ts to bring the Mongols against
him, only roused the spirit of the Turkish chieftain, and before the
Greeks could derive any advantage from the 30,000 Mongolian troops sent
to their aid, Othman stormed the fortress of Tricocca, an outpost of
Nicaea, and made it the base of his subsequent operations.[479]

The church was built for the use of a convent which the Despoina of the
Mongols, like many other ladies in Byzantine times, erected as a haven
of refuge for souls who had dedicated their lives to the service of God
([Greek: limena psychon kata theon prosthemenon bioun]). She also
endowed it with property in the immediate neighbourhood ([Greek: peri
ten topothesian tou Phanari]), as well as with other lands both within
and beyond the city, and while Maria lived the nuns had no reason for
complaint. But after her death the property of the House passed into the
hands of Isaac Palaeologus Asanes, the husband of a certain Theodora,
whom Maria had treated as a daughter, and to whom she bequeathed a share
in the convent's revenues. He, as soon as Theodora died, appropriated
the property for the benefit of his family, with the result that the
sisterhood fell into debt and was threatened with extinction. In their
distress the nuns appealed to Andronicus III. Palaeologus for
protection, and by the decision of the patriarchal court, to which the
case was referred as the proper tribunal in such disputes, the convent
in 1351 regained its rights.[480]

[Illustration: FIG. 95.--S. MARY OF THE MONGOLS. THE DOME.]

As already intimated, to this church belongs the interest of having
always preserved its original character as a sanctuary of the Greek
Orthodox Communion. This distinction it owes to the fact that the church
was given to Christoboulos, the Greek architect of the mosque of Sultan
Mehemed, as his private property, to mark the conqueror's satisfaction
with the builder's work. The grant was confirmed by Bajazet II. in
recognition of the services of the nephew of Christoboulos in the
construction of the mosque which bears that Sultan's name. Twice,
indeed, attempts were subsequently made to deprive the Greek community
of the church, once under Selim I. and again under Achmed III. But, like
the law of the Medes and Persians, a Sultan's decree altereth not, and
by presenting the hatti sheriff of Sultan Mehemed the efforts to
expropriate the building were frustrated.[481]

Among the Turks the building is known as Kan Kilisse,