Emperor's Winding Sheet (29 page)

The stars over his head were thick and brilliant; the waning moon poured silver on the ship's wake. With her delicately rigged moonshadow slipping along beside her, she sloped in the wind, and slid through the quiet Marmara, making for Western landfalls—for unconquered islands, and safe Christian anchorages, and so to far-distant Genoa, whence the Atlantic merchantmen embark their goods and men for England, in her cold northern seas.

I
have incurred many debts of gratitude in the course of writing this book. Pre-eminently to the classical archaeologist Dr. Themis Anagnostopoulos, who helped me to acquire a smattering of Greek, and to read the eyewitness accounts of the siege; and to the London Library without whose generous lending rules research would be almost impossible for me. Then, in a field in which my own learning is recent and thin, I have leaned exceptionally heavily on the two best accounts of the fall of Constantinople in English—Edwin Pears's
Destruction of the Greek Empire
, and Sir Steven Runciman's judicious and moving
The Fall of Constantinople
. I would also like to thank Mr. Michael Maclagan, whose eloquent words on the coronation of the Last Emperor at Mistra struck the first spark for this book. Then to many modern Turks, not known to me by name, and most of them children, who guided me through the labyrinth of Istanbul to find the monuments of the conquered City, many now ruined and obscure; and to my husband, my enthusiastic companion in these travels.

Lastly to Miss Gerrie Van Krevel, who with kindness and efficiency managed my household while I worked, and to J.V.H. for unendingly generous interest and moral support.

Finally I would like to say that it is impossible in a book written from the point of view of Byzantium and the West not to misrepresent the Turks. I hope to correct the balance in a second book on the same subject.

Jill Paton Walsh was born in London and was educated at Oxford. She currently lives in Cambridge where, with John Rowe Townsend, she runs a small specialist imprint, Green Bay Publications.

She is the author of many award-winning books for children. She won the Book World Festival Award in 1970 for
Fireweed
; the Whitbread Prize in 1974 for
The Emperor's Winding Sheet
; the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1976 for
Unleaving
; the Universe Prize in 1984 for
A Parcel of Patterns
and the Smarties Prize Grand Prix in 1986 for
Gaffer Samson's Luck.