Jacob Notaras (Greek: Ιάκωβος Νοταράς; c. 1439 – c. 1491), also erroneously called Isaac, was a Byzantine aristocrat who survived the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Having got attention of the Ottoman ruler Mehmed the Conqueror as an adolescent, he was confined to the seraglio until he escaped in 1460. He later became one of the leaders of the Byzantine diaspora in Italy.
Captivity
Jacob Notaras was the youngest son of Loukas Notaras, an "enormously wealthy" aristocrat from Constantinople who served as megas doux and grand admiral to the last Byzantine emperors.
When Constanintople fell to the Ottoman ruler Mehmed II, Jacob was 14 years old. Many boys and girls were taken as slaves during the fall of Constantinople, also by the Sultan himself. Critobulus noted, for example: "As for the Sultan, he was sensual rather than acquisitive, and more interested in people than in goods. Phrantzes, the faithful servant of the Basileus, has recounted the fate of his young and good-looking family. His three daughters were consigned to the Imperial harem, even the youngest, a girl of fourteen, who died there of despair. His only son John, a fifteen-year-old boy, was killed by the sultan for having repelled his advances."
Jacob was said to be exceptionally beautiful, and caught the attention of the sultan when the conqueror visited the house of Notaras. Three days afterwards, Loukas Notaras was executed along with his son and son-in-law, while Jacob was reserved for the pleasure of the sultan. Thus, after the execution of his father and brother, Jacob was added to Mehmed's harem as his child sex slave. Critobulus confirms that Mehmet II took slaves during the fall of Constantinople and noted that: "As for the Sultan, he was sensual rather than acquisitive, and more interested in people than in goods. Phrantzes, the faithful servant of the Basileus, has recounted the fate of his young and good-looking family. His three daughters were consigned to the Imperial harem, even the youngest, a girl of fourteen, who died there of despair. His only son John, a fifteen-year-old boy, was killed by the sultan for having repelled his advances." One of the concubines (sex slaves) in the Ottoman Imperial harem of Sultan Mehmet II was Çiçek Hatun, who was herself referred to as a slave-girl captured during the fall of Constantinople.
He stayed in the seraglio until 1460 and then escaped from Adrianopolis to Italy, where he reunited with his three sisters: Anna, Theodora and Euphrosyne. He later married Elizabeth Zampetis, and apparently was unhappy with his personal life.
References
- ^ Babinger 1992, p. 95.
- Guerdan, Rene ́, Byzantium: its triumphs and tragedy, Allen & Unwin, 1956 p. 219-220
- "alio impubere luxui regali reservato" by account of Leonard of Chios, the archbishop of Mytilene, an eye-witness and captive of Constantinople. Atti della Società ligure di storia patria, p.256
- Guerdan, Rene ́, Byzantium: its triumphs and tragedy, Allen & Unwin, 1956 p. 219-220
Bibliography
- Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. pp. 95–97. ISBN 0-691-01078-1.
- Philippides, Marios; Hanak, Walter K. (2011). The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 255–256. ISBN 978-1-4094-1064-5.