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Mehmed II prepares the Constantinople siege from Edirne

محمد الثاني يعدّ حصار القسطنطينية من أدرنة

1453 CE · 857 AH

Edirne

Mehmed II returned to Edirne when he decided to besiege Constantinople; the siege plans were worked out in the city and the great guns tested in its environs, while the road between Edirne and Constantinople was levelled so the giant cannon could be hauled — they moved from Edirne to the vicinity of Constantinople in two months 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Anatolia

In time

1440145014601470
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Edirne

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Sides

السلطان محمد الفاتح's army

Commanders: السلطان محمد الفاتح

Edirne

Overview

The plans for the siege of Constantinople were worked out in Edirne, and the great guns were tested in its environs 1.

Preparing the siege

The sultan had the road between Edirne and Constantinople levelled for hauling the giant cannon, which moved from Edirne to the vicinity of the city in two months 2.

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at
Edirne
Had participant
السلطان محمد الفاتح
During the reign of
al-Qa'im (Cairo)

People and things also explored

Conquest of Constantinople in 857 AH· Prince Cem (Jem Sultan)· Murad II· السلطان محمد الفاتح· Edirne· Eski Mosque, Edirne· Fatih Mosque, Istanbul· Uc Serefeli Mosque, Edirne

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 2 p. 711
  2. al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya — Ali Muhammad al-Salabi (2001) , p. 93
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Mehmed II prepares the Constantinople siege from Edirne”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/mehmed-ii-siege-prep-edirne-857/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

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Time

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Conquest of Constantinople in 857 AH

Mehmed Fatih took Constantinople the Great after the severest fifty-day siege — his ships running over land — opening Istanbul on Wednesday 20 Jumada II 857 and praying the Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia, the dome that 'rivals the sky's dome and emulates the pyramids in strength'. The Encyclopaedia of Islam adds that Mehmed II's troops entered through the breach in the walls at dawn on 20 Jumada I 857/29 May 1453 and the fighting ended towards mid-afternoon; the sultan then declared Hagia Sophia the Great Mosque and Istanbul his capital, after earlier Umayyad expeditions against the city.