Oration “Constantinopolitana clades” of Enea Silvio Piccolomini (15 October 1454, Frankfurt). Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg. 6th version. (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 22)

Published as part of project Edition and Translation of the Orations of Enea Silvio PiccolominiAfter the Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, three imperial diets were held to discuss a crusade against the Turks. At all three diets the main spokesman for the emperor, Friedrich III, was Enea Silvio Piccolomini, seasoned imperial diplomat and Bishop of Siena. The first of the diets was held in Regensburg in May 1454 where Piccolomini gave the oration “Quamvis omnibus”. The second was held in Frankfurt in October. Here, Piccolomini gave the oration “Constantinopolitana clades”, one of the most important humanist Turkish orations of that period - and indeed one of period’s most remarkable orations generally. In the oration, Piccolomini spoke of the legitimacy (justitia), the benefits (utilitas), and the feasibility (facilitas) of the war. Though he may have managed, for a time, to revive flagging German enthusiasm for the crusade, the only result of the diet in this respect was the decision to hold another one in Wiener Neustadt, in the presence of the emperor, and a specific offer of military help to the Hungarians