When was the last time the Divine Liturgy was performed in #HagiaSophia ?
28th May 1453?
Wrong.

19th January 1919.

A thread on the Great Church's brief, little known 20th century swansong. 👇 The Armistice of Mudros, signed on the deck of HMS Agamemnon, concluded the Ottoman empire’s involvement in WWI on 30 October 1918. 2 weeks later French & British troops began the occupation of Constantinople. They would remain for 5 years until 4 October 1923.

Did you hear the one about the Greek monk who was really a British spy? Thread. 👇 In the Oxford cemetery where Tolkien is buried stands the grave of David Balfour. Born into a wealthy British family in 1903, Balfour studied at the universities of Prague, Salzburg, Rome, & later Athens. He was a true polyglot, speaking🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇷🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹🇵🇱🇷🇺 fluently & even a little🇹🇷

Jews in Ottoman Constantinople. A brief thread. 👇 The story of Sultan Beyazid taking in the expelled Jews of Spain in 1492 following the Alhambra Decree is well known but that was only part of the influx into the Jewish community within the empire & a significant population had been present in Constantinople prior to 1453.

It takes an amazing wife to let her husband disappear alone into a Turkish knicker district in search of another woman's house. But luckily I have one. This thread is the story of the search for a Byzantine princess's lost palazzo. 👇 The palazzo belonging to the father of Anna Notaras was famously impressive, overlooked the Venetian quarter & had a belvedere tower. It appeared in a sketch of the city made in the 1440s by Cristoforo Buondelmonti.

When in Japan... Checking out Tokyo's brilliant Samurai museum. Then suddenly in the middle of all those Shogun, this guy pops up.

Complete conjecture, but is it possible that having taken Trebizond in 1461, Mehmed II's intention was to next launch an invasion of Italy? A thread on why that might have been the case... In 1460, Florentine merchant-spy Benedetto Dei recounts that he gave an interview to the Grand Turk who wished to know details of the political situation in Italy. Dei appears to have concluded that Mehmed intended to launch an invasion & claims he tried to dissuade him.

Historical example of reverse political correctness?

Commonplace among C15th humanists to refer to Turks as 'Teucri' (Trojans). Bracciolini, Ficino, Bruni all used it, even Pope Eugene IV. Then post-1453 term became politicised. Active campaign began against use of 'teucri'. "Those who are now called Turks are not, as some think, the Trojans or Persians. They are a race of Scythians from the center of Barbary"

Wrote Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini (the future Pius II) to Pope Nicholas V in 1453.

"On the 5th of the month of April, 1 hour after daybreak, Mahomet Bey came before Constantinople with about 160,000 men, & encamped about 2.5 miles from the walls of the city." - 1st entry of Niccolo Barbaro's eye witness diary of the siege of Constantinople. "On the 6th of this month, the Turkish Emperor moved with half his force to within a mile of the walls of the city.

On the 6th of April also the Most Serene Emperor left his palace and took his stand on the walls on the landward side at a gate called Cressu." It's fucking on...

So much Eastern European folklore around forest dwelling revenants who wait for the unwary traveler beyond the treeline or beside the crossroads. So much richer & more specific than the generic post-Stoker vampire. The moroi steal not just blood but also youth and beauty & also target chickens and bees. Gather as covens for orgiastic rituals in graveyards. They can shape shift and have power over the weather & animals. You can spot them by their chicken-claw feet.