Johannes Grant
Johannes Grant or Johannis Grandi[1] was a mercenary employed by the Byzantine Empire at the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Contemporary Greek and Latin accounts referred to him as being German,[2][3] although Runciman has suggested he may actually have been a Scot named John Grant.[4] He appears to have been affiliated with the Genoese contingent of mercenaries at the siege, possibly part of the men commanded by Giovanni Giustiniani. His use of counter-mining tunnels prevented the Turks from weakening or invading Constantinople from under the walls.[5][6]
Depictions in Fiction
- Grant appears as a minor character in The Dark Angel by Mika Waltari
- John Le Grant, an Aberdonian based on the historical Johannes Grant, appears in The House of Niccolò by Dorothy Dunnett
- John Grant is the central character in the historical novel Porphyry and Ash
- John Grant is featured in the third episode of the historical docudrama series Rise of Empires: Ottoman.
References
- ^ Leonard of Chios: "Johannis Grandi Alemani", where Grandi can also mean "the great" in Italian
- ^ Georgios Sphrantzes: "Johannes the German"
- ^ Bartusis, Mark, Late Byzantine Army
- ^ Runciman, Steven, Fall of Constantinople 1453, page 84
- ^ Nicol, Donald, Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 1993 [2nd edition]. Chapter 18.
- ^ The Fall of Constantinopla Archived 6 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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