The diary by Nicolò Barbaro of the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks remains one of the most valuable firsthand sources of the seven-week siege of the Byzantine capital by the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. The author was an Italian physician, born into a prominent Venetian family, who may have been in Constantinople because Venice had extensive trade connections and a strong economic and political presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. As a physician, he likely had access to a wide spectrum of the population, both the ordinary people and the elite. The diary is notable for its vivid descriptions, military details, and personal perspectives of the Venetian participants in the war.
The Ottomans had a vastly superior military force and artillery and were determined to capture the city and gain control over the Eastern Mediterranean. In his account, Diario dell’assedio di Constantinople, Barbaro describes life in the besieged city, the fear and anxiety of the people as food supplies dwindled and the attempts by the defenders to repair the city’s walls each night, only to have them damaged again the next day by Ottoman cannon fire.
Barbaro describes how the Ottomans used massive cannons designed by the Hungarian engineer Urban that fired huge stone balls to breach the walls of the city. He noted the destructive power of these cannons and how they terrified the defenders. He also mentions the tension between the various Christian factions, the Venetians, and Genoese, historical rivals in trade and often suspicious of one another even as they fought alongside the Byzantines. He was critical of the Byzantine leadership and even of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, whom he viewed as ineffective.
Barbaro describes the final days of the Byzantine Empire, providing a rare tableau of the siege. He comments on the sheer scale of the final Ottoman assault on May 29, 1453, the massive cannons, and the ferocity of the Janissaries, the elite Ottoman infantry. He highlights the bravery of defenders in the face of overwhelming odds and the breakthrough when the Ottomans poured through and the city’s defenses crumbled, the chaos that ensued as thousands of soldiers and civilians were slaughtered. “The blood flowed in the city like rainwater,” and around 60,000 people were taken in chains to the Ottoman camps as slaves. Churches were looted and treasures seized. Barbaro escaped by sea, making his way back to Venice to record and describe this momentous event in European history.
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