Constantinople: Light from the sky — 29 May 1453
”Every night [during the siege by the Turks] a fire descended from the sky, stood over the
City, and enveloped her with light all night long. At first the Christians read this light as a sign of God’s wrath and the coming destruction of the city, but initial success against the Turks led to the reinterpretation that God had sided with the Christians and that they would prevail. “Thus the sultan and his entire retinue became visibly depressed…and were considering lifting the siege…On the night before their scheduled departure the heavenly sign descended in its customary manner but did not envelop our City as it had before…[N] ow it seemed to be far away, then scattered quickly, and vanished at once. The sultan and his court were immediately filled with joy.”
Source: Makarios Melissinos, “Chronicle of the Siege of Constantinople” in George Phrantzes, Fall of the Byzantine Empire (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1980), 97-136. Case: W095