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DESTRUCTION OF THE GREEK EMPIRE
this has been published at a later date than the copy in my possession, which was printed in Florence in 1529. It was then published by the son of the writer, and Book II., which treats of the siege, suggests that the author has gained his information from spectators of the siege. It contains many useful statements.
9. 'A Slavic Account of the Siege,' published by Streznevski, is judged by Monsieur Mijatovich, on account of its peculiar idioms, to have been written by a Serbian or Bulgarian. He speaks of it as the 'Slavonic Chronicle.' A translation and a slightly different version was published by Dethier as the 'Muscovite Chronicle.' Though the narrative has been largely added to by subsequent hands, there is reason to believe that it was written by an eye-witness of the siege.
10. Another Slavic version is conveniently spoken of as the 'Memoirs of the Polish Janissary.' Its author, after serving with the Turks and, according to his own statement, being present at the siege, withdrew to Poland. The original MS. was first published in 1828.
The Turkish authors available who speak of the siege are:
11. Sad-ud-din, 'The Capture of Constantinople from the Taj-ut-Tevarikh (1590),' translated into English by E. J. W. Gibb (Glasgow, 1879). This work professes to be based on the accounts of earlier Turkish historians.
12. 'Tarich Muntechebati Evli Chelibi,' a translation of which is given in the elder Mordtmann's 'Eroberung.'
13. Ahmed Muktar Pasha's 'Conquest of Constantinople and the Establishment of the Ottomans in Europe,' brought out only in 1902, on the anniversary of the present sultan's accession.
14. An Armenian 'Mélodie Elegiaque,' written by a monk named Philip, who was present at the siege. This was printed in Lebeau's 'Histoire du Bas-Empire.' Dethier published the original version in Armenian.
I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Mordtmann's studies of the archæology and topography of Constantinople,[1] and to Professor A. van Millingen's 'Byzantine Constantinople,'[2] a work which is the most careful study of
