Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-05-30
TAKING coNsrANrrNoPLE.
Constantine Defeated by the Turks Over 400
Years Ago-A Desperate strugEie he
tween the Mohammedans and the Chris
fiRns.

tians-
For nearly AS years Constantinople
has remained undisturbed i'm the pos
session of the Turks. On May 20, 1853
the city was then the capital of the
Byzantine Empire-it was stormed by
the Turks, the last Byzantine Emperor,
Constantine I'LL, losing his life in the
defense. The taking of the city is thus
powerfully described by Richard
knolles in his history of the Turks,
published in 1903 and second edition
In 1910:
A little before day the Turks APP
preached the walls and began the as
sault, where shot and stones were de-
livered upon them from the walls as
thick as hail, whereof little fell in vain
by reason Of the multitude of the Turks
who, pressing fast unto the walls could
not see in the dark how TO defend them
selves, but were, without number,
wounded or slain; but these were of the
common and worst soldiers, of whom
the Turkish king made no more reckon
ing than to abate the first force of the
defendants. Upon the.fir appearance
of the day Mohammed gave the sign APP
pointed for the general assault, where
upon the city was in a moment and At
one instant, on every side, most furi-'
ously assaulted by the Turks; for Mo-
hammed, the more 10 distress the de-
PENDANTS, and the better to see the for
wardneSs of the soldiers, had before ap-
pointed which part of the city every
Colonel with his regiment should assail
which they valiantly performed, deliv-
ering their ARROWS and shot upon the
defendants so thick that the light of day
was Herewith darkened; others, in the
meantime, courageously mounting the
Scaling-ladders and coming even to
hand-strokes with the defendants upon
the wall, where the foremost were for
the most part violently borne forward
by them which followed after. On the
other side, the Christians, with no less
courage, withstood the Turkish fury,
beating them down again with great
stones and weighty pieces of timber,
and so overwhelmed them with shot,
darts and arrows and other hurtful de-
vices from above that the Turks, dis
mayed with the terror thereof, were
ready TO retire.
Mohammed, seeing the great slaugh-
ter and discontinue of his men, sent i'll
fresh supplies of his janissaries and best
men of war, whom he had for that pur-
pose reserved as his la hope and refuge
by whose coming on his fainting
soldiers were again encouraged, and
the terrible assault began afresh. At
which time the barbarous king ceased
not 10 use all possible means TO main
tain the assault, by name calling upon
this and that captain, promising TO
some whom he saw forward golden
mountains, and unto others in whom he
saw any sign of cowardice threatening
most terrible death; by which means
the assault became most dreadful death
there raging in the midst of many thou
sands. And albeit that the Turks lay
dead by heaps upon the ground, Yet
other fresh men pressed on still in their
places over their dead bodies, and with
divers event either slew or were slain
by their enemies.
In this so terrible conflict it chanced
Justinianus. the general TO be wounded
in the arm, who, losing much blood,
cowardly withdrew himself from the
place of his charge, not leaving any TO
supply his room, and so got into the
city by the gate called Romano, which
he had caused 10 be opened in the inner
wall, pretending the cause of his depar-
ture TO be for the binding up of his
wounds, but being, indeed, man now
altogether discouraged.
TIE soldiers there present, dismayed
with the departure of their General,
and sore charged by the janissaries for
sock their stations and in haste fled TO
the same gate whereby Justinianus was
entered; with the sight whereof the
other soldiers, dismayed, ran thither by
heaps also. But whilst they violently
strive together TO get in at once, they so
wedged one another in the entrance of
the gate that few of so great a multi
tIds got in; in which so great a press
and confusion of minds, 500 persons
were there by them that followed trod-
den under foot or thrust TO death. The
Emperor himself, for safeguard of his
life, flying with the rest OF that press,
as a man not regarded, miserably ended
his days, together with the Greek En-
pire. His dead body was shortly after
found by the Turks among the slain,
and known by his rich apparel, whose
head being cut OFF, was forthwith pre-
sented 10 the Turkish tyrant, by whose
commandment il was afterward thrust
upon the point of lance, and in great
derision carried about as a trophy of his
victory, first in the camp, and after
ward up and down the city.
The Turks, encouraged with the
flight of the Christians presently ad-
vanced their ensigns upon the top OF
the uttermost wall, crying victory; and
by the breach entered as if il had been
a great flood, which, having once found
q breach in the bank. overfiOws, and
roth lnxt-n oil h..fnra ba
Turks when they had won the outer
wall, entered the city by the same gate
that was opened for Justinianus, and
by breach which they had before
made with their great artillery, and
without mercy cutting in pieces all
that came in the way, without further
resistance became lords of that most
famous and imperial city.
In this fury Of the barbarians per-
ished many thousands of men, women
and children, without respect of age, |
sex or condition. Many, for safeguard |
Of their lives. fed into the Temple of
Sophia, where they were all without |
pity slain, except some few reserved by |
the barbarOus victors for purposes more |
grievous than death itself. The rich and |
beautiful ornaments and jewels of that |
hiosb sum lpluou- anu MA dShliitthl tDuTtH
the stately building of Justinianus
the emperOr-were in the turning of a
hand, plucked down and carried away |
by the Turks; and the church itself. |
built for God to be honored in, for the |
present converted into stable for their
horses, or place for the execution of
their abominable and unspeakable fill
thiness; the image of the crucifix was
also by them taken down, and Turks
cap put upon tina head thereof, and SO
set up and shot at with their arrows,
and afterward, in great derision, car
ried about in their camp, as il had been
in procession, with drums playing be-
fore il, railing and splitting at it, and
calling il the God of the Christians,
which note not so much done in con- |
tempt of the image as in despite of
Christ and the Christian religion
Earnings of Artists.
The high prices given for pictures
L..