Consequences Unforeseen

The Taking of Constantinople - late 1452 - 1453

The Taking of Constantinople – late 1452 - 1453

Constantinople was dark and dimly lit on the night the Scotsmen slipped inside the main gates. No one paid them the slightest notice, dressed as they were as peasant farm workers hell bent on selling the measly crops they wheeled before them.

It was cold, way below normal for this time of year, with a damp wind coming in from Russia having picked up moisture as it crossed the Black Sea. This bone chilling environment had them shivering and caused them to wrap their sack cloth blanket clothing tight around them. This alone gave them even less visibility, since every single city dweller on the streets that night was behaving in exactly the same manner.

Their guide, a big swarthy Ottoman, was nearly as tall as the Douglas twins and this too helped in their stealth. He would occasionally grumble loudly in the local dialect, “This is too fucking cold tonight and we’re nearing spring.”

These moans and groans elicited sympathetic response form those they passed with their nodding heads and reciprocal moans. Everything had been well rehearsed so that they made the very least impact on their surroundings on their clandestine mission.

This was the Douglas men at their most deadly; infiltrators and assassins.

Six of Clansmen and their guide made it to the heart of the city with ease and found a quiet, nondescript but comfortable lodging house to be able to disappear for the remained of the night and daylight hours the following day.

Settling in to their surprisingly comfortable rooms the two brothers and their kinsmen prepared for the boredom of the wait. Just 26 years old, Archie and James experienced all this before. Their younger brothers not so much, so they had stories prepared to keep their minds from too much inward reflection. The story they planned to tell concerned the specific reasons they had decided to help the Sultan. Not all of their brethren had the details and it would be good to lay bare their thoughts and plans. It was going to be a long, slow passage of time until tomorrow night…

Surprisingly, to all of them the overnight hours seemed to pass relatively quickly as the truths concerning the deaths of their brothers and fathers came out, and the day passed even more quickly with the occasional foray out into the city scouting for and purchasing food. Their Ottoman guide proved to be a resourceful man and an even better cook, so their meals were small, delicious and often. It kept their spirits high and their minds sharp for the night to come.

Darkness falls quickly on the Bosporus and they were ready to go to work by the sun’s last rays. It was warmer this evening with a warm breeze coming from the West and the milder Mediterranean and Marmara Seas.

James Douglas was pleased with the change. He hated the sack cloth sheets and preferred the silk robes he wore in the Castle. His brother Archie could care less and he chided his twin constantly, ‘Yer a big pussy and soft like the silk ye’re wearin’,” he’d say and give him a playful slap. They were close these two and could function in battle in complete unison with never the need for a word between them.

Tonight they each knew where they were headed and for what purpose. They would traverse the entire city circumference tracing the walls from East to West particularly. This was the longest stretch of the two sets of walls.

They already calculated that the Bosporus provided North South protection which was easier to defend with ships and cannon. The tide on the Strait also rose and fell simultaneously in opposite directions.

This made it easier on the defending force with stationary tethered vessels, than for the ships of the aggressor having to contend with the constant ebb and flow of the waters.