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The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 has been long considered one of the epochal events of the medieval world. Dramatic accounts of the final siege of the city began to appear soon after the events, and they continue to proliferate. Most focus on the siege itself, often presented as a heroic defense of Christianity against Islam, the last act in an ongoing holy war. The endless dynastic quarrels that fill most narratives of late Byzantine history only reinforce "byzantine" stereotypes. In The End of Byzantium, Jonathan Harris presents general readers with a vivid and compelling narrative of the reigns of the last Palaiologan Emperors (1403-1453), Manuel II and his sons, John VIII and Constantine XI, and the fates of their survivors after 1453. He not only brings the issues, setting, and personalities to life, but also presents strong arguments for revising our view of Byzantine failure. Based on contemporary sources and recent research, this book is important reading for historians as well as general audiences.
Harris argues that the late Byzantines were realists who interacted closely and generally peacefully in everyday life with Ottoman Turks, as with Genoese and Venetians, in their small remaining territories in Constantinople and Greece. Interconnected by family ties and trade, Byzantines, Balkan Christians, Italians, Europeans, and Turks shared Byzantium's former European territory. During their last half century, Byzantine rulers maneuvered between Ottoman and western alliances, accepting Turkish vassalage and paying tribute,...