Constantine XI Palaiologos
Konstantinos XI. Palaiologos ( Konstantínos Dragásis Paleologos Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, born February 9, 1404 Konstantin Opel, † May 29 1453 in Constantine Opel ) was from 1448 to 1453, the last Byzantine emperor and died in the defense of Constantinople. The preferred him Dragases surname derives from the Serbo-Bulgarian nobility Dragaš his mother Helena Dragaš from. Konstantinos was the successor of his brother John VIII Palaiologos.
Life
Konstantinos was the eighth of ten children of his father Manuel II Palaiologos and his mother Helena Dragaš and grew under both care in Constantinople on Opel. From 1437 to 1439 he was regent in Constantinople Opel for his absent brother, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos. Prior to his own emperor Konstantinos shaft was the despot of Morea Byzantine province in the Peloponnese, where he removed the last relics of the Frankish rule. After his brother's death he became emperor in 1448 and crowned in the Despotatshauptstadt Mistra to forestall any objections Ottoman. However, the downfall of the empire at this time was as good as sealed.
The Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II had already occupied almost all of Asia Minor. Only a small area around Constantine Opel and a narrow coastal strip along the eastern Black Sea coast were the last remaining areas of the Byzantine Empire. The Sultan offered the emperor to rule over the Morea, which he declined. In 1452, the Ottoman army began preparations for the siege, which finally began on April 2, 1453. On May 29, 1453 were preparing for the Emperor, the Eastern Roman soldiers and five hundred Genoese arrived on ships that have been received enthusiastically by the Byzantines, the last fight before and prayed one last time in the Hagia Sophia, before the Ottoman attacks. It was a hard and lossy fight, but the Ottomans possessed miners and a cannon extremely large caliber (75 cm), which had only recently been invented by a Hungarian cannon manufacturer. According to some historians, it was not a decisive victory because of the insufficient amount of bullets and problems with their own enormous recoil. A small Nebentor ( the Kerkaporta near Blachernae ), which was not locked and may be blocked by the cannon fire, had been overlooked by the defenders and allowed the attackers intake. The Byzantines ultimately lost the battle. Emperor Constantine XI. was heroically fighting seen at the gates of the capital, his body was never found. To have him turn around for centuries, legends and myths - a legend, the Conqueror Mehmed II had washed out and examine each corpse until you allegedly found him ( before the battle, he passed all the badges, only the purple shoes he forgot ). What happened to him is unclear.
Konstantinos death and the fall of Constantinople marked the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the last Christian stronghold against the Ottoman empire. On the Black Sea in Asia Minor still existed the small Empire of Trebizond, which was marked Christian and Byzantine. 1461 and this was conquered by the Ottomans, which meant the complete end of the Christian rule in Asia Minor.
Unofficial Holy
Constantine is considered by many Orthodox Christians as a saint. Officially, he was never canonized because he had had neither a particularly religious way of life nor death in battle is considered a special martyrdom for Orthodoxy.
Monuments
In the Greek capital of Athens is at Mitropoleos Square a monument to the Byzantine emperor. Another monument stands in Mystras.