作者：John Haldon約翰·哈爾頓

出版商：Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

自翻：神尾智代

How the wars ended：Death of an empire

戰(zhàn)爭如何結(jié)束：一個帝國的消亡

????????? The Byzantine empire survived for some 500 years from about 600 in a form which grew increasingly away from its late Roman roots. Yet although there were many substantial changes in its geographical extent, institutional arrangements and social structure, it remained until the early 13th century the recognisable descendant of the eastern Roman empire of Justinian. By the middle of the 11th century, however, the international political and economic context of the 12th century - in which it had, after all, to survive - was beginning to change in ways that set up substantial challenges to the empire and, more importantly, to the ways in which it worked and was able to respond.

（拜占庭帝國從大約 600 年開始存活了大約 500 年，其形式越來越遠(yuǎn)離其晚期羅馬根源。 然而，盡管它的地理范圍、制度安排和社會結(jié)構(gòu)發(fā)生了許多重大變化，但直到 13 世紀(jì)初，它仍然是公認(rèn)的東羅馬帝國查士丁尼的后裔。 然而，到了 11 世紀(jì)中葉，12 世紀(jì)的國際政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)背景——畢竟它是為了生存——開始發(fā)生變化，給帝國帶來了實(shí)質(zhì)性的挑戰(zhàn)，更重要的是 ，它的工作方式和能夠做出反應(yīng)的方式。）

????????? Deep cultural differences and an increasing divergence between the Greek eastern Mediterranean and south Balkan world, on the one hand, and the Latin-dominated lands of central and western Europe had become increasingly marked across the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries. The situation worsened as western economic strength and political and military aggression began to be a serious problem for the medieval east Roman state in the later 11th century, with the Normans on the one hand and the German emperors on the other presenting serious threats to Byzantine political authority, control and prestige in the Balkans, and with the growing challenge to Byzantine maritime power from Italian commercial centres such as Venice and Genoa. The crusading movement, western prejudices about Greek perfidy and effeteness, and the expansion of the Seljuk emirates in Asia Minor, transformed alienation and suspicion into open conflict.

（一方面，希臘東地中海和南巴爾干世界與拉丁文主導(dǎo)的中歐和西歐土地之間的深刻文化差異和日益加劇的分歧在 8、9 和 10 世紀(jì)變得越來越明顯。 隨著西方經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力和政治軍事侵略在 11 世紀(jì)后期開始成為中世紀(jì)東羅馬國家的嚴(yán)重問題，一方面是諾曼人，另一方面是德意志皇帝，這對拜占庭的政治構(gòu)成了嚴(yán)重威脅。 巴爾干地區(qū)的權(quán)威、控制和聲望，以及威尼斯和熱那亞等意大利商業(yè)中心對拜占庭海上力量的日益挑戰(zhàn)。 十字軍運(yùn)動、西方對希臘背信棄義和軟弱無能的偏見以及塞爾柱酋長國在小亞細(xì)亞的擴(kuò)張，將疏遠(yuǎn)和猜疑轉(zhuǎn)化為公開的沖突。）

????????? The real threat now came no longer from the Islamic world to the east, but from the Christian west, and the first conclusive indication of the changed balance of power came in the form of the fourth crusade. Intending to attack Egypt, the crusading forces had found themselves heavily indebted to the Venetians, who had hired them the ships and provided some of the finance needed for the expedition. The Venetians had been looking for an opportunity to intervene in the confused situation at Constantinople in order to consolidate their trading privileges and their hold over the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. The presence at Venice of AleXIos IV Angelos, a pretender to the imperial throne, rendered the task of the Venetians in requesting a diversion to Constantinople fairly easy. In 1203, the crusader army arrived before the walls of the Byzantine capital and within a short time had succeeded in installing AleXIos IV as co-emperor, with his blind father, Isaac 11, whom his uncle AleXIos III had deposed, and who had been brought out of prison after the latter fled the city. Once installed, AleXIos IV found it impossible to pay the promised rewards and, as the situation worsened, he found himself increasingly isolated. Early in 1204 he was deposed and murdered by AleXIos Doukas (AleXIos V); but this only exacerbated the problem. Although the new emperor strengthened the defences and was able to resist an initial crusader attack, the city fell on 12 April. The booty taken was immense - an eyewitness asserts that so much booty from a single city had not been seen since the creation of the world. The city, full of precious objects, statues, liturgical and ceremonial vestments and objects, which had never before fallen to violent assault, was mercilessly sacked and pillaged for three days. Much destruction occurred, with innumerable artefacts destroyed and precious metal objects melted down or stolen - some of the most spectacular objects can still he seen in Venice today. The capture of Constantinople in 1204 and the establishment of a Latin empire finalised the split between east and west, for the Latin patriarchate was not recognised by the Orthodox populations of the Byzantine or formerly-Byzantine regions. The patriarch Michael Autoreianos, elected in Nicaea in 1208, was recognised as the true patriarch of the Constantinopolitan Church.

（現(xiàn)在真正的威脅不再來自東方的伊斯蘭世界，而是來自西方的基督教世界，權(quán)力平衡變化的第一個決定性跡象以第四次十字軍東征的形式出現(xiàn)。 打算進(jìn)攻埃及的十字軍發(fā)現(xiàn)自己欠威尼斯人的債，威尼斯人雇傭了他們船只并提供了遠(yuǎn)征所需的一些資金。 威尼斯人一直在尋找機(jī)會干預(yù)君士坦丁堡混亂的局勢，以鞏固他們的貿(mào)易特權(quán)和對東地中海貿(mào)易的控制。 王位的覬覦者阿萊克修斯四世安吉洛斯在威尼斯的出現(xiàn)，使得威尼斯人要求轉(zhuǎn)移到君士坦丁堡的任務(wù)變得相當(dāng)容易。? 1203 年，十字軍大軍抵達(dá)拜占庭首都的城墻前，并在短時間內(nèi)成功任命阿萊克修斯四世為共治皇帝，他的盲父伊薩克 11 被他的叔叔阿萊克修斯三世廢黜。 后者逃離城市后被帶出監(jiān)獄。 安裝后，AleXIos IV 發(fā)現(xiàn)無法支付承諾的獎勵，而且隨著情況的惡化，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己越來越孤立。? 1204 年初，他被亞歷克西奧斯·杜卡斯 (AleXIos V) 廢黜并謀殺； 但這只會加劇問題。 盡管新皇帝加強(qiáng)了防御并能夠抵抗最初的十字軍進(jìn)攻，但這座城市于 4 月 12 日淪陷。 掠奪的戰(zhàn)利品是巨大的——一位目擊者稱，自世界誕生以來，從未見過如此多的來自一個城市的戰(zhàn)利品。 這座城市充滿了以前從未遭受過暴力襲擊的珍貴物品、雕像、禮儀和禮儀服裝和物品，被無情地洗劫和掠奪了三天。 發(fā)生了很多破壞，無數(shù)文物被毀，貴金屬物品被熔化或被盜——他今天在威尼斯仍然可以看到一些最壯觀的物品。? 1204 年君士坦丁堡被占領(lǐng)和拉丁帝國的建立終結(jié)了東西方的分裂，因?yàn)榘菡纪セ蚯鞍菡纪サ貐^(qū)的東正教人口不承認(rèn)拉丁宗主教。 在1208年在尼太時期選出的Patriarch Michael Autoreianos被認(rèn)為是君君利用教會的真正族長。）

????????? After the capture and execution of the fleeing AleXIos V, a Latin emperor was elected in the person of Baldwin of Flanders, the empire's lands were divided among the victors, and Venice was awarded the coveted provinces and maritime districts. Greece was divided among several rulers and the principality of Achaia (in the Peloponnese) and the duchy of the Archipelago, the kingdom of Thessaloniki and the duchies of Athens and Thebes were established.

（在抓獲并處決逃亡的阿列克謝五世后，一個以佛蘭德斯的鮑德溫為代表的拉丁皇帝被選舉出來，帝國的土地被勝利者瓜分，威尼斯被授予令人垂涎的行省和海區(qū)。希臘被分成幾個統(tǒng)治者，亞該亞公國(伯羅奔尼撒半島)、群島公國、塞薩洛尼基王國、雅典公國和底比斯公國相繼建立。）

????????? In spite of this catastrophe, the empire survived and several counter-claimants to the imperial throne asserted their position. A branch of the Angelos family established an independent principality, the Despotate of Epiros, in the western Balkans, which lasted until the end of the 14th century. The family of the Komnenoi governed a more or less autonomous region in central and eastern Pontus, where the 'empire' of Trebizond now appeared; and at Nicaea, where the noble Constantine Laskaris continued to exercise effective control over much of Byzantine western Asia Minor, the empire of Nicaea evolved, its first emperor being Constantine's brother Theodore, the son-in-law of AleXIos III, and thus possessed of a certain legitimacy. Apart from these territories, the Bulgarian Tsar Kalojan was in the process of establishing an independent Bulgaria, and was even able to capture the Latin emperor in 1205 after decisively crushing his army. By the 1230s the Bulgars were threatening to reduce the Byzantines of Epirus to vassal status.

（盡管發(fā)生了這場災(zāi)難，帝國幸存了下來，一些反對皇位的人堅持了自己的立場。 安吉洛斯家族的一個分支在巴爾干西部建立了一個獨(dú)立的公國——埃皮羅斯專制公國，一直持續(xù)到 14 世紀(jì)末。? Komnenoi 家族統(tǒng)治著本都中部和東部的一個或多或少的自治區(qū)，特拉比松的“帝國”現(xiàn)在出現(xiàn)在那里； 在尼西亞，高貴的君士坦丁拉斯卡里斯繼續(xù)對拜占庭西部小亞細(xì)亞的大部分地區(qū)進(jìn)行有效控制，尼西亞帝國發(fā)展起來，它的第一位皇帝是君士坦丁的兄弟西奧多，阿萊克修斯三世的女婿，因此擁有 一定的合法性。除了這些領(lǐng)土外，保加利亞沙皇卡洛揚(yáng)正在建立一個獨(dú)立的保加利亞，甚至在1205年果斷地粉碎了他的軍隊后，還俘獲了拉丁皇帝。 到 1230 年代，保加利亞人威脅要將伊庇魯斯的拜占庭人降為附庸國。）

????????? The Latin empire based at Constantinople had a bleak future. The rulers of Epirus tried with help from the German emperor Frederick II, and later with King Manfred of Sicily, to establish a balance in the Balkans, with the intention of recovering Constantinople. But the emperors of Nicaea were in a better position strategically and politically and succeeded in making an alliance with Genoa. They thereby achieved a balance of power with Venice at sea. During the 1240s and 1250s they extended their territories in the southern Balkans, recovering a substantial area from its Frankish rulers. In Asia Minor a stabilisation of the frontier with the Seliuks was achieved for a while, and in 1261, taking advantage of the absence of most of the Latin garrison of Constantinople on an expedition, a small Nicaean force was able to gain entry to the City and reclaim it for the empire. Constantinople was the capital of the east Roman empire once more. By the end of the 13th century, parts of central Greece were once again in Byzantine hands, while they also controlled much of central and south-eastern Peloponnese.

（位于君士坦丁堡的拉丁帝國前途黯淡。 伊庇魯斯的統(tǒng)治者試圖在德國皇帝腓特烈二世以及后來的西西里國王曼弗雷德的幫助下，在巴爾干地區(qū)建立平衡，以收復(fù)君士坦丁堡。 但尼西亞皇帝在戰(zhàn)略和政治上都處于有利地位，并成功地與熱那亞結(jié)盟。 他們因此在海上與威尼斯取得了力量平衡。 在 1240 年代和 1250 年代，他們擴(kuò)展了巴爾干南部的領(lǐng)土，從法蘭克統(tǒng)治者手中收復(fù)了大片地區(qū)。 在小亞細(xì)亞，塞留克人的邊境穩(wěn)定了一段時間，1261 年，利用君士坦丁堡的大部分拉丁駐軍缺席遠(yuǎn)征，一支小型尼西亞軍隊得以進(jìn)入這座城市 并為帝國收回它。 君士坦丁堡再次成為東羅馬帝國的首都。 到 13 世紀(jì)末，希臘中部的部分地區(qū)再次落入拜占庭手中，同時他們還控制了伯羅奔尼撒半島中部和東南部的大部分地區(qū)。）

????????? Nevertheless, the last two centuries of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor and the southern Balkans saw the loss of Asia Minor, and the reduction of the empire to a dependency of the growing Ottoman Sultanate. The empire simply did not have the resources to fight on several fronts, and even to fight on one for more than a short period proved an impossible burden. But the empire's strategic position made warfare unavoidable, while the imperial political ideology meant that emperors continued to look for ways of recovering former territory and lost glory. For a while in the second half of the 13th century, and under the able emperor Michael VIII 11259-82), the empire marked up several successes. It was able to expand into the Peloponnese and to force the submission of the Frankish principalities in the region. Alliances with Genoa and the kingdom of Aragon and, briefly, with the Papacy, enabled the empire once more to influence the international scene and to resist the powers which worked for its destruction and partition. But the international environment soon became much less favourable. For with the transfer of imperial attention back to Constantinople the Asian provinces were neglected at the very moment that the Mongols arrived in eastern Asia Minor, where they weakened Seljuq dominion over the nomadic Tiirkinen tribes, allowing them unrestricted access to the ill-defended Byzantine districts. By the 1270s most of the south-western and central coastal regions were lost, independent Turkish principalities or emirates, including the fledgling power of the Ottomans, posed a growing threat to the remaining districts, and by the mid-1330s, the remaining Aegean regions had been lost. The Mercenary Catalan Grand Company, hired by the emperor Andronikos II in 1303 to help fight the Turks and other enemies, turned against the empire when its demands for pay were not met and, after defeating the Burgundian duke of Athens in 1311, seized control of the region, which it held until 1388. Other mercenary companies behaved similarly. The empire no longer had the resources to meet any but the smallest hostile attack, and could soon hardly even afford to hire the mercenaries upon which it relied to defend itself.

（盡管如此，在小亞細(xì)亞和巴爾干南部的最后兩個世紀(jì)拜占庭統(tǒng)治見證了小亞細(xì)亞的消失，以及帝國淪為日益壯大的奧斯曼蘇丹國的附屬國。 帝國根本就沒有多條戰(zhàn)線作戰(zhàn)的資源，即使是在一條戰(zhàn)線上戰(zhàn)斗超過很短的時間也被證明是不可能的負(fù)擔(dān)。 但帝國的戰(zhàn)略地位使戰(zhàn)爭在所難免，而帝國的政治意識形態(tài)意味著皇帝繼續(xù)尋找收復(fù)舊領(lǐng)土的方法，失去了榮耀。 在 13 世紀(jì)下半葉的一段時間里，在能干的皇帝邁克爾八世 (Michael VIII 11259-82) 的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，帝國取得了幾次成功。 它能夠擴(kuò)展到伯羅奔尼撒半島并迫使該地區(qū)的法蘭克公國屈服。 與熱那亞和阿拉貢王國的聯(lián)盟，以及短暫地與羅馬教皇的聯(lián)盟，使該帝國再次能夠影響國際舞臺并抵抗為其破壞和分裂而努力的力量。 但國際環(huán)境很快變得不那么有利了。 因?yàn)殡S著帝國的注意力轉(zhuǎn)移回君士坦丁堡，在蒙古人抵達(dá)小亞細(xì)亞東部的那一刻，亞洲省份被忽視了，在那里他們削弱了塞爾柱人對游牧蒂爾基寧部落的統(tǒng)治，允許他們不受限制地進(jìn)入防御不力的拜占庭地區(qū) . 到 1270 年代，西南和中部沿海地區(qū)的大部分地區(qū)都消失了，獨(dú)立的土耳其公國或酋長國，包括剛剛起步的奧斯曼帝國，對其余地區(qū)構(gòu)成越來越大的威脅，到 1330 年代中期，其余的愛琴海地區(qū) 已經(jīng)丟失。 雇傭加泰羅尼亞大公司于 1303 年被皇帝安德羅尼科斯二世雇傭以幫助與土耳其人和其他敵人作戰(zhàn)，當(dāng)?shù)蹏男匠暌鬀]有得到滿足時，它轉(zhuǎn)而反對帝國，并在 1311 年擊敗勃艮第的雅典公爵后，奪取了對帝國的控制權(quán)。 直到 1388 年才占據(jù)該地區(qū)。其他雇傭兵公司的行為也類似。 帝國不再有足夠的資源來應(yīng)對最小的敵對攻擊，而且很快就連雇傭自己賴以自衛(wèi)的雇傭兵都負(fù)擔(dān)不起。）

????????? In 1390 the last fortress in Asia Minor fell to the Ottomans. Part of the empire's failure can be ascribed to the vicious civil wars that were fought between factions of the ruling dynasty: war began in 1321, lasted until 1325, flared up again in 1327, and broke out again in 1341. The Serbian ruler Stefan Urosh 1V Dushan (1331-551 soon became involved on one side, while the other hired Turkish mercenaries to help in the fight. The struggle, which exhausted the small treasury, alienated the rural and urban populations who had to pay for it and failed to heal any of the rifts in the elite, ended with the victory of the emperor John VI Kantakouzenos in 1346. John had been supported by a faction of the clergy which had adopted a strongly anti-western view, a view that had important consequences for the last century of Byzantine culture and politics. But politically and economically the empire was in a desperate situation. The Serbs had absorbed Albania, eastern Macedonia and Thessaly, and all that was left of the empire was Thrace around Constantinople, a small district around Thessaloniki (surrounded by Serbian territory), and its lands in the Peloponnese and the northern Aegean isles. Each region functioned as a more or less autonomous province, so that Byzantium was an empire in name and by tradition alone. The civil wars had wrecked the economy of these districts, which could barely afford the minimal taxes the emperors demanded. Galata, the Genoese trading centre on the other side of the Golden Horn from Constantinople, had an annual revenue seven times as great as that of the imperial city itself!

（1390 年，小亞細(xì)亞的最后一座堡壘被奧斯曼帝國攻陷。 帝國的失敗部分歸因于統(tǒng)治王朝各派系之間的惡性內(nèi)戰(zhàn)：戰(zhàn)爭始于 1321 年，一直持續(xù)到 1325 年，1327 年再次爆發(fā)，1341 年再次爆發(fā)。 塞爾維亞統(tǒng)治者斯特凡·烏羅什 (Stefan Urosh)? 1V獨(dú)山（1331-551年很快卷入一方，另一方則雇傭土耳其雇傭兵幫助戰(zhàn)斗。這場斗爭耗盡了小國庫，疏遠(yuǎn)了農(nóng)村和城市人口，他們不得不為此付出代價，卻未能治愈 精英階層的任何裂痕都以 1346 年皇帝約翰六世 Kantakouzenos 的勝利而告終。 拜占庭文化和政治的世紀(jì)。但在政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)上，帝國處于絕境。塞爾維亞人吞并了阿爾巴尼亞、東馬其頓和色薩利，帝國只剩下君士坦丁諾普附近的色雷斯 le，塞薩洛尼基周圍的一個小區(qū)（被塞爾維亞領(lǐng)土包圍），其土地位于伯羅奔尼撒半島和愛琴海北部島嶼。 每個地區(qū)或多或少都是一個自治省，因此拜占庭在名義上和傳統(tǒng)上都是一個帝國。 內(nèi)戰(zhàn)摧毀了這些地區(qū)的經(jīng)濟(jì)，幾乎無法負(fù)擔(dān)皇帝要求的最低稅收。 位于君士坦丁堡金角灣另一邊的熱那亞貿(mào)易中心加拉塔，年收入是皇城本身的七倍！）

????????? During the civil wars, and as a result of their fighting for Kantakouzenos, the Ottomans began permanently to establish themselves in Europe. By the beginning of the 15th century, and with the exception of some limited areas in the Peloponnese and a few Aegean islands, there remained no imperial possessions in Greece. The advance of the Ottomans in Europe led to the ultimate extinction of Byzantium. Having defeated and subjugated both Serbs and Bulgars by the end of the 14th century, the Ottoman advance caused considerable anXIety in the west. A crusade was organised under the leadership of the Hungarian king, Sigismund, but in 1396 at the battle of Nicopolis his army was decisively defeated. The Byzantines attempted to play the different elements off against one another, supporting first the western powers and then the Ottomans. Some Byzantines espoused a possible solution by arguing for a union of the eastern and western Churches, which would bring with it the subordination of Constantinople to Rome. But the monasteries and the rural population were bitterly hostile to such a compromise. It was even argued by some that subjection to the Turks was preferable to union with the hated Latins. Neither party was able to assert itself effectively within the empire, with the result that the western powers remained on the whole apathetic to the plight of 'the Greeks'.

（在內(nèi)戰(zhàn)期間，由于他們?yōu)?/span> Kantakouzenos 而戰(zhàn)，奧斯曼帝國開始在歐洲永久建立自己的地位。 到 15 世紀(jì)初，除了伯羅奔尼撒半島和一些愛琴海島嶼的一些有限地區(qū)外，希臘沒有任何帝國財產(chǎn)。 奧斯曼人在歐洲的進(jìn)軍導(dǎo)致拜占庭最終滅絕。 在 14 世紀(jì)末擊敗并征服了塞爾維亞人和保加利亞人之后，奧斯曼帝國的進(jìn)攻在西方引起了相當(dāng)大的焦慮。 在匈牙利國王西吉斯蒙德的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下組織了一次十字軍東征，但在 1396 年的尼科波利斯戰(zhàn)役中，他的軍隊被決定性地?fù)魯×恕?/span> 拜占庭人試圖將不同的元素相互對抗，首先支持西方列強(qiáng)，然后是奧斯曼帝國。 一些拜占庭人支持一個可能的解決方案，主張東、西方教會聯(lián)合，這將使君士坦丁堡從屬于羅馬。 但寺院和農(nóng)村人口對這種妥協(xié)持強(qiáng)烈敵意。 一些人甚至認(rèn)為，服從土耳其人比與可恨的拉丁人聯(lián)合更可取。任何一方都無法在帝國內(nèi)有效地維護(hù)自己的利益，結(jié)果西方列強(qiáng)總體上對“希臘人”的困境漠不關(guān)心。）

????????? In 1401 the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid began preparations for the siege of Constantinople, but the empire was saved at the last minute by the appearance of Mongol forces under Timur (Timur Lenk, known in English as `Taniburlane), who invaded Asia Minor and crushed the Ottoman forces at the battle of Ankara in 1402. The Byzantines used the opportunity to strengthen their control in the Peloponnese, but the respite was of short duration. Timur died soon after his victory over Bayezid, his empire broke up in internecine conflict, and Ottoman power revived. The Sultans consolidated their control in Anatolia, and set about expanding their control of the Balkans. The Byzantine emperor John VIII travelled widely in Europe in a vain attempt to gather support against the Islamic threat. He even accepted the union with the western Church at the council of Florence in 1439; and a last effort on the part of the emperor led to the crusade which ended in disaster at the battle of Varna in Bulgaria in 1444. In 1453 Mehmet II set about the siege of Constantinople.

（1401年，奧斯曼帝國蘇丹巴耶濟(jì)德開始準(zhǔn)備圍攻君士坦丁堡，但帝國在最后一刻因帖木兒（Timur Lenk，英文稱為“Taniburlane”）領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下的蒙古軍隊的出現(xiàn)而得救，他入侵小亞細(xì)亞并粉碎了小亞細(xì)亞 1402 年在安卡拉戰(zhàn)役中的奧斯曼軍隊。拜占庭人利用這個機(jī)會加強(qiáng)了對伯羅奔尼撒半島的控制，但短暫的喘息機(jī)會。 帖木兒在戰(zhàn)勝巴耶濟(jì)德后不久就去世了，他的帝國在內(nèi)訌中分崩離析，奧斯曼帝國復(fù)興。 蘇丹鞏固了對安納托利亞的控制，并著手?jǐn)U大對巴爾干地區(qū)的控制。 拜占庭皇帝約翰八世在歐洲廣泛旅行，試圖爭取支持以對抗伊斯蘭威脅，但徒勞無功。 他甚至于 1439 年在佛羅倫薩會議上接受了與西方教會的聯(lián)合。? 1444 年，由于皇帝的最后努力，十字軍在保加利亞的瓦爾納戰(zhàn)役中以災(zāi)難告終。1453 年，穆罕默德二世開始圍攻君士坦丁堡。）

????????? The defences of the city, although suffering from lack of maintenance, remained both impressive and powerful, and it took several weeks of siege before the Ottoman forces, equipped with heavy artillery, including cannon, were able to effect some serious breaches and challenge the small garrison. In spite of a valiant effort on the part of the imperial troops and their western allies, who were massively outnumbered, the walls were finally breached by the elite Janissary units on 29 May 1453. The last emperor, Constantine XI, died fighting on the ramparts while leading a counter-attack. His body was never found. Later, Greek legend had it that, like King Arthur of British legend, he had not died, and would one day return to lead his people to victory.

（這座城市的防御雖然缺乏維護(hù)，但仍然令人印象深刻且強(qiáng)大，經(jīng)過數(shù)周的圍攻，配備包括大炮在內(nèi)的重型火炮的奧斯曼軍隊才能夠進(jìn)行一些嚴(yán)重的突破并挑戰(zhàn)小國 駐軍。 盡管帝國軍隊和他們的西方盟友做出了英勇的努力，他們的人數(shù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了他們，但城墻終于在 1453 年 5 月 29 日被精銳的禁衛(wèi)軍攻破。最后一位皇帝君士坦丁十一世在城墻上戰(zhàn)死 在帶領(lǐng)反擊的同時。他的尸體從未被發(fā)現(xiàn)。 后來，希臘傳說說，他和英國傳說中的亞瑟王一樣，沒有死，總有一天會回來帶領(lǐng)他的人民走向勝利。）

????????? Constantinople, under its Turkicised name Istanbul (from the Greek eis tin point — in the city) became the new Ottoman capital. The Aegean islands that remained to the empire were soon absorbed under Ottoman rule. The Byzantine principality in the southern Peloponnese, the despotate of Morea, fell in 1460, and Trebizond, seat of the Grand Komnenoi, fell to a Turkish army in 1461. The east Roman empire — Byzantium — was no more.

（君士坦丁堡以其突厥化名稱伊斯坦布爾（來自希臘語 eis tin point — 在城市中）成為新的奧斯曼帝國首都。 帝國留下的愛琴海島嶼很快就被奧斯曼帝國吞并了。 伯羅奔尼撒南部的拜占庭公國，即摩里亞的專制國，于 1460 年淪陷，而大公議會的所在地特拉比松于 1461 年被土耳其軍隊攻陷。東羅馬帝國——拜占庭——不復(fù)存在。）

未完待續(xù)