Oh, Baby

of it. And they tried, Oh, they tried. Because one does not simply conquer Constantinople. Mehmed wanted to do something truly great, something no sultan had ever done before. He wanted to take the capital city of Christianity. But he knew it wouldn't be easy, and he knew that he would have to get creative in order to accomplish this goal. Constantinople's defenses were quite literally impregnable thanks to modern technology.

There were four layers of walls, a moat, and a chain that stretched across the Golden Horn to prevent any navy from getting close via the water. Given that it was situated on a particularly small and easily defensible plot of land. It's no wonder that the fortifications had held for centuries. Mahmed wanted to fix that or wreck that, I should say, but first he had to get past

the walls and the moat. Despite how highly trained the Ottomans were, the Christians house inside the city would never have to meet them in battle if their opponents couldn't bring down the walls. Enter one particularly intrepid Hungarian name Orban. Orban was a Christian metallurgist who set out to sell his new invention to the highest bidder. He first took his invention to the Christians of Constantinople, but they couldn't afford his price. So Orbon did the thing that any

good capitalist would do. He took it to a competitor. Mehmed the Second saw the value in Orban's invention and paid more than the asking price to have it done sooner. While Orban questioned the timeline, he agreed to make it happen for the Sultan, as well as personally overseeing the use of his revolutionary weaponry on the battlefield. Orban's weapon was unlike anything the medieval world had seen before, where Once there had just been catapults and tribute ches hurling

stones at walls, and maybe the occasional small cannon. Now there was Orban's twenty seven foot long cannon. And yes, the cannon had a name, Basilica, although on the battlefield it would be known as the Bear and all the smaller variants would be known as Her Cubs. Basilica itself took a team of more than sixty oxen to carry to the battlefield and must have looked like a harbinger of death, which it would soon become in more ways

than one. Mahmed and Orban prepare the cannons and aimed them at those impenetrable walls, about to find out just how strong they really were. It didn't take long, though, you see, the Bear and Her Cubs broke through the first couple of layers and created holes wide enough for the Christians inside to finally see the need to step out and counter attack. And while those battles raged on

the field, Orban kept firing and firing and firing. In fact, they fired the Basilica so rapidly that the cannon's shell began to crack. After all, this was a brand new technology. With no time for testing before action. This was the field test, and Orbon was beginning to see the problem. Unfortunately, Memed the second wasn't. When Basilica sat idle for several hours, Mahmed pressured the issue, demanding Orban to continue firing. Despite

the incerns for the cracking shell. The inventor had no options either die at the hand of the ambitious yet impulsive sultan or risk death at the hands of his own creation. So he kept firing, and as the Christians turned the tide of battle against the Ottomans, Basilica did exactly what Orban feared it would do. It fired one last time, fracturing the shell down the middle, and then exploded right there in the middle of the Ottoman troops.

The setbacks would eventually stop, though, and the Ottoman Empire would finally capture Constantinople, turning it into modern day Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. And while Orband's invention may have spelled his own demise, it was the beginning of a weapons game that would carry on right up to today. You might even say this was the moment when artillery design really blew up. M The birth of a child

is a joyful occasion. New life is brought into the world to grow into someone who hopefully does a bit of good. Of course, the act of carrying and giving birth to that child, well that's a bit of a roller coaster. The morning sickness, the cravings, and the potential complications can all make the experience less than pleasant, But in the end it's worth it, although if you had to do it seventy times, you might think twice. Feodor Vassilyev was a Russian peasant born in seventeen oh seven.

He was married to a woman whose name wasn't recorded, although it was believed to have been Valentina. But although history may have forgotten her name, it certainly hasn't forgotten what she did. Over the course of her life. From seventeen to seventeen sixty five, a period of forty years, Valentina Vasolyyev gave birth to sixty nine children. But let me say that again, in case you think I misspoke. Valentina gave birth to sixty nine children. That's an impressive

sounding number, right. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the chances of having twins is one in two d fifty pregnancies, triplets one in ten thousand, and quadruplets a whopping one in seven hundred thousand pregnancies. And sure those odds come down when fertility treatments come into the picture. But those weren't things that were available during Valentina's lifetime. Yet she gave birth to sixteen pairs of twins, seven

sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. And given that the pregnancy terms of triplets and quadruplets are on average shorter than those of twins or single children, Valentina was likely pregnant for eighteen full years of her life, and justice surprising to hear out of the entire brood of sixty nine children, only two died in infancy. Of course, it was clear that Fyodor loved growing his family, and because Valentina wasn't his only wife, he had more chances

to do just that. His second wife gave birth to another eighteen kids. There were six sets of twins and two sets of triplets, bringing Theodor's grand total to a record setting eighties seven children. Literally you see, Theodore holds the Guinness World Record for fathering the most children of anyone on earth for the last two hundred and fifty years.

Others have come close, though. Another Russian couple, Kekov Kirilov and his wife were said to have had fifty seven children during the mid seventeen hundreds, but nobody came close to Feodor and Valentina. However, that didn't stop the naysayers from trying to knock the couple down a few pegs. In the seventeen eighty three issue of The Gentleman's Magazine, an English periodical from the same time, a letter was

published by a reader who had done the math. They suggested that the high number of children was actually the result of Feodor's promiscuous ways. A book published in seventeen ninety by B. Jay Herman mentioned Feodor's enormous family, but encouraged readers to view the case with a caution. He said, in fact, that was the common belief for most books and articles written about Feodore and his children question everything.

In the late eighteen hundreds, the French Academy of Sciences tried to get the truth by reaching out to someone named M. Khanikoff from the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. They were hoping for some guidance on how to pursue their investigation, to which Kannakoff told them not to bother. There were still Vassilyev's living in Moscow and they were getting sizeable favors from the government due to the size

of their family. Over the years, the inquiries into the Vassoljev's died down, and eventually any evidence of the truth disappeared. Still that doesn't stop scientists and fertility experts today from questioning the history. All the biological information we have now tells us that it's unlikely that Valentina gave birth to that many children in her life. Her body probably wouldn't have allowed it, especially as she got older. But without

definitive proof, all we can really do is speculate. So for now, the record stands eighty seven children, which is clearly a lot of mouths to feed. Of course, it also meant that there were plenty of hands to take care of all those chores around the house. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about

the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.