Nestor Iskander

Nestor Iskander 

(Nestor Aleksandr). Years of birth and death unknown. Russian writer of the second half of the 15th century.

In his youth, Nestor Iskander found himself in Turkey, where he was converted to Islam. In 1453 he took part in the capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Remaining a secret Christian, he sympathized with the besieged Greeks. In his Tale of the Seizure of Tsar’grad, Nestor Iskander expounded the idea that Byzantium as a power had completed its development and that its fall had been foretold in a legend linked to the founding of Tsar’grad (Constantinople) concerning a struggle between a snake and an eagle (Islam and Christianity). Referring to the same legend, he also predicted the future appearance of a “light-brown-haired (rusyi) tribe,” which would rescue Tsar’grad from its captors. In the tale skillful use is made of the style of the military tale.

REFERENCES

Povest’ o Tsar’grade .... St. Petersburg, 1886. (Pamiatniki drevnei pis’mennosti i iskusstva, vol. 62.)
Speranskii, M. N. “Povesti i skazaniia o vziatii Tsar’grada turkami (1453) ν russkoi pis’mennosti XVI-XVII vv.” Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi literatury, 1954, vol. 10.