Constantine XI
Biography
Constantine XI Palaiologos was the final emperor of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. By the time he took the throne, the empire was practically bankrupt and reduced to little more than the city of Constantinople and a few small outposts.
When Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city in 1453 with an overwhelming army, Constantine XI desperately sought help from Western Europe, but little arrived. Despite the hopeless situation, he adamantly refused the Sultan's offer to surrender the city in exchange for his life, vowing to fight to the end.
On the final day of the siege, as the massive walls were finally breached and Ottoman troops flooded into the city, Constantine reportedly cast aside his royal purple cloak and plunged into the frontline combat. He died fighting valiantly in the streets, remembered forever as a tragic hero and the final emperor in the 1,500-year history of Rome.