![]() ![]() ![]() So later that same year he decided to try his luck elsewhere. Orban’s tiny allowance was not even paid regularly, and as the year wore on, the master craftsman became destitute. Bronze cannons were ruinously expensive, well beyond the means of the cash-strapped emperor. But Constantine had few funds available for the construction of new weapons. It was clear he was intent on capturing the prize that had eluded previous Ottoman rulers: Constantinople.Ĭonstantine was extremely interested in Orban’s offer and authorized a small stipend to detain him in the city. The new sultan, Mehmed II-young, ambitious and hungry for conquest-was making ominous military preparations in his European capital, Edirne, 140 miles to the west. ![]() By the time Constantine assumed the throne in 1449, his impoverished kingdom had shrunk to little more than the footprint of the city, surrounded on all sides by Ottoman land. For 150 years the Byzantine frontier had been crumbling before the advance of the Ottoman Turks. One of a growing band of technical mercenaries who plied their trade across the Balkans, he offered Emperor Constantine XI one of the most highly prized skills of the age: the ability to cast large bronze guns.įor Constantine and the Christian empire of Byzantium that he ruled, these were dark days. Early in 1452, a Hungarian cannon founder by the name of Orban arrived in Constantinople, seeking his fortune at the imperial court. ![]()
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