Μια πρωτότυπη και πολύτιμη προσέγγιση σε ένα ιστορικό ντοκουμέντο που βασίζεται σε δυσεύρετες πηγές και αυθεντικές μαρτυρίες!
Το βιβλίο αυτό, προϊόν συστηματικής, διεξοδικής και προπάντων αξιόπιστης έρευνας, αποτελεί μία συναρπαστική ιστορική μελέτη του Κωνσταντίνου Παλαιολόγου και της Άλωσης της Κωνσταντινούπολης. Αυτόπτες μάρτυρες και ιστοριογράφοι της εποχής συνθέτουν μέσα από μοναδικές πηγές -πληθώρα κειμένων που δεν υπάρχουν στα Ελληνικά παρά μόνο στη γλώσσα συγγραφής τους- ένα έργο ιδιαίτερης ιστορικής σημασίας. Μια ιστορική αφήγηση για την οικογένεια των Παλαιολόγων, το υπόβαθρο της διαδοχής μέχρι τον Κωνσταντίνο, τη βασιλεία του αλλά και την Άλωση, μέσα από τη ματιά διαφορετικών χρονικογράφων των οποίων τα έργα είναι δυσεύρετα- Φραντζή, Δούκα αλλά και Barbaro - κάνουν το ιστορικό αυτό βιβλίο μοναδικό.
Ένα πολύτιμο βιβλίο για να κατανοήσουμε μια εποχή, έναν Αυτοκράτορα και Πολιτικό Άντρα, έναν λαό...
Name variations: Čedomilj Mijatović, Chedomil Mijatovich, Chedomille Mijatovich, Chedo Mijatovich (also Mijatovitch, Miyatovich or Miyatovitch). Serbian Cyrillic: Чедомиљ Мијатовић.
Count Čedomilj Mijatović (October 6/18, 1842 - May 14, 1932) was a Serbian statesman, economist, historian, writer, politician, diplomat and one of the leaders of the Progressive Party. He was six times minister of Finance in the Principality/Kingdom of Serbia, three time minister of foreign affairs and minister plenipotentiary in Serbia to the Court of St. James's (1884–1885; 1895–1900, and 1902/1903), to Romania (1894), and the Ottoman Empire (1900). He is one of the most important liberals in history of Serbian politics. Mijatović's authority as a writer on Serbia is universally acknowledged, and he had contributed largely to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition (1875–1889) and Eleventh Edition (1911).
He published 19 books in Serbian, and 6 books in English. The books in English are:
Ancestors of the House of Orange (1892)
Constantine, the Last Emperor of the Greeks or the Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (A.D. 1453) after the Latest Historical Researches (London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1892)
A Royal Tragedy. Being the Story of the Assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga of Servia (London: Eveleigh Nash, 1906)
Servia and the Servians (London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1908)
A Short History of Russia and the Balkan States (London: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 1914)
The Memoirs of a Balkan Diplomatist (London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassel and Co., 1917).
His book Servia and the Servians together with his entries on Serbia in the Tenth and Eleventh editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica served a very important purpose of offering a favourable view of Serbia to the Anglo-American public at the beginning of the twentieth century in a very turbulent and decisive period for Serbia. He was arguably the first Serb to contribute to the Encyclopædia Britannica and some of his entries were reproduced up until 1973. The other was Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch.
His long life in Britain made him a cultural bridge between two nations. His role in British-Serbian relations in unmatched in terms of his influence on mutual relations. Many British Balkan experts were aware of this and had a very high opinion of Mijatović. James David Bourchier, a correspondent of The Times, remarked that “he is generally regarded by his fellow-countrymen as the most learned man in Servia.” William T. Stead, who met him during the Peace Conference in The Hague, was so delighted with him that he wrote: “It was almost worth while creating the Kingdom Servia if only to qualify Čedomilj Mijatovitch for a seat in the Parliament of the Nations.” Stead also had such a high opinion of Mijatović as a diplomat that in 1903 he remarked: “He is far and away the best known, the most distinguished, and the most respected diplomatist the Balkan Peninsula has yet produced.” The leading British daily The Times covered almost every step Mijatović took during the eighties, especially through its Vienna correspondents. There are almost 300 contemporary articles of The Times mentioning Mijatović. At no time before had any Serbian minister, or any Serb at all, enjoyed such sympathies from The Times as did Mijatović in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. When he resigned his tenure of the President of the Serbian Royal Academy The Times commented: “Of all the statesmen in Servia, M. Mijatovitch is probably the one who holds the highest character in foreign countries. He has filled the principal offices in Servia, not only those that are rewards for party services, by those conferred by public consent, if not by public acclamation, on men whose abilities are not judged by mere party conflicts.”
A somewhat dated accounting of the siege, which contains a clear western-bias and marking of its time. However, the details are interesting, if his listing of sources do leave something to be desired. His narrative is contiguous but not consistently strong. Able to avoid many semi-mythological fictions about the fall, Chedomiil fall victim to the currents of his time, delivering an interested if slightly tainted recitation of the Fall.
Except from expressing his own point of view over the historical events concerning the fall of Constantinople the author presents us also the point of view adopted by contemporary chronographers.This collection of contemporary accounts of the siege however is a bit subjective with a pro-christian and pro Byzantine tendency.