Konstantinos XI Dragases: Hero or simply an Emperor?

[dragases1453]

As the title says i would like to know if you think that Konstantinos XI was a hero because of his defense of Costantinople in 1453 or a ruler as many other in the world....

Konstantinos Dragases( This nickname because of the surname of his mother, the Empress Helen Dragas) born in 1409 and was the son of Manuel II Paleologus, the byzantine emperor. When his father died in 1425 his major brother Jhon VIII Palelogus succeded to the throne; in the same time Jhon nominated Konstantinos as Despote of Morea and his brother went there in 1427; from that byzantine region Konstantinos with a very small army of Peloponnesian soldiers and albanian mercenaries had been able to unify the peloponnese and to conquer the duchy of Athen and Thebes, but in 1446 the former duch of Athen(an Accajuoli family member) asked military aid to Murad II, (Ottoman Sultan) to reconquer his lands; Konstantinos, when he heard about this military expedition by the turks, retreated into the peloponnese and built a wall on the Corinth strait, the Hexamilion; this wall should have protected the despotate from the ottoman army but when ottomans reached it the albanian mercenaries of Konstantinos run off and so the ottomans devastated the Morea.
In 1448 Jhon VIII died, but before his death he nominated his brother Konstantinos as his successor and so in 1449 Konstantinos was crowned byzantine emperor in Mistra(the Morea Capital).
When he went to Costantinople he sadly found an abandoned city with 50 000 inhabitants( in 1100 A.D. there were 900 000-1 000 000 inhabitants); he immediately tried to treat with the new ottoman ruler Mehmet II Fatih but this one beheaded the byzantine diplomats(1452 A.D.).
After few months Mehmet started the Construction of Rumeli Hisari, a fortress on teh european part of teh bosphorus, in front of the other fortress, Anadolu Hisari; Konstantinos understood that Mehmet wanted to capture his city so he started to repair the Teodosian walls and raised a city militia of less then 7 000 men and 300 genouese warriors raised by the genouese captain Giustiniani Longo, an expert of sieges.
During the month of April 1453 A.D. Mehmet Fatih reached the walls of COstantinople with an army of 130-140 000 soldiers and started to siege the city; the siged lasted a month and then, on 29th May 1453 the sultan ordered the final assault on the city. he firstly sent the Bashi-bazouk, irregolar infantry raised to tire the defenders, after this first assult he sent the Anatolian regiment, well trained soldiers who conquered half Anatolia; these soldiers were hard to defeat but the defenders had been able to kill a lot of them and thye thought to have win this battle but the sultan sent his last men the Janissaries, the best ottoman troops who wounded Giustianiani and destroied the byzantine line.
The Emperor knew that Costantinople would have fallen and so he decided to rush into the major breach and after have killed 20-30 janissaries, died.
No one ever found his body and his dead is till a mistery.

after this brief history(sorry for my bad english ) i would like to know if you think Konstantinos XI Dragases was a Hero or not.

[byzantineklibanophori]

How fitting.

Constantine Dragash had Serbian, Armenian and Italian blood in him...enemies of the Ottomans....when fought and died in Constantinople. A hero indeed, he gave an ending worthy of a hero who fought not for wealth and glory but for the principles that "men should fight for their God, Emperor and Faith".

It is also fitting that he became a legend after his death.

Lol, he's the dead great-grand uncle of IVAN THE TERRIBLE!!

[technishn08]

I heard that when the Ottoman emmisarys asked for his surrender he proclaimed that "I would rather die fighting for my empire". I think the fact that he didnt surrender and fought to keep the last vestige of the Roman world alive, even when all th eodds were up against him makes him a true hero. The dispute of his body is still going on, as before he charged into the breach he took off his purple cloak and handed it to a squire. The only way his body would then be recognizable from those of the rest of the militia would be the purple boots traditionally worn by a Byzantine Emperor. But in the fighting that ensued in the breach, his boots may have become so dirty, they were unrecognizable, therefore, he would have beensimply thrown into a mass grave, whic would then probably be burned. A said end to the last Roman Emperor...

[Eric]

The Last Charge of the Roman Empire. How fitting an end. His city falling, his empire burning around him. The old world crumbling before the new. The Last Great Emperor charged for Constantinople, for the dream of the eternal unified Roman Empire. I wonder what his battlecry was? ex immortalis Rome victor?

[Zenith Darksea]

I doubt it. He spoke Greek.

[Eric]

Then, the equivalent of ex immortalis Roma Victor in Greek.

[John I Tzimisces]

That he chose to fight and die with his men makes him more extraordinary than most of the Byzantines. Also, he was part armenian apparently. +Points for me in any case

[dragases1453]

Now i'll express my opinion

He was a hero because he died with his men even if he could have gone to Mistra(a safe city) or to Italy and raise there an army and return the next year to reconquer the city.
His ministers said that he should have left the city but he remained and he fought with his citizens against the major cristian enemy...
His best friend, Georgos Sprhantzes, in his Chronicles, said that on the breach he fought as a lion toghether with his grandson Michael Paleologus and with a spanish noble; it seemed they were able to ensure the cristian spirits and it seems that they could have defeated the turks, but then Giustianian Longo, one of the most important generals felt...and also the city...

I read that in COstantinople there is a probable tomb of Konstantinos in the Sultanamet area... and i would like to visit it even if it's a fake...

[Markas]

I've just finished reading a book on Constantinople by Roger Crowley and I have to say that Constantine XI struck me as a capable, inspirational leader who proved himself vastly more suitable 'emperor material' than his brothers.

Alot of credit must go to Giustiani the Venetian for outfitting a small relief force at his own expense and directing the wall defence so well.

Is Constantine a hero? I think he scores 8/10 on the hero-ometer.

[Tecumseh]

When I first read about it a year ago, I got chills. A truly heroic, honourable way to die.

The sultan even offered to allow him to keep his position, under Ottoman rule of course, but never the less.

[MaximiIian]

I wouldn't call him a hero. I'd call him reckless and irrational. It would've been easier and safer to keep his position under Ottoman dominance. Less of his own people would've died. It may have been an honorable death, but it was one that cost many lives, on both sides.
If only he had been born earlier, and led the Empire in its prime... :hmmm:

[Osceola]

"and raise there an army and return the next year to reconquer the city."

Though he surely was an honourable heroic man, he would've done what was left of Rome a greater service by as you said, raising an army and reconquering the city. If he had, would the remains of Rome still be gone today?

[Eric]

I give Constantine a 8 on my Hero-O-Matic meter. Casting off his cloak and diving into combat to die beside his men. That gives him a 8 also on my Badass-O-Matic meter.

[dragases1453]

I wouldn't call him a hero. I'd call him reckless and irrational. It would've been easier and safer to keep his position under Ottoman dominance. Less of his own people would've died. It may have been an honorable death, but it was one that cost many lives, on both sides.
If only he had been born earlier, and led the Empire in its prime... :hmmm:

He fought for the freedom of his people and he knew that the greeks wouldn't have been free under the ottoman rule, and all the citizens before the battle vowev fidleity to emperor for the greek freedom so i think that everyone in those days knew that they could have died but their freedom was more important; and they didn't think that the turks would have killed 20 000 citizens( there were 50 000 in totality) and the other 30 000 became slaves...so it was right to fight for freedom...in my opinion obviously

[MaximiIian]

Dying recklessly is just not heroic to me. The greeks were conquered anyway, even though he fought, so it seems to me like the died in vain. Now, if he had fled the city, and come back later with Hungarian support, he might've been able to retake the city...maybe.
But he didn't. He took the irrational, though honored and brave, path of death. The only thing I lament is the volume of deaths in that final siege, which is still truly not known.

Casting off his cloak and diving into combat to die beside his men. That gives him a 8 also on my Badass-O-Matic meter.

Now, I will admit that he was a badass. That he most certainly was.

[Markas]

He fought for the freedom of his people and he knew that the greeks wouldn't have been free under the ottoman rule, and all the citizens before the battle vowev fidleity to emperor

How free where the Byzantines? Though under Sharia Law Muslims could not be taxed as heavily as non-moslems, many of those greeks under the Ottomans must have been glad to be free from feudal oppression. Mehmet was also very tolerant of other religions and did not force conversion to Islam. His rebuilding of Constantinople demonstrates this with the oddly secular building plans.

My pro-constantine stance has already been demonstrated but where the Byzantines fighting for anything more than pride?

[dragases1453]

Maybe not but they fought and they made immortal their last standing against the major enemy of teh christianity...

Mehmet was not so tolerant towards other religions...he took Haghia Sophia, he made blowing Saints Apostoloes church and many others

[Markas]

Maybe not but they fought and they made immortal their last standing against the major enemy of teh christianity...

Mehmet was not so tolerant towards other religions...he took Haghia Sophia, he made blowing Saints Apostoloes church and many others

Yeah I'll go with that but he was alot more tolerant than his son Bayazid II. The book I read recently portayed Mehmet as a rather strange, contradictory charactor almost depressive but not the 'eastern tyrant' many made him out to be.

[Stalins Ghost]

I see him as a hero. The way I see it, the Empire was already lost, there was no real hope of gathering it back together, even if the City was retaken. His final defense was a symbolic last defiance against the Turks. Something for his people to aspire to in the future, somone that the beaten Greeks could look back on for inspiration when it came to retaking their lands. Eventually, Greece did throw off the shackles of Ottoman dominion. In whatever capacity, no matter how small, his stand was a symbol of Hellenic pride.

Gets a 90% on the Herometer. And a 95% on the SG Badass-O-Matic.

[4th Regiment]

I doubt it. He spoke Greek.

Of course he spoke Greek, as well as all educated people in Ortodox world. But what is interesting is why he used his mother last name – Dragas. Dragas were famous noble Serbian family from Macedonia. Very, very uncommon in those days. And it could cause him many problems among Constatinopolis elite and stugle for power.. Perhaps he felt much more related to his Serbian side than Greek. Maybe that detail explains his determination in strugle agains Turks- from mid XIV century onward, only Serbs put prolonged serious resistance to Otoman advance in south east europe. Or he wanted to separate him from part of political and religious elite in Constationopolis, because from all Ortodox nations, only Serbian Patriarh have not been in Italy to sign the union with Pope- neighbouring Roman Catholic for centuries and knowing that help would not come from that side. Who knows.... He was interesting and heroic figure and personality, no doubt.