Medieval Manuscripts: Muhibbî Dîvânı: A Sultan in Love
From sultan to servant: in this collection of poems, Süleyman the Magnificent gives up all his powers to worship a girl “as tall as a cypress, with cheeks as red as roses”. And what better decoration than ever-changing gold and pastel floral patterns?
Dishonorable Ambassadors: Spies and Secret Diplomacy in Ottoman Istanbul
In the sixteenth century, the Habsburgs and the Ottomans clashed for the dominance of Europe and the Mediterranean and engaged in a global rivalry that affected every polity along the shores of the Mediterranean.
Between the Sultan and the Doge: Diplomats and Spies at the Time of Suleiman the Magnificent
The paper presents earliest Venetian accounts about the Ottoman empire viewed through the prism of personal contacts and links between Venetian and Ottoman diplomats and nobles.
Mirrors of the World: Alexander Romances and the Fifteenth Century Ottoman Sultanate
The beginning of the fifteenth century offered a narrative link between the Ottoman and Alexandrine historical contexts that has been overlooked thus far.
Multi-Agent Simulation of the Battle of Ankara, 1402
In 1402, at the north of the city of Ankara, Turkey, a battle between Ottoman Empire and Tamerlane Empire decided the fate of Europe and Asia. Although historians largely agree on the general battle procedure, the details are still open to dispute.
The Battle of Nicopolis (1396), Burgundian Catastrophe and Ottoman Fait Divers
The Battle of Nicopolis was the first major encounter between the Ottoman Empire and the Western European states of the later Middle Ages.
The Shadow of Chinggis Khan on Istanbul: The Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern Asian Context, 1300 – 1600
Prof. Ali Yaycioğlu examines the making of the Ottoman State and socio-economic formation between the late 14th to the 17th centuries.
The Lack of a Western European Military Response to the Ottoman Invasions of Eastern Europe from Nicopolis (1396) to Mohacs (1526)
On 25 September 1396, on the plains south of the central Bulgarian city of Nicopolis, a battle was fought.
Book Talk: A Conversation with Guy Gavriel Kay
Set in a parallel Renaissance world, two major religions, the Jaddites who worship the sun, and the Asharites who worship the stars, struggle amidst the backdrop of court politics, murder, espionage, faith and family.
BOOK REVIEW: Children of Earth and Sky – Guy Gavriel Kay
BOOK REVIEW: Children of Earth and Sky – Guy Gavriel Kay
A Comparative Analysis of the Concepts of Holy War and the Idealized Topos of Holy Warrior In Medieval Anatolian And European Sources
This thesis focuses on the relations between the idea of holy war and the portrayals of holy warriors in medieval narratives composed by those in the service of power-holders.
The Secret Attack on Gallipoli in 1473
During the Venetian-Ottoman wars, a group of seven men attempted a secret attack on the Ottoman base at Gallipoli. The attack did not go completely as planned…
Lasting Falls and Wishful Recoveries: Crusading in the Black Sea Region after the Fall of Constantinople
This paper examines the Black Sea question in the second half of the 15th century, with special emphasis on crusading and religious questions.
The Impalings of Vlad the Impaler
One of the most infamous chararacters from the Middle Ages was Vlad III Dracula, the prince of Wallachia. Here is the story of how he gained the name of ‘the Impaler’.
War-Winning Weapons? On the Decisiveness of Ottoman Firearms from the Siege of Constantinople (1453) to the Battle of Mohács (1526)
How important a role did gunpowder weapons play in these Ottoman victories? The following re-examination of selected sieges and battles attempts to answer this question.
The Book of Felicity
The Book of Felicity features descriptions of the twelve signs of the zodiac accompanied by splendid miniatures; a series of paintings showing how human circumstances are influenced by the planets; astrological and astronomical tables; and an enigmatic treatise on fortune telling.
Banditry and the Clash of Powers in 14th-Century Thrace: Momcilo and his Fragmented Memory
In the 14th century, a time of civil wars, religious and dynastic strifes, epidemics, natural disasters and miserable living conditions for the wider strata in the cities and the countryside that increased migratory movements, banditry, an indigenous phenomenon in the Balkan mountainous regions, intermingled with the intensified political struggles.
Medieval Perspectives: Jean de Waurin and His Perception of the Turks in Anatolia in the Late Middle Ages
This paper discusses the reasons Wavrin wrote his account of the crusade of Varna and Walerin de Wavrin’s expedition into the Balkans, which was later published within his history of Britain and how he perceived and accordingly presented the Turks to the renaissance readers.
Slaves, Money Lenders, and Prisoner Guards: The Jews and the Trade in Slaves and Captives in the Crimean Khanate
Trade in slaves and captives was one of the most important (if not the most important) sources of income of the Crimean Khanate in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Espionage in the 16th century Mediterranean: Secret Diplomacy, Mediterranean Go-betweens and the Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry
This dissertation compares both empires’ secret services and explains the differences between the two systems of information gathering based on these empires’ differing organizational structures.
Struggle for East-European Empire 1400 – 1700 : The Crimean Khanate, Ottomans and the Rise of the Russian Empire
By the middle of the 15th century, in Eastern Europe instead of one dominant imperial power there were newly rising states which eventually came to compete for supremacy over the whole region
The Means of Destruction: How the Ottoman Empire Finally Ended the Byzantine Empire
No European had any reason to believe that the Ottomans would capture Constantinople, since they had tried two times previously and had failed in both of those attempts.
Manuel II Palaeologus in Paris (1400-1402): Theology, Diplomacy, and Politics
The end of the fourteenth century found the Byzantine Empire in a critical state.
Janos Hunyadi: Preventing the Ottomans from Conquering Western Europe in the Fifteenth Century
By using his experiences gained in the condottiere wars in Italy and in the Hussite Wars in Bohemia, he was able to defend the Hungarian borders, and successfully attacked the Turks on their territory