Byzantine
THE LAST YEARS OF THE BYZANTINEÂ EMPIRE
On May 29, 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, bringing to an end the 1,123-year history of the Byzantine. The rescuing monarch from the East did not look like the Prester John of legend, but his actions had a similar effect. Timur (Tamerlane) rose to power by violence and treachery in Transoxania. He was a Muslim, half Turkic…
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The Byzantine Recovery of Africa II
Belisarius and Officers Vandals The end came quickly. John the Armenian pursued Gelimer hotly for five days, but then he was killed accidentally by one of his own men who aimed an arrow at a bird while he was drunk, and struck down his own commander instead. Gelimer found refuge…
The Battle of Myriokephalon 1176
The first three Comnenoi emperors (Alexius, John and Manuel),recovered a great part of Asia Minor 1081-1176. The battle of Sirmium illustrates the fact that in the 1160s, even with a very different type of army from that which had won the great victories of the later tenth and early eleventh…
Byzantine defeat at Manzikert
The large Byzantine army intended to strengthen the fortifications of the eastern frontier and to invade Turkish Syria. The wild Turkish tribes who were raiding the empire could probably not have opposed this assault, but Alp Arslan was drawn into the fray by the threat to the Seljuk lands. The…
The Red Apple
A red apple invites stones. Turkish proverb Early spring. A black kite swings on the Istanbul wind. It turns lazy circles round the Suleymaniye mosque as if tethered to the minarets. From here it can survey a city of fifteen million people, watching the passing of days and centuries through…
Siege of Brusa 1317–1326
Forces Engaged Byzantine: Unknown. Commander: Unknown. Turkish: Unknown. Commander: Osman I and then Orkhan. The capture of Brusa established Osman I (Othman) and his successors as the major power in Asia Minor, beginning the Ottoman Empire. The peoples known as Turks originated not in the Turkey of today but in…
The End of the Fourth Crusade and the Early Years of the Latin Empire, 1204–5 Part I
The story of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-61) is a convoluted and frustrating tale. The crusade had culminated in Baldwin’s coronation, but the attempt to consolidate this achievement meant years of warfare, brief periods of progress and peace and, for many of the main actors, a violent death. Yet…