When the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, the patriarchate ceased to function. The Patriarchate was restored by the conquering ruler, Sultan Mehmed II, who wished to establish his dynasty as the direct heirs of the Eastern Roman emperors, and who adopted the imperial title "Kayser-i-Rûm" "caesar of the Romans", one of his subsidiary titles but a significant one. In 1454 he bestowed the office upon an illustrious Byzantine scholar-monk who was well known for his opposition to union with the Latin West, Gennadius Scholarius, who became Patriarch Gennadius II.