A lost tale reconstructed from the Byzantine chronicle of 1453
by Ádám Gerencsér
A portent of
imminent defeat hung heavily in the air. This day of reckoning had been put off
for generations by the forefathers of the city’s current inhabitants, in turn
by diplomacy, by cunning or deceit, at times by feigned fealty and tributes,
but always with an increasing sense of humiliation. The impoverished inheritors
of Christendom’s Eastern capital had fought a forlorn struggle to stem the tide
of their decline, as their empire aged and wilted in the shade cast by its
young and powerful neighbour, the harbinger of a new prophet promising conquest
and mastery over ever more chatteled infidels.
Tomorrow, the
harvest. What Crusaders had sown two and a half centuries ago, the sword, nay,
the scythe of Islam would finally reap. With each passing lifetime, fortresses
fell, land was laid waste, fiefdoms splintered, dynasties fought over dwindling
mementos of past glory. For each mistrusted ally, two loyal enemies were made
and the people of the soil were crippled by soldiering and levies of taxation.
The territory crumbled and contracted like a tightening noose, until nothing
but a claim to titular figments stretched beyond the ramparts. Owned, perhaps,
but not governed. Even Constantinopolis
was a ghost of its former self, with more stones than menfolk, more bastions
than arms to man them. And for the past two moons a resolute foe on all sides,
wearing down what remained, preparing for the morrow’s final assault. The
Occident had sent blessings but no ships to their rescue.
But now the
city was awake with chants of hope and consolation. The emperor Constantine,
eleventh to carry the Name, had summoned the Patriarchs, the generals of the
army, the admirals of the fleet, the magistrates of the districts, the priests,
monks, merchants and mendicants. And the women, huddling their children, too
soft to fight, too scared to sleep, sensing despair on pale adult faces.
Processions with all the paraphernalia of devotion. In the church of Holy
Wisdom, Romans and Greeks saying mass together at last, clinging to prayer for
reassurance. And what prayer! Supplications of a mindfulness only produced on
mortality’s verge.
“I had looked
into the future and did not like what I saw. I besieged Him for His permission
to intervene. And now I take form.”
*****
On the
ceiling of the Hagia Sophia, obscured
by the scented smoke from a forest of candles, a mosaic on the right apse
appeared to move. The slight alteration of form at first remained subtle and
was perhaps dismissed as a mirage by the devoted who witnessed it privately.
The archangel seemed to slowly spread her wings and firm her grip on the golden
staff. She gently drew towards herself the orb in her left palm, which intimated
familiar outlines: a walled city perched on the tip of a peninsula, folded into
a narrow, lengthy bight and nestled by a great waterway.
The ceremony
was interrupted by a breath of collective awe as tiny cubes of cut stone began
to rain down from the arch of the apse. The winged messenger literally stepped
out of the masonry and crashed to the ground, indenting the tiled floor with
her knees. The impact echoed through the vaulted dome like the recoil of Ottoman
siege batteries. Then silence.
She only
spoke for a moment, words uttered in the Language, her voice intent and clear.
“Many of you
will die tomorrow. Repent and He shall accept you into heaven. But if you live,
then stand your ground and I will deliver you victory.”
Holy water
still pearling on his regal armour, crying the tears of a lifetime’s uncertain
faith thus vindicated, the Basileos
was first to kneel before her and embrace her feet in the relief of surrender. The
prelates and the congregation gazed on, numb with catharsis. Yet the angel
enfolded Constantine in her arms, pulled him up and kissed his temple.
“I saw that you
would die with honour, so you shall live. In His name you still rule.”
*****
They beheld her
soaring on the parapet of the Mesoteichion,
at the moment when ladders went up against the whole length of the wall from
the Propontis to the Golden Horn and the
serried ranks of warriors assailed the breaches lacerated by Turkish bombards. She
ascended with wings outstretched, then plunged into the mass of bodies,
helmets, pikes and lances.
“Forgive me.”
She struck
with elemental force, the impact scattering a cloud of flesh and material.
Battalions of men were knocked over and cast afield, or left lying shattered, semi-conscious
of blood seeping from torn eardrums. A blur of blade-like feathers tore through
confused lines of janissaries, spahis and topchis, leaving concentric circles of devastation in their wake.
Once the
damage was sufficient to make the outcome a foregone conclusion, and the angel
was confident that the resolve of the defenders was thus steeled, she shot
forward across the Horn. The Sultan’s golden-red tent commanded the height of
Galata hill, from whence Mehmed could observe the entire field of battle, then
the city and behind it, the sea. Proper form required that he be seated, on a
portable throne, or a white horse, but now he stood erect, bitterly fixated on
a spectacle of the impossible. Allah had never shown himself to his worshippers
and yet was saving that whore, Byzantium.
The
apparition knew the power of words and left courtiers and guards unharmed as
she landed with the softness of benevolent judgment. A tall seraphine shadow
against the midday sun, she threw the remnant of a horse-tailed banner at the Sultan’s
feet and gently laid a hand on his throat.
“You will
leave Rumelia and never cross the Bosporus again.”
With the
realisation of his life spared, his campaign lost and his creed made nought, the
ruler whispered acquiescence. The angel released her grip and gave him a second
glance before taking to the air.
“Convert.
Spread the faith. You could still be of use.”
*****
After the
dead had been buried, and the probing dusk was lit up by torches – not to
scorch, but to illuminate – the Emperor and his Patriarchs ascended to the roof
loggia of the monastic library where the messenger landed to rest. Approaching her
with the shy, impassioned love of freshly adopted orphans, Constantine
dispensed with thanks and addressed what mattered to them most. Was this
miracle a fleeting sign? Would she disappear by the morning? Would the city
have to fight another day, left to rely once again on desperate human efforts
for its survival?
Yet wings
folded, legs crossed and brows serene, the visitor seemed comfortable.
“I will stay,
if needs be, until a hundred generations grow old.”
Over the city,
death-bound yesterday, now preserved and born anew, the angel’s gaze caressed a
starlit, virgin horizon of infinite potential.
“Don’t fear. Hell
has no power but over the mind. It softens the virtuous and flatters the
vicious. Its might relies on the meekness of good men. I will make you strong.”
As the incantations
of triumphant oratories rose to the balcony of the monastery, her thoughts
drifted from the present. She envisioned the building of armies and fleets,
foundries and siege engines, the sending of emissaries to the realms of
Christendom, a personal apparition at the Papal Council, the founding of new
schools, academies and hospitals, hastening the advance of civilisation for the
ennoblement of a race fashioned to her liking. A succession of souls living disciplined
lives of faith and valour. A world of glorious victories, then lawful peace and
pious order. And glancing further into her immortal future, she saw limitless
promise: a pilgrim armada of obedient starships ploughing the depths of space,
forever expanding her regency. An empire uniting all under heaven.
Leaning intently over sprawling maps of Europe, the Holy Land and the Silk Road under the insurgent light of her own Morning Star, she could not help but utter in exultation: “My kingdom come. My will be done.”
Lectori salutem. As you are reading this, the world as we know it will have already slipped from a global
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