Jacob Notaras was the youngest son of
Loukas Notaras, an "enormously wealthy" aristocrat from
Constantinople who served as the
Megas Doux and grand admiral to the last
Byzantine emperors. When
Constanintople fell to the
Ottoman ruler
Mehmed II, Jacob was 14 years old. Many boys and girls were taken as slaves during the fall of Constantinople, including by the Sultan himself. According to
Nicolas de Nicolay, slaves were displayed naked at the city's slave market, and young girls could be purchased. Jacob was said to have caught the attention of the Sultan when the conqueror visited the house of Notaras. Three days afterwards, Loukas Notaras was executed along with his son and son-in-law, while Jacob was taken by the Sultan.
Critobulus confirms that Mehmed II took slaves during the fall of Constantinople and noted that: "As for the Sultan, he was sensual rather than acquisitive, and more interested in people than in goods. Phrantzes, the faithful servant of the Basileus, has recounted the fate of his young and good-looking family. His three daughters were consigned to the Imperial harem, even the youngest, a girl of fourteen, who died there of despair. His only son John, a fifteen-year-old boy, was killed by the Sultan for having repelled his advances." American researcher Walter G. Andrew doubts the authenticity of this story, citing the similarities with the earlier story of Saint
Pelagius, It is worth mentioning that such acts were not uncommon for the Sultan, as one of the
concubines (sex slaves) in the
Ottoman Imperial harem of Mehmed II was
Çiçek Hatun, who was herself referred to as a slave-girl captured during the fall of Constantinople. Jacob Notaras stayed in the
seraglio until 1460 and then escaped from
Adrianopolis to Italy, where he reunited with his three sisters:
Anna, Theodora and Euphrosyne. He later married Elizabeth Zampetis, and apparently was unhappy with his personal life. ==References==