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The Byzantine Empire lasted for 1123 years, a period longer than that which separates us from William the Conqueror. The third and final volume of the author's history of Byzantium, this book tells of the dire consequences of the defeat of the Seljuk Turks at the battle of Manzikert in 1071; of the Fourth Crusade, whose Crusaders, led by the octogenarian Doge of Venice, turned their attention away from the holy places to hurl themselves against Constantinople, sacking the city and setting up a succession of Frankish thugs on the imperial throne; and of the 200-year struggle by the restored Empire against the inexorable advance of the Ottoman Turks. This account of the city's fall, the last great epic in the history of the Middle Ages, is the climax of the story. The Byzantines, under their last Emperor, Constantine XI, heroically held out against the immense army of the Sultan Mehmet II for 55 days until, in 1453, the massive walls of Constantinople crumbled at last.
About the author
Born in 1929, John Julius Norwich served in the foreign office for twelve years before resigning in 1964 in order to write. His many publications include his two-book history published by Penguin in one volume entitled The Normans in Sicily; two travel books, Mount Athos (with Reresby Sitwell) and Sahara; The Architecture of Southern England; Glyndebourne; three anthologies of poetry and prose, Christmas Crackers, More Christmas Crackers and Still More Christmas Crackers; A History of Venice; and his three-volume history of the Byzantine empire of which this is the first, Byzantium: The Apogee is the second, and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall is the third. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order and a Commendatore of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.
