On this day in history.

Maxentius · Post by **Maxentius** » 2008-05-29 11:20am

At approximately noon, on Tuesday, May 29th, 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to Ottoman forces under the command of Mehmed II. Constantine Palaiologos, arguably the last Emperor of Rome, died fighting. His body was never definitively identified, and his ultimate fate remains unknown. At age 21, Mehmed went on to claim the title of 'Caesar', and was later called 'Mehmed the Conqueror'.

Thanas · Post by **Thanas** » 2008-05-29 09:04pm

Regarding the "ultimate fate", Runciman dealt with that in his book about the fall of Constantinople.

Maxentius · Post by **Maxentius** » 2008-05-29 10:15pm

Thanas wrote:Regarding the "ultimate fate", Runciman dealt with that in his book about the fall of Constantinople.

It's been a while since I read Runciman's book, but I don't recall him ever stating a definitive conclusion, just several possibilities based on contemporary and near-contemporary accounts.

EDIT: I could also be confusing Runciman's The Fall of Constantinople with Nicol's The Immortal Emperor.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-05-30 02:25am

There's actually a range of dates?

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2008-05-30 11:38am

There are a range of accounts on what happened to Constantine XI's body, not when the city fell. Unless you mean a date difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendar, since the latter hadn't been invented in 1453.

Maxentius · Post by **Maxentius** » 2008-05-30 11:49am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:There's actually a range of dates?

I'm going to presume you mean a range of dates pertaining to the Roman state? If so, the most liberal interpretation would begin with 0AUC (743 BC), and last until 29 May, 1453. Obviously, the 0AUC date does not have a specific month or day attached; it's simply too ancient. The Fall of Constantinople is benefit of an exact date because of its (relative) recentness.

More conservative ranges tend to place the end of the Roman Empire (and hold it separate from the Byzantine state) at 4 September, 476, with the abdication of Romulus Augustus.

Thanas · Post by **Thanas** » 2008-05-30 02:31pm

The other dates which are usually brought forth in such a discussion are 565 (Justianian's death), 610 (start of the reforms of Heraclius which among other things changed the language from latin to greek) or 751 (loss of the exarchate of Ravenna and therefore loss of the direct control over Rome).

Another date which has been discarded nowadays was 1204, the sack of Constantinople and therefore the cause of splintering of the empire.