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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

1401–1500

The Fifteenth Century

4 works

c. 1453–1460

Greek

The Lament for Constantinople

Anakalema tes Konstantinopoles

Anonymous

A vernacular lament for the city, addressing the empress of cities directly and describing Hagia Sophia's icons weeping.

Byzantine · PoetryRead elsewhere

c. 1455–1462

Greek

The History

Doukas · c. 1400–after 1462

A history of the last Byzantine century culminating in the fall of Constantinople, written by a Greek in Genoese service with painful sympathy for both sides.

Byzantine · HistoryRead elsewhere

c. 1467

Greek

History of Mehmed the Conqueror

Michael Kritovoulos · c. 1410–c. 1470

A Greek Christian writes an admiring history of the sultan who took his city, presenting Mehmed as a legitimate heir to the Roman emperors.

Byzantine · HistoryRead elsewhere

c. 1468–1477

Greek

The Chronicle

George Sphrantzes · 1401–c. 1478

A courtier's diary-like record of the last emperors, ending with his own enslavement, the loss of his children in the sultan's household, and his retirement to a monastery.

Byzantine · MemoirRead elsewhere