May 29, 1453 - The End of a World

yes, the fall of the empire was largely attributable to the sacking by the crusaders and bickering and lack of interest from most of the western powers to stop it. Orban- Urban.. the cannon maker even went to Mehmed ll side(this footnote is crucial) for the promise of gold. of course he got blew to smittereens by a device of his own making(poetic justice?). Constantine 11th died fighting at the breech of the wall.. an interesting piece of history i've read much on.. here's ol Mehmed ll silver coin, i feel it's a important piece of western civ history as much the last coin, i wouldn't say the end of a world, but indeed an overwhelming change. Mehmed ll adopted Constantine's children as his own, put to death those rich Christians who he questioned why they didn't help their own, and, in keeping with what these non Christians are most noted for, being tolerant, unlike their counterparts in reverse situations, allowed the majority of those conquered to worship their deity..maybe with a little tax, but still, much better than death or forced conversion.(this number doesn't include the rich ones, who he considered criminals by their own actions of greed) this may not taste good nor go down easy to our western palates, but there it is.. like it or not.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

A Constantine XI silver stavraton was listed in Harlan Berk's Gemini Auction XII on April 6, 2017. The catalogue entry says that the 1991 find contained seventeen stavrata that were struck during the actual siege of Constantinople that ended May 25, 1453. Of the seventeen only five, including this one, had the full name of Constantine.

This coin was estimated at $45,000 and did not sell. Here is the link: http://www.geminiauction.com/detail...entorynumber=19325&category=Byzantine&search=