User:Peter Sandham

Porphyry and Ash (2019) is a historical novel by English author Peter Sandham. Set in the period from Autumn 1452 to 29th May 1453, during the final months of the Eastern Roman Empire as the city of Constantinople comes under siege from the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II. Porphyry and Ash focuses on two individuals within the city, Anna Notaras, the youngest daughter of the city's richest family, and John Grant, a Scottish mercenary.

The book is the first in a series set around the Eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II; the sequel Porphyry and Blood was due to be published in 2020.

Historical background
In the years leading up to the Fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI attempted to gain military support of a Crusade through an act of union with the pope, which would end the Great Schism and reunite the Latin and Greek churches. This caused tension within Constantinople, with anti-unionists such as Loukas Notaras and Gennadius Scholarius. In response, some military assistance was dispatched to the city prior to the siege, including a number of mercenaries, particularly from Genoa. According to witness testimony from the siege, one mercenary of particular note was John Grant. Historian Steven Runciman has speculated that he was originally from Scotland.

Anna Notaras, daughter of Loukas Notaras, was an influential member of the Byzantine diaspora in Venice in the second half of the 15th Century.

The book starts during the autumn of 1452, as the city prepares for the coming siege and struggles with internal politics caused by the Emperor's union of the churches. The second half of the book covers the 53 day siege.

Characters
Porphyry and Ash includes a large cast of fictionalised historical persons. In addition to those already mentioned, prominent characters include:
 * George Sphrantzes, Grand Logothete.
 * Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor.
 * Gemistus Pletho, noted Byzantine philosopher
 * Giovanni Giustiniani, Genoese Condotierro
 * John Argyropoulos, Humanist scholar
 * Isidore of Kiev, Archbishop of Canterbury
 * Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, Ottoman Grand Vizier
 * Jacob Notaras, Anna Notaras's younger brother