The Empress Maria who is mentioned in the inscription was the daughter of Alexius, Emperor of Trebizond, and the third wife of John VII. Palæologus, from 1427-1440.[[421]] Manuel Bryennius Leontari was probably the Bryennius Leontari who defended the Gate of Charisius in the siege of 1453.[[422]]

To the same reign, probably, belonged the work recorded on a tower between the Gate of Charisius and Tekfour Serai. The inscription was fragmentary, consisting of the letters ΕΝΙΣΘΗ Η ΚΟ, evidently ΑΝΕΚΕΝΙΣΘΗ Η ΚΟΡΤΙΝΑ[[423]] (“The curtain-wall was restored”). The lettering and the form of expression resembled the style of an unmutilated inscription on the walls near the Sea of Marmora, commemorating repairs on that side of the city, in 1448, by George, Despot of Servia;[[424]] and in view of this resemblance, it is safe to conclude that a part of the money sent by the Servian king to fortify Constantinople against the common enemy was spent upon the land wall.

To the period of John VII. Palæologus, probably, must be assigned the inscription which stands on the fifth tower north of the Gate of Charisius:[[425]]

ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΥ

ΚΑΒΑΛΑΡΙΟΥ

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΑΛΟΝΟΣ

“(Tower) of Nicholas Agalon, Cabalarius.”

(16) On the first outer tower north of the Golden Gate, and on the outer tower opposite the Gate of the Pempton, the name Manuel Igari was found, placed a little below the inscriptions on those towers in honour of John VII. Palæologus.[[426]]

At first it might be supposed that we have here the name of the officer who superintended the repair of the fortifications in the reign of that emperor. But, according to Leonard of Scio,[[427]] Manuel Iagari, along with a certain monk, Neophytus of Rhodes, had charge of such work immediately before the final siege, while Constantine Dragoses, the last of the Byzantine emperors, was making pathetic efforts to avert inevitable doom. Leonard accuses Manuel and Neophytus of having, even at that crisis, when the fate of the city hung in the balance, embezzled a large part of the funds devoted to the restoration of the walls, thereby leaving the fortifications in a state which made a successful defence impossible: “Idcirco urbs prædonum incuria, in tanta tempesta periit.” It is said that after the capture of the city the Turks discovered a considerable portion of the stolen money concealed in a jar.