enter Constantinople, the 28th day of May, in the year aforesaid, putting all to the sword who made any resistance *.

No attack was made on Pera, for the greater part of the inhabitants were in Constantinople assisting in its defence. Those who had remained did not attempt to carry away any of their effects, but deliberated to send the keys of their town to the Turk, and offer him the city, in which were six thousand men, and throw themselves on the mercy of God. A good many of both sexes, however, embarked on board a Genoese vessel to escape, and one ship laden with women was seized by the Turks. The emperor of Constantinople died there. Some say that he was beheaded, others, that he was squeezed to death by the crowd as he was attempting to escape by one of the gates: both may perchance be true, as he may have been pressed to death, and the Turks may have cut off his head afterwards.

This was a melancholy event for the Christians; for after the Turks had gained peaceable possession of the city, they entered the churches, more especially the cathedral of St. Sophia, which is a very large and magnificent building; and finding it full of ladies, damsels, and others of high rank, they ravished them all without any distinction, and in contempt of God our Creator and of the Catholic faith. The Turk even violated the empress in this church, made her his concubine, and carried her with him when he departed from the city. His troops indulged themselves with impunity in every luxury and detestable vice. The large galleys of the Venetians, and from Trebisonde, waited until the middle of the strike off my head?' A Turk performed that office; and Mohammed with his army rushing in, every bar to slaughter, rapine, and violence, gave way.

"Constantinople had long been aimed at by the Turkish power; but the diversions formed by Hunniades and George Castriot had retarded an event, which the effeminacy and profligacy of both rulers and people had rendered inevitable. Constantine Drakoses, the last emperor, merited a better fate, if there could be a better than dying for his country. When he found Mohammed determined to besiege his city, he raised what force he could, which amounted to no more than three or four thousand men; nor could the imperial treasury afford to continue in its pay a celebrated German engineer, who, on his stipend being lessened, went in disgust to the Turks, and cast those immense pieces of cannon which are still the wonder of the Dardanelles.

"To Giustiniani, a Genoese, who, with five hundred men, came to defend the city, Constantine gave the chief command, promising to make him prince of Lemnos if he drove off the Turks. Meanwhile the citizens sat like idiots, determined to suffer the extremities of war, and expose their wives and children to violation and slaughter, rather than support an emperor who they knew wished to unite the Greek with the Latin church.

"Mohammed had four hundred thousand men-in-arms around the city; but though his fleet was large, he could not approach the walls by the harbour, and had even been witness to the success of five ships from Genoa, who had forced their way through his numerous navy. To remedy this, he contrived by engines, and an immense strength of hands, to draw a vast detachment of galleys over a peninsula into the harbour, and then the blockade was complete. The cannoneers, too, of the Turks were instructed by a Hungarian ambassador (moved by a foolish prophecy that Christendom would never thrive until Constantinople was taken), how to do the most damage to the old and ruinous fortifications of the devoted city.

"When all was ready for an assault, Mohammed sent to offer lives, liberty and goods, to the emperor and people, with settlements in Greece, if they would give up the place, but in vain. The Turks were at first gallantly repulsed, Constantine defending the breach, and Giustiniani bravely seconding his efforts: unhappily the latter being seized with a panic, on receiving a slight wound, and quitting his post, the Italians, who were the strength of the besieged, followed, and the enemy burst in with hardly any opposition. The wretched emperor saw that all was lost, and was only heard to say, 'Alas! is no Christian here to

"Meanwhile numbers of the Greeks stood calmly around the church of Santa Sophia, while others coolly employed themselves in a solemn procession, deluded by a fanatic, who had foretold, that as soon as the infidels should force their way to a certain part of the city, an angel should interfere and utterly destroy their forces; but the Turks, penetrating to the church, tied these dreamers two and two, and drove them away as slaves. After three days, Mohammed checked the course of plunder, and accepted the remaining inhabitants as subjects. To the royal family he behaved with humanity at first; but offering a cruel insult, when intoxicated, to Demetrius Leontares, (a man of high rank, great duke or admiral of the empire, and nearly allied to the throne) by sending a domestic to bring one of his children, who was remarkably beautiful, into his seraglio, the generous Greek (although he had been used to wish to see a Mussulman's turban rather than a cardinal's hat at Constantinople) resented it with such spirit that the tyrant ordered him and his whole family to be beheaded. He suffered with great resignation, professing himself happy, that by seeing his children die before him, he was certain they were not reserved for infamy.

Thus write Calchondylas and Ducas, who were probably both eye-witnesses to these horrors; but Cantemir affirms that the Turkish historians own an agreement, by which a part of the citizens, who had been allowed an honourable capitulation, preserved some of their churches, some privileges as to religion, &c. The men of letters, unable to endure the government of barbarians, dispersed themselves around Europe, and enriched every province, but particularly Italy, with their science.

"The whimsically superstitious are fond of a silly remark, that as the western empire began and ended with an Augustus, so did that of the east begin and end with a Constantine; but a much more useful speculation from the dreadful fate of this metropolis, and still more from that of Rome in 1527, presents itself to the rich and indolent citizen, viz. that opulence, far from securing its owners, only holds out a bait to the destroyer; and that no wealthy city should think itself secure without union, good government, and military exertions, among its inhabitants."Andrews' Hist. of Great Britain.

ensuing day to save some of the Christians, and about four hundred embarked on board. In the number was Jacques Totaldi*, who had been on guard at a part of the wall distant from where the Turks had entered; perceiving that all was lost, he made for the shore, and by swimming saved himself on board one of these galleys. Had the Venetian fleet, under the command of John la Rendourt, arrived the preceding day with his troops, most assuredly the city would have been relieved; for it consisted of nine galleys and twenty other vessels. It arrived the day after the conquest at Negropont.

It has been estimated, that the plunder the Turks made in Constantinople amounted to four thousand millions of ducats: the loss of the Venetians alone was said to be fifty thousand ducats. The Genoese saved on board their galleys twenty thousand: the Florentines lost twenty thousand; the merchants of Ancona fifteen thousand. From conversations with different Turks, we have heard that the Grand Turk, when only twentythree or twenty-four years old, was more cruel than Nero, and delighted in shedding blood: he was bold and ambitious, and more ardent to conquer the world than Alexander or Cæsar. It is alleged that he possesses larger territories, and greater power, than any other monarch whatever. He has different histories read out to him; and demands the reason why such and such things have been done. He holds it an easy matter to throw a bridge from Megara‡ to Venice, for a passage to march his army thither. He inquires where Rome is situated; and after the duke of Milan, of his valiant deeds, and other affairs. He can talk of nothing but war; and declares that he will make Constantinople his seat of empire, for that he is able and desirous to establish a large navy. He imagines that there is not a prince on earth but will bring him the keys of his towns before he calls for them, considering that he has taken by storm Constantinople, the strongest city in Europe, and so powerful that it was thought no army, however great, could accomplish it, and that he and his troops are bold in arms, holding their lives of no value to gain an object. It is supposed that the Turk will not this summer attempt any other warlike enterprise, but attend to his new settlement in Constantinople, unless some places he may wish for should surrender quietly. His soldiers want to return to their homes to enjoy and repose themselves, but he keeps them strictly to good discipline, that he may be prepared to resist any attacks that shall be made upon him. However, if the Christians would firmly unite, and act promptly, they would drive him out of Europe, never to return again.

This would be the plan I would offer for so desirable an object: First, a universal peace must be established in Christendom; then the Venetians, the duke of Milan, the Florentines, and the other princes of Italy, should raise an army of twenty thousand horse, well appointed, and under able captains, who should lead them to Pera, through Albania, as far as the possessions of the Christians, where they should halt in a country well supplied with all kinds of provision. They will be there secure, and instantly joined by the Albanians, Sclavonians, and other Christian nations, who will unite in the defence of the Catholic faith. In addition to this army, another should be formed at sea by the king of Arragon, the Venetians, the Genoese, the Florentines, and other maritime nations, whose fleets will be fully sufficient to conquer that of the Turk if it be not greatly increased to what it is at present. This fleet should sail for the port of Negropont, and take Sagripoch §, and other places, from the Turk it should likewise blockade the passage of the Dardanelles, and prevent any intercourse between Turkey and Greece.

The emperor of Hungary, the Bohemians, the Poles, the Walachians, and other nations in that quarter, should raise an army under the command of John Waiwoda ||, who is much feared by the Turks, and enter Turkey by Adrianople; and all these armies should so manage that their invasions take place at the same time, and that good intelligence reign among them, that the success may not be doubtful. The Turk, with all his efforts, cannot raise a greater army than two hundred thousand men, including bad and good; and it must be added, that *Totaldi. Q.

+ John La Rendour. Q. Giacopo Loredan? He sailed from Venice with only five galleys, and was to take up five more in the ports of Dalmatia and Candia.

Storia della Repubblica di Venezia.-Laugier.Tom. vii. p. 63.

Megara. This must be a mistake: indeed, the whole chapter is exceedingly confused. § Sagripoch. Q. Salonichi.

John Waiwoda. Q. John Corvinus Hunniades, waivode of Transylvania; who is also, most probably, the person meant by "Le Blanc, knight-marshal of Hungary," in the following chapter.

among the number are many Christians, and others of his subjects, that follow him unwillingly, who on the approach of a sufficient army of Christians will desert and join them. The Turks, by nature and custom, will not wait to be besieged, but continually keep the field, which will the more easily encourage desertions. The Christians from Russia must join this division of the united forces.

The Caramanian, who is a great prince, and a bitter enemy to the Turks, should he be informed of this intended warfare against the Turk, he will harass him much, and, with some inducements, may probably become a Christian. In Greece, there will not be a common peasant but will exert himself to bring provisions to the Christian army. On the other hand, the Turks will be straitened for provision, as their resources from Greece will be cut off by sea; and it may be supposed that the Greeks will be anxious to recover their lands by the sword; and the moment that the two armies shall approach Turkey, the whole of the unbelievers' army must be nearly famished and defeated. Should the Christians, however, delay their exertions, and allow the Turk time to strengthen himself by sea and land, there can be no doubt but that he will cause great damage to the Christians, which God forbid! In the Venetian galley, eight citizens of Venice returned, who had been settled at Constantinople; but thirty-eight gentlemen and forty others remained behind. May God speedily assist them in their deliverance.

CHAPTER LXVIII.-THE TURK SENDS LETTERS ΤΟ THE POPE, WHO, IN CONSEQUENCE, WISHES TO FORM A CRUSADE AGAINST HIM.-LE BLANC, KNIGHT-MARSHAL OF HUNGARY, DEFEATS THE TURKS NEAR THE PORT OF SAMBRINE *.

THE Grand Turk, moved by presumption at his unexpected success and prosperity, and through his great pride, sent two letters to pope Nicholas, of similar contents; the one in Latin, the other in French. The tenor of the last was as follows:-" Morbesan, lord of Achaia, son to Orestes, with his brothers; to the high priest of Rome, health, according to his deserts. Whereas it has lately come to our ears that, at the request and prayers of the people of Venice, you have publicly preached in your churches, that whoever shall take up arms against us shall receive in this life a remission of his sins, with a promise of life eternal hereafter. This we did not hear of until the arrival of some pilgrims, who have crossed the sea in Venetian vessels; and it has caused in us the utmost astonishment. Although you may perhaps have received powers from the God of thunders to absolve and release souls, so much the more prudently and discreetly should you exercise this power, nor by such means induce the Christians to act hostilely against us, and more especially the Italians; for we have lately had information that our fathers have declared the Turkish nation was innocent of the death of your CHRIST crucified; and that they neither possess nor have any knowledge of those places which are by you held sacred, and that we have always had the Jewish nation in hatred, who, from what we have read in histories and chronicles, did most treacherously betray and deliver up the CHRIST to the Roman judge in Jerusalem, to suffer death on the cross.

"We marvel, therefore, and grieve, that the Italians should be our enemies; for we are naturally inclined to be attached to them, as being, like to ourselves, of the issue of the Trojan race, and of ancient birth. We are sprung from the same blood, and regularly descended from king Priam and his line; and it is our intention to advance with our armies to those parts of Europe that have been promised to us by the gods of our forefathers. We

* If in a narrative so full of confusion and so crowded with errors, it is allowable to form a conjecture that may tend to reconcile it in any degree with fact, I should suppose this knight-marshal to be the great Hunniades, and the action to refer to the famous siege of Belgrade, which was raised by the exertions of that heroic general. John Corvinus Hunniades was of ignoble birth, the son of a Wallachian father by a Greek mother; so far the account of Monstrelet tallies with the reality. He was appointed

by king Ladislaus to the government of upper Hungary, and the command in chief of his armies. The operations for the relief of Belgrade were carried on by a fleet on the Danube, as well as by land; so that the mistake is natural enough of calling the place a port; unless, from the greater similitude of name, the reader should prefer Zarna, (to which Mohammed afterwards retreated,) as the representative of Sambrine. See Bonfinius, Rer. Ungar.

have also the intention of restoring Troy the great, and to avenge the blood of Hector and the queen Ixion*, by subjecting to our government the empire of Greece and punishing the descendants of the transgressors. We also intend subjugating the island of Crete, and the others in that sea, of which the Venetians have robbed us by violence. We require, therefore, that you act with more discretion, and that you impose silence on your preachers in Italy, that they may no longer comply with the requests before-mentioned of these Venetians, and provoke the Christians to wage war against us, as we have no cause of warfare against them from any difference in our creeds. It is of no importance that we do not put our whole faith in your CHRIST, since we allow him to have been a very great prophet; and as we do not follow his law, we are not to be compelled to believe in him. If any dispute has arisen between us and the Venetians, it is without colour of justice, or of authority from Cæsar or from any other prince. Through their pride and ambition, they have possessed themselves of many islands and other places that formed part of our government, which usurpations we cannot and will not longer suffer, for the time of repossession is near at hand.

"For these and other reasons you ought, therefore, to be silent, and desist from your enterprises, especially as we know the Venetians to be a distinct people, in their manners and laws, from the Romans, although they think themselves superior to all the world; but, by the aid of our great god Jupiter, we will bring their pride and insolence to an end. Should you not prudently desist from your intentions, we shall march our whole force against you, aided by the numberless kings of the east, who seem now to be slumbering; and we will bring an irresistible force by sea and land, not only against you and your walking pilgrims bearing the cross, but also against Germany and France, should you excite them to war upon us. With the aid of Neptune, god of the sea, we intend to cross the Hellespont, into Dalmatia, with numberless armies, and to visit the northern regions as far as Thrace. "Given at our triumphal palace in June, in the 840th year of Mohammed, sealed and enregistered."

About this time, the chevalier Le Blanc, who was not of a noble family, but originally a smith in Hungary, before he commenced captain in the wars under the king of Hungary, took the field to combat the Turks, having with him from twenty to twenty-four thousand combatants, and had gained the port of Sambrine, where were full eighty thousand Turks. They had waited at this port fifteen days, to see if any reinforcements would arrive, which coming to the knowledge of the knight, he departed from Mortunet, and came up with the Turks two hours before day-break, and attacked them with such courage that twenty-four thousand were slain: the rest fled to their shipping and escaped; for the Hungarians had no vessels to pursue them. The Turks, however, fought valiantly; and the knight with many of his companions were wounded. He returned back with fifty Turks his prisoners: six of whom he sent to pope Nicholas: six to the king of France, and six to the duke of Burgundy. In the number was the first-cousin of the Grand Turk.

OF

JUDGMENT GIVEN AGAINST JACQUES CŒUR AND THE DAMSEL
MASTER WILLIAM EDELIN, DOCTOR OF DIVINITY, IS PUBLICLY

MORTAIGNE.
REPRIMANDED AT EVREUX.

On the 29th of May, in the year 1453, judgment was pronounced by the chancellor of France, in the presence of the king, against Jacques Coeur, for the crimes he had been charged with, and for which he had been imprisoned. In consequence of the charges made out against him, he was condemned to death and confiscation of effects; but as the king inclined to mercy, and would rather sinners should repent than die, out of his especial grace he remitted the first part of the sentence, on condition that he redeemed, at any price, the Christian whom he had restored to the Saracens,-or, if that could not be done, then he was to redeem some other Christian slave from their power.

In regard to the money which he had unjustly wrung from the king's subjects, to the

amount of incalculable sums, he was adjudged to repay one hundred thousand crowns; and for the many and various offences that he had committed against the king, he was sentenced to pay a fine of four hundred thousand crowns, and the overplus of his effects, wheresoever they might be placed, was confiscated to the crown. He was also deprived of his offices, both public and private, and declared incapable of ever again holding them, and was likewise banished France. He was also adjudged to make amende honorable* to the king, in the person of his attorney, bareheaded and ungirdled, having a lighted link of ten pounds weight in his hands; and he was to declare, that he had falsely and disloyally restored the Christian to the Saracens, and supplied them with arms and ammunition, requesting pardon from God, from the king, and from justice. It was also declared, that the bonds of the lords de la Fayette and de Cadillac were void, and of none effect; and that neither Jacques Cœur nor any of his heirs should receive any advantage from them, as they were now annulled.

When the chancellor had passed this sentence, he added, by command of the king, that his majesty reserved to himself the ultimate decision of the banishment, and other graces.

In regard to the damsel of Mortaigne, although her body and effects had been condemned, yet in consideration of the great services which her ancestors and husband had rendered the king, his majesty remits the capital part of the sentence, and restores to her the effects that had been confiscated; but she is strictly forbidden, on pain of suffering the above penalties, to approach, within two leagues, the persons of the king or queen,-and is, likewise, condemned to make amende honorable to the king, by proxy in her attorney, who is to declare that she had falsely and wickedly accused Jacques Coeur, Jacques Colone, and Martin Prendoux, and to ask pardon for the same of God, the king, and justice. She was condemned to pay to the said Martin the sum of four hundred livres of the current coin; and to the wife and two daughters of Jacques Colone, one hundred livres each, amounting to three hundred livres more.

On the Sunday preceding Christmas-day in this year, master Guillaume Edelin, doctor of divinity, prior of St. Germain-en-Laye, formerly a monk of the order of St. Augustin, and of other orders, was publicly reprimanded on a scaffold in the city of Evreux, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the prisons of the bishopric, for having given himself up to the temptations and power of the enemy of mankind, that he might accomplish his carnal desires. He was particularly charged with cohabiting with a lady of birth; and, to accomplish this, had bound himself in such servitude to Satan that he was obliged to attend him whenever called upon by him. When such meetings were appointed he had only to bestride a broom, and was instantly transported to their consistorial meeting. Master Guillaume frankly confessed that he had done homage to the Enemy, under the form of a sheep, by kissing his posteriors, and that he had persevered for many years in this damnable debasement, and had been aided by the enemy whenever he required it of him, until the time of his arrest; when, having been duly convicted by the law, he was detained prisoner, and the power of the Enemy was without effect. He therefore remained, according to his sentence, closely confined in a dungeon, fed on bread and water. The inquisitor of the faith frequently remonstrated with him on the degeneracy of his conduct from what it was formerly, when he went about preaching so well to the people the faith of JESUS CHRIST. During the reprimands of the inquisitor, the prisoner was placed on a scaffold, in the presence of great crowds of people. At the end of these remonstrances, master Guillaume, knowing how infamously he had relinquished our Creator and Redeemer, began to groan and repent aloud of his sins, asking mercy of God, the bishop, and justice, and recommending himself to the prayers of the audience. He was then chained, and conducted to his dungeon, to do penance for the horrible sins he had committed.

* Amende honorable.—“ A most ignominious punishment inflicted on great offenders, who were led through the streets barefooted and bareheaded (with a burning link in

their hands) unto the seat of justice, or some public place, and there to confess their offences, and ask forgiveness of the party they had wronged."—COTGRAVE.