Description
Book SynopsisKey protagonists in these debates included Erasmus, Luther and Machiavelli. Today we might call them intellectuals, yet mostly they did not travel, and direct contact with the Ottoman Empire was scarce or nonexistent. Nor were they well disposed to its predecessor, the Byzantine Empire, whose fall presented them with an intellectual conundrum: how were they to explain the irresistible advance of the Ottomans across the Balkans and the inability of Christian Europe to hold the line? They also felt compelled to incorporate this significant new threat into their vision of a world order, to rationalise it, to unravel its origins. These discussions spawned a common market of ideas in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, as Europeans debated and represented the Ottoman threat. Readers of this book will find many echoes in Pippidi's analysis of today's debates about the relationship of Turkey with Europe and the struggle to accommodate the descendants of the Ottomans in our midst.
Trade Review'In this agreeable little book Andrei Pippidi gives an elegant survey of a field that has been much studied in recent years.' * Times Literary Supplement *
'This one of the most fascinating scholarly works that I have ever read. The author's cultural knowledge is enormous, based on research into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century manuscript manuscripts as well as sources in ten languages. Pippidi provides a broad and clear analysis of how 'Europe' saw, and was affected by, the long-enduring Ottoman empire.' * Professor Stevan Pavlowitch, author, A History of the Balkans *
'This is a fascinating book on a vital area of our cultural history, written by one of the most distinguished historians of south-eastern Europe. Andrei Pippidi writes with elegance and grace, but his account rests on a formidable foundation of scholarly research. A work not only to intrigue and enlighten general readers, but also to stimulate fellow scholars, who will find themselves taking many notes.' * Noel Malcolm, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford *
