When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II (who would subsequently be known as Mehmed the Conqueror) decided to bestow upon himself the title of Caesar (Kaysar-i Rum, in Persian). It seems pretty obvious that, although today we think of the “Fall of Constantinople” as the end of the Byzantine/Roman Empire, in 1453 the … Continue reading Today in European history: the Martyrs of Otranto (1480)