Amurath had had by the daughter of the defpot .C.1451. Heg. 855of Sinope, put to death; without doubt becaufe he was afraid left that prince, the iffue of a lawful marriage, fhould one day dispute the throne with him, who was only the fan of a flave. The princefs of Sinope was ordered to marry Ifaac, one of the officers of the laft fultan; and, as if Mahomet had determined to disclaim all thefe violences, he, almoft immediately after, ordered this fame aga of the janiffaries, who had been his inftrument, to be ftrangled.

He treated more favorably another of his father's wives, who was the daughter of the defpot of Servia. This princess was honorably fent back to the dominions of her father, with whom Mahomet ratified the alliance which Amurath had formerly made. The Greek emperor's ambaffadors were likewife received as friends. The new monarch prepared in filence the attempts which he meant to make; he renewed the alliance with all his tributaries, fwearing to them a conftant peace, by the prophet whofe name he bore. Every one was particularly interested to live on good terms with this dangerous enemy. Cara- Mahomet man Ogli alone, the first year of Mahomet's Caraman Ögli. He reign, had the presumption to try his forces. As augments foon as he had learned the death of Amurath, he lery, and haftened to pafs his frontiers to recover the coun- fecond try which that conqueror had wrefted from him. the Dar Mahomet croffed the ftraits with his European

forces.

reduces

his artil

builds the

caftle on

danelles,

Heg, 855.

J.C. 1451. forces. The rebellious vaffal, who had expected that some of the other princes would have made diverfions, feeing himself alone expofed to this powerful enemy, haftened to appeafe him. He restored every thing that he had taken, and paid Mahomet the whole expence of his armament. The fultan, who was at that time, meditating greater things, contented himself with humbling this tributary prince, whofe eftates he was fure of taking whenever he pleased. On his return to Adrianople, Mahomet enticed away from the Greek emperor several experienced founders and workmen, to whom Conftantine did not give fufficient wages. The Turk wifhed to have a formidable artillery, and to establish batteries on both fides of the ftraits. For this purpofe he proposed to build a fort on the weft fide, directly facing that which his grandfather had built on the caft, in order to render himself abfolute mafter of this important paffage. One may fuppofe that this enterprise greatly alarmed the Greeks, confined more and more within their walls. They faw the fultan meditated to take them by famine, fince no veffel could any longer enter Conftantinople, without paffing under the cannon of these two forts.

་

Conftantine fent ambaffadors to Mahomet, to complain of what he termed an infraction of ⚫ treaty. The Turk replied haughtily, that he was master of the land conquered by his ancef

tors;

Heg. 855.

tors; that he would conftruct on it what edifice J.C. 1451. he pleased, without any of his allies' having a right to complain; that providing for his own fafety was not an infringement of treaty. Conftantine, displeased with this answer, fent à The Greek new embaffy to infift on his requeft being com- vainly opplied with. The Turkifh emperor replied the fecond time, that he would flay alive the perfon fort. who fhould dare fpeak to him in future of deftroying thefe works.

emperor

pofes the building of

this new

Meanwhile, Mahomet fpared neither pains nor J.C. 1452 Heg. 856. expence to finish expeditiously this new citadel, which confifted of three large towers united by curtains and defended by advanced works. He laid the foundation himself, and faw the work raised under his own eyes. The ruins of feveral fine churches ferved for the conftruction of this edifice. Some Greeks, armed by devotion for the defence of their temples, were puť to the sword; the principal officers affected to conduct the works, in order to please the fultan who put his own hands to them. Conftantine, incapable of putting a ftop to the raifing of thefe fatal fortifications, fent to beg the emperor as a favor, not to permit the Greeks' harvests to be destroyed; he also sent him a large quantity of provifions for his workmen and their efcorts. Notwithstanding all thefe fubmiffions, Mahomet grazed his horfes in the Greeks' meadows, and had their corn cut to fupport his men.

The

farmers

J.C. 1452 farmers were flaughtered on the places that Heg. 856, they attempted to defend, and the environs of Conftantinople exhibited to view the commencement of the disaster which menaced that immense city.

He im plores the

of pope

V. but the

people op

re-union

the pontiff.

Conftantine, reduced to the last extremity, affiftance was at a lofs where to find fuccours. He had in Nicholas the city a prodigious number of monks, priests, artificers, fhopkeepers, and workmen, all people pofe the but little calculated for the fatigues of war, and required by whom he did not fuppofe to poffefs either the force or courage neceffary to repulfe the enemy. In this extremity, he flattered himself with fome affiftance from the Latins, whom neceffity alone made him confider as his brethren; for neither the emperor, nor hardly any of the Greeks, had ftrictly adhered to the council of Florence, where the union of the Latin and Greek churches had been declared. On the return of the prelates to Conftantinople, all the Greeks had risen up against what they termed their cowardice; and the efforts which thofe who were real friends of their country had made to deftroy the fchifm, feemed to have given it new force. Notwithftanding thefe difpofitions, the emperor fent to pope Nicholas V, who, before he would think of giving the leaft affiftance, or even of afking any from the European princes for the Greeks, fent cardinal Ifidore, archbishop of Kiof, to Conftantinople, to confummate the union. The inftant

है

Heg. 856.

perils which threatened them could not force J.C. 1452. the Greeks to feign fufficiently to deceive the prelate. Thofe, who faw the clearest how much they wanted the affiftance of the Latins, consented to celebrate the holy mysteries with the legate, and to fign the decree of union, on condition however, that, when it should have pleased God to restore them peace, and to deliver Conftantinople from the danger with which it was threatened, the faid decree fhould be carefully examined by qualified perfons, and corrected, if it should be found neceffary. The monks and nuns, who held the higheft rank in the Greek Church, bitterly reproached all thofe who had confented to commune with the Latins: "Drive "the enemy from our walls," replied the latter, "and you fhall foon fee if we fupport the Azi"mites more than you." This was the name that the Greeks gave the Latins, because one of the differences between the two rites, confifts in the Greeks' making ufe of leavened bread for the facrifice of the mafs, and the Latins of azimed or unleavened bread. The preffing want of the pope's affiftance, added to the false complaisance of the Greek emperor and his court, excited more and more the animofity of the enthufiafts. Some monks, refpected for their doctrine and the severity of their manners, iffued anathemas, from the bottom of their cells, against the legate and all those who had communed with