Becoming an Empire: Imperial Institutions and Control

Karen Barkey

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511790645.006

3 - Becoming an Empire: Imperial Institutions and Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012

Karen Barkey

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Karen Barkey: Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York

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A young man of 26 [actually he was between 19 and 21], well complexioned, large in body rather than middling in height, noble in arms, of an aspect inspiring fear rather than reverence, sparing of laughter, a pursuer of knowledge, gifted with princely liberality, stubborn in purpose, bold in all things, as avid of fame as Alexander of Macedon. Everyday he has Roman and other histories read to him…chronicles of the popes, the emperors, the kings of France, the Lombards; he speaks three languages, Turkish, Greek, and Slavonic. Diligently he seeks information on the position of Italy…the seat of the Pope, of the Emperor, and how many kingdoms there are in Europe, of which he has a map showing the states and the provinces. Nothing gives him greater satisfaction and pleasure than to study the state of the world and the science of war. A shrewd explorer of affairs, he burns with desire to rule.

Giacomo de' Languschi (Langusto), a Venetian visitor who met Mehmed II (1451–1481) right after the conquest of Constantinople, described the conqueror as a bold man, an avid learner, and an heir to the Romans and the Byzantines, whose personal inner strength and might was matched by his open-minded vision and his curiosity about other peoples and cultures.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Empire of Difference
The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective
, pp. 67 - 108

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790645.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

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