Mehmed II, 'The Conqueror', in Byzantine short chronicles and old Serbian annals, inscriptions, and genealogies

Abstract

This article analyzes how Byzanitne Short Chronicles and Old Serbian Annals Inscriptions, and Genealogies depicted sultan Mehmed II, 'The Conqueror'. These sources are similar in character, as a genre belong to medieval popular literature, and reflect in its peculiar way the 'public opinion' of the Byzantines and the Serbs, two of the conquered nations under the Ottoman rule. The sultan was in narrow focus of anonymous chronicle writers who concisely and precisely, recorded important events of his life, above all his military successes. On rare occasions they dared enter next to his name negative qualifications, even outright rude insults. However, painfully aware in whose empire they all lived, they sometimes used the years of Mehmed's rule to date personal events in their own lives.