At the end of the eighth century, the Abbasid caliph sent a letter to the Byzantine emperor. This book presents a new edition and translation of that remarkable text—one of the earliest surviving defences of Islam—offering a rare insight into how its author explained Islamic belief and set out what he believed Christianity had misunderstood.
State of the Ottoman Court; State of the Army and Navy; Ibrahim's scheming; Barbarossa; Allies and Enemies; the Doge's illegitimate son Luigi Background
Philip the Handsome; Young Charles V; Burgundy; England; Spain Background
The Death of Mustafa; Description of Aleppo; The Sultan's Entrance; The Sultan at Aleppo; The Campaign This report is pretty long, so I broke it up into sections; the section headers don’t appear in the original report. You can skip the Description of Aleppo and The Sultan’s Entrance sections without losing much context, although I find the Description of Aleppo to be fascinating.
Revenues and Forces; Government; Protestantism; Personality; Diplomatic Relations This is a long report on the Habsburg dominions of Charles V and Ferdinand I, so I split it into a Part I and Part II. This first part covers Charles V, the second will cover Ferdinand I. I also added section headers (to me, the most interesting sections are Protestantism and Charles V’s Diplomatic Relations with other states).
Revenues; Court; Territories; Religious and Political Turmoil; War Against the Turks; Personal Matters This is Part II of a 1532 report on the Habsburg dominions. Part I here.
Report Having been ambassador in the legation of France on behalf of Your Serenity for some forty months, I know my duty, according to the most laudable custom of this Most Serene Dominion, is not to give an account of all my actions during that legation, because day by day I have striven to keep Your Lordships advised of those matters that have seemed to me worthy of your notice: and therefore I shall not say a word about them, which will also be the cause of that brevity I desire. Report Having been ambassador in the legation of France on behalf of Your Serenity for some forty months, I know my duty, according to the most laudable custom of this Most Serene Dominion, is not to give an account of all my actions during that legation, because day by day I have striven to keep Your Lordships advised of those matters that have seemed t…
