The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the TurksPears, Edwin
History
The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks
Pears, Edwin
Byzantine Empire -- History -- 1081-1453; Istanbul (Turkey) -- History -- Siege, 1453
In 1379, as already mentioned, John and his son Manuel, who had been
captured and imprisoned by his grandson Andronicus, escaped to Scutari
and took refuge with Bajazed, the son of Murad. The sultan, after
assuring himself that the inhabitants of Constantinople preferred
Manuel to Andronicus, made a bargain with John and his son by which,
in return for aid in restoring them, the empire should pay a large
annual tribute, furnish a contingent of twelve thousand soldiers, and
surrender to him Philadelphia, the last remaining city in Asia Minor
which still acknowledged the rule of Constantinople. John and Manuel
entered Constantinople by the Adrianople Gate, and Andronicus escaped
across the Golden Horn to the Genoese in Galata. Much as the two
emperors may have regretted their bargain, Murad held them to it, and
they, Christian emperors, marched to Philadelphia, in order to compel
their own subjects to open its gates to the Turks.
Everywhere the Moslem flood was becoming irresistible. The sultan of
Bagdad, in 1376, invaded Armenia and took prisoners both its king and
queen; at the other extreme of the empire the Turks were in Epirus and
were holding their own in many parts of Morea. The Knights-Hospitallers
surrendered Patras to them in order to purchase the release of their
Grand Master. One of the few strongholds in Thrace which Murad had
not hitherto obtained was Apollonia, the present Sissipoli, which,
partly built on an island in the Black Sea and in an otherwise strong
position, had so far avoided capture. It was taken, however, by Murad
in 1383, and, as usual, its garrison was cruelly massacred. In 1385,
Murad captured Sofia, and then sent two armies, one to take possession
of Cavalla and other places on the north shore of the Aegean, and the
other to capture Monastir and various towns in Macedonia. In the same
year a Turkish army took Belgrade and pushed on to Scutari in Albania,
taking possession of it and of other strongholds. In 1387, after a
siege lasting four years, Salonica was captured.
The Serbians, by their defeat at Belgrade and elsewhere, were compelled
to become the vassals of Murad, and, following his usual custom, the
sultan compelled their kral in 1381 to send two thousand men to aid him
in subduing a revolt of his brother-in-law, the emir, in Caramania,
the ancient Cilicia. Many subjects of the empire had to render like
military service.
[Sidenote: First battle of Cossovo-pol, 1889.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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