Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/396

 354 DESTEUCTION OF THE GKEEK EMPIRE have killed the emperor and to have taken his head, which was recognised by Notaras, and that it was placed on a column in the Augusteum, then stuffed and sent to be shown in Persia, Arabia, and Asia Minor. 1 The story of Ducas is to a certain extent confirmed by the Moscovite, who states that a scribe brought the head of the emperor to Mahomet, who, when he was assured that it was genuine, kissed it and then sent it to the patriarch. It was then encased in a silver vase and buried under the altar of St. Sophia. He adds that the body was carried in the night to Galata and there buried. 2 To some extent their story is confirmed by Puscu- lus, who says that in struggling with the Janissaries 4 at the mound,' where he killed three Turks, he was slain by the mighty stroke of a sword ; that his head was cut off from his shoulders by one who knew him, and taken to Mahomet, who paid the promised reward. 3 None of these stories as to the manner of death can be regarded as altogether trust- worthy. Barbaro, with the sailor-like bluntness which usually characterises his matter-of-fact statements when not attacking the Genoese, says, 4 No news was received of his fate, whether he was living or dead, but some say that his body was seen among the number of the dead, while others asserted that he was trampled to death at the entry which the Turks made at the gate of St. Eomanus.' Phrantzes, who, like Barbaro, was in the city at the time, records that, after the capture, the sultan caused diligent search to be made to learn whether the emperor was alive or dead ; that men were sent to seek among the heaps of the slain ; that many heads were washed, but no one could recognise that of the emperor ; but that a body was found which had the imperial eagles embroidered on the socks and greaves, and that this body was given over to the Christians to be buried with due 1 See also ch. xxvii. of Montaldo, who adds that the head was sent to the pasha of Babylon accompanied by forty youths and forty virgins, a procession intended to make known the sultan's great victory. 2 The Turks show a place in the bema of St. Sophia which they pretend to be the tomb of Constantine. 3 Sad-ud-din also makes a Turkish soldier strike off the emperor's head (p. 31).