The Martyrs of Otranto: Lessons from Christian Victims of Jihad

A little remembered event that occurred 538 years ago today – the ritual decapitation of 800 Christians who refused Islam – sheds much light on modern questions concerning the ongoing conflict between Islam and the West.

Context: Though primarily remembered for sacking Constantinople in 1453, because Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was only twenty-one years old then, he still had many good decades of jihading before him. He continued expanding into the Balkans, and, in his bid to feed his horses on the altar of Saint Peter's basilica – Muslim prophecies held that "we will conquer Constantinople before we conquer Rome" – he invaded Italy and captured Otranto in 1480. More than half of its twenty-two thousand inhabitants were massacred, five thousand led away in chains.

To demonstrate his magnanimity, Mehmed offered freedom and security to 800 chained Christian captives. All they had to do was embrace Islam. Instead, they unanimously chose to act on the words of one of their numbers: "My brothers, we have fought to save our city; now it is time to battle for our souls!"

Outraged that his invitation was spurned, on August 14, on a hilltop (subsequently named "Martyr's Hill"), Mehmed ordered the ritual decapitation of these 800 unfortunates. Their archbishop was slowly sawed in half to jeers and triumphant cries of "Allah akbar!" (The skulls and bones of some of these defiant Christians were preserved and can still be seen in the Cathedral of Otranto.)

Now consider what this event says about current realities.

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