Editing Constantine XI Palaiologos (section)

== Fall of Constantinople ==
{{Main|Fall of Constantinople}}

=== Siege ===
[[File:Siege of Constantinople 1453 map-en.svg|thumb|Map of [[Constantinople]] and the dispositions of the defenders and the besiegers in 1453]]
An Ottoman fleet attempted to get into the Golden Horn while Mehmed began bombarding Constantinople's land walls. Foreseeing this possibility, Constantine had constructed a massive chain laid across the Golden Horn which prevented the fleet's passage. The chain was only lifted temporarily a few days after the siege began to allow the passage of three Genoese ships sent by the papacy and a large ship with food sent by Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=64}} The arrival of these ships on 20 April, and the failure of the Ottomans to stop them, was a significant victory for the Christians and significantly increased their morale. The ships, carrying soldiers, weapons and supplies, had passed by Mehmed's scouts alongside the Bosphorus unnoticed. Mehmed ordered his admiral, [[Suleiman Baltoghlu]], to capture the ships and their crews at all costs. As the naval battle between the smaller Ottoman ships and the large western ships commenced, Mehmed rode his horse into the water to shout unhelpful naval commands to Baltoghlu, who pretended not to hear them. Baltoghlu withdrew the smaller ships so that the few large Ottoman vessels could fire on the western ships, but the Ottoman cannons were too low to do damage to the crews and decks and their shots were too small to seriously damage the hulls. As the sun set, the wind suddenly returned and the ships passed through the Ottoman blockade, aided by three Venetian ships which had sailed out to meet and cover them.{{Sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|pp=220–221}}

The sea walls were weaker than Constantinople's land walls, and Mehmed was determined to get his fleet into the Golden Horn; he needed some way to circumvent Constantine's chain. On 23 April, the defenders of Constantinople observed the Ottoman fleet managed to get into the Golden Horn by being pulled across a massive series of tracks, constructed on Mehmed's orders, across the hill behind [[Galata]], the Genoese colony on the opposite side of the Golden Horn. Although the Venetians attempted to attack the ships and set fire to them, their attempt was unsuccessful.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=64}}
[[File:Kusatma Zonaro.jpg|thumb|Modern painting of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fleet being transported over land to the [[Golden Horn]], by [[Fausto Zonaro]] (1903)]]
As the siege progressed, it became clearer that the forces defending the city would not be enough to man both the sea walls and the land walls. Furthermore, food was running out and as food prices rose to compensate, many of the poor began to starve. On Constantine's orders, the Byzantine garrison collected money from churches, monasteries and private residences to pay for food for the poor. Objects of precious metal held by the churches were seized and melted down, though Constantine promised the clergy that he would repay them four-fold once the battle had been won. The Ottomans bombarded the city's outer walls continuously, and eventually opened up a small breach which exposed the inner defenses. Constantine grew more and more anxious. He sent messages begging the sultan to withdraw, promising whatever amount of tribute he wanted, but Mehmed was determined to take the city.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=65}} The sultan supposedly responded:

{{blockquote|quote=Either I shall take this city, or the city will take me, dead or alive. If you will admit defeat and withdraw in peace, I shall give you the Peloponnese and other provinces for your brothers and we shall be friends. If you persist in denying me peaceful entry into the city, I shall force my way in and I shall slay you and all your nobles; and I shall slaughter all the survivors and allow my troops to plunder at will. The city is all I want, even if it is empty.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=65}}|title=|source=}}

To Constantine, the idea of abandoning Constantinople was unthinkable. He did not bother to reply to the sultan's suggestion. Some days after offering Constantine the chance to surrender, Mehmed sent a new messenger to address the citizens of Constantinople, imploring them to surrender and save themselves from death or slavery. The sultan informed them that he would let them live as they were, in exchange for an annual tribute, or allow them to leave the city unharmed with their belongings. Some of Constantine's companions and councilors implored him to escape the city, rather than die in its defense: if he escaped unharmed, Constantine could set up an empire-in-exile in the Morea or somewhere else and carry on the war against the Ottomans. Constantine did not accept their ideas; he refused to be remembered as the emperor who ran away.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=65}} According to later chroniclers, Constantine's response to the idea of escaping was the following:

{{blockquote|quote=God forbid that I should live as an Emperor without an Empire. As my city falls, I will fall with it. Whosoever wishes to escape, let him save himself if he can, and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me.{{sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=228}}|title=|source=}}

Constantine then sent a response to the sultan, the last communication between a Byzantine emperor and an Ottoman sultan:{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=65}}

{{blockquote|quote=As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives.{{sfn|When the City Fell|p=}}|title=|source=}}

The only hope the citizens could cling to was the news that the Venetian fleet was on its way to relieve Constantinople. When a Venetian reconnaissance ship that had slipped through the Ottoman blockade returned to the city to report that no relief force had been seen, it was made clear that the few forces that had gathered at Constantinople would have to fight the Ottoman army alone. The news that the whole of Christendom appeared to have deserted them unnerved some of the Venetians and Genoese defenders and in-fighting broke out between them, forcing Constantine to remind them that there were more important enemies at hand. Constantine resolved to commit himself and the city to the mercy of Christ;{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=66}} if the city fell, it would be God's will.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=65}}

=== Final days and final assault ===
[[File:Le siège de Constantinople (1453) by Jean Le Tavernier after 1455.jpg|thumb|''The Last Siege'', French [[Portrait miniature|miniature]] by [[Jean Le Tavernier]] painted sometime after 1455]]
The Byzantines observed strange and ominous signs in the days leading up to the final Ottoman assault on the city. On 22 May, there was [[May 1453 lunar eclipse|a lunar eclipse]] for three hours, harkening to a prophecy that Constantinople would fall when the moon was on [[Lunar phase|wane]].<!-- Verbatim from the source?
 --> In order to encourage the defenders, Constantine commanded that the icon of [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]], the city's protector, was to be carried in a procession through the streets. The procession was abandoned when the icon slipped from its frame and the weather turned to rain and hail. Carrying out the procession on the next day was impossible as the city became engulfed in a thick fog.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=66–67}}

On 26 May, the Ottomans held a war council. Çandarlı Halil Pasha, who believed western military aid to the city was imminent, counseled Mehmed to compromise with the Byzantines and withdraw whereas [[Zagan Pasha]], a military officer, urged the sultan to push on and pointed out that [[Alexander the Great]] had conquered almost the entire known world when he was young. Perhaps knowing that they would support a final assault, Mehmed ordered Zagan to tour the camp and gather the opinions of the soldiers.{{Sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=229}} On the evening of 26 May, the dome of the Hagia Sophia was lit up by a strange and mysterious light phenomenon, also spotted by the Ottomans from their camp outside the city. The Ottomans saw it as a great omen for their victory and the Byzantines saw it as a sign of impending doom. 28 May was calm, as Mehmed had ordered a day of rest before his final assault. The citizens who had not been put to work on repairing the crumbling walls or manning them prayed in the streets. On Constantine's orders, icons and relics from all the monasteries and churches in the city were carried along the walls. Both Catholics and Orthodox defenders joined in prayers and hymns and Constantine led the procession himself.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=66–67}} Giustiniani sent word to Loukas Notaras to request that Notaras' artillery be brought to defend the land walls, which Notaras refused. Giustiniani accused Notaras of treachery and they almost fought each other before Constantine intervened.{{Sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=229}}

In the evening, the crowds moved to the [[Hagia Sophia]], with Orthodox and Catholic Christians joining and praying, the fear of impending doom having done more to unite them than the councils ever could. Cardinal Isidore was in attendance, as was Emperor Constantine. Constantine prayed and asked for forgiveness and remission of his sins from all the bishops there before he [[Eucharist|received communion]] at the church's altar. The emperor then left the church, going to the imperial palace and asking his household there for forgiveness and saying farewell to them before again disappearing into the night, going to make a final inspection of the soldiers manning the city walls.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=67–69}}

Without warning, the Ottomans began their final assault in the early hours of 29 May.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=69–70}} The service in the Hagia Sophia was interrupted, with fighting-age men rushing to the walls to defend the city and the other men and women helping the parts of the army stationed within the city.{{Sfn|Carr|2015|p=256}} Waves of Mehmed's troops charged at Constantinople's land walls, hammering at the weakest section for more than two hours. Despite the relentless attack, the defense, led by Giustiniani and supported by Constantine, held firm.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=69–70}} Unbeknownst to anyone, after six hours of fighting, just before sunrise,{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=69–70}} Giustiniani was mortally wounded.{{Sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=233}} Constantine begged Giustiniani to stay and continue fighting,{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=69–70}} allegedly saying:

{{blockquote|quote=My brother, fight bravely. Do not forsake us in your distress. The salvation of the City depends on you. Return to your post. Where are you going?{{sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=233}}|title=|source=}}

Giustiniani was too weak, however, and his bodyguards carried him to the harbor and escaped the city on a Genoese ship. The Genoese troops wavered when they saw their commander leave them, and though the Byzantine defenders fought on, the Ottomans soon gained control of both the outer and inner walls. About fifty Ottoman soldiers made it through one of the gates, the ''[[Kerkoporta]]'', and were the first of the enemy to enter Constantinople; it had been left unlocked and ajar by a Venetian party the night before. Ascending up the tower above the ''Kerkoporta'', they managed to raise an Ottoman flag above the wall. The Ottomans stormed through the wall and many of the defenders panicked with no means of escape. Constantinople had fallen.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=69–70}} Giustiniani died of his wounds on his way home. Loukas Notaras was initially captured alive before being executed shortly after. Cardinal Isidore disguised himself as a slave and escaped across the Golden Horn to Galata. Orhan, Mehmed's cousin, disguised himself as a monk in an attempt to escape, but was identified and killed.{{Sfn|Nicolle|Haldon|Turnbull|2007|p=234}}

=== Death ===
[[File:Theofilos Palaiologos.jpg|thumb|Romanticized depiction of the final fighting at the [[fall of Constantinople]] by Greek folk painter [[Theophilos Hatzimihail]] (1932). Constantine is depicted as charging into battle on a white horse.]]
Constantine died the day Constantinople fell. There were no known surviving eyewitnesses to the death of the emperor and none of his entourage survived to offer any credible account of his death.{{Sfn|Philippides|Hanak|p=100|2011}}{{Sfn|Harris|2019|p=}} The Greek historian [[Michael Critobulus]], who later worked in the service of Mehmed, wrote that Constantine died fighting the Ottomans. Later Greek historians accepted Critobulus's account, never doubting that Constantine died as a hero and [[martyr]], an idea never seriously questioned in the Greek-speaking world.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=70}} Though none of the authors were eyewitnesses, a vast majority of those who wrote of Constantinople's fall, both Christians and Muslims, agree that Constantine died in the battle, with only three accounts claiming that the emperor escaped the city. It also seems probable that his body was later found and decapitated.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=82}} According to Critobulus, the last words of Constantine before he charged at the Ottomans were "the city is fallen and I am still alive".{{Sfn|Sherrard|1965|p=139}}
There were other conflicting contemporary accounts of Constantine's demise. Leonard of Chios, who was taken prisoner by the Ottomans but later managed to escape, wrote that once Giustiniani had fled the battle, Constantine's courage failed and the emperor implored his young officers to kill him so that he would not be captured alive by the Ottomans. None of the soldiers were brave enough to kill the emperor and once the Ottomans broke through, Constantine fell in the ensuing fight, only to briefly get up before falling again and being trampled. The Venetian physician [[Niccolò Barbaro]], who was present at the siege, wrote that no one knew if the emperor had died or escaped the city alive, noting that some said that his corpse had been seen among the dead while others claimed that he had hanged himself as soon as the Ottomans had broken through at the St. Romanus gate. Cardinal Isidore wrote, like Critobulus, that Constantine had died fighting at the St. Romanus gate. Isidore also added that he had heard that the Ottomans had found his body, cut off his head and presented it to Mehmed as a gift, who was delighted and showered the head with insults before taking it with him to Adrianople as a trophy. [[Jacopo Tedaldi]], a merchant from Florence who participated in the final fight, wrote that "some say that his head was cut off; others that he perished in the crush at the gate. Both stories may well be true".{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=76–77}}

Ottoman accounts of Constantine's demise all agree that the emperor was decapitated. [[Tursun Beg]], who was part of Mehmed's army at the battle, wrote a less heroic account of Constantine's death than the Christian authors. According to Tursun, Constantine panicked and fled, making for the harbor in hopes of finding a ship to escape the city. On his way there, he came across a band of Turkish marines, and after charging and nearly killing one of them, was decapitated. A later account by Ottoman historian [[Ibn Kemal]] is similar to Tursun's account, but states that the emperor's head was cut off by a giant marine, who killed him without realizing who he was.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=79–80}} [[Nicola Sagundino]], a Venetian who had once been a prisoner of the Ottomans following their conquest of Thessaloniki decades before, gave an account of Constantine's death to Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples in 1454 since he believed that the emperor's fate "deserved to be recorded and remembered for all time". Sagundino stated that although Giustiniani implored the emperor to escape as he was carried away after falling on the battlefield, Constantine refused and preferred to die with his empire. Constantine went to where the fighting appeared to be thickest and, as it would be unworthy of him to be captured alive, implored his officers to kill him. When none of them obeyed his command, Constantine threw off his imperial regalia, as to not let himself be distinguished from the other soldiers, and disappeared into the fray, sword in hand. According to one source, when Mehmed wanted the defeated Constantine to be brought to him, he was told it was too late as the emperor was dead. A search for the body was conducted, and when it was found, the emperor's head was cut off and paraded through Constantinople before it was sent to the Sultan of Egypt as a gift, alongside twenty captured women and forty captured men.{{Sfn|Nicol|1992|p=|pp=81–82}}