Tell me about Constantine XI

[The Stranger]

he refused to leave the city and probably died while defending the city to his last gasp, amidst regular soldiers.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Can't check sources right now but IIRC that's more a known fact than "probably". His body was identified from the imperial markings -presumably- he had forgotten to remove from some part of his clothing (shoes or something like that) and was given a proper funeral.
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[The Stranger]

youre right...

[Frodge]

Ok thanks for this guys but does anyone have any info on his reign leading up to 1453 and not just the siege of constantinople, he must have done something between getting crowned and dying. or was his reign a bit rubbish

[edyzmedieval]

He was crowned because of fights in the Moreean despotate, as far as I recall. His reign was basically uneventful apart from the fights with the Ottoman Empire. He sent envoys to every big power of the West, including the Pope, but no one wanted to help him, so he refused to surrender and he died in the city.

Check out the legend of the Marble Emperor.

[Ayachuco]

Mouzafphaerre:
Can't check sources right now but IIRC that's more a known fact than "probably". His body was identified from the imperial markings -presumably- he had forgotten to remove from some part of his clothing (shoes or something like that) and was given a proper funeral.

I know that his body was probably around where modern-day Sandjakdur Yokushan Square is and his head was cut off. They were able to identify his body b/c he had red or purple boots on with the double-headed eagle insignia embrodiered on it despite the Emperor's desperate attempt to remove all imperial reglia and symbols of office from his body. His body was buried with full imperial honors and a lamp was light with oil from Sultan Mehmed"s personal stores on the Emperor's gravestone. However his head was put on display in front of the Imperial Palace before it was reunited with his body.

Well, this was all I could find about the man that was of interest.

There is little information of what he looked like but they did describe him alot as a person. He was supposed to have been a perfect model of an ideal hero of antiquity and he wanted to realize his dream of restoring imperial glory by doing whatever he can to reach that goal even if it meant dying. During his father's reign, he served as regent for short periods of time although he had three older brothers. Manuel felt that he could trust Constantine to look after the affairs of the "Empire" far better than his elder siblings could. With Manuel's passing and his brother, John, ascension to the throne he was given Selymbria as his inheritance. He later headed to Morea and served under his brother Theodore and proved that he was an able commander and help rebuild the Hexmallion Wall. Despite Constantine's loyalty, Theodore grew jealous of his younger sibling's success and went to war with him. Constantine wanted peace since a civil war would throw the already divided empire into chaos and so he arranged a peace settlement where he traded the despotate of Selymbria for Morea. As despot of Morea, his first task was to strengthened the damaged Hexmallion wall before he can launch any attacks. In 1444, he launced a series of attacks into the northern Latin Greek feudal kingdoms and was initially successfull. However the feudal lords soon contacted Sultan Murad II and the Sultan would rout much of Constantine's forces. Murad would then race south and even breached the Hexmallion wall and slained thousands of Greek rebels. During his reign he tried to coerce the Mehmed by saying that he would use the false Sultan Orkhan to claim the Turkish throne if the Empire didn't get more gold in their annuities. He also sought the hand of Mehmed's concubine mother's hand in marriage but she refused and would honor her vow of becoming chaste if she ever escaped Murad's harem. So Constantine was forced to seek a Georgian princess's hand in marriage but she didn't leave early enough before Mehmed began his seige of the capital.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Bits and pieces:

The account of the finding of the body, the funeral and all are in accordance with what I remember/had read.

The Serbian concubine (Maria?) wasn't Mehmed's mother. Well, iirc she was no concubine at all but a proper wife through diplomatic marriage. Murad wedded her and died soon afterwards. Mehmed was already in his twenties. IIRC she was chaste when her husband died.

Murad (or Mehmed) forced the Despotis to damage the wall he had repaired with the threat of war (bringing in a sizable force).

Orkhan was baptized and fought fiercely in the defense. Was given the command of the walls around Samatya. He and his household were all slain fighting as well.

Another hero of the defense was Giuliano Giustiniani. Although a mercenary, he fought with vigour until getting badly wounded. He was granted safe passage by the besiegers. Don't know if he survived or died of his wounds though. Konstantinos's family was also given safe passage -iirc- to Moreas. Don't know where they ended up.

Konstantinos's mother was a Bulgarian princess (or of lesser nobility). That's why he was also referred to as Dragazis, by his mother's family name. That was used against him by his brothers and possibly other opponents.

Edit: Just realized the quote in your signature. That was his response to the envoys I believe. Dragazis might be Dragasis. I'm not sure about it but must be ending with -ης anyway to be nominative, AFAIK.
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