ABSTRACT
The fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 marked the effective end of the Byzantine Empire and a period of rapid expansion for the Ottomans. This distant catastrophe quickly became a subject of immediate concern for western Europeans, demonstrated by the many written accounts and responses that circulated within months of it happening. By 1453, the empire of Byzantium was a shadow of its former glory, possessing some territory in mainland Greece and the capital of Constantinople – a city still scarred by the damages of Latin conquest and rule in the thirteenth century and civil wars of the fourteenth century. Humanist responses to the fall of Constantinople tended to focus on certain key themes: senseless murder, brutality, rape, captivity, destruction and looting were vividly described and lamented. While Europeans undoubtedly mourned the loss of Constantinople, the extension of Ottoman power and influence changed the way many viewed the region and their place in it.
