All language subtitles for 4 - Byzance.ENG

BYZANTIUM

Constantinople, the new Rome,

Eis Ten Polin, the queen of cities,
is Byzantium.

It was chosen by Constantine I to be
the new capital of the Roman Empire.

Its influence also espouses
the confrontation of two civilisations,

the Muslim Orient
and the Greco-Latin Orient.

On 5th February, 1451,

a young, passionate man succeeded
to the sultanate, hungry for glory.

Mehmed II, a leader at twenty-one,
was both a mystic and a realist.

He was erudite,
a lover of the arts and cruel.

He dreamt of surpassing
his grandfather, Bayezid,

and his father, Murad,

who had learned from Europe to build up
the new Turkish nation's military force.

His first target was to be Byzantium.

Byzantium's force is nowhere
more evident than in its ramparts.

Crenellated, protected by moats,
guarded by vast rectangular towers,

built on three parallel slopes,

completed and restored
by each emperor,

this majestic wall was, for the time,

a perfect example
of an impregnable citadel.

The court of the Emperor of Byzantium.

On either side of the throne
a huge golden lion

would strike the ground with its tail,
opening its mouth,

rolling its tongue and roaring.

The visitor would approach and throw
himself to the ground three times.

The Emperor was raised up
in a tabernacle

by an invisible machine,
almost to the vault.

He looked dazzling
in his sacerdotal robes.

The pomp and frenzy increased
during saintly offices.

There were thirty religious
festivals per month.

The former Byzantine Empire,
which stretched from Persia to the Alps

and as far as the deserts of Asia,

can now be crossed on foot
in three hours comfortably.

Byzantium is now just a city
surrounding churches and palaces

and a cluster of houses.

Pillaged by crusaders,
decimated by disease,

torn asunder by theological quarrels,

it proved unable to defend itself
against its long-standing enemy.

While Galata belonged to Genoa,

all the land beyond the city walls
was under Turkish control.

Byzantine ships accessed
the granaries from the Black Sea.

Mehmed closed off this route

by building Rumeli Hisari
at the narrowest point of the channel.

On 5th April, 1453,

a vast Ottoman army
invaded the Byzantine plain.

The Sultan, magnificently attired,
rode at the head of his troops.

His whole army repeated,
with the same posture and rhythm,

the prayer he addressed to Allah.

The siege of the city had begun.

The main obstacle
was the Golden Horn.

A chain denied access
at the narrowest point.

So Mehmed came up with an idea
that was stupefying in its audacity.

In the night of the 22nd April, 70 vessels
were carried from one sea to the other

up hill and down dale,
through vineyards, fields and forests.

This stroke of genius gave the Sultan
and his army the whole Golden Horn.

The weak side of the city
was under threat,

and the defenders' already inadequate
cordon stretched further still.

Not one Venetian sail
could be seen in the Aegean.

The Pope, Venice, and Genoa
had fled Byzantium

with the besiegers on their tail.

There were 8,000 of them
against 150,000.

On the orders of Basilus,

the whole population gathered
to march in a procession.

Holy icons were taken
out of the churches.

Anywhere there was a gap
in the ramparts,

the image of a saint was affixed.

All these men who had escaped death
gathered at Hagia Sophia,

then the world's
most magnificent cathedral.

A funeral mass for the Eastern Empire
had just been celebrated.

Daybreak and death anxiously
awaited behind the ramparts.

At one o'clock in the morning,
the Sultan gave the signal to attack.

To cries of "Allah, Allah",

100,000 men stormed
the walls of Byzantium.

The first complement of baslhl-bazouks,
inexperienced and fanatical soldiers,

were heading for certain death
but they would tire out the besiegers.

When dawn started to break,

the Sultan was forced
to bring in his reserves,

the Janissaries that were
the jewel of the Ottoman army.

Several Turks entered through
one of the city gates, the Kerkoporta.

Greek soldiers saw the Turks
and uttered the fatal cries.

The city was taken.

The victor had kept his terrible oath
to sack Byzantium.

He only entered the conquered city
in the afternoon,

once the carnage was over.

Proud and grave
on his magnificent horse,

unflinching
before the cruel scenes of plunder,

faithful to his promise
not to interrupt the terrible task

of the soldiers
who had brought him victory,

he made for the cathedral,
the radiant heart of Byzantium,

anxious to thank Allah before dedicating
this church definitively to him.

The next day, altars were dismantled
and mosaic posts whitewashed.

The cross towering above
Hagia Sophia came crashing down.

Europe realised with a shudder that
because of its sombre indifference

an intrusive force was upon it,

a force that would leave it crippled
for centuries.

But in history as in life,

regret does not repair
the loss of an instant,

nor a thousand years make up
for an hour of neglect.