The fall of Constantinople and the 16th century debates about the form of conquest of the city

From: Agron Islami

The small city named Byzantion, founded in c. VII BC, about five centuries later (II century BC) will be attached to the cities ruled by the Roman Empire. Although Byzantium had great geostrategic advantages, it had not attracted the attention of the Roman emperors. Things change with the coming to the throne of Constantine the First (324-337), who in May 330, in an atmosphere of celebrations that lasted four days, will move the imperial residence of Rome to the shores of the Bosphorus. Thus, even officially, small Byzantium will become the center of the world. But now with the new name, Kostandinopoja - a name that also identified the new owner, Kostandini. From here on, Constantinople, which was the capital of the Roman Empire for 1123 years, will be the heart of civilizations where the sectarian wars of Christianity will be fought right there.

Just as Constantine - born in the area of ​​Illyria (Nish), also known for war strategy and pragmatism in the benefit of the masses (as is the case with the recognition of Christianity) - the ancient city of Byzantium was erected on the Bosphorus Strait. , surrounded by the sea and the Golden Horn/Cape. There were favorable conditions to withstand the storms of invasions. Therefore, and not by chance, this city, fortified by Constantine, withstood the many sieges made by the armies of the Arab dynasties and those of the Ottoman sultans. It stood firm until the invention of new technology, such as the cannon, which managed to demolish the defensive walls in 1453.

The Latins (Christians of the West), Arabs, Hungarians, Serbs, Pechenegs, Turkish tribes, etc. had mercy on the conquest of Constantinople. However, the first conquest was carried out by the Latin crusaders on April 13, 1204. According to N. Acominati, "the city of glory was already nothing but despair, tears, screams and groans". This violent outcry came as a result of the sectarian war between the two Roman centers (East and West) divided into religious sects. Whereas, the second occupation was that of 1453, when the Ottomans led by Sultan Mehmet II subdued it once and for all.

Mehmet II's biographers state that the sultan was as much a strategist as he was a builder (Constantine). This one had done all the research on the advantages that the imperial city had. And, based on these findings, he made the plan of occupation. First he built the fortification of Rumeli Hisari (10 miles north of the city, on the European side of the Bosphorus), where he controlled the sea routes towards the Black Sea and provided the way for the penetration of Ottoman troops from Anatolia to Europe (January-August 1452). Immediately after finishing the fortification works, Mehmet asked the city to surrender, otherwise he would face a complete siege and siege. He then returned to the Ottoman capital (Edrene) and began researching the invention of the technology for demolishing the centuries-old impregnable walls built by Emperor Theodosius II. With this matter he engaged the great master of Hungarian origin, Urban, and, at the very end, after making preparations for the march to the city, he renewed the Peace Agreement with the maritime state of Venice and signed an act of peace with the Hungarians as well. On March 23, 1453, Friday, the Ottoman army marched towards Constantinople. It took Sultan Mehmet a full 54 days of siege and war to break the defense and capture the imperial city which was defended by the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI himself.

Sectarian divisions were evident from the time of the separation of the churches but, in 1439, the Byzantine emperor, in exchange for the help that Rome would offer, accepted submission to the latter, promising the union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Patrick in Constantinople and his followers/believers reacted strongly against this decision, which they called as humiliation to the point of humiliation towards the Church of Rome. However, this did not prevent the patrician Georgios Skolarios from sending about 30 of his followers to the defense of the city together with a small formation of Catholic Christians from Naples, according to the agreement for the union of the churches. One of the military formations coming from the West, which played a key role in the defense of the city, was that of Giovanni Giustiniani Longos, who together with 700 professional warriors had arrived as early as January 1453 and was one of the designers of all the strategies of protection.

The number of professional warriors from the Byzantine side was around 9-10 thousand. Meanwhile, 30 of Patrick's followers were also armed inside the walls, as well as a formation of 100 people led by Orhan Çelebiu, an Ottoman prince who had taken refuge in Byzantium. Meanwhile, the sultan's professional army had about 70 thousand people. It is worth noting that the Sultan was helped by military and professional formations from the peoples of Anatolia and Rumelia (today's Balkans) who were under Ottoman vassalage. P. sh. the ruler of today's Kosovo space had sent 1500 miners who contributed to the opening of tunnels under the city walls.

On April 6, 1453, Constantinople will face the first attack and one of the most powerful it has ever experienced. For the first time the sultan used the ball constructed by the great Hungarian master, Urban. This new technology, in addition to the destruction of the walls, also caused panic and loss of morale among the defenders, especially among the volunteers who came from the common population. Then, on the 11th, various batteries of war cannons were used. Meanwhile, on April 18, the Ottoman armies marched towards the city, from all four sides. The defense managed to be successful against this attack. This failure caused the morale of the Ottoman army to drop. Whereas, nine days later, respectively on April 20, 1453, three Genoese and one Byzantine warship managed to break the Ottoman forces at the Golden Horn and supply the city with food.

This failure of the Ottoman forces caused the wing of the Ottoman bureaucrats, led by the prime minister, Çandarli Halil Pasha, to once again seek withdrawal from the goal of subjugating Constantinople. In these moments, when the sultan had to make the difficult decision, to continue or withdraw, a moral support comes from the Islamic scholar of the time and his personal teacher, Akshemsetini. He writes a letter to the lonely Padishah that has been preserved to this day. In this letter, which had Quranic verses and glorious stories of Muslims for reference, it demanded that all those who did not fight with honor be punished and replaced with the right ones. At the very bottom of the letter he wrote that, to overcome the boredom he felt from the failure of the attack, he had read parts of the holy book, the Koran, then fell asleep. In a dream, some sikhariqs were shown to him, which informed the Sultan that this dream was a sign that the city mentioned in the statement of the prophet Muhammad - "the most blessed commander and the most blessed army is the one that will liberate Constantinople" - it would fall. At the very end of the letter, he imperiously asked him to proceed according to the plans.

After that, Mehmeti, in order to raise the morale of the skeptics, decided to transport 60 ships from land over the hills of Gallata to Haliç (Golden Horn). This move caused the Byzantine success of April 20 to turn into panic and fear. However, the extension of the siege and the stay in the country favored the opposition wing of the Ottoman bureaucrats who continued with sabotage. This time they will also use the threatening visit of the Hungarian representative, who had come to the war headquarters to announce the news that, in case of not withdrawing from the siege, a Christian army will march towards Constantinople. Although this threat was not heeded, the Byzantines managed to spread the word within the army that the Christian army was already on its way to Rumelia.

In these critical moments for the sultan, who was accused of spending the military and economic power of the state for himself, Zaganos (Zognos) Pasha will come to his support (Italian sources show that he is of Albanian origin and this statement is also supported from Halil Inalcik who says he was from Vushtrri) and so the sultan asked the pasha (Albanian) to draw up the plan for the final attack. Thus, the decision was made to launch the attack on May 29.

This attack made Mehmet II's dream come true to take the city of one of Rome's most vocal emperors. With the subjugation of the city, the emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI, also fell heroically. The fall of the emperor caused Mehmet II to receive the epithet "Fatih" (The Deliverer) and this as a result of receiving the crown of Byzantium, as well as the conversion of the main church of Eastern Christianity, Hagia Sophia, into a mosque. The act of turning the main church into a mosque was also symbolic - of the conflict between Islam and Christianity, as it also marks the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Sultan Mehmet II is considered one of the greatest statesmen in history and the most distinguished of the Muslims. From the composition of the literature found in his personal library, it is implied that he was an excellent connoisseur of the old languages, had read works on the history of the prophets, Leka the Great, history of the emperors, philosophy and natural science, and does not remember that had well studied the purpose and vision of Constantine in relation to the reconstruction of the imperial city. Thus, the sultan did not destroy the city, as the Latins did in 1204. On the contrary, he took care to protect it by law. So, not by chance, this city only became more cosmopolitan than it was. No people (regardless of race, religion) was excluded from being a part of the commerce and dynamics of Istanbul. It is enough to remember the names of the professions with the name Arnavut/Albanian - as in Arnavut Kalldrēmi, Arnavut Cigeri, Arnavut Çullamasi, etc. (they got the names Arnavut/Albanian, because they were professions and foods with which Albanians were identified) etc.

As all the sources of the time tell us, after the sultan entered the city, according to the practice of the time, he allowed looting for three days (but not the demolition); he promised the inhabitants the right to live and to exercise the former faith. He designated the Church of the Apostles as the center of the Patriarchate, but later, in 1455, Patriarch Gennadius requested that it be moved to the Pamakaristos Monastery. As the Church of the Apostles remained empty, in 1490 the Muslims asked to convert it into a mosque. But, the fact that these monasteries and churches were not common in terms of consecration, such a request was not approved.

However, the issue of churches and monasteries took a different direction during the reign of Selim the First (1512-1520). This time, the issue was raised by Muslim fanatics who, influenced by the Ottoman-Safavid wars, demanded the closure of active monasteries in Istanbul. For this matter, the patriarch Theolept I was asked to testify by decree (berat) the rights that Sultan Mehmet II had recognized over churches and monasteries. Patrick concluded that these berets may have been burned and proposed to take into account the statements of some living soldiers who had been part of the fighting in Istanbul. After these statements of the witnesses, this time too the statute of the cult objects was preserved.

The debate on the Pamakaristos Monastery was revived even in the time of Sylejman the First (1520-1566). This time, doubts were created in relation to how Fatihu took Istanbul - by war or by peace agreement? Thus, the issue takes on a legal dimension that a Fatfa/opinion of Sheikh Hulislam/the greatest Scholar of the time, Abu Suud Efendi, who is also known for the compilation of all Ottoman legislation, was issued.

The question that sought Sheikhulislam's opinion was: "Sultan Mehmeti, the city of Istanbul, together with the surrounding villages, he took with war"? The answer was: "The mentioned areas were taken by war, but the existence of old churches means that (this area where the churches/mansions are located) was surrendered in peace". Thus, the critical voices demanding the closure of churches and monasteries in 16th century Istanbul were extinguished.

Despite the pro and con debate developed over the centuries, detailed modern studies based on written and field evidence prove the fact that Istanbul fell into the hands of the Ottomans after a long war and that we are not dealing with any peace agreement. The opinion of the Islamic scholar was in accordance with the right of the Islamic jurisprudence for inter-religious coexistence, as long as the non-Muslims respected the rights and laws specified in the canons based on the Sharia. On the other hand, the existence of the activity of churches and monasteries at the time of Sultan Mehmet II, also proves the vision of the Sultan to preserve religious harmony in the city which will be the capital of the Ottomans for 470 years and for 407 years the center of the Caliphate. (Khilafate) Islam. /Telegraph/