Siege of Constantinople (1422)
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Constantinople in 1422; the oldest surviving map before the Ottoman period.
| date | 1422 |
|---|---|
| place | Constantinople |
| output | Byzantine victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
John VIII de facto co-emperor with his father Manuel II. |
|
The first Ottoman siege of Constantinople took place in 1422. It took place in response to the attempts of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II. Palaiologos of the Ottoman sultanate after the death of the throne I. Mehmed influence. The Byzantines had often used this strategy before to weaken their neighbors.
When Murad II had succeeded his father, he marched into Byzantine territory. For the siege of 1422, the Turks bought their own cannons for the first time, so-called “falconettes”, short but wide cannons. Technologically, both sides were now equally strong.
The Byzantine defenders won the battle. Contemporary Byzantine authors ascribed the saving of the city to the Theotokos, as in earlier times .
consequences
Despite the Byzantine victory, the empire was reduced to a few coastal strips and the city of Constantinople itself. It struggled with severe economic problems and a shortage of soldiers . Pius II advocated the donation of cannons by other Christian European states. All new Byzantine cannons after the siege of 1422 were in fact gifts from Western European states; otherwise the Byzantines made no effort to increase their arsenals. Much of the success of the next Ottoman ruler, Mehmed II , in the next Ottoman siege of the city can be attributed to this.
Legend
Byzantine sources speak of a sudden appearance of the Theotokos, which gave courage to the defenders. Johannes Kananos reports:
“The Romans, though overwhelmed with exhaustion, jumped up and shouted ... They sang hymns to the Most Holy Virgin and praised her from the bottom of their hearts, and confessed: 'This is truly a solemn, memorable, extraordinary miracle, of adoration worthy.'"
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Stephen Turnbull, The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324–1453 ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Osprey Publishing , ISBN 1-84176-759-X .
