For 150 years the Byzantine frontier had been crumbling before the advance of the Ottoman Turks. One of a growing band of technical mercenaries who plied their trade across the Balkans, he offered Emperor Constantine XI one of the most highly prized skills of the age: the ability to cast large bronze guns.įor Constantine and the Christian empire of Byzantium that he ruled, these were dark days. Early in 1452, a Hungarian cannon founder by the name of Orban arrived in Constantinople, seeking his fortune at the imperial court.
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