Johannes Grant or Johannis Grandi was a mercenary employed by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

at the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Contemporary Greek and Latin accounts referred to him as being German, although Runciman has suggested he may actually have been a Scot named John Grant. He appears to have been affiliated with the Genoese contingent of mercenaries at the siege, possibly part of the men commanded by

Giovanni Giustiniani Giovanni Giustiniani Longo ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Lóngos Ioustiniánēs''; la, Ioannes Iustinianus Longus; 1418 – 1 June 1453) was a Genoese captain, a member of one of the greatest families of the Republic of Genoa, a kinsman to the powerful ...

. His use of counter-mining tunnels prevented the Turks from weakening or invading Constantinople from under the walls. He would fill barrels with water and observe the waves, using incendiary weapons, mostly Cheirosiphon to destroy Ottoman tunnels. The Fall of Constantinopla

Depictions in Fiction

* Grant appears as a minor character in '' The Dark Angel'' by

Mika Waltari Mika Toimi Waltari (; 19 September 1908 – 26 August 1979) was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel '' The Egyptian'' ( fi, Sinuhe egyptiläinen). He was extremely productive. Besides his novels he also wrote poetry, short stor ...

* John Le Grant, an Aberdonian based on the historical Johannes Grant, appears in ''

The House of Niccolò ''The House of Niccolò'' is a series of eight historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett set in the mid-fifteenth-century European Renaissance. The protagonist of the series is Nicholas de Fleury (Niccolò, Nicholas van der Poele, or Claes), a boy ...

'' by

Dorothy Dunnett Dorothy, Lady Dunnett (née Halliday, 25 August 1923 – 9 November 2001) was a Scottish novelist best known for her historical fiction. Dunnett is most famous for her six novel series set during the 16th century, which concern the fictiti ...

* John Grant is the central character in the historical novel ''

Porphyry and Ash __NOTOC__ Porphyry (; el, Πορφύριος, links=no, ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix and important Roman building material * Porphyritic, the gene ...

'' * John Grant is featured in the third episode of the historical docudrama series '' Rise of Empires: Ottoman''; here he is depicted as Scottish. * John Grant is the central character in the historical novel '' Master of Shadows'' by

Neil Oliver Neil Oliver (born 21 February 1967) is a British television presenter, archaeologist, historian and author. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including ''A History of Scotland'', ''Vikings'', and ''Coast'' ...

References

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown German military engineers Scottish military engineers 15th-century Scottish people 15th-century German engineers Fall of Constantinople People of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars Place of birth unknown {{Scotland-engineer-stub