Constantine XI

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Constantine XI Palaiologos
Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire
Constantine XI Palaiologos — considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church
Constantine XI Palaiologos — considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church
Reign January 6, 1449 – May 29, 1453
Coronation January 6, 1449
Born February 8, 1405
Died May 29, 1453
Predecessor John VIII Palaiologos
Successor None (Ottoman rule)
Wife Maddalena Tocco
Caterina Gattilusio
Caterina Notaras
Issue None
Father Manuel II Palaiologos
Mother Helena Dragaš


Constantine XI Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ' Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, Kōnstantinos XI Dragasēs Palaiologos, February 8, 1405[1] – May 29, 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor. A member of the Palaiologos dynasty, he ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1449 to his death.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Constantine was born in Constantinople as the eighth of ten children of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš of Kumanovo. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. During the absence of his older brother in Italy, Constantine was regent in Constantinople from 1437-1440.

[edit] Despot at Morea

Constantine became the Despotes of Morea (the Medieval name for the Peloponnesus) in October 1443, ruling from the fortress and palace in Mistra. At the time, Mistra was a center of arts and culture rivaling Constantinople.

After establishing himself as the Despot, Constantine worked to strengthen the defense of Morea, including reconstructing a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth called the Hexamilion, "the Six Mile Wall."

In the summer of 1444, he launched an invasion of the Latin Duchy of Athens from Morea, swiftly conquering Thebes and Athens and forcing its Florentine duke to pay him tribute. The Duchy was ruled by Nerio II Acciajuoli, a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan.

However, his triumph was short-lived. In the fall of 1446, the Ottomans advanced on Morea with 50-60,000 soldiers. Constantine and his brother Thomas braced for the attack at the Hexamilion, which the Ottoman army reached on November 27, 1446. While the wall may have held against medieval attacks, Sultan Murad had cannons to supplement the usual siege engines and scaling ladders, leaving the Hexamilion in ruins by December 10. Constantine and Thomas barely escaped. The winter prevented a full conquest of Morea, and Murad left that to another day, but put an end to Constantine's attempt to expand his Despotate.

[edit] Marriages

Constantine XI married twice: the first time on July 1, 1428 to Maddalena Tocco, niece of Carlo I Tocco of Epirus, who died in November 1429; the second time to Caterina Gattilusio, daughter of Dorino of Lesbos, who also died (1442). He had no children by either marriage.

[edit] Reign as emperor

Despite the foreign and domestic difficulties during his reign, which culminated in the fall of Constantinople and of the Byzantine Empire, contemporary sources generally speak respectfully of the emperor Constantine.

When his brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, died, a dispute erupted between Constantine and his brother Demetrios Palaiologos over the throne. Demetrios drew support for his opposition to the union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. The Empress Helena, acting as regent, supported Constantine. They appealed to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II to arbitrate the disagreement.

Murad chose Constantine, who was crowned at Mistra on January 6, 1449. It was unusual to crown an emperor outside of Constantinople (and without a Patriarch of the Orthodox Church), and no ecclesiastical coronation was ever performed. Constantine was forced to seek passage to his capital on a Catalan ship, arriving in March 1449. Constantine XI attempted to marry a distant cousin, Maria Branković, the widow of Murad II, but the courtship failed.

Sultan Murad died in 1451, succeeded by his 19 year old son Mehmed II. Soon afterwards, Mehmed II began agitating for ownership of Constantinople. Constantine threatened to release Prince Orhan, a pretender to the Ottoman throne, unless Mehmed doubled an annual payment. To Mehmed, this was the last straw, and he considered Constantine to have broken the truce. The following winter of 1451-52, Mehmed built Rumelihisari, a fortress on a hill at the European side of the Bosporus, just north of the city, as a prelude for a siege.

Desperate for any type of military assistance, Constantine XI appealed to the West and reaffirmed the union of Eastern and Roman Churches which had been signed at the Council of Florence. However, the union was overwhelmingly rejected by his subjects and it dangerously estranged him from Loukas Notaras, his chief minister and military commander. Although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city states in the north of Italy, the Western contribution was not adequate to counterbalance Ottoman strength. While Constantine also sought assistance from his brothers in Morea, any help was forestalled by an Ottoman invasion of the peninsula in 1452. The siege of the city began in the winter of 1453.

[edit] Fall of Constantinople

Before the siege began, Mehmed II offered Constantine XI the chance to rule in Mistra, but the emperor refused. Constantine led the defense of the city in person and took an active part in the fighting along the land walls. At the same time, he had to use all his diplomatic skills to maintain a precarious unity between the Genoese, Venetian and Greek troops. He was killed while defending the gates of Constantinople when the city fell on May 29, 1453. Near the end of the battle, Constantine is said to have remarked, "The City is fallen but I am alive". Realising that the end had come, he is said to have discarded his purple cloak and led his remaining soldiers to charge into the breach.

[edit] Death or Occultation

There is some question to if the Emperor was killed or in some way went through occultation. Some sources record that he was killed, after he was recognized after battle by his purple boots. Another source records that the Turks were never able to identify his body, and so the last Roman Emperor was buried in a mass grave along with his soldiers. Concerning about his occultation, legend has it, that when the Ottomans entered the city, an angel rescued the emperor, turned him into marble and placed him in a cave under the earth near the Golden Gate, where he waits to be brought to life again.[2][3]

While serving as ambassador to Russia in February of 1834, Achmet Pacha presented Czar Nicholas with a number of gifts, including a jewel-encrusted sword said to have been taken from Constantine XI's corpse, following the Invasion of Constantinople.[4] Today he is considered a hero by many in the Church, despite the fact he is not yet an official Saint. [5]

[edit] Ancestry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16. Michael IX Palaiologos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Andronikos III Palaiologos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17. Rita of Armenia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. John V Palaiologos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18. Amadeus V, Count of Savoy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9. Anna of Savoy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19. Maria of Brabant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Manuel II Palaiologos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20. Michael Kantakouzenos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. John VI Kantakouzenos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21. Theodora Palaiologina Angelina Kantakouzene
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5. Helena Kantakouzene
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 22. Andronikos Asen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Irene Asanina
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Constantine XI Palaiologos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12. Dejan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6. Constantine Dragaš
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 26. Stefan Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Theodora of Serbia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27. Theodora of Bulgaria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Helena Dragaš
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


[edit] Unofficial saint

Orthodox Christians consider Constantine XI a saint, but he has not been officially recognized as such. One of the reasons for this was that in the centuries of Ottoman rule, any effort on the part of the Orthodox Church to officially glorify Constantine XI as a saint would have been seen as an act of rebellion, and hence decidedly ill-advised. After the Greek War of Independence (1821-1831), when the Greek Orthodox Church once again had freedom to act, an official act of glorification was thought to be superfluous, on account of longstanding veneration as a saint and martyr, specifically, a national martyr or ethnomartyr, (Greek: ἐθνομάρτυρας). However, the erection of the statue of "Saint Constantine XI the Ethnomartyr" in the square in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, with the formal blessing of the Church authorities, appears to be a semi-official act of recognition. His feast falls on 29 May.


[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nicol, D. M., The Immortal Emperor pp. 2
  2. ^ The Marble King (in Greek)
  3. ^ Odysseas Elytis's poem on Constantine XI Palaeologos
  4. ^ Niles' Register, "Russia and Turkey", February 1834. Page 426.
  5. ^ ΑΙΟΛΙΣ
Constantine XI
Palaiologos dynasty
Born: 8 February 1405 Died: 29 May 1453
Regnal titles
Preceded by
John VIII Palaiologos		 Byzantine Emperor
1448–1453		 Conquest by Mehmed II of Ottoman Empire
Preceded by
Theodore II Palaiologos		 Despot of Morea
1443–1449		 Succeeded by
Thomas Palaiologos
v • d • e
Roman and Byzantine Emperors
Principate
27 BC – 235
Crisis
235–284
Dominate
284–395
Western Empire
395–480
Eastern/
Byzantine Empire
395–1204

Arcadius · Theodosius II · Pulcheria · Marcian · Leo I · Leo II · Zeno · Basiliscus · Anastasius I · Justin I · Justinian I · Justin II · Tiberius II Constantine · Maurice · Phocas · Heraclius · Constantine III · Heraklonas · Constans II · Mezezius · Constantine IV · Justinian II · Leontios · Tiberios III · Philippikos · Anastasios II · Theodosios III · Leo III the Isaurian · Constantine V · Artabasdos · Leo IV the Khazar · Constantine VI · Irene · Nikephoros I · Staurakios · Michael I Rangabe · Leo V the Armenian · Michael II · Theophilos · Theodora I · Michael III · Basil I · Leo VI the Wise · Alexander · Constantine VII · Romanos I · Romanos II · Nikephoros II · John I Tzimiskes · Basil II · Constantine VIII · Zoe · Romanos III · Michael IV · Michael V · Constantine IX · Theodora II · Michael VI · Isaac I · Constantine X · Michael VII · Romanos IV · Nikephoros III · Alexios I · John II · Manuel I · Alexios II · Andronikos I · Isaac II · Alexios III Angelos · Alexios IV · Nikolaos Kanabos · Alexios V
Empire of Nicaea
1204–1261
Byzantine Empire
1261–1453

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