Editing Mehmed II (section)

=== Conquest of the Morea (1458–1460) ===
[[File:Sarayi Album 145ba.jpg|thumb|15th century portrait of Mehmed II (1432–1481), showing Italian influence]]
{{main|Ottoman conquest of the Morea}}
The [[Despotate of the Morea]] bordered the southern Ottoman Balkans. The Ottomans had already invaded the region under [[Murad II]], destroying the Byzantine defenses&nbsp;– the [[Hexamilion wall]]&nbsp;– at the [[Isthmus of Corinth]] in 1446. Before the final siege of [[Constantinople]], Mehmed ordered Ottoman troops to attack the Morea. The despots, [[Demetrios Palaiologos]] and [[Thomas Palaiologos]], brothers of the last emperor, failed to send any aid. The chronic instability and the tribute payment to the Turks, after the peace treaty of 1446 with Mehmed II, resulted in an [[Morea revolt of 1453–1454|Albanian-Greek revolt]] against them, during which the brothers invited Ottoman troops to help put down the revolt.{{sfn|Babinger|1992|pp=125–126}} At this time, a number of influential Moreote Greeks and Albanians made private peace with Mehmed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://angiolello.net/ARCHONS.pdf |title=Contemporary Copy of the Letter of Mehmet II to the Greek Archons 26 December 1454 (ASV Documenti Turchi B.1/11) |publisher=Angiolello.net |access-date=17 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727041148/http://angiolello.net/ARCHONS.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2013 }}</ref> After more years of incompetent rule by the despots, their failure to pay their annual tribute to the Sultan, and finally their own revolt against Ottoman rule, Mehmed entered the Morea in May 1460. The capital [[Mystras|Mistra]] fell exactly seven years after Constantinople, on 29 May 1460. Demetrios ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas fled. By the end of the summer, the Ottomans had achieved the submission of virtually all cities possessed by the Greeks.

A few holdouts remained for a time. The island of [[Monemvasia]] refused to surrender, and it was ruled for a brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out they obtained the consent of Thomas to submit to the Pope's protection before the end of 1460.{{sfn|Babinger|1992|pp=173–175}} The [[Mani Peninsula]], on the Morea's south end, resisted under a loose coalition of local clans, and the area then came under the rule of [[Republic of Venice|Venice]]. The last holdout was [[Salmeniko]], in the Morea's northwest. [[Graitzas Palaiologos]] was the military commander there, stationed at [[Salmeniko Castle]] (also known as Castle Orgia). While the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian territory.{{sfn|Babinger|1992|pp=176–177}}