The world's leading conquerors

by Wilson Lloyd Bevan

IV
MURAD II

This change of fortune meant much for the Greek Empire. Manuel took courage, deprived the Turks of their privileges at Constantinople, and making use of the divisions among the successors of Bajesid, succeeded in regaining a part of the territories that had been lost. For some years the Ottomans, under Mohammed, were engaged in regaining their position in Asia; in Europe the tables were reversed. The empire of the Ottomans seemed to be on the point of going through a process of disintegration similar to that experienced by their predecessors of the same race, the Seldjouks. When it was defunct its residuary legatee might well be the Greek Empire.

There were now many Ottoman princes, no longer one sultan. Souliman, who reigned at Adrianople, sought the protection of Manuel, gave him as a hostage one of his sisters, married a niece of the Emperor, restored part of Macedonia and Ionia, and yielded up Thessalonika, the greatest prize of all. When he was succeeded by his brother Mousa, there was an outbreak of hostilities; Thessalonika was again lost by the Greeks, but soon retaken, while a Turkish fleet was resisted by a fleet now manned by Greek sailors; for Manuel had taken care to provide for a navy, and was no longer dependent on the commercial cities of Italy. Mohammed was summoned by Manuel from Asia as an ally against Mousa, and the two succeeded in defeating him. On his capture he met death at Mohammed’s hands.

For the next eight years (1413-1421) Mohammed was sole ruler of the Osmanlis, but internal difficulties hindered aggressive action on his part, so far as the Christian powers were concerned. His policy was decidedly philhellenic, Manuel receiving from his hands important territories on the Black Sea and the Propontis; but his main attention was directed to the Asiatic provinces, where, in addition to troubles with the emir of Karamania, there were disturbances, due to religious agitations in Islam. One of the chief agitators was a converted Jew, Torlak-Hin-Kemali, a preacher of the revolutionary doctrines of liberty and equality, who demanded a division of property. This communistic teaching stirred up the masses of the people, and excited the active sympathy of the dervish party.

On the death of Mohammed, his son, Murad II, took up the succession. He was a prince of energy and ability, who devoted himself for thirty years to the restoration of the Empire. The Greek Emperor Manuel still carried on his policy of sowing dissension among the Turks, but with less success than in the preceding period. Mustafa, an uncle of the new Sultan, became the ally of the Greeks, and Gallipoli, the first place taken by the Turks in Europe, was besieged. Murad hastened personally to save the town from capture. His uncle was taken, beaten, and hanged. Murad undertook then to lay siege to Constantinople, this making the fourth time that the city had been threatened by Ottoman armies. (June, 1422.)

The besiegers were a motley host; mixed with the soldiers were dervishes, marabouts (religious teachers), artisans, and peasants, all drawn together by the hope of sacking the rich capital.

They showed much improvement in the siege-methods employed, for they used wooden towers, and tried to get into the city through the aqueduct. The Greek armies were beaten in front of the walls, but Manuel and his son, John, soon found a way for causing the withdrawal of Murad’s army, by inviting over from Asia another son of Mohammed, to whom his brother had intrusted the government of one of the Asiatic provinces. He was ceremoniously received in the city, and as soon as it was known in the Turkish camp that he was on his way to the west, Murad withdrew to Adrianople.

This siege is signalized in the chronicles by a narrative of the miraculous appearance of the Virgin on the walls of the city, the very day a general assault had been ordered. The Ottomans, panic-stricken, it is said, hastened to retreat. Both Christians and Mohammedans accepted the authenticity of the apparition, which is not surprising, since, in the ranks of the Sultan’s army, there were large numbers of men who had been converted to Islam, but who could not throw aside the religious habits of mind of medieval Christians.

Peace was made on conditions extremely favorable to the Greeks. There was still a tribute to be paid, but some territory that had been taken in the campaign was restored. When Manuel died in 1425 he left six sons, all of whom were in positions of command. One of them, John VIII, was his successor as Emperor, the others were ruling parts of the empire at Thessalonika and farther south.

One of the first acts of the new administration was to endeavor to placate the Turks by restoring some of the towns on the Black Sea. But the efforts at pacification were of no avail. The Morea was invaded by one of the Sultan’s generals, Tourakhan-beg, whose progress was not effectively contested, except by the Albanian colonies. The inhabitants of these were, however, mercilessly slaughtered, and on the site of the razed towns the Turks erected pyramids of the heads of their victims. In the north, too, there was successful fighting on the part of the Ottomans, both with the Roumanians and the Bulgarians, and even with the Hungarians, whose King, Sigismund, was defeated near the walls of Kolunbitz.