DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0027
XXVI
INTRODUCTION.
already yielded to his arms before he turned them against
the Ottoman Empire, influenced by the quarrels and dissen-
sions which had arisen between Bajazet and his Christian
neighbours. The genius of Tamerlane prevailed in the
memorable battle of Angora; the Sultan lost at once his
kingdom and his liberty, and the conqueror established
himself at Kutahiyah. The sea put a limit to his progress,
and, without the means of transporting his army into Europe,
he meditated at Smyrna the conquest of China, but died on
his march to the Celestial Empire.
Brusa became again, in 1403, the capital of the Ottoman
Empire, and shared with Adrianople the honours of Imperial
residence; but Anatolia was distracted for nearly forty
years by the civil wars of the sons and descendants of Baja-
zet, until Mahomet II. ascended the throne, in 1451, to close
the existence of the Byzantine Empire. Weakened and
exhausted in each successive reign, and having lost one by
one those rich and fertile provinces which formed the
brightest gems in the Imperial diadem, Constantinople was
reduced to the last stage of misery, even before the Turkish
host had surrounded its triple fortifications. It still breathed
with convulsive throbs, like a trunk deprived of its limbs,
suffering under the last pulsations of life. Some Greeks
displayed at the last moments an unavailing courage, even
after the enemy had scaled the walls, but it only served to
exasperate the cruelty of their conquerors.
The fall of Constantinople, in 1453, and the loss of Trc-
bizond, in 1461, concluded the history of the Empire of the
East ; since that period, subject to the rule and grasp of
Turkish despots, the towns of Asia Minor have lost their
trade and commerce, her population has been exhausted,
and her fairest and richest plains have been left without
care or culture. The authority of the Janissaries, the
despotism of the Porte, and the revolts of the local Gover-
INTRODUCTION.
already yielded to his arms before he turned them against
the Ottoman Empire, influenced by the quarrels and dissen-
sions which had arisen between Bajazet and his Christian
neighbours. The genius of Tamerlane prevailed in the
memorable battle of Angora; the Sultan lost at once his
kingdom and his liberty, and the conqueror established
himself at Kutahiyah. The sea put a limit to his progress,
and, without the means of transporting his army into Europe,
he meditated at Smyrna the conquest of China, but died on
his march to the Celestial Empire.
Brusa became again, in 1403, the capital of the Ottoman
Empire, and shared with Adrianople the honours of Imperial
residence; but Anatolia was distracted for nearly forty
years by the civil wars of the sons and descendants of Baja-
zet, until Mahomet II. ascended the throne, in 1451, to close
the existence of the Byzantine Empire. Weakened and
exhausted in each successive reign, and having lost one by
one those rich and fertile provinces which formed the
brightest gems in the Imperial diadem, Constantinople was
reduced to the last stage of misery, even before the Turkish
host had surrounded its triple fortifications. It still breathed
with convulsive throbs, like a trunk deprived of its limbs,
suffering under the last pulsations of life. Some Greeks
displayed at the last moments an unavailing courage, even
after the enemy had scaled the walls, but it only served to
exasperate the cruelty of their conquerors.
The fall of Constantinople, in 1453, and the loss of Trc-
bizond, in 1461, concluded the history of the Empire of the
East ; since that period, subject to the rule and grasp of
Turkish despots, the towns of Asia Minor have lost their
trade and commerce, her population has been exhausted,
and her fairest and richest plains have been left without
care or culture. The authority of the Janissaries, the
despotism of the Porte, and the revolts of the local Gover-