150 
TURKEY. 
reduced Caraman-Oghl y, who 'had revolted. He found 
means to create a formidable artillery, built a castle on the 
strait of the Dardanelles, opposite to that which his grand¬ 
father had erected, and thereby made himself absolute master 
of that important passage, in spite of Constantine, the Greek 
emperor, who justly complained of this infringement of 
treaties. That prince, in his distress, implored the aid of 
Pope Nicholas V., but the people opposed the union of the 
two churches required by the pontiff. After many successes 
Constantinople was taken. This great event took place on 
the 29th of May, 1453, 1123'years after its foundation, and 
1205 after that of Rome. The particulars however of the 
siege, its causes and consequences, are related at full under 
the article Rome, p. 338. 
When Mahomet made his entry into Constantinople, not 
a Greek was to be seen. He alighted at the church of St. 
Sophia, which he that moment converted into a mosque, by 
causing the prayers enjoined by the Mahometan ritual to be 
said in it. The sultan would have reigned in a deserted city, 
had he not been politic enough to recal the Greeks, by al¬ 
lowing them to retain some churches and the free exercise of 
their religion. He then returned to Adrianople, and in a 
short time completed the conquest of the remaining posses¬ 
sions of the Greek emperor. 
Pope Calixtus III., alarmed at the progress of the Turkish 
arms, excited the princes of Christendom to form a league. 
But as the preparations for this new war were long pro¬ 
tracted, Mahomet resolved to strike the first blow, and laid 
siege to Belgrade, defended by the valiant Hunniades, but 
was obliged to raise it with disgrace. He revenged himself 
by completing the subjugation of the Morea, added the 
province of Athens to his other European possessions, reduced 
the little empire of Trebisond in Asia, and put to death 
David Commenius who had usurped that sovereignty. 
The Knights of Rhodes, afterwards Knights of Malta, 
hovered over the coasts of the Ottoman empire, and annoyed 
their commerce. Mahomet resolved to attack their island; 
but to facilitate his design, he determined to begin with the 
other islands of the Archipelago, from which the knights 
might derive succour. He made himself master of Lesbos 
by means of a traitor, whom he afterwards put to death. 
Caraman-Oghly died about this time. His children quar¬ 
relled respecting the division of the paternal inheritance, 
and solicited the mediation of the sultan, who, in order to 
restore harmony, immediately annexed Caramania to his 
dominions. 
Mahomet next directed his efforts against the island of 
Negropont, which belonged to the Venetians. The fleet 
of the latter was of no benefit to them. The governor of 
Negropont defended himself with great valour; but famine 
obliged him to capitulate in 1470, and notwithstanding the 
plighted faith of the sultan, this brave man and his principal 
officers were laid between planks and sawn in two. His 
only daughter was dragged before the murderer of her father, 
and chose rather to die by his hand than to yield to his 
desires. This circumstance probably gave rise to the story 
of Irene, which is not mentioned by any contemporary his¬ 
torian. The barbarous Mahomet having taken umbrage at 
the success obtained by his own son Mustapha in Persia, 
declared him a rebel, and caused him to be strangled. 
The Knights of Rhodes meanwhile took advantage of all 
these delays to fortify themselves in their island. D’Aubus- 
son, the grand master, a man of equal prudence and courage, 
on learning that the sultan had put an end to hostilities in 
Asia, and concluded peace with the republic of Venice, 
ao-reed himself to a truce of three months, during which the 
knights summoned to the defence of the island, arrived from 
all parts of Christendom. Mahomet, who began to be fond 
of ease, committed the conduct of the siege of Rhodes to the 
pacha Paleologus, a Greek renegado, of the family of the 
last emperors. The Turkish fleet, armed with a formidable 
artillery, arrived off Rhodes, and the siege immediately 
commenced. Both sides fought with obstinacy ; but the 
fire of the besieged was so well directed and so destructive, 
that the Turks were dispirited. The pacha, despairing of 
conquest by force, employed emissaries to poison the grand¬ 
master, but the plot was discovered, and the miscreants were 
punished. Justice was also executed on a German engineer, 
a renegado, who had come over from the Turkish camp into 
the city. This villain, who in full council sustained his 
infamous part, nevertheless by his conduct excited suspicions 
in the minds of the persons appointed to watch him, and 
the torture soon converted those suspicions into certainty. 
The Turks renewed their efforts, but were constantly re¬ 
pulsed by the knights, who performed prodigies of valour. 
Paleologus then thought fit to try the effect of negociation. 
The brave D’Aubusson would not listen to any terms: at 
the head of his people he withstood a fresh assault, but was 
wounded, and the Turks forced their way into the city. 
This momentary success inflamed the knights, the soldiers, 
and even the citizens, with such fury, that the Turks were 
driven back, not only from the city, but from the entrench¬ 
ments of the whole island, and compelled to return to their 
ships, and put to sea on the 17th of August, 1480. Paleo¬ 
logus, who had lost all hope and spirit, conducted with 
shame the wreck of his fleet and army to Constantinople, en¬ 
tirely engrossed with the means of persuading his master that 
Rhodes was impregnable. Mahomet, on receiving the first 
intelligence of the raising of the siege, flew into so vehement 
a rage as made even those of his ministers who had nothing 
to do with that affair tremble. He declared that his general 
and the principal officers of his army should be strangled. 
Paleologus, however, was not put to death ; the sultan took 
his post from him, and banished him to Gallipoli. Dissem¬ 
bling his mortification, and resolved to wipe away the dis¬ 
grace which his arms had incurred under Paleologus, he 
raised two numerous armies, intending with the one to con¬ 
quer Persia, and to send the other into Europe under the 
conduct of his generals; but death overtook him amid these 
great plans, on the 2d of July, 1481. 
This prince, whose whole life may be said to have been 
but one campaign, conquered two empires, twelve kingdoms, 
and nearly three hundred towns. 
1481—1512.— Bajazet II.—The eldest son of Mahomet, 
was appointed his successor. Instead of repairing to Con¬ 
stantinople to take possession of the throne which devolved 
to him, and though lie had a rival in his brother Djem-djem, 
called by the Greek writers Zizim, this superstitious prince 
chose rather to go on pilgrimage to Mecca; and wrote to 
the divan, desiring that his son, who was yet an infant, 
might reign in his name during his absence. Zizim took 
advantage of this opportunity, and upon pretext that Ba¬ 
jazet, though the eldest son, was the offspring of a slave, 
raised an army and made himself master of Prusa and of all 
Bithynia. Ahmed, or Acomat, the vizir, passed over into 
Asia with the flower of the janissaries and spahys, and 
marched against Zizim, whose army he put to flight. This 
ambitious prince then sought an asylum with the sultan of 
Egypt, who received him with the respect due to misfortune. 
Bajazet, on his return from Mecca, found his throne se¬ 
cured by the defeat of his brother, who was not long before 
he again tried his fortune. Zizim returned to Asia, made 
common cause with one of the sons of Caraman-Oghly, 
whom Mahomet had stripped of his possessions, but was again 
beaten. Destitute of all resources, Zizim solicited an asylum 
of the knights of Rhodes ; which the grand master of the 
order deemed it consistent with their honour and their in¬ 
terest not to refuse him. Don Alphonso de Suniga, grand- 
prior of Castile, who was commissioned to proceed with his 
squadron and take him on board, brought him to Rhodes, 
where he was treated with the utmost respect; but he was 
not allowed to remain long there in quiet. The sultan pro¬ 
posed a highly advantageous treaty of peace to the order, on 
condition of their delivering up his brother. The knights 
were too generous to abandon him. They persuaded him 
to retire to France, and importune for assistance. 
Zizim found that his solicitations to the king of France were 
beginning to produce some effect, when Pope Innocent VIII. 
suffered 
