1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
Roger Crowley
Number of quotes: 13
Book ID: 2 Page: 5
Section: 3H
In the 1123 years up to the spring of 1453 the city had been besieged some twenty-three times. It had fallen just once - not to the Arabs or the Bulgars but to the Christian knights of the Fourth Crusade in one of the most bizarre episodes in Christian history.
Quote ID: 2
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 6
Section: 1A,3H
“The seat of the Roman Empire is Constantinople,” wrote George Trapezuntios, “and he who is and remains Emperor of the Romans is also the the Emperor of the whole earth,”…
They had come to conquer the Greek-speaking inhabitants of Constantinople, whom we now call the Byzantines, a word used in English in 1853, exactly four hundred years after the great siege. They were considered to be heirs to the Roman Empire and referred to themselves accordingly as Romans.
Quote ID: 3
Time Periods: 47
Book ID: 2 Page: 9
Section: 3C
STOPPED AT "A PUBLIC FAITH", NOTES, WHERE I MARKED IT. 7/25/23.O Christ, ruler and master of the world, to You now I dedicate this subject city, and these sceptres and the might of Rome. Inscription on the column of Constantine the Great in Constantinople.
Quote ID: 4
Time Periods: 47
Book ID: 2 Page: 18
Section: 3H
A Russian visitor who witnessed an imperial coronation in 1391 was astonished by the slow-motion sumptuousness of the event: during this time, the cantors intoned a most beautiful and astonishing chant, surpassing understanding. The imperial cortege advanced so slowly that it took three hours from the great door to the platform bearing the throne. Twelve men-at-arms, covered with mail from head to foot, surrounded the Emperor. Before him marched two standard-bearers with black hair: the poles of their standards, their costume, and their headdress were red. Before these standard-bearers went heralds: their rods were plated with silver... Ascending the platform, the Emperor put on the imperial purple and the imperial diadem and the crenated crown ... Then the holy liturgy began. Who can describe the beauty of it all?
Quote ID: 5
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 19
Section: 3A4C,3H
The Byzantines lived their spiritual life with an intensity hardly matched in the history of Christendom. The stability of the empire was at times threatened by the number of army officers who retired to monasteries, and theological issues were debated on the streets with a passion that led to riots.
Quote ID: 6
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 27/28
Section: 3A2,3A4C
In 1204 this history of mutual suspicion and violence returned to haunt Constantinople in a catastrophe for which the Greeks have never fully forgiven the Catholic West. In one of the most bizarre events in the history of Christendom, the Fourth Crusade, embarked on Venetian ships and nominally bound for Egypt, was diverted to attack the city. An appalling massacre ensued and huge portions of the city were destroyed by fire: “more houses were burned than there are to be found in the three greatest cities of the Kingdom of France,” declared the French knight Geoffry de Villehardouin.
Quote ID: 7
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 65
Section: 3H
It is far better for a country to remain under the rule of Islam than to be governed by Christians who refuse to acknowledge the rights of the Catholic Church. Pope Gregory VII, 1073.Flee from the papists as you would from a snake and from the flames of a fire. St Mark Eugenicus, fifteenth-century Greek Orthodox theologian.
Quote ID: 8
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 201
Section: 2D2
There was nothing left to be done. Both sides understood the climatic significance of the coming day. Both had made their spiritual preparations. According to Barbaro, who of course gave the final say in the outcome to the Christian god, “and when each side had prayed to his god for victory, they to theirs and we to ours, our Father in Heaven decided with his Mother who should be successful in this battle that would be so fierce, which would be concluded next day,”
Quote ID: 9
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 218/219
Section: 2E1
For a short while, indiscriminate slaughter continued to rage: “the whole city was filled with men killing or being killed, fleeing or pursuing,” according to Chalcocondylas,”…
Many who reached home before the intruders, realizing the likely outcome of surrender, decided to die in defense of their families. People hid themselves away in cellars and cisterns or wandered about the city in dazed confusion waiting to be captured or killed. A pathetic scene took place at the church of Theodosia down near the Golden horn. It was a saint’s feast day.
…
In the early morning, a procession of men and women were wending their way toward the church, blindly trusting in the miraculous power of prayer. They were carrying the customary gifts, “beautifully embellished and adorned candles and incense,” when they were intercepted by soldiers and carried off; the whole congregation was taken prisoner; the church, which was rich with the offerings of worshipers, was stripped. Theodosia’s bones were thrown to the dogs.
Quote ID: 10
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 226
Section: 3H
It was three miles from the land walls to the heart of the city.
Quote ID: 11
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 232
Section: 3H
Mehmet rode on, stopping to inspect particular landmarks along the way. According to legend, as he passed the serpent column of Delphi, he struck it with his mace and broke off the under jaw of one of the heads.
Quote ID: 12
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 246
Section: 5D
At the other end of the Mediterranean, the final reconquest of Spain by the Catholic kings in 1492 resulted in the forced conversion or expulsion of all the Muslims and Jews. The Spanish Jews themselves were encouraged to migrate to the Ottoman Empire - “the refuge of the world” - where, within the overall experience of Jewish exile, their reception was generally positive. “Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of,” wrote one rabbi to his brethren in Europe. “We possess great fortune, much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed with heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered,”
Quote ID: 13
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 2 Page: 251
Section: 1A,4B
Visitors had been emitting exactly the same gasps of astonishment since Constantine the Great founded the second Rome and the second Jerusalem in the fourth century. “It seems to me,” wrote the Frenchman Pierre Gilles in the sixteenth century, “that while other cities are mortal, this one will remain as long as there are men on earth.”
Quote ID: 14
Time Periods: 17
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