ABSTRACT
The sultan devoted the winter of 1452/1453 to feverish preparations for his final assault upon the city,1 in sharp contrast to the imperial court in Constantinople that spent a great deal of time launching appeals to European courts and arguing with the Italians in Constantinople. All Constantine XI could show for his efforts by the end of January 1453 was the employment of a contingent of mercenaries led by Giovanni Giustiniani that moderately reinforced the imperial forces. The emperor appears to have placed hope for survival on his ancient fortifications, especially the Theodosian land walls, which the sultan, with the help, advice, and expertise of his military engineer, Urban, hoped to reduce to dust with a few days of constant bombardment. We do not know how Urban was engaged in the months preceding the actual siege but he must have been busy designing transport for his bombard and for the other artillery pieces that he had cast. The bombard finally began its long and arduous journey to Constantinople:2 magna cum difficultate ductam testantur, “[it was transported] with great difficulty, testimonies state.” Receiving information from Cardinal Isidore, Lauro Quirini states that great attention was devoted to its transport:3 quingentis videlicet hominibus et viginti curribus, “apparently, [it was moved] by five hundred men and twenty wagons.” According to Doukas,4 the bombard began its slow journey from Adrianople at the beginning of February 1453. He emphasizes that the accompanied effort was an unhurried careful journey for Urban’s monster, whose likes had never been seen in the Balkans. An army of laborers, skilled carpenters, and engineers who constructed bridges for its passage over rough terrain surrounded it:5
1 For a synthesis of Ottoman preparations and participants in the assault upon the imperial city, cf. M. T. Gökbilgin, “‹stanbul ’un Fethi [The Conquest of Istanbul],” ‹A 53A (1959): 1185-1199; ‹nalcik, Fâtih devri, 1: 90 ff.; W. K. Hanak, “Sultan Mehmed II Fatih and the Theodosian Walls: The Conquest of Constantinople, 1453, His Strategies and Successes,” in ‹stanbul Üniversitesi 550. Y›l Uluslararas› Bizans ve Osmanl› Sempozyumu (XV. Yüzy›l) 30-31 May›s 2003. 550th Anniversary of the Istanbul University. International Byzantine and Ottoman Symposium (XVth Century) 30-31 May 2003, ed. Sümer Atasoy (Istanbul, 2004), pp. 1-13; and A. Clot, Mehmed II. Le conquérant de Byzance (Paris, 1990), pp. 28-96. 2 Quirini, TIePN, p.70. 3 Ibid. 4 Doukas 37: Parelqovntoı ou\n tou` jIanouarivou mhno;ı kai;tou`Febrouarivou a[rxantoı ejkevleuse
zeuvxaı aJmavxaı triavkonta ei|lkon aujth;n o[pisqen oiJx vboveı, levgw boveı bow`n: kai; ejk plagivou th`ı cwnivaı a[ndreı s v, kai;eijı to;e}n kai;eijı to;e{teron, tou`e{lkein kai;ejxisou`n aujthvn, i{na mh;ojlisqhvsh/tou`drovmou: kai;to;e[mprosqen tw`n aJmaxw`n tevktoneı n v, tou`kataskeuavzein gefuvraı xulivnouı eijı ta;ı ajnwmalivaı th`ı oJdou`, kai;ejrgavtai su;n aujtoi`ı s v.
