Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453

by Roger Crowley

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  Index

  Figures in italics indicate captions.

  Abraham 1

  Abraham of Ankara 1

  Acropolis point 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Adige River 1

  Adrianople (Edirne) 1, 2

  see also Edirne

  Aegean coast 1, 2

  Aegean Sea 1, 2, 3, 4

  Agincourt, Battle of (1415) 1, 2

  Ahmet (half-brother of Mehmet II) 1

  Ahmeti 1

  ak sancak (Sultan’s banner) 1

  Akshemsettin, Sheikh 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Al-Kashgari 1

  Al-Rawandi 1

  Albania 1

  Aleppo 1

  Alexander the Great 1, 2, 3, 4

  Alexios IV Angelos (pretender) 1

  Alfonso of Aragon and Naples 1

  Alhambra, Spain 1

  Ali (half-brother of Mehmet II) 1

  Ali Bey 1

  Amasya, Anatolia 1

  Anadolu Hisari 1, 2

  Anatolia 1, 2, 3, 4

  Ottoman call to arms 5

  retreating Muslims harassed (718) 1

  fertile lowlands 1

  gazis frequently raid 1

  referred to as Turchia by 1220s 1

  Byzantine kingdom in exile at Nicaea 1

  collapses into a mosaic of small kingdoms (1243) 1

  mobilization for the 1453 campaign 1

  wandering holy men 1

  and the Great Idea 1

  Anatolian troops 1, 2

  Ancona 1, 2

  Andronikos III, Emperor 1

  Andronikos the Terrible 1

  Anemas prison 1

  Ankara slave market 1

  Anthemius 1

  anti-unionist clergy 1, 2, 3

  Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius 1

  Arabian Peninsula 1

  archers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Aristotle 1

  Armenia: surrender to the Arabs (653) 1

  armourers 1

  arquebuses 1, 2

  Arrian 1

  arrows, flaming 1, 2

  Arsenal, Constantinople 1

  Arslan, Sultan Alp 1

  Artevelde, Philip van 1

  artillery

  contribution to the conduct of warfare 1

  Murat II creates the infrastructure for an artillery force 1

  and long-drawn-out sieges 1

  Asia Minor 1, 2

  Asian steppes 1

  Asomaton 1

  Ataturk, Kemal 1, 2

  Attila the Hun 1

  Avar siege (626) 1

  Avars 1, 2, 3

  Aya Sofya mosque, Constantinople 1, 2

  see also St Sophia church

  Ayyub (Eyüp; the Prophet’s standard-bearer) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  azaps (Ottoman infantry) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Bacon, Roger 1

  Bactatinian Tower 1

  Baghdad 1

  sacking of (1258) 2

  Balkans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Baltaoglu, Admiral 1

  seizure of the Princes’ Islands 1, 2

  fleet assembled under him at Gallipoli 1

  failed attack on the boom 1, 2

  confronts Genoese intruders 1, 2, 3, 4

  wounded by a stone 1

  stripped of his rank and property 1

  replaced by Hamza Bey 1

  Barbaro, Marco 1

  Barbaro, Nicolo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

  battering rams 1, 2, 3

  Bayburt, Anatolia 1

  Bayezit, Sultan 1, 2

  Bayezit II, Sultan 1, 2

  Bedouins 1

  Bektashi order 1

  Belgrade 1

  Bellini, Gentile 1, 2

  Benvenuto, consul of Ancona 1

  biremes 1, 2

  Blachernae church 1

  Blachernae Palace 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

  Blachernae sacred shrine of the Virgin 1

  Blachernae wall 1

  Black Death 1, 2

  Black Sea 1, 2, 3

  Ovid exiled 4

  oil wells 1

  and Rumeli Hasari 1

  blockade of 1, 2

  winters 1

  supply of food dries up (winter of 1452 ) 1

  cannon ball production 1, 2, 3

  Constantine’s fortified outposts 1

  throttling of trade routes 1

  Bocchiardi brothers 1, 2, 3, 4

  Bocchiardo, Antonio 1

  Bocchiardo, Paolo 1, 2

  Bocchiardo, Troilo 1

  bodyguards 1, 2, 3, 4

  Bologna 1

  bolts, crossbow 1, 2, 3

  bombards 1, 2

  Bosnia 1

  Bosphorus Strait 1, 2, 3

  divides Asia and Europe 4, 5

  severe winters 1, 2

  Darius’s bridge of boats 1, 2

  an area of vulnerability for the Ottomans 1

  Constantine’s fortified outposts 1

  troops ferried across (1453) 1

  strong currents 1, 2

  Bourges 1

  bowmen 1, 2, 3

  bows 1, 2

  Brankovic, George 1

  Brankovic, Mara 1

  brigantines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Brightman, Thomas 1

  Brocquière, Bertrandon de la 1, 2, 3, 4

  bronze 1, 2, 3

  Brusa (Bursa) 1

  Bryennios, Joseph 1

  Bucoleon Palace 1

  Budapest 1

  Bulgars 1, 2, 3

  Bull of Excommunication (1054) 1, 2

  Bursa 1, 2

  tombs of Osman and Orhan 3

  revolt of Janissaries (1451) 1, 2

  slave market 1

  Byron, George Gordon, Lord 1

  Byzantine army

  defeat at the Battle of Manzikert (1071) 1, 2

  defeat in 1176 1

  size of army at 1453 siege 1

  multi-national force 1

  organisation of 1

  Byzantine Empire

  Constantinople as capital 1

  Justinian’s statue as a monument to its might 1

  theological issues 1

  tribal wanderers in 1

  size of 1

  resilience 1

  Turks invited to help in civil wars 1

  dismembered 1, 2

  internecine feuding 1

  vassal of the Ottoman Emperor 1

  reputation for cunning 1

  inexorable decline 1

  end of 1

  Byzantine fleet

  Battle of the Masts (655) 1

  running battles with the Arabs (674-8) 1

  attack using Greek fire destroys Muslim fleet (678) 1

  abolished by Andronikos (1284) 1

  workless sailors defect to the Ottomans 1

  available craft 1

  Byzantines

  fear of siege 1

  considered to be heirs to the Roman Empire 1

  Greek-speaking inhabitants of Constantinople 1

  fatalism 1

  attacks ascribed to God’s punishment for

  Christian sin 1

  preference for
their settled Muslim neighbours 1

  kingdom in exile at Nicaea 1

  Constantinople recaptured (1261) 1

  hidebound by a thousand years of ceremony and tradition 1

  dynastic marriages and legitimate succession through approved bloodlines 1

  Byzas 1

  Caesar, Julius 1, 2

  Cafer Bey 1

  Cairo 1

  Caligaria Gate 1, 2, 3

  Camariotes, Mathew 1

  Campi, Jacopo de 1

  Candia, Crete 1, 2, 3, 4

  cannon 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  manufacture 7

  Murat breaches the Hexamilion with long cannon 1

  bronze vs. forged iron 1

  Ottomans able to cast medium-sized barrels on the battlefield 1, 2

  repair of 1

  barrels tailor-made to available ammunition 1

  Orban’s guns 1, 2

  firing 1

  transporting 1

  Therapia attack 1

  Orban’s supergun (the Basilica) 1, 2, 3, 4

  number of 1

  preparing 1

  effect of cannon fire 1

  of the defenders 1

  drawbacks 1

  firing strategy 1

  used by defenders as huge shotguns 1

  light 1

  creation of cannon with looping trajectory 1, 2