The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 is the core around which historiography has begun showing the meaning of this event for the Europeans, the Byzantines and the Turks. In this paper however another tragic occurrence, less evident and studied than the fall of the byzantine empire has been put in evidence. It occurred eight years later when Trebizond surrendered to Mehemed the Conqueror. The aim of the investigation was to show the influence of this upsetting event on people and their life. Probably the conquest let the Orthodox Greek and the Catholic Latins get nearer. Undoubtedly their fate was similar. In fact most of the inhabitants were imprisoned and deported ( only a few could escape) so that the conquered empire became really a part of Asia. We can study these occurrences through Greek and Latin historiography, humanists’ writings and documentary sources. These sources show that the fall of Trebizond was considered by contemporary people an unavoidable consequence of the fall of Constantinople. Moreover through the sources we can confront the fall of the two capitals pointing out some subjects such as the military expedition , the Conqueror’s behavior , the consequences of the capture of the city for both Greek and Latin people, the fate of the emperor and the members of his court and family. Especially it is noteworthy the Westerns’ opinion. As regards the conquest of Constantinople and Trebizond they considered the former a catastrophe while they considered the latter only a consequence of mistakes and sins. It was an episode that they would soon forget. However archive documentation showing the efforts to keep connections with the Black Sea especially during the Turkish advance of 1461 demonstrate the importance of this trade area. Expected and feared the end of the Great Komnenoi empire was a main stage of atin and Greek exodus from the Pontic area, but a few years later some Latin traders could come back and went on with their business. However the Conqueror had achieved his project at that time because conquering Trebizond he really had put an end to the Greek world in the Black Sea.

La fine del dominio greco nel mar Nero

ORIGONE, SANDRA
2006-01-01

Abstract

The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 is the core around which historiography has begun showing the meaning of this event for the Europeans, the Byzantines and the Turks. In this paper however another tragic occurrence, less evident and studied than the fall of the byzantine empire has been put in evidence. It occurred eight years later when Trebizond surrendered to Mehemed the Conqueror. The aim of the investigation was to show the influence of this upsetting event on people and their life. Probably the conquest let the Orthodox Greek and the Catholic Latins get nearer. Undoubtedly their fate was similar. In fact most of the inhabitants were imprisoned and deported ( only a few could escape) so that the conquered empire became really a part of Asia. We can study these occurrences through Greek and Latin historiography, humanists’ writings and documentary sources. These sources show that the fall of Trebizond was considered by contemporary people an unavoidable consequence of the fall of Constantinople. Moreover through the sources we can confront the fall of the two capitals pointing out some subjects such as the military expedition , the Conqueror’s behavior , the consequences of the capture of the city for both Greek and Latin people, the fate of the emperor and the members of his court and family. Especially it is noteworthy the Westerns’ opinion. As regards the conquest of Constantinople and Trebizond they considered the former a catastrophe while they considered the latter only a consequence of mistakes and sins. It was an episode that they would soon forget. However archive documentation showing the efforts to keep connections with the Black Sea especially during the Turkish advance of 1461 demonstrate the importance of this trade area. Expected and feared the end of the Great Komnenoi empire was a main stage of atin and Greek exodus from the Pontic area, but a few years later some Latin traders could come back and went on with their business. However the Conqueror had achieved his project at that time because conquering Trebizond he really had put an end to the Greek world in the Black Sea.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/221264
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