ABSTRACT
The year 1402 marks a watershed in the history of the late Byzantine Empire. In that year the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane defeated and captured the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I at the battle of Ankara. It gave Byzantium half a century’s respite, which made all the difference between it ending not with a whimper but a bang, for that half century saw it recover some of its prestige and prosperity. On the eve of the battle of Ankara the Byzantine Empire was all but done for and counted for very little. So taken for granted had the fall of Constantinople become that had it occurred at this juncture it would have caused scarcely a ripple on the surface of the historical record. But the worst did not come to the worst, thanks to Tamerlane’s victory. There followed what Ottoman chroniclers remembered as a time of troubles (Fetret Devri), when a series of civil wars among Bayezid’s sons convulsed the Ottoman territories in the Balkans and Anatolia. 2 Byzantium was the major beneficiary, so much so that the Venetians began to worry about the dangers that a restored Byzantine Empire might hold for their commercial interests. By a treaty of 1403 Bayezid’s eldest son Süleiman waived the tribute which the Byzantine emperor had for the past thirty years paid to the Ottoman ruler as a mark of client status. Instead, following an almost-forgotten Byzantine convention Süleiman recognised the emperor’s seniority by pledging him filial devotion. In addition, he surrendered to the latter control not only of Thessaloniki and its hinterland, including Mount Athos, but also of the Black Sea coasts as far as the port of Mesembria (modern Nesebâr). 3 So, quite unexpectedly, Byzantium was given a breathing space. If it only delayed the Ottoman conquest, it also gave Byzantium the opportunity for one last Renovatio, which helped to change the significance of the final fall of Constantinople, for by 1453 Byzantium was a far more influential force than it had been in 1402. Its neighbours held it in much higher regard. Constantinople was more prosperous and populous and its citizens had recovered much of their self-confidence, which helps to explain their stout defence of their city. It was an impressive transformation, which owed much to the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425). 4
