“The Empire was a universal idea that transcended dimensions of time and space. Her capital, Constantinople, was jealously guarded for emotional rather than calculated political or economic reasons. The empire could - or even would - have survived politically and economically if she had given up Constantinople; indeed in logical terms the City was a tremendous burden following its re-capture from the Latins in 1261. But only in logical terms. For it was the New Jerusalem, the city given to the Romans by Christ in an act of dispensation to the single Christian emperor. Rome could not move again...”

David Turner

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