A Gift for the Sultan
byGeoffrey Fox
A novel of Constantinople, AD 1402
“A multi-layered novel, as steeped in the nuances of ancient
history as the city of Istanbul itself. Not just an adventure yarn and
a history of the Ottoman siege of Constantinople, but a haunting,
poetic rendition of royals and warriors as they might have been. What's
most stylistically stunning though, is how Geoffrey Fox takes you into
the cultural patterns and day-to-day thoughts of a time when magical
realism lived in the minds of the populace. You'll be hooked from the
first sighting of the simurgh bird nesting in the Tree of Life.
” — Jan Alexander, author of Getting to Lamma
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Known officially Nea Roma, “New Rome,”Konstantinoupolis or “Constantine's city” has for 1100 years been the capital of Orthodox Christianity and for most of that time the largest, richest, most splendid and most powerful metropolis of the western world. But now, in the summer of AD 1402, it is a weakened shell, cut off from all its colonies by an Ottoman siege and its ancient walls crumbling under the assault of trébuchet catapults and other siege weapons, deeply in debt to cities and riven by internal conflicts. Surrounding it by sea and land is the great horde of the terrifying sultan “Yildirim” — “Thunderbolt” — Bayezid.
Facing disaster, Ioannes VII, the acting ruler of the great city — in the absence of the legitimate emperor, his uncle Manuel II — secretly agrees to surrender to the Osmanli (Ottoman) Sultan Yildirim “Thunderbolt” Bayezid. Urged on by the sultan's crafty vizier, Ioannis send a delegation to the sultan with not only the key to city but also a young imperial princess, Theodota, his uncle Manuel's favorite bastard daughter, for the sultan's son’s harem to seal the deal. A fierce and famous Ottoman bandit chief, Arslanshahin (“Lion-Hawk”), no lover of Christians, is entrusted to deliver the girl and the treasure across the war-ridden mountains of Anatolia.
This is the story
of that
journey and of the relationship that develops between the
Turkish warrior
and Princess Theodota Palaiologina, the spirited and devout
young
Christian he is supposed to hand over to the sultan.
It
is
also the story of how a great city barely escapes its total
collapse, and Christian urbanites and Islamic warriors all have to
scramble when the invasion of Timur-i-lang
(“Tamerlane”) upsets the whole chessboard on which
they have been playing.
Major characters:
Historical figures are marked by asterisk (*). All others are fictional composites. Arslanshahin: A
respected and feared Turkish gazi, i.e., a warrior for the gaza or
defense of the faith (Islam), about 30 years old and. He is the chief
of a band of mounted archers who, when they are not defending the
sultan, spend their time raiding and pillaging caravans. Though
nominally Muslim, he follows the more ancient Central Asian traditions
and beliefs of his people. He won his war name "Lion" (arslan) and "Hawk"
or "Falcon" (shahin)
in battle.
Theodota Palaiologina: 14-year old bastard daughter of Manuel II Palaiologos, devoutly religious (Christian Orthodox) and convinced that God has destined her to somehow save the holy city of Constantinople from the Turks. Despite her illegitimate birth (neither she nor anyone else in the palace knows who her mother was, though there are contradictory rumors), she has always been treated as a princess.
Olga: A big young Russian, about 25, who is the personal slave of Princess Theodota but acts more like her big sister. Resourceful and intelligent, she speaks fluent though imperfect Greek.
*Ali Pasha: Historical. Chandarli Ali Pasha (Turkish: Çandarli Ali Paşa), is sultan Bayezid's chief vezir ( vizier) or minister, a crafty politician and military strategist. He survived the battle of Ankara, serving Bayezid's oldest surviving son until his death. The Çandarli (Chandarli) family produced a long line of distinguished viziers.
*Bayezid: Historical, age 42 in AD 1402. Survivor and victor of the battle of Kosovo (destruction of the Serb army in 1389), he is the first Osmanli ruler to call himself "sultan". A fierce and cruel war leader known for his lightning strikes, he goes by the nickname "Yildirim", or "Thunderbolt". As of July 1402, he has never been defeated and now hopes soon to conquer Constantinople.
*Ioannes VII: Historical.
About 36 in 1402, he is the nephew of Manuel II and co-Emperor in
Manuel's absence. The son of Andronikos IV (b. 1348), Manuel's elder
brother, in 1373 when he was about 7, he and his father were partially
blinded and imprisoned in the Tower of Anemas as punishment for
Andronikos' treason. He seized the throne in 1390 (after the death of
his father), but was driven out of city later that year by Manuel. He
nevertheless continues to have a faction of supporters in
Constantinople.
Mehmed: Greek-born, 17-year old janissary, i.e. slave infantryman of the sultan. He is bilingual in Turkish (which he has learned in the horde) and his native Greek (though with a rural accent that sounds odd in Constantinople). Converted to Islam when he was 14, he still cannot help responding to the powerful Christian symbolism when he come into contact with Greek Constantinopolitans.
Bardas Tzimiskes: An ambitious young merchant of Armenian origin. He speaks Greek, Turkish, and Latin and possibly Armenian (though he is fully acculturated into Greek-speaking Constantinople and its version of Christianity).
Mesud: Arslanshahin's younger half-brother, a warrior more devoted to poetry and song than to fighting.
Harry: An English soldier who has found work in Constantinople as a "Varangian", i.e., an ax-bearing palace guard. The Greeks call him "Erres" which is easier for them to pronounce. He is put in charge of the Varangians guarding Princess Theodota, and is smitten by Theodota's Russian slave Olga.
Zilha: A beautiful young Serbian woman enslaved by the Turks for sexual service and sent by the vizier to accompany and spy on Arslanshahin. She is multilingual, in Serbian, Greek and Turkish; nominally Christian.
Theodota Palaiologina: 14-year old bastard daughter of Manuel II Palaiologos, devoutly religious (Christian Orthodox) and convinced that God has destined her to somehow save the holy city of Constantinople from the Turks. Despite her illegitimate birth (neither she nor anyone else in the palace knows who her mother was, though there are contradictory rumors), she has always been treated as a princess.
Olga: A big young Russian, about 25, who is the personal slave of Princess Theodota but acts more like her big sister. Resourceful and intelligent, she speaks fluent though imperfect Greek.
*Ali Pasha: Historical. Chandarli Ali Pasha (Turkish: Çandarli Ali Paşa), is sultan Bayezid's chief vezir ( vizier) or minister, a crafty politician and military strategist. He survived the battle of Ankara, serving Bayezid's oldest surviving son until his death. The Çandarli (Chandarli) family produced a long line of distinguished viziers.
*Bayezid: Historical, age 42 in AD 1402. Survivor and victor of the battle of Kosovo (destruction of the Serb army in 1389), he is the first Osmanli ruler to call himself "sultan". A fierce and cruel war leader known for his lightning strikes, he goes by the nickname "Yildirim", or "Thunderbolt". As of July 1402, he has never been defeated and now hopes soon to conquer Constantinople.
Mehmed: Greek-born, 17-year old janissary, i.e. slave infantryman of the sultan. He is bilingual in Turkish (which he has learned in the horde) and his native Greek (though with a rural accent that sounds odd in Constantinople). Converted to Islam when he was 14, he still cannot help responding to the powerful Christian symbolism when he come into contact with Greek Constantinopolitans.
Bardas Tzimiskes: An ambitious young merchant of Armenian origin. He speaks Greek, Turkish, and Latin and possibly Armenian (though he is fully acculturated into Greek-speaking Constantinople and its version of Christianity).
Mesud: Arslanshahin's younger half-brother, a warrior more devoted to poetry and song than to fighting.
Harry: An English soldier who has found work in Constantinople as a "Varangian", i.e., an ax-bearing palace guard. The Greeks call him "Erres" which is easier for them to pronounce. He is put in charge of the Varangians guarding Princess Theodota, and is smitten by Theodota's Russian slave Olga.
Zilha: A beautiful young Serbian woman enslaved by the Turks for sexual service and sent by the vizier to accompany and spy on Arslanshahin. She is multilingual, in Serbian, Greek and Turkish; nominally Christian.
*Manuel II Palaiologos:
Historical, 52 in 1402, emperor of "Romania" (the Eastern Roman Empire)
since 1391. He is more interested in theological questions than
warfare. Since 1399 he has been absent from his empire, seeking Western
aid against the siege of Constantinople, and has left the city in the
hands of his nephew Ioannes VII. In the novel, Theodota is his bastard
daughter (the real Manuel II did in fact have at least one bastard
daughter, though older than the fictitious Theodota).
*Timur:
Historical, nicknamed Timur-i-Ling ("Timur the lame") but commonly
known in the West as "Tamerlane", 66 years old in 1402. Based in
Samarkand, he has conquered great swaths of territory in India and
Persia and now is encroaching on the eastern territories of sultan
Yildirim Bayezid. He commands a formidable horde which includes
thousands of cavalry and a troop of warrior-bearing elephants. (He is
the central figure of Christopher Marlowe's most famous tragedy,
"Tamburlaine the Great" <1587>.)
*Giorgos Goudelis: Historical. Giorgos Goudelis was reportedly the richest man in Constantinople during the reign of Manuel II. Though he is mentioned in several sources, there is little detail available. My portrait is largely imaginary, based on general information about the lives and opinions of the wealthy.
*Shah Rukh: Historical. Youngest son of Timur-i-Lang (Tamerlane). He would later (after his father's death) become the most powerful of the Timurids (house of Timur).
*Giorgos Goudelis: Historical. Giorgos Goudelis was reportedly the richest man in Constantinople during the reign of Manuel II. Though he is mentioned in several sources, there is little detail available. My portrait is largely imaginary, based on general information about the lives and opinions of the wealthy.
*Shah Rukh: Historical. Youngest son of Timur-i-Lang (Tamerlane). He would later (after his father's death) become the most powerful of the Timurids (house of Timur).
Bibliography
A great many works were consulted for this novel. Among them, the following were especially useful:- M.M. Alexandrescu-Dersca Bulgaru, La campagne de Timur en Anatolie, 1402 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1977; originally published in 1942). Extremely detailed account of military campaign and all the principal actors — Ottomans, Byzantines, Venetians, Genoese, Greeks, and of course Timur and his men, based on study of sources in all the relevant languages.
- J.W. Barker, Manuel II Palaeologus (1391-1425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1969).
- M.C. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453, ed. R.M. Karras (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992).
- D. Bernicolas-Hatzopoulos, “The First Siege of Constantinople by the Ottomans (1394-1402) and its Repercussions on the Civilian Population of the City,” Byzantine Studies 10, nº. 1 (1983): 39-51.
- A. Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976). This is where I got the idea of the "True Blues" patriotic street gang.
- Z. Çelik, The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986).
- C. Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
- Dede (“Grandpa”) Korkut, The Book of Dede Korkut (London: Penguin Books, 1974).