The Grand Turk: Sultan Mehmet II - Conqueror of Constantinople and Master of an Empire by John Freely Page B
Authors: John Freely
Ads: Link
no man. He…says the Caesar and Hannibal were of no account compared with himself, and that Alexander…entered Asia with a far smaller force than his. Now he says, times have changed, and he will march from the East to the West, as the West once marched against the East; now there must be only one empire in the world, one faith for all, and one kingdom. There is no place anywhere for such a union than Constantinople, and with the help of this city, he can make the Christians his subjects. He is not a man given to lustful desires, and of sober habits, not wishing to hear of any drunkenness at the time of Rhamadan. He is not enslaved by any pleasures or delights, but only by the love of glory.
After establishing his capital in Istanbul, Mehmet launched a campaign into Serbia in the spring of 1454, his objective being to reclaim the territory his father had returned to the despot George Brancović by the Treaty of Edirne in 1444.
Mehmet and Ishak Pasha captured two Serbian fortresses, but they were forced to abandon their conquests when John Hunyadi appeared with a Hungarian army. Mehmet launched another campaign into Serbia the following year, when he captured the town of Novo Brdo, noted for its gold and silver mines. Among those captured by the Turks was a young Serb named Constantine Mihailović, who was enrolled in the janissaries and later wrote a memoir of his experiences, including his capture at Novo Brdo.
All those among the men who were the most important and distinguished he [Mehmet] ordered decapitated. The remainder he ordered released to the city. As for their possessions, nothing of theirs was harmed. The boys were 320 in number and the females 74. The females he distributed among the heathens [Turks], but he took the boys for himself into the Janissaries, and sent them beyond the sea to Anatolia, where their preserve is. I was also taken in that city with my two brothers…
The sixteenth-century chronicler Mustafa Ali notes that, on the sultan’s return from campaign in 1454, ‘Mehmet spent many nights in debauchery with lovely-eyed, fairylike slave girls, and his days drinking with pages who looked like angels. But he was only seemingly engaged in debauchery and wantonness, in reality he was working, guided by the love of justice, to relieve the oppression of his subjects in the land.’
During the years 1454-5 Mehmet also sent his navy into the Aegean under the command of Hamza Bey, who attacked the islands of Nisyros, Kalymnos, Kos and Chios. One of the Turkish galleys was sunk at Chios, which led Mehmet to dismiss Hamza Bey and replace him with Yunus Bey. At the beginning of November 1455 Yunus captured the Genoese colony of Nea Phokaia on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor north of Izmir. Six weeks later another Turkish force seized the Genoese colony at Palaeo Phokaia, a short way to the south of Nea Phokaia. This gave Mehmet control of the lucrative alum mines that the Genoese had developed through the two Phokaias, their principal commercial colonies on the Aegean coast Asia Minor, now permanently lost to them.
The two ports and the mines had been the property of Dorino II Gattilusio, the Genoese lord of Lesbos and the islands of Samothrace and Imbros as well as the port of Enez (Aenos) north of the Gallipoli peninsula. Early in 1456 Mehmet himself led a force of janissaries against Enez, which surrendered without a struggle, while at the same time Yunus Bey captured the islands of Imbros and Samothrace, where he took Dorino Gattilusio prisoner. Gattilusio was forced to give up all his possessions to Mehmet, who in compensation gave him a small fief in Macedonia. Mehmet then appointed Kritoboulos, his biographer, to be the Ottoman governor of his native Imbros.
Mehmet spent the winter of 1455-6 preparing a major campaign against Serbia and Hungary, which he regarded as his major enemies in Europe now that he had made peace with Venice. His major objective in this campaign was Belgrade, the
After establishing his capital in Istanbul, Mehmet launched a campaign into Serbia in the spring of 1454, his objective being to reclaim the territory his father had returned to the despot George Brancović by the Treaty of Edirne in 1444.
Mehmet and Ishak Pasha captured two Serbian fortresses, but they were forced to abandon their conquests when John Hunyadi appeared with a Hungarian army. Mehmet launched another campaign into Serbia the following year, when he captured the town of Novo Brdo, noted for its gold and silver mines. Among those captured by the Turks was a young Serb named Constantine Mihailović, who was enrolled in the janissaries and later wrote a memoir of his experiences, including his capture at Novo Brdo.
All those among the men who were the most important and distinguished he [Mehmet] ordered decapitated. The remainder he ordered released to the city. As for their possessions, nothing of theirs was harmed. The boys were 320 in number and the females 74. The females he distributed among the heathens [Turks], but he took the boys for himself into the Janissaries, and sent them beyond the sea to Anatolia, where their preserve is. I was also taken in that city with my two brothers…
The sixteenth-century chronicler Mustafa Ali notes that, on the sultan’s return from campaign in 1454, ‘Mehmet spent many nights in debauchery with lovely-eyed, fairylike slave girls, and his days drinking with pages who looked like angels. But he was only seemingly engaged in debauchery and wantonness, in reality he was working, guided by the love of justice, to relieve the oppression of his subjects in the land.’
During the years 1454-5 Mehmet also sent his navy into the Aegean under the command of Hamza Bey, who attacked the islands of Nisyros, Kalymnos, Kos and Chios. One of the Turkish galleys was sunk at Chios, which led Mehmet to dismiss Hamza Bey and replace him with Yunus Bey. At the beginning of November 1455 Yunus captured the Genoese colony of Nea Phokaia on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor north of Izmir. Six weeks later another Turkish force seized the Genoese colony at Palaeo Phokaia, a short way to the south of Nea Phokaia. This gave Mehmet control of the lucrative alum mines that the Genoese had developed through the two Phokaias, their principal commercial colonies on the Aegean coast Asia Minor, now permanently lost to them.
The two ports and the mines had been the property of Dorino II Gattilusio, the Genoese lord of Lesbos and the islands of Samothrace and Imbros as well as the port of Enez (Aenos) north of the Gallipoli peninsula. Early in 1456 Mehmet himself led a force of janissaries against Enez, which surrendered without a struggle, while at the same time Yunus Bey captured the islands of Imbros and Samothrace, where he took Dorino Gattilusio prisoner. Gattilusio was forced to give up all his possessions to Mehmet, who in compensation gave him a small fief in Macedonia. Mehmet then appointed Kritoboulos, his biographer, to be the Ottoman governor of his native Imbros.
Mehmet spent the winter of 1455-6 preparing a major campaign against Serbia and Hungary, which he regarded as his major enemies in Europe now that he had made peace with Venice. His major objective in this campaign was Belgrade, the
Similar Books
