Nick Holmes

The story of how the defeat of Byzantium at the Battle of Manzikert led to the First Crusade.

This episode follows Byzantium's appeal to Pope Urban II for help against the Turks, and the resulting military campaign, that in later years became known as the First Crusade - one of the most extraordinary military expeditions in world history.

The consequences of the First Crusade for both Byzantium and the wider Medieval world are discussed, including the sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

This podcast series is about the Battle of Manzikert. With excerpts taken from The Byzantine World War by Nick Holmes, it tries to unravel what really happened at Manzikert, a battle that changed history.

This podcast series is about the Battle of Manzikert. With excerpts taken from the Byzantine World War by Nick Holmes, it tries to unravel what really happened at Manzikert, a battle that changed history. In the second episode in the series, we look at the challenges that faced Byzantium in the eleventh century, as hordes of new barbarian invaders appeared on its borders and it struggled to maintain the professional army that had kept it safe in previous centuries.

This podcast series presents a new angle on the Crusades based on the book called The Byzantine World War by Nick Holmes. It explains that Byzantium was the original cause of the First Crusade, following its devastating defeat at the Battle of Manzikert. Byzantium also continued to play a critical role throughout the Crusades, up until the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204. But what really happened at Manzikert? In a mini-series of podcasts devoted to this battle, we try to unravel the truth about what really happened. This episode looks at the Seljuk Turks and their extraordinary rise to becoming a medieval superpower.

This podcast series presents a new angle on the Crusades based on the book called The Byzantine World War by Nick Holmes. It explains that Byzantium was the main cause of the First Crusade. This episode explores the background to the pivotal Battle of Manzikert in 1071. It focuses on the fierce war fought in Armenia from the late 1040s to 1060s, as the Byzantine army struggled to contain the increasingly ferocious onslaught of the Seljuk Turks.

This podcast series presents a new angle on the Crusades based on the book called The Byzantine World War by Nick Holmes. It explains that Byzantium was the main cause of the First Crusade. This episode describes the new Byzantine army which the Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes put together in 1068 to fight the first of his campaigns against the Seljuk Turks.

This podcast series presents a new angle on the origins of the Crusades based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, the year is 1068. The Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes leads the newly trained Byzantine army to victory against the Emir of Aleppo and captures the Arab frontier city of Hierapolis. But, just as his army celebrates their victory in Syria, the Seljuk Turks launch a vicious assault into the heartland of the Byzantine Empire.

This podcast series tells how the decline of Byzantium was the original cause of the Crusades. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, the year is 1069, and the new Byzantine Emperor, Romanos Diogenes, is determined to save Byzantium from the raids of the Seljuk Turks. But the Turks are a formidable enemy, and the Emperor also finds that he has to contend with a rebellion of the Norman mercenaries in his own army.

This podcast series tells how the decline of Byzantium was the original cause of the Crusades. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, the year is 1070, just before the Byzantines launch their greatest offensive against the Seljuk Turks in 1071. The Byzantine Emperor, Romanos Diogenes, decides to stay in Constantinople rather than lead his army out on another campaign. Why does he do this? The reasons are much more surprising than you would imagine.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, the Byzantine and Seljuk Turkish armies are gathering for one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages - the Battle of Manzikert.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. This episode is about the Battle of Manzikert, one of the most decisive battles in history, as well as the original cause of the Crusades.

This podcast series tells how Byzantium was central to the Crusades. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we look at the fall of Byzantium after the Battle of Manzikert. We start with the civil war that followed the battle between the Emperor Romanos Diogenes and the powerful Doukai family who had betrayed him at Manzikert.

This podcast series tells how Byzantium was central to the Crusades. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we hear about the reign of the Emperor Michael VII Doukas, which must count as the most disastrous reign in the whole of Byzantine history. By the end, Anatolia has been overrun by the Turks, and Byzantium is facing enemies advancing against it from both East and West.

This podcast series tells how Byzantium was central to the Crusades. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we ask the question why do historians even today tend to write off Romanos Diogenes' attempts to save Byzantium? The answer takes us on a journey through the writings of the main Byzantine chroniclers of the time. We learn how the true story was purposefully hidden by Romanos' enemies and is still confusing historians today.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It is based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we follow the desperate attempts by the remarkable Byzantine Emperor, Alexios Komnenos, to save Byzantium from the host of enemies surrounding it, from Normans to Pechenegs and Turks. This would eventually lead to a plea for help to the West. This plea was the basis for one of the most extraordinary events in history: the First Crusade.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It's based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we hear how the First Crusade began as a mass popular movement in Western Europe, how various armies marched east to Constantinople, and how they fared in their first battles against the Turks who had occupied Byzantine Anatolia.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It's based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, we hear how the Crusaders laid siege to Antioch, a huge and heavily fortified city, that had previously been the third city of the Roman Empire. The siege would take months and nearly broke the Crusade.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It's based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, after the long and traumatic siege of Antioch, the First Crusaders are faced with a major division when Bohemond says he won't leave Antioch and march on Jerusalem. Then news arrives that the powerful Fatimid Caliphate is intent on holding Jerusalem against them. The First Crusade enters its most desperate phase.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. In this episode, the year is 1101. The First Crusaders have achieved what seemed impossible. They have saved Byzantium from destruction at the hands of the Turks, as well as capturing Jerusalem and defeating the Fatimid Egyptians. Now the scene seems to be set for the consolidation of their gains. But the new crusaders setting out for the Kingdom of Jerusalem will find that the Turks are waiting for them.

This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. In this episode, we hear how one of the greatest leaders of the First Crusade, Bohemond, the ruler of the Principality of Antioch, turns against Byzantium and launches a war against the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios. However, things do not turn out as he hoped.

This podcast series tells how the Crusades were inextricably linked with the Byzantine Empire. In this episode, we hear about the creation of the fourth Crusader state - called the County of Tripoli. It would in future play a vital role in the history of the Crusades, linking the Crusaders of Antioch and Edessa, in the north, with those of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the south.

This podcast series tells how the Crusades were inextricably linked with the Byzantine Empire. In this episode, we hear about how the Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate tried to destroy the newly established Crusader state of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the early 1100's. And how it very nearly succeeded.

This podcast series tells how the Crusades were inextricably linked with the Byzantine Empire. In this episode, we hear how Byzantium, in the 1130s and 1140s, tried to re-establish its control over Antioch, the second city of the Empire, lost to the Turks in 1084, and captured by the First Crusade in 1098. Antioch was now a Crusader state - the Principality of Antioch - and the Crusaders would not yield to Byzantine demands to return it to the Empire as had been originally promised by the First Crusaders. Another step would be taken on the path towards war between Byzantium and the Crusaders.

In this episode, we hear how King Fulk of Jerusalem died leaving the Kingdom of Jerusalem to his widow, Queen Melisende, and how the Crusaders' most feared enemy, Imad al-Din Zengi used this as an opportunity to launch an attack on the County of Edessa. The result would change the crusading world forever.

In this episode, after the fall of Edessa to Zengi in 1144, the Kingdom of Jerusalem appeals to Pope Eugenius III for help. The great preacher, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux gives an electrifying sermon in France, calling for a new Crusade to save the Franks in the East. The West is again set alight with crusading fervour, just as it had been with the First Crusade in 1095, and two huge armies, led by the Kings of France and Germany, march East.

In this episode, we look at the passage of the Second Crusade through the Byzantine Empire and on into Anatolia which was a major war zone between the Byzantines and the Turks. Hopes were high for the Second Crusade, led by the two greatest Kings of Europe, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. But a cruel fate awaited them.

In this episode, we hear about the disastrous conclusion of the Second Crusade, which stands in complete contrast to the spectacular success of the First Crusade. It also marked a turning point for both the Crusaders and the Byzantines, as their mutual hostility grew amidst the rising tide of Islamic power.

In this episode, we hear about life in Outremer, as the Crusader states were called, meaning 'Overseas' in French. We'll find that the Crusaders never really established themselves in sufficient strength to be a viable long-term power in the region. In addition, the Crusader's growing commercial relations with the Islamic world, which promised a more peaceful and friendly future, were ruined by the aggression of the Catholic Papacy in Rome which only wanted war with Islam.

In this episode, we hear about the rise of the Crusaders' new enemy, Nur ad-Din, meaning "Light of the Faith" in Arabic. Nur ad-Din was the son of Zengi, who had united the Emirates of Mosul and Aleppo, and captured the Crusader city of Edessa, which had in turn caused the Second Crusade. Nur ad-Din's reign marked another step towards the unification of Islam against the Crusaders.

In this episode, we hear about the Prince of Antioch, Reynald, who invaded Byzantine Cyprus and provoked the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I to intervene in Syria. At first, it seemed as if there would be war between the Byzantines and the Crusaders, but a carefully constructed marriage alliance was to provide a very different and unexpected outcome.

In this and the next episode, we'll hear about the Crusader invasions of Egypt in the 1160s. These represent the Crusaders' last desperate attempts to prevent the creation of an Islamic superpower that would have the military might to defeat them. To the east of the Crusaders lay the powerful Zengid Sultanate, led by Nur ad-Din, which stretched from Aleppo down to the Red Sea. But Egypt was still an independent state ruled by the Fatimid Caliphate. To prevent it from being conquered by the Zengids, King Amalric of Jerusalem, launched an invasion in 1163. What followed would have more twists and turns than the best crime thriller.

In this episode, we hear about the King of Jerusalem, Amalric's alliance with the Byzantines against Fatimid Egypt, where a young man called Saladin has seized power. A large Byzantine fleet and Crusader army converge on the Egyptian fortress of Damietta. But can they succeed in defeating Saladin, the man who will in time become the nemesis of the Crusaders?

In this episode, we hear about the new young ruler of Egypt, Saladin, the man who would become the nemesis of the Crusaders. But his early years were fraught with difficulty and danger as the powerful ruler of the Zengid state in Syria, Nur ad-Din, sought to make him his vassal. Meanwhile, the Crusader King Amalric tried to ensure that Islam remained divided.

In this episode, we'll hear how Saladin saw a golden opportunity to create an Islamic empire that could challenge the Crusaders when his rival Nur ad-Din, the Zengid ruler, and the capable Crusader King of Jerusalem, Amalric, both died unexpectedly. However, the new young King of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, although himself a leper, would prove to be a brave and courageous leader.

In this episode, we'll hear how things got worse for both the Byzantines and the Crusaders when Byzantium suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176. This battle wasn't the game changer that the Battle of Manzikert had been for Byzantium since it had already lost its great power status. But it reduced Byzantium to a third rate power, making the Crusaders even more isolated in the Middle-East.

In this episode, we hear how Saladin continued to build his empire by taking Aleppo in 1183, which he added to his control of Damascus, so that he ruled a state stretching from Egypt to the borders of modern Turkey, completely encircling the Crusaders. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire had faded after its defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1076, and the Crusaders themselves suffered from the lack of a capable leader, and were increasingly dominated by the irresponsible and self-seeking Reynald of Châtillon.

In this episode, we hear how the Crusader states in the 1180s were unable to find unity or strong leadership to face the growing threat of Saladin. Instead, the death of the leper King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem resulted in a fractious and divided political environment. Matters were only made worse by the renegade behaviour of Reynald of Châtillon, whose outrageous attacks on Muslim convoys passing between Egypt and Syria provided the perfect excuse for Saladin to call for a decisive war against the Crusaders.

In this episode, we hear about the continuing quarrels between the Crusaders, just as Saladin was gathering the greatest army Islam had put into the field since the Battle of Manzikert, a century before. The clock was now ticking down to one of the largest and most decisive battles of the Middle Ages: the Battle of Hattin.

In this episode, we hear how Saladin followed up his great victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. Having surrounded and captured most of the Crusader army, including King Guy, the way ahead now seemed relatively easy. But some Crusaders had escaped from Hattin and were now trying to rally resistance in the Crusader castles and towns. Saladin's main target was the City of Jerusalem, where Balian of Ibelin was leading a desperate attempt to save the city and its inhabitants from what seemed like certain death and destruction.

Saladin had been victorious. In 1187, he defeated the main Crusader army at Hattin and recaptured Jerusalem. Despite his compassionate treatment of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, sparing the entire Christian population, and even allowing most to leave the city on payment of a small ransom, there was horror in the West. The aged Pope Urban III, is said to have died from shock. His successor, Gregory VIII, called for the end of all warfare between the rulers of Christendom for seven years, in order to mount a great offensive to reclaim the Holy Land from Saladin. The Third Crusade had begun.

In this episode, we hear how, on receiving news of Saladin's great victory at Hattin in 1187, and his taking of Jerusalem, the Monarchs of the West pledged to stop fighting each other and to march East on a Crusade to recover Jerusalem for Christendom. First among them was the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. He set out with a great army, taking the land route to Constantinople. But his passage through Anatolia would lead to a most unexpected outcome.

Frederick Barbarossa's Crusade had failed miserably when the German Emperor accidentally drowned in a river while crossing Turkish-held Anatolia. The Crusaders left in the Middle East were desperately hanging onto Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch. Quarrels between them undermined their hopes of resisting Saladin. But at the moment of despair, there was an unexpected development that would give the Crusades a whole new lease of life.

In this episode, we hear about the journey of the English and French Kings to the Holy Land to try to save the last Crusader states from Saladin. The English King was Richard the Lionheart, who has passed into history as one of the most heroic of all the Kings of England. He is also central to the folk story of Robin Hood, the legendary English outlaw, that has featured in so many films. But what was he really like? Find out in this episode.

In this episode, the Kings of England and France arrive in the Holy Land. Richard the Lionheart leads the English while Philip II leads the French. Not only are the two men enemies but they find the surviving Crusaders are also divided between King Guy and Conrad of Montferrat. Yet for once, Islam is united against them, under the leadership of Saladin, the most gifted Islamic ruler for centuries. The scene is set for a conflict that will pass into legend, both in the Middle Ages and even still today, as one of the most heroic, brutal and surprising stories in history.

King Richard the Lionheart has won a great victory over Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191. The tide seems to have turned in the Crusaders' favour. The road to Jerusalem lies open. Or is it? Saladin's army has been defeated but not destroyed. The Crusaders remain divided in their loyalties between King Guy and Conrad of Montferrat, and between the English and French Kings. In this episode, we hear how the path ahead for King Richard was fraught with problems.

In this episode, we hear how Richard the Lionheart was close to giving up on ever capturing Jerusalem. He had defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf, but he knew that Saladin's army was still numerically superior to his, and that even if captured Jerusalem, it would be virtually impossible to hold it against the might of a united Islamic state that stretched from Aleppo to the Sudan. Yet Richard was both a gifted soldier and an adventurer, and he couldn't resist making one last throw of the dice.

In this episode, we move onto what can be called the Second Age of the Crusaders, that is the period after the Third Crusade, when the Crusader states were weakened but still controlled the coast of Palestine. After Richard the Lionheart's departure from the Holy Land in 1192, it wasn't long before his great rival, Saladin, also died, an event that would reshape medieval Islam and the entire Middle East.

Ever heard of the German Crusade of 1197? Probably not. It must be one of the most overlooked Crusades. And yet it could have been a game-changer. Discover why in this episode.

The First Crusade had saved Byzantium. Now the Fourth Crusade would be directed against it. How and why did this happen? Find out in this episode.

The Fourth Crusade was initiated as a plan to attack Egypt. But with the Crusaders short of money, and the emergence of a Byzantine pretender, claiming that he would help the Crusaders if they helped him, things started to develop somewhat differently. With the scheming Venetians in the background, the Crusaders looked east not to the Holy Land but to the glittering city of Constantinople.

How did the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade rule their new city of Constantinople and their lands in Greece? And how did the break-away Byzantine states oppose them? Find out in this episode.

This episode looks at one of the strangest episodes in the whole history of the Crusades when, in 1212, groups of children in France and Germany followed child preachers on a wildly unrealistic expedition to liberate Jerusalem. It provides a fascinating insight into the medieval mind, dominated by a belief in miracles and a yearning to seek a better life.

The Fifth Crusade isn't as well known as it should be. It was actually one of the most significant military expeditions that set out to recover Jerusalem. 

The Fifth Crusade has struck at Egypt. Can its fanatical leader, Cardinal Pelagius, achieve the greatest victory since the First Crusade? 

The Fifth Crusade is poised for victory in Egypt. But its final offensive ends in catastrophe. Find out what went wrong in this episode.

The German Emperor Frederick II was an unusual medieval monarch. He shocked contemporaries by keeping a harem in his court at Palermo, and was excommunicated three times by the Pope. Yet he was the only monarch to succeed in recovering Jerusalem.

The German Emperor Frederick II has achieved the impossible - the recovery of Jerusalem for Christendom. But is there rejoicing in the West? Not at all. For Frederick has been excommunicated and is reviled both in the West and in Outremer. The next events will reveal how superficial his victory has been.

The Lombard Wars were a period of civil war in the Crusader states between the German Emperor Frederick II's Lombard troops and the Crusader barons in Cyprus and Palestine. Why did the Muslim states not attack the Crusaders when they were weakened by civil war? Find out in this episode.

In 1239, the Barons' Crusade arrived in Palestine to help the Kingdom of Jerusalem. But it achieved little and, in 1244, Jerusalem was captured and sacked by a group of Turkish nomads. It would be nearly 700 years before a Christian army regained the city. 

In this episode we reach a turning point in the history of the later Crusades, as the Crusaders face a devastating battle against Ayub, Sultan of Egypt. This marks not just the beginning of the end for the Crusaders but the start of the rise to power of the Mongols and the Mamluks, both of which will come to dominate the thirteenth century.

The last fifty years of the Crusader states were dominated by two new emerging superpowers - the Mongols and the Mamluks. In this episode, we hear the extraordinary story of the man who created the Mongol Empire - Genghis (or Jenghiz) Khan.

In the the first half of the thirteenth century, it seemed as if nothing could stop the Mongols. Their empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean. Yet hopes grew in Europe that they would convert to Christianity and unite with the Kings of Europe in the greatest of all Crusades.

In this episode, we hear how the last major Crusade - the Seventh Crusade - led by King Louis IX of France, achieved outstanding success initially only to fail along the banks of the River Nile.

The Seventh Crusade was the last major military effort by Western Europe to recover Jerusalem. Brilliantly successful to begin with, it met fierce opposition from the Egyptian Mamluk army, led by its brilliant general Baibars, who was poised to seize power in Egypt and establish a Mamluk empire that would ultimately destroy the Crusaders.

In the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire was the most powerful state on the planet.  In 1256, a huge Mongol army advanced into the Middle East. Its first major objective was Baghdad, one of the largest and most splendid cities in the world at the time.

In 1258, the Mongols sacked Baghdad, possibly the largest city in the world at that time and the centre of Islamic culture. It seemed as if Islam was doomed. But the powerful army of the Mamluks in Egypt was mustering to confront the Mongols. A great battle was about to be fought.

In 1260, the Mamluk victory over the Mongols at the battle of Ain Jalut saved Islam. Under the leadership of their new Sultan, Baibars, they now turned their attention to destroying the Crusaders. 

Having defeated both the Crusaders and the Mongols, the Mamluk leader, Sultan Baibars, wanted to destroy the Crusaders once and for all. In 1268, he attacked Antioch, one of the most strongly fortified Crusader cities.

Baibars, the Mamluk Sultan, is on the verge of destroying the Crusaders. But there is one last hope of help from the West. The English King Henry III has vowed to go on crusade. Now an old man, he sends his son, Prince Edward, to the Holy Land to lead the Ninth Crusade.

In the 1280s, the age of the Crusaders was nearly over. But the Mongols, still the most powerful empire on the planet, were keen to unite with Christian Europe to defeat the Mamluks. So, what went wrong? Find out in this episode.

The year is 1287. The final countdown to the destruction of the Crusader states in the Holy Land has begun. But there is a strange air of complacency among the last Crusaders as the final storm begins to build.

The year is 1291. Outremer, as the Crusader states in the Middle East were called, has one last great battle to fight as a vast Mamluk army advances on Acre, the Crusader capital.

With Outremer destroyed in 1291, Christian Europe lost its final link with the original crusading ideology focused on the capture of Jerusalem. What then should happen to the three religious Military Orders which had been established to defend Outremer - the Templars, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights? A particularly grim fate awaited the Templars, which has served as the inspiration for countless myths and conspiracy theories, not least that contained in Dan Brown's bestseller The Da Vinci Code.

Although the Crusading spirit of the eleventh century had faded in Europe after the fall of Outremer in 1291, there was still enough interest in 1365 to launch one last Crusade to recover the Holy Land. It would be remembered for its particular destruction and brutality.

As Crusading enthusiasm faded in Europe in the fourteenth century, in the East an obscure Turkish emir called Osman founded a new dynasty. This would rise to become one of the greatest empires in the world: the Ottoman Turks. The response in Europe was to call for a new crusade.

The year is 1396. The Ottoman Turks are threatening to conquer Eastern Europe and take Constantinople from the Byzantines. A new Crusade against them is proclaimed, and a great international army from Hungary and Western Europe is raised to meet them in battle.

In this new mini-series, we will hear about the fall of Byzantine Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. Many people see it as a turning point in history, marking the end of the Middle Ages. But what really happened? Find out here. 

In the thirteenth century, the Mongols destroyed the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia. But after the Mongols left, a new Turkish dynasty began to rise to power in western Anatolia. This dynasty was that of the Ottomans. 

In the fourteenth century, the growing power of the Ottoman Turks seemed unstoppable. But there was one man who checked it. This was Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, as he was called in Europe. Of mixed Turkish and Mongol descent, he created a vast empire at the end of the fourteenth century that was modelled on the Mongol Empire of the legendary Genghis Khan.

The Ottoman onslaught against Constantinople is getting closer. Two new leaders emerge on either side. Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Emperor of Byzantium, and the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, better known as Mehmet the Conqueror. Both men will go down in history as great heroes - discover why in this podcast.

With the Ottoman Turks closing in on Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologus made a last desperate appeal to the West for help. But would it be too little and too late?

By 1452, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II had decided to launch a huge attack on the ancient city of Constantinople. But as he gathered his army from all over his dominions, he knew that he would need more than soldiers. To breach the ancient walls he would need gunpowder and cannons!

As the Turkish army approached Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine defenders were joined by a handful of Genoese, Venetians and other adventurers prepared to join the fight to save the great Christian city.

With over 100,000 Turkish soldiers facing them, the 7,000 or so defenders of Constantinople awaited the first attack. All they could do was to hope and pray for a miracle.

Constantinople was probably the best fortified city in the medieval world. But it had one weak spot. To the north of the city lay the Golden Horn, the wide estuary that was blocked to enemy ships by a great iron chain. The Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II pondered long and hard how to break into the Golden Horn. Then he came up with an extraordinary idea.

The Ottoman Turks have dragged their ships overland into the Golden Horn and Constantinople is now surrounded on all sides. In desperation, the defenders plan for a night attack to destroy the Turkish fleet and a last appeal to the West for help.

Constantinople is surrounded. For seven weeks, it has endured Turkish attacks by land and sea. Its defenders have fought heroically but now they are exhausted. But so too are the Turks. Their losses have been huge and the Turkish Sultan, Mehmet II, starts to wonder whether he should call the siege off.

For seven weeks the Turks had besieged Constantinople. But all they had to show for it were heavy casualties and not a single victory either on land or at sea. The Turkish Sultan, Mehmet II, had a moment of doubt. Should he abandon the siege? Find out in this episode.

The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmet II, has decided to launch an all-out attack on the city of Constantinople. But the brave defenders are prepared. They resist wave after wave of Turkish troops until their luck runs out with a cruel twist of fate. 

On the 29th May, 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. It was the final end of Byzantium. It was also the final end of the Crusades. Indeed, many historians regard it as the end of the Middle Ages. I regret to say that this episode is also the end of this podcast. But I am delighted to say that I have a new podcast called "The Fall of the Roman Empire"! And I would be thrilled if you would like to tune into that. See you there!