Jacob Notaras ( el, Ιάκωβος Νοταράς; ), also erroneously called Isaac, was a Byzantine aristocrat who survived the
fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...
in 1453. Having attracted 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 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
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
, Jacob was 14 years old. 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.
["alio impubere luxui regali reservato" by account of ]Leonard of Chios
Leonard of Chios ( el, Λεονάρδος ο Χίος; it, Leonardo di Chio) was a Greek scholar of the Dominican Order and Latin Archbishop of Mytilene, best known for his eye-witness account of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which is one o ...
, the archbishop of Mytilene, an eye-witness and captive of Constantinople. ''Atti della Società ligure di storia patria'', p.256 Thus, after the execution of his father and brother, Jacob found the sultan’s favour by being added to Mehmed's
harem, most likely as his
catamite. He stayed in the
seraglio until 1460 and then escaped from
Adrianopolis
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
to Italy, where he reunited with his three sisters:
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
, Theodora and Euphrosyne. He later married Elizabeth Zampetis, and apparently was unhappy with his personal life.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Jacob Notaras
15th-century Byzantine people
Greek expatriates in Italy
Constantinopolitan Greeks