Queen of Cities by Andrew Novo

Author:Andrew Novo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: islam, turkey, constantinople, byzantium, byzantine, 1453, fall of constantinople, islam v christianity
Publisher: Epicenter Press
Published: 2016-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8—The Captain-General: May 10, 1453

Giacomo Loredan tapped the hilt of his sword and stared up at his ship’s sails. To the eyes of the sailor, the great cloth triangle looked relieved to be filled, at last, with the sea breeze. The commander was a patient, meticulous man of fifty-five. Venice did not appoint hotheads to the command of her fleets. But, even so, the losing battle against time was beginning to needle its way through his composed nature. He had been waiting too long for this moment. Everything had started in February with the letter from the bailò of Constantinople. That desperate plea for help had prompted a flurry of concerned debates in the Senate. Still, that august body of pedantic indecision wrangled for two months before commissioning Admiral Alvise Longo to relieve the City. The Senate voted two large sailing vessels, each filled with four hundred soldiers, and fifteen galleys for the operation. The resolution passed on April thirteenth and the sailing date of the fleet was scheduled for the seventeenth. Of course, there were delays, and the departure was postponed until the nineteenth when definitive word finally reached Venice that the Turks had arrived at Constantinople.

Even after setting off, Longo was not allowed to go as swiftly as possible to the City. Instead, the admiral was given a tortuous set of instructions for his progress. From Venice, he would proceed to Modon, a port in the south of the Peloponnesos. There, his galley would stop for a day to re-supply. Then, Longo would sail to Tenedos and await the arrival of the Captain-General who would bring several other galleys and take command of the expedition. Together they would sail north to Constantinople, force their way through the straits and relieve the City.

It was not until the seventh of May that the Senate gave Loredan his orders to leave Venice. Again, receiving orders to leave and actually sailing were two very different propositions. On the eighth, the Senate decided to send a special ambassador with the Captain-General to negotiate with the Sultan. The addition of Bartolomeo Marcello had caused further delays. Before allowing their emissary to sail, the Doge and leading senators conveyed to him a long and complex list of instructions. These negotiating points covered every eventuality that Marcello might encounter.

Loredan had his own orders, which likewise mapped his actions depending on the possible events. That was another characteristic of the Senate; they did not give their representatives, military or diplomatic, much leeway in terms of personal initiative. The Captain-General’s orders were clear. Their first destination was the island of Corfu. Loredan had orders to stop there and wait for the island’s governor to escort him to Negroponte where he would link up with two galleys from Crete before proceeding to Tenedos. The Captain-General thought it a completely unnecessary delay, but the Senate had been insistent that the galleys from Crete were an essential addition to the fleet. He stared up at the sails again and wondered how long it would take them to carry the ship through the Adriatic to Corfu.

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