The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI is portrayed by Brownworth as the most capable of his father's sons — charismatic, courageous, deeply patriotic, and seasoned by twenty years of fighting the Turks. He refused to flee or become a vassal, gave a stirring final speech to his defenders, and disappeared into the fighting when the walls were breached, dying as a warrior-emperor rather than a subject.
Also known as: Constantine XI · Constantine Dragases · Constantine Palaiologos · Dugasis · Constantine the 11th
What each episode says
Episode 15 (2 mentions)
Mentioned in the episode's closing as the subject of the next episode—the last Byzantine emperor, whose refusal to surrender in the face of hopeless odds and magnificent defense of Constantinople earned him undying fame as both an unofficial saint and as the first Greek national martyr.
“In violet since the days of Constantine”
“Join me next time as I look at the life of Constantine XI,”
Episode 16 (24 mentions)
The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI is portrayed by Brownworth as the most capable of his father's sons — charismatic, courageous, deeply patriotic, and seasoned by twenty years of fighting the Turks. He refused to flee or become a vassal, gave a stirring final speech to his defenders, and disappeared into the fighting when the walls were breached, dying as a warrior-emperor rather than a subject.
“The ambassadors were seized and executed, and Constantine was left to draw his own conclusions.”
“Constantine, having seen first hand the power of the new weapons, realized the man's importance,”
“years, the last emperor, like the first, had been a son of Helena named Constantine, and”
Episode 17 (2 mentions)
Brownworth closes the previous episode with Constantine XI's tragic end and heroic resistance during the fall of Constantinople. He argues Constantine should have been memorialized throughout the West as the final defender of the bastion of Christianity, holding the walls with seven thousand men against more than ten times their number.
“I talked about the tragic end of Constantine the 11th and the fall of the Byzantine Empire”
“We still learn that the last Roman Emperor was not a heroic man named Constantine”
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