Johannes Grant

{{Short description|German engineer present at the Fall of Constantinople}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}

Johannes Grant or Johannis GrandiLeonard of Chios: "Johannis Grandi Alemani", where Grandi can also mean "the great" in Italian was a mercenary employed by the Byzantine Empire at the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Contemporary Greek and Latin accounts referred to him as being German,Georgios Sphrantzes: "Johannes the German"Bartusis, Mark, Late Byzantine Army although Runciman has suggested he may actually have been a Scot named John Grant.Runciman, Steven, Fall of Constantinople 1453, page 84 He appears to have been affiliated with the Genoese contingent of mercenaries at the siege, possibly part of the men commanded by Giovanni Giustiniani. His use of counter-mining tunnels prevented the Turks from weakening or invading Constantinople from under the walls. He would fill barrels with water and observe the waves, using incendiary weapons, mostly Cheirosiphon to destroy Ottoman tunnels.Nicol, Donald, Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, 1993 [2nd edition]. Chapter 18.[http://www.imperiobizantino.com/the_fall_of_constantinopla.htm The Fall of Constantinopla] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206044734/http://www.imperiobizantino.com/the_fall_of_constantinopla.htm |date=6 February 2007 }}