Quick Facts
Biography
Jacob Notaras (Greek Ιάκωβος Νοταράς) (ca 1439 – ca 1491) Jacob/Iakobos (not Isaac/Isaakios, as is occasionally reported) was the youngest son of the Grand Duke Loukas Notaras. Jacob was said to be an exceptionally beautiful boy that caught the attention of the sultan Mehmed II, in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople when the Conqueror visited the house of Notaras. Three days after Loukas Notaras was executed along with his son and son-in-law, while Jacob was reserved for the pleasure of the sultan. Thus, after the execution of his father and brother, Jacob found sultan’s favour being added to Mehmed's harem, most likely as his male concubine. He stayed in seraglio until 1460 and then escaped from Adrianapolis to Italy, where he reunited with his three sisters: Anna, Theodora and Euphrosyne. He later married Eizabeth Zampetis and apparently was unhappy with his personal life. Some claim a direct descent from Loukas Notaras, but the only son who survived was Jacob who bore no children.
Sources and further reading
“The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: Historiography, Topography, and Military Studies” By Marios Philippides, Walter K. Hanak