L'Empire Ottoman: Xve - Xviiie Siecles

For many centuries, the Ottoman Empire was the leader among the powers of the Old World. Its crowning historical achievement was the establishment of a dynastic State endowed with institutions governed by remarkable laws. But its history was also characterized by the founding of a vast civilization that has left behind numerous testimonies to its influence. The Sultan's Court was steeped in luxury and refinement : bedecked with jewels and shimmering brocades, rugs from Ushak and Gordes, exquisite calligraphy and delicate miniatures...Travelers' tales, and reproductions of artwork by the "Bosporus Painters," underscore the splendor of its mosques and the elegance of its pavilions and fountains, while its miniatures evoke imperial celebrations of yore, featuring such entertainers as fighters, jugglers, and tightrope artists. These colorful images inspired the "Turkish" fad that swept through Europe during its classical and baroque periods, and beyond.It is also common knowledge that the Ottomans seized Constantinople in 1453, thus dismantling the Eastern Roman Empire ; that, in the 16th century, Suleiman the Magnificent was an ally of Francis I in his battles against Charles V ; that, when Napoleon Bonaparte disembarked in Alexandria in 1798, Egypt was a province of the Ottoman Empire, and that the "Eastern Question," which arose as a result of the Empire's weakness, became the most important political issue of the 19th century.In this guide, the author strives to give the broadest possible range of readers the key information necessary for them to understand, in context, not only the events that marked the classical period of the Ottoman Empire (13th-18th centuries), but also the institutions that played a role in those events, and the daily life of the Ottoman people.