Why Church Bells Ring at Noon

It’s because of the Turks

Church bell (Image: )

Have you ever asked yourself for whom the bell tolls every day at noon at Christian churches?

Although many interpret it this way, it’s not a call for lunch. To understand why church bells ring at noon, we must go back 600 years…

The rise of the Ottoman Turks

Mehmet II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire leading conquest of Constantinople in 1456 (Image:)

The 15th century saw the rise of a new formidable power in the east — the Ottoman Empire, ruled by the Ottoman Turks.

In 1453, terrible news shocked Christendom to its core — Constantinople, the almost-unconquerable capital that had stood against Islam for eight hundred years, had been conquered by the Muslims. By Mehmed II (reigned 1444–1446 and from 1451–1481), the Sultan of the Ottoman Turks, to be precise.

This meant the main obstacle to the Turks' invasion of southern Europe was gone. The young and ambitious Sultan Mehmed II quickly advanced.

The next stop — Belgrade.

Belgrade was a formidable fortress at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers. The conquest of Belgrade would open the doors for the Turks into Hungary and…