Constantine XI
Names: Constantine XIthe emperorEmperor ConstantineConstantineByzantine emperor
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 2 (May 1453, C.E. The Death of the Magician)
Appearances
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 2Constantine XI is the Byzantine emperor, practical and distrustful of miracles, defending Constantinople during a five-week Ottoman siege while hope of European relief fades.
- Ch 2Spies sent to meet a European relief fleet found only an empty Aegean Sea, so Constantine concluded Christendom had abandoned Constantinople.
- Ch 2Constantine shouted that the city had fallen and he was still alive, then discarded his imperial robe and charged the Ottoman hordes, dying.
Connections
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 2Helena's test
Phrantzes locks a prisoner in the palace cellar; Helena leaves, the prisoner dies convulsing with no wound, and she returns with his intact brain, convincing the emperor.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Helena sent to kill Mehmed II
The emperor blesses Helena, and Phrantzes gives her portraits and a knife. She heads for the Blachernae quarter and does not return; the minaret is later found whole.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Hagia Sophia chamber opened
Laborers breach the secret chamber under Hagia Sophia, finding the sealed sarcophagus intact with fresh grapes, half eaten as Helena claimed, and everything present except the chalice.
- Book 3 · Ch 2Fall of Constantinople
On May 29, 1453, the Ottomans stormed Constantinople; Constantine died fighting, ending the Byzantine Empire.