Where the Middle Ages Begin
Anti-Ottoman Warfare and Italian Propaganda: The Crusader Background of the Ottoman Raid on Oradea in 1474 By Alexandru Simon Crisia Magazine, Vol.37 (2007) Introduction: In 1474, 10 years had passed since the last major royal Hungarian anti-Ottoman action. In 1464, Matthias (Mátyás, Matia) Corvinus’ second Bosnian campaign had been a relative success. In 1468, an […]
The Struggle Between Osman Gazi and The Byzantines For Nicaea By Halil Inalcik Iznik Throughout History, ed. H. Inalcik (Istanbul, 2003) Introduction: The Byzantine Empire was forced to turn over all of Anatolia to the Turkish invaders within the twenty-five years following 1071. Suleymansah established the Anatolian Seljukid Sultanate in Nicaea (Iznik) in 1087. Following […]
The Genoese Colonies In Front Of The Turkish Advance (1453-1475) By Giustina Olgiati Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Tarih Bölümü Tarih Araştırmaları Dergisi, Vol.15:26 (1991) Introduction: The situation of the Gerioese colonies in the East after the fall of Constantinople is efficaciously reflected in two letters sent to Genoa, a few months distant the […]
Slavery and Conversion of the Slaves to Islam in the Ottoman Society: According to the Canonical Registers of Bursa between XVth and XVIIIth Centuries By Osman Cetin UÜ İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, Vol.10:1 (2001) Introduction: In Bursa as well as in other cities of Anatolia, among the groups who had converted to Islam, the slaves occupied an […]
Morand-Métivier examines the Battle of Nicopolis (1396) where the Ottomans under Sultan Bayazid defeated a Crusader army of mostly French and Burgundian troops.
Clothing as a Political Tool in the Ottoman Empire: Two Miniature Paintings From a Sixteenth-Century Illustrated History of Süleyman the Magnificent (1520 -1566) Scollay, Susan Journal of Historical and European Studies, Volume 1, December (2007) Abstract The Ottoman state, like other Islamic and pre-modern dynasties, regulated the appearance and personal presentation of its officials and citizens. Costume signalled distinctions […]
Armenia from the Fall of the Cilician Kingdom (1375) to the Forced Emigration under Shah Abbas (1604) By Dickran Kouymjian The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Vol.2, editor Richard Hovannisian, editor (New York, 1997) Introduction: The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are the dark ages of Armenian history. The poverty of historical sources reflects the […]
The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat By Thomas A. Emmert Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle, eds. Wayne S. Vucinich and Thomas A. Emmert (Minnesota, 1991) Abstract In popular interpretation it was defeat at the Battle of Kosovo which brought about the disintegration of the medieval Serbian empire. Careful analysis of […]
It was under the reign of Mehmed II (1444-81) that the Ottomans realized their longtime goal of conquering the city of Constantinople (1453), which became the new Ottoman capital of Istanbul.
An account by John Cananus of the siege of Constantinople in 1422 By Margaret Helen Purdie PhD Dissertation, University of Western Australia, 2009 Abstract: The purpose of this thesis has been to provide an English translation of The account of the siege of Constantinople in 1422, written in mediaeval Byzantine Greek by an eye-witness of […]
From Byzantine Constantinople to Ottoman Konstantiniyye: Creation of a Cosmopolitan Capital and Visual Culture under Sultan Mehmed II By Gulru Necipoglu From Byzantion to Istanbul: 8000 Years of a Capital (Sabanci University Sakip Sabanci Museum, 2010) Introduction: The conquest of Constantinople engendered Mehmed II’s lifelong ambition to revive the ruinous city’s ancient status as the […]
Mehmed the Conqueror and the Equestrian Statue of the Augustaion By J. Raby Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 12:2 (1987) Introduction: One of the landmarks of Constantinople was the colossal equestrian statue which stood on top of a hundred-foot-high column outside Hagia Sophia. Known as the Augustaion from the square in which it stood, the bronze […]
The historiography of protest in late Mamluk and early Ottoman Egypt and Syria By Amina Elbendary IIAS Newsletter, Vol.43 No.9 (2007) Introduction: History in its various forms – chronicles, biographies and biographical dictionaries – was a favourite genre in late medieval Egypt and Syria. One of the salient features of these histories is their breadth […]
Byzantine and Turkish glazed ceramics in southern Apulia, Italy By Paul Arthur BYZAS, Vol.7 (2007) Abstract: The author presents an outline of the production and examples of ceramic wares excavated in southern Apulia, which indicate varying relations between southern Italy and the Byzantine and Turkish East. After the collapse of the Late Roman pottery trade […]
The Campaigns of 1494-1495 in the Italian South: Ottoman Threat, Spanish Preparations, and Jewish Gold By Nadia Zeldes Mediterraneo in armi (secc. XV-XVIII) – Tomo I, ed. Rossella Cancila (Palermo, 2007) Introduction: Studies concerning the reign of the Catholic monarchs usually end in 1492 as it is the year of the discovery of the New […]
Piri Reis’ Book on Navigation (Kitab-i Bahriyye) as a Geography Handbook By Dimitris Loupis Tetradia Ergasias Vol.25/26 (2004) Abstract: The Ottoman Admiral Piri Reis (ca. 1470 – 1553/4) compiled in 1520/1 his Book on Navigation (Kitab-i Bahriyye), which was based partly on Bartolommeo [da li Sonetti]‘s [Isolarlo] (Venice ca. 1485). His personal observations, though, are […]
Marino Sanudo Torsello, Byzantium and the Turks: The Background to the Anti-Turkish League of 1332-1334 By Angeliki Laiou Speculum, Vol. 45, No. 3, (1970) Introduction: Marino Sanudo Torello (ca.1270-1343) stands out among the many crusading propagandist of the early fourteenth century. He shared with all of them the desire to recover the Holy Lands, and […]
The Genoese citizenship, granted to Carlo I Tocco and his regent mother Magdalene by the authorities of the Republic of Genova (December 2, 1389) is a document the existence of which is widely accepted in the scholarly circles despite the fact that the details of its content have still remained largely unknown.
This article analyzes how Byzantine Short Chronicles and Old Serbian Annals , Inscriptions, and Genealogies depicted sultan Mehmed II, ‘The Conqueror’.
When the Serenissima and the Gran Turco Made Love: The Peace Treaty of 1478 By Diana Gilliland Wright and Pierre A. MacKay Studi Veneziani, Vol.53 (2007) Introduction: Although a transcription of the 1478 Venetian-Ottoman peace treaty or ‘ahd-name was published by Franz Miklosich and Ioseph Müller in 1865, there has been no scholarly edition or English […]
This paper explores the more personal side of the Cernovich drama, but it was a drama played our against their personal background of constant political haggling, private messages, deals and betrayals, within a larger context of more important rulers and a major war.
The Ottoman influences on Croatia in the second half of the fifteenth century By Borislav Grgin Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 23 (2002) Abstract: The article disscuss political, social, economic and demographic consequences of the Ottoman attacks on the Croatian territories during the second half of the 15th century. It also presents how Ottoman threat influenced the mentalities […]
Kritobulos of Imbros: Learned Historian, Ottoman Raya and Byzantine Patriot By Diether R. Reinsch Recueil des travaux de l’Institut d’etudes byzantines, Vol.40 (2003) Abstract: Kritobulos of Imbros, the author of a historical work covering the period from 1451 to 1467, describes the deeds of the Sultan Mehmed Fatih. The work, written between 1465 and 1467 […]
The Battle of Kosovo 1389: An Albanian Epic By Anna Di Lellio; with translations by Robert Elsie IB Tauris, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-84885-094-1 The Battle of Kosovo of 1389 holds enormous significance in the formation of modern Balkan nation states, especially among South Slav and Serbian nationalist circles. What has given this single battle such resonance, […]
Monemvasia: A Byzantine City State By Haris A. Kalligas Routledge, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-415-24880-8 This lavishly illustrated book stands out in its field as the only book currently available on the best-preserved Byzantine city in the Peloponnese – Monemvasia. Haris A. Kalligas, a world authority on Monemvasia’s history and architecture, here explores the city’s foundation, its […]
How you can Follow Us!