 First edition (Finnish) | |
| Author | Mika Waltari |
|---|---|
| Original title | Johannes Angelos |
| Cover artist | Björn Landström |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | WSOY |
Publication date | 1952 |
| Publication place | Finland |
The Dark Angel (original title Johannes Angelos) is a novel by Finnish author Mika Waltari about a hopeless love affair and the Fall of Constantinople. The Finnish version was originally published in 1952, with an English edition being published in Great Britain in 1953.
The narrator is Jean Ange, alias John Angelos, born in Avignon. Prior to the events of the novel, he had been a friend of Sultan Murad II and then also of his son, Mehmed II; but once Mehmed had begun his march to Constantinople, Ange fled there.
The novel begins as Jean Ange meets Anna Notaras in Constantinople and they fall instantly in love. At first Ange is unaware of her identity, but later he realises she is the daughter of megas doux Lucas Notaras.
Ange is committed to fight to the death on the side of the Christians against the Islamic Ottoman forces. Nevertheless, his prior relationship with Mehmed earns him constant distrust from both Latin and Greek Christians.
In the final part of the book, Jean Ange is seen to be an unreliable narrator who had concealed from the reader - and from everybody he met including his beloved Anna - the vital information that he was born in Avignon to exiled Royal Byzantine parents and actually had a valid dynastic claim on the Byzantine imperial throne. On his way to Constantinople, he had passed through the Ottoman camp - and Mehmed had let him proceed, hoping that he would press his claim and ignite a civil war inside the besieged city. But in fact, Jean kept his secret and revealed to no one his ancestry.
Constantinople ultimately falls under Mehmed's attack, and Anna dies while in the disguise of a soldier. Only then does Jean press his claim on the throne against Mehmed, who, astonished at Jean's defiance and having looked forward to socialising with him, is left with little choice but to order him put to death.
Anna Notaras is a real historical character. In actuality, she did not die during the Fall of Constantinople but escaped and lived to a ripe old age as a major member of the Greek community in Italy.
The novel, written in a diary format, was inspired by a real diary by Niccolò Barbaro describing the 1453 siege of Constantinople. The character of Angelos especially had his basis on a marginal note in red ink mentioning a Greek traitor for the Turks by the name of Angelo Zacaria. [1] Scholar Panu Rajala visited Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, which held both a copy and the original, and read from the checkout list that Mika Waltari was the fourth one to be allowed to examine the book, on 7 November 1952. [1]
Waltari abandoned an early draft, closer to his previous novels in structure, which was published posthumously in 1981 as Nuori Johannes . [2]
Time praised Waltari as an "anything but clumsy" novelist with his portraiture of the battle environment, and likened the fractures forming in Constantinople's walls to the growing division between Christians, leading to irreparable ruination. [3] Daily News foresaw it for many readers as "the most powerful and skillful of the historical novels of Mika Waltari". [4] The New York Times , while regarding The Dark Angel as falling short of Waltari's previous historical fiction and reliant on its subject matter for gaining readership, nevertheless commended the handling of all minor characters and "Mr. Waltari's understanding of the interplay of motives that permit Mohammed II, complete with satellites, to overthrow the ancient capital". [5]
Year 1453 (MCDLIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1453rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 453rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 53rd year of the 15th century, and the 4th year of the 1450s decade.
Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or DragašPalaeologus was the last Roman/Byzantine emperor, reigning from 1449 until his death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantine's death marked the definitive end of the Eastern Roman Empire, which traced its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330.
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 was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which had begun on 6 April.
Gennadius II was a Byzantine Greek philosopher and theologian, and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1454 to 1464. He was a strong advocate for the use of Aristotelian philosophy in the Orthodox Church.
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian. He was extremely productive. Besides his novels he also wrote poetry, short stories, crime novels, plays, essays, travel stories, film scripts, and rhymed texts for comic strips by Asmo Alho.
The Egyptian is a historical novel by Mika Waltari. It was first published in Finnish in 1945, and in an abridged English translation by Naomi Walford in 1949, from Swedish rather than Finnish. Regarded as "one of the greatest books in Finnish literary history", it is, so far, the only Finnish novel to be adapted into a Hollywood film, which happened in 1954.
David Megas Komnenos was the last Emperor of Trebizond from 1460 to 1461. He was the third son of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene. Following the fall of Trebizond to the Ottoman Empire, he was taken captive with his family to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, where he and his sons and nephew were executed in 1463.
The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was one of the three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire that existed during the 13th through to the 15th century. The empire consisted of the Pontus, or far northeastern corner of Anatolia, and portions of southern Crimea.
Giovanni Giustiniani Longo was a Genoese nobleman, mercenary captain, and defender of Constantinople during its siege in 1453. He was instrumental in its defense and commanded 700 men, as well as leading the land forces protecting the city.
The House of Palaiologos, also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek noble family that rose to power and produced the last and longest-ruling dynasty in the history of the Byzantine Empire. Their rule as Emperors and Autocrats of the Romans lasted almost two hundred years, from 1259 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The House of Komnenos, Latinized as Comnenus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. The family returned to power under Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 who established their rule for the following 104 years until it ended with Andronikos I Komnenos in 1185. In the 13th century, they founded the Empire of Trebizond, a Byzantine rump state which they ruled from 1204 to 1461. At that time, they were commonly referred to as Grand Komnenoi, a style that was officially adopted and used by George Komnenos and his successors. Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukas, Angelos, and Palaiologos, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world.
Loukas Notaras was a Byzantine Greek statesman who served as the last megas doux or grand Duke and the last mesazon of the Byzantine Empire, under emperors John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos.
Anna Notaras Palaiologina was the daughter of Loukas Notaras, the last megas doux of the Byzantine Empire.
Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. During the European early Middle Ages, the earliest text in a Finnic language is the unique thirteenth-century Birch bark letter no. 292 from Novgorod. The text was written in Cyrillic and represented a dialect of Finnic language spoken in Russian Olonets region. The earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish or Latin during the Finnish Middle Age. Finnish-language literature slowly developed from the sixteenth century onwards, after written Finnish was established by the bishop and Finnish Lutheran reformer Mikael Agricola (1510–1557). He translated the New Testament into Finnish in 1548.
The House of Angelos, Latinised as Angelus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family that produced several Emperors and other prominent nobles during the middle and late Byzantine Empire. The family rose to prominence through the marriage of its founder, Constantine Angelos, with Theodora Komnene, the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. As imperial relatives, the Angeloi held various high titles and military commands under Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. In 1185, following a revolt against Andronikos I Komnenos, Isaac II Angelos rose to the throne establishing the Angeloi as the new imperial family that ruled until 1204. The period was marked by the decline and fragmentation of the Byzantine Empire, culminating in its dissolution by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 under Alexios IV Angelos.
Johannes Grant or Johannis Grandi 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, 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. 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.
Inspector Frans J. Palmu, depicted as "a gruff detective of the Helsinki Police Department", is one of the most popular characters created by Finnish writer Mika Waltari.
Demetrios Palaiologos Kantakouzenos was the mesazon of the Emperors John VIII Palaiologos and his brother, Constantine XI. His colleague in the office as mesazon was Loukas Notaras.
Jacob Notaras, also erroneously called Isaac, was a Byzantine aristocrat who survived the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Having got attention of 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.
Since its fall, the issue of succession to the Byzantine Empire has been a major point of contention both geopolitically, with different states laying claim to its legacy and inheritance, and among the surviving members of the Byzantine nobility and their descendants. Historically, the most prominent claims have been those of the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Byzantium in 1453 and ruled from its former capital, Constantinople; the Russian Empire, as the most powerful state practising Eastern Orthodox Christianity; and various nobles and figures in Western Europe of increasingly spurious and questionable imperial descent.
