He had offered his services to the
Byzantines in 1452, a year before the Ottomans attacked the city, but the Byzantine emperor
Constantine XI could not afford Orban's high salary nor did the Byzantines possess the materials necessary for constructing such a large siege cannon. Orban then left
Constantinople and approached the
Ottoman sultan
Mehmed II, who was preparing to besiege the city. Claiming that his weapon could blast 'the walls of
Babylon itself', Orban was given abundant funds and materials by the sultan. Orban managed to build the giant gun within three months at
Adrianople, whence sixty
oxen dragged it to
Constantinople. Orban also produced other, smaller cannons used by the Turkish siege forces.[10]
Bombarding technology similar to Orban's had first been developed for the Hungarian Army. It rose in popularity during the early 1400s all over western Europe, transforming siege warfare.[11][12] Examples of pieces similar to Orban's productions like the
Faule Mette,
Dulle Griet,
Mons Meg and the
Pumhart von Steyr are still extant from the period. Orban, along with an entire crew, was probably killed during the siege when one of his cannons exploded, which was not an unusual occurrence during that time.[13]