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For 50+ days, Constantinople defended itself and its 1200+ years of history as the eastern-most bastion of Christendom against the Turkish Ottomans‘ assault. This is a very detailed account of the siege and battle, and some of the aftermath. Sultan Mehmet was only 21 when he felled the city that had withstood many previous attempts. I suspect age aided his endurance. But he was also a young military genius and had extraordinary control of the ⬇️

The author of the tagged book describes the sources he most trusted to write this historical account of the siege and fall of Constantinople, Doukas being one of them. How crazy that Doukas‘s account stops mid-sentence!

“If there is any moment at which it is possible to recognize a modern sensibility in a medieval event, it is here in the account of reactions to the news of the fall of Constantinople. Like the assassination of Kennedy or 9/11 it is clear that people throughout Europe could remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news.”

I realize how inappropriate this is but in the chapter when Constantinople fell, I had to play this song. Now everyone will have this song stuck in your head. Sorry, not sorry. It is a good song.

#two4Tuesday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag

1) Easy, stripes. I have some very nice work blouses with subtle stripes. Hard to imagine being subtle with spots

2) Tagged. Checked out from Libby. It‘s an interesting but slow read. I‘ll likely have to renew my loan

Constantinople in the early 15th century. It had declined quite a bit by then, especially after its sacking by the Venetians.

I‘m also reading this one for the #comfortreadathon. Just switching around what I‘m reading depending on my mood at any particular moment. @BookwormAHN

My next ebook. I read Cloud Cuckoo Land, which in part was about the siege of Constantinople, so this one looked good to me. So far, the writing style is excellent

Wow, that was a fantastic read in both subject matter and writing. Reading about the history leading up to a massive siege was almost as fascinating as being taken through the politics and tactics of the actual battles that happened over those 50+ days of siege at Constantinople.

“At the time of the first Arab siege of 669, a strange prophetic book had appeared, the so-called Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius.” Pg 186

“In the slashing, hacking confusion, the two leaders squared up to each other in single combat in front of their men.” Pg 162

“The obsession was linked to secrecy, learned young in the dangerous world of the Ottoman court, which made him keep plans close to himself until they were ripe.” Pg 145

“‘Battles on the sea are more dangerous and fierce than the battles by land, for on the sea there is no recoiling nor fleeing, there is no remedy but to fight and to abide fortune, and every man shows his prowess.‘ Jean Froissart, fourteenth-century French chronicler” Pg 123

“The Greek chroniclers struggled to convey what they saw, or even to find a vocabulary to describe the guns.” Pg 116

“During the winter of 1452, [Orban] set to the task of casting what was probably the largest cannon ever built. This painstaking and extraordinary process was described in detail by the Greek chronicler Kritovoulos.” Pg 91

“Booty was a raison d‘être” Pg 24

“Orthodox religion worked powerfully on the emotions of the people through the intense colors of its mosaics and icons, the mysterious beauty of its liturgy rising and falling in the darkness of lamplit churches...” Pg 18

“The Byzantines, who were heirs to the practical engineering skills of the Roman Empire, seem to have developed a technique for heating the mixture [for Greek Fire] in sealed bronze containers, pressurizing it by means of a hand pump, then emitting it through a nozzle, where it could be ignited by a flame.” Pg 13

“‘A red apple invites stones.‘ Turkish Proverb”. Pg 9

“To the Ottoman Turks of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries [the Theodosian wall] was ‘a bone in the throat of Allah‘.” Pg 1-2

After reading a bunch of fiction, I decided it was time to whip out this book about the fall of Constantinople.

As a Canadian abroad, I do sometimes get a little frustrated with being called American, but at least we‘re more similar than Scotland and Germany🤷‍♀️

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

When life gives you the wrong size of cannonballs...

I have a backlog of books to read, and I still picked this up at the thrift store. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Constantinople was what is now Istanbul (more or less), which is in #Turkey
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#emojinov @RealLifeReading