans it could be said that the empire was now in terminal decline at this stage and the outcome was almost inevitable if the fall had not happened in 1453 it would most likely have occurred sometime in the next few years what was so special about urban s cannon he had already built one large cannon for the sultan which was placed at his newly constructed fortress of boghaz kesen meaning the cutter of the strait or of the throat referring to the narrowest point of the bosphorus the byzantines called this rumeli hisar or the castle of romeland which was a pretty good name as it was the medieval equivalent of the sultan parking his tank on the emperor s lawn as it was just a few miles from the city mehmet could do as he pleased and respected no treaties the fortress cannon was used to enforce the sultan s new tax on every ship that passed through the straits on one occasion a venetian ship tried to run this blockade and was sunk we may think of medieval artillery as inaccurate but to take out a fast moving ship captained by arguably the ablest sailors in the mediterranean at the time required reliable weaponry and very good gunnery skills the ottoman gunners should not be underestimated bronze muzzle loading cannon type used in the siege the new cannon possibly named the basilic was apparently nearly twenty eight feet long its barrel was two and a half feet in diameter at the business end and the bronze was at least eight inches thick during field tests when the local inhabitants were warned not to be alarmed about the noise it fired a cannon ball weighing 1 340 pounds well over a mile before it buried itself six feet in the ground the noise could be heard over ten miles away this monster cannon had seven hundred men to service and support it you can bet they gave it a name and fifteen pairs of oxen to haul it roads and bridges had to be strengthened along the route from the sultan s foundry in adrianople such a combined artillery force had never before been seen in the east although it had been fairly common in western europe for the last one hundred years walls of theodosius showing lower outer wall the bombardment that started on 6 april was unprecedented by the end of the first day a section of the wall near the charisius gate was reduced to rubble and turkish soldiers attempted to storm the walls despite repeated charges they were driven back and night fell bringing a degree of peace the defenders would have used a combination of their own smaller cannon bows crossbows ballistae type weapons and the advantages of the defensive system offered by the walls of theodosius to canalize the enemy into killing zones where they had very little opportunity to manoeuvre the inner terrace between the inner and outer walls was called the perivolos and accommodated the soldiers who defended the outer wall it was between 50 and 64 feet wide beyond lay the outer wall which was a modest structure compared with the inner wall it was in this zone that most of the killing which would have been hand to hand at some points would have taken place the sultan s troops would have been cut down in their companies whilst the defenders suffered few casualties scene from the battle defending constantinople paris 1499 by 12 april an ottoman fleet arrived which included approximately 200 ships of various sizes the fleet established a sea blockade sealing the roman capital from the sea the city was now completely surrounded with the siege now established in full a pattern now emerged over the coming weeks the turks would create breaches by day only for the defenders to rebuild the walls and towers overnight sometimes using brick and stone at other times using wooden stockades and earth filled barrels with his 100 000 men the sultan could rest his men and attack in relays the defenders had no such opportunity fighting by day patrolling and rebuilding by night they must have reached a state of exhaustion but on 6 april they must have been relieved just to have survived the first day and it was the sultan who had suffered more casualties and had to rethink his plans this he did and displayed genuine tactical agility and improvisation as we shall see in the coming weeks as the siege entered into its second week constantine and his captains waited for news of relief troops from the west uncertain if any were on their way related article the siege of constantinople has begun share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in the fall of constantinople 1453 tagged artillery byzantine byzantine history byzantium constantine constantinople emperor history istanbul medieval history mehmet ottomans turks venetians walls of theodosius leave a comment the siege of constantinople has begun posted on may 20 2024 by proverbs6to10 i have decided to republish and update the series i wrote some years ago about the siege it had some good feedback and i think that i can add something more this time around the byzantine empire in 1453 in the years before 1453 the turks had gradually eroded the last major landholdings of the empire on the eve of the final battle for survival byzantium was reduced to a few isolated territories surrounded by the fast growing ottoman empire the peloponnese governed from mistra trebizond on the black sea but completely isolated from the rest of the empire and constantinople itself still under byzantine control but surrounded by ottoman territory despite making treaties with the emperor it was clear that by 1453 that mehmet s preparations to take the city were complete it had become an anomaly and irritant which the sultan had decided to remove the long story of the roman byzantine empire was almost over the walls of theodosius constantinople on the 5th of april 1453 the ottoman turkish sultan mehmet ii the conqueror 1451 1481 arrived to join his army establishing its siege of constantinople the people of the city had experienced many long sieges over the preceding centuries they had reason to hope the thousand year old walls of theodosius remained strong and their faith in the virgin mary was unshakeable how many times had she saved the city before why would she not save them again the byzantine emperor was appropriately enough named constantine the eleventh to bear that name but he would be the last he had prepared the city for the expected attack and had organised large stores of arms cleared the ditches and repaired the walls the citizens had worked to support their emperor stopping only for the easter celebrations in hagia sophia 1 april he had called upon allies for help but none was forthcoming save seven hundred genoese led by giovanni giustiniani longo night fell the dawn would bring the roar of mehmet s cannon related articles the siege one of history s most important recruitment decisions the siege of constantinople one month on share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in the fall of constantinople 1453 tagged byzantine byzantium constantine constantinople fall of constantinople mehmet mistra ottomans peloponnese seige sultan trebizond turks leave a comment empire of god how the christian byzantine empire saved civilization posted on december 12 2023 by proverbs6to10 journalist and scholar robert spencer has just published empire of god how the byzantines saved civilization the byzantine empire the eastern half of the roman empire survived for a thousand years after the western half had crumbled into various feudal kingdoms byzantium finally fell to ottoman turkish onslaughts in 1453 a deeply scholarly work spencer s book argues that christian byzantine civilization kept the learning and faith of athens rome and jerusalem alive and protected the west from the aggression of islam in the east the stream s mark judge recently spoke with spencer about his book read more here share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in uncategorized leave a comment event artists on artworks africa and byzantium posted on november 26 2023 by proverbs6to10 this sounds fascinating a very unusual topic but lots to see and learn a shame it s all the way away in new york when friday december 1 2023 6 7 pm where the met fifth avenue the grace rainey rogers auditorium you need to register here join artists as they reflect on works in the exhibition africa and byzantium and make connections to their own artistic practices listen as curator andrea myers achi introduces the exhibition which explores the profound artistic contributions of north africa egypt nubia ethiopia and other powerful african kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with byzantium had a lasting impact on the mediterranean world then experience a dialogue between artists on resonant topics raised in the exhibition including collective memory identity and loss in northern and eastern africa presented in conjunction with the exhibition africa and byzantium education programs are made possible by colleen ritzau leth free though advance registration is required please note space is limited first come first served share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in uncategorized leave a comment alexander lingas to lead byzantine chant ensemble for the coronation at westminster abbey posted on february 28 2023 by proverbs6to10 dr alexander lingas founder and music director of cappella romana will lead the byzantine chant ensemble in the coronation at westminster abbey on saturday 6 may 2023 buckingham palace recently announced that at the request of his majesty in tribute to his late father his royal highness the prince philip duke of edinburgh greek orthodox music will feature in the coronation service of their majesties the king and the queen consort at westminster abbey on saturday 6 may 2023 dr lingas is forming the byzantine chant ensemble especially for the occasion its singers have served as cantors in cathedrals and parishes in the uk and greece as educators for the byzantine music school of the greek orthodox archdiocese of thyateira and great britain and in such specialist choirs as the greek byzantine choir the maïstores of the psaltic art and cappella romana all of the service music for the coronation including the greek orthodox music will be disclosed later by buckingham palace reflecting on his involvement in the ceremony dr lingas said as a scholar and practitioner of the ancient traditions of byzantine chant i am deeply honored to have been asked to help realize the request of his majesty king charles iii that the coronation include a musical tribute to his late father his royal highness the prince philip duke of edinburgh integrating greek psalmody into the equally ancient rites of the coronation service is a profound and beautiful demonstration of the deep appreciation for orthodox christianity long shown by both his majesty and the late duke of edinburgh share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email more share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in music tagged alexander lingas cappella romana coronation king charles iii leave a comment first matti egon memorial lecture lyktos 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