Empress of the East - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Empress of the East write by Leslie Peirce. This book was released on 2017-09-19. Empress of the East available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The "fascinating . . . lively" story of the Russian slave girl Roxelana, who rose from concubine to become the only queen of the Ottoman empire (New York Times). In Empress of the East, historian Leslie Peirce tells the remarkable story of a Christian slave girl, Roxelana, who was abducted by slave traders from her Ruthenian homeland and brought to the harem of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in Istanbul. Suleyman became besotted with her and foreswore all other concubines. Then, in an unprecedented step, he freed her and married her. The bold and canny Roxelana soon became a shrewd diplomat and philanthropist, who helped Suleyman keep pace with a changing world in which women, from Isabella of Hungary to Catherine de Medici, increasingly held the reins of power. Until now Roxelana has been seen as a seductress who brought ruin to the empire, but in Empress of the East, Peirce reveals the true history of an elusive figure who transformed the Ottoman harem into an institution of imperial rule.
A Spectrum of Unfreedom
A Spectrum of Unfreedom - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook A Spectrum of Unfreedom write by Leslie Peirce. This book was released on 2021-05-30. A Spectrum of Unfreedom available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Without the labor of the captives and slaves, the Ottoman empire could not have attained and maintained its strength in early modern times. With Anatolia as the geographic focus, Leslie Peirce searches for the voices of the unfree, drawing on archives, histories written at the time, and legal texts. Unfree persons comprised two general populations: slaves and captives. Mostly household workers, slaves lived in a variety of circumstances, from squalor to luxury. Their duties varied with the status of their owner. Slave status might not last a lifetime, as Islamic law and Ottoman practice endorsed freeing one’s slave. Captives were typically seized in raids, generally to disappear, their fates unknown. Victims rarely returned home, despite efforts of their families and neighbors to recover them. The reader learns what it was about the Ottoman environment of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that offered some captives the opportunity to improve the conditions of their bondage. The book describes imperial efforts to fight against the menace of captive-taking despite the widespread corruption among the state’s own officials, who had their own interest in captive labor. From the fortunes of captives and slaves the book moves to their representation in legend, historical literature, and law, where, fortunately, both captors and their prey are present.
Empress Zenobia
Empress Zenobia - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Empress Zenobia write by Pat Southern. This book was released on 2008-11-17. Empress Zenobia available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The ancient sources for the life and times of Zenobia are sparse, and the surviving literary works are biased towards the Roman point of view, much as are the sources for two other famous women who challenged Rome, Cleopatra and Boudica. In Empress Zenobia, Pat Southern seeks to tell the other side of the legendary 3rd century queen's place in history. As queen of Palmyra (present-day Syria), Zenobia was acknowledged in her lifetime as beautiful and clever, gathering round her at the Palmyrene court writers and poets, artists and philosophers. It was said that Zenobia claimed descent from Cleopatra, which cannot be true but is indicative of how she saw herself and how she intended to be seen by others at home and abroad. This lively narrative explores the legendary queen and charts the progression of her unequivocal declaration, not only of independence from Rome, but of supremacy. Initially, Zenobia acknowledged the suzerainty of the Roman Emperors, but finally began to call herself Augusta and her son Vaballathus Augustus. There could be no clearer challenge to the authority of Rome in the east, drawing the Emperor Aurelian to the final battles and the submission of Palmyra in AD 272. Zenobia's story has inspired many melodramatic fictions but few factual volumes of any authority have been published. Pat Southern's book is a lively account that is both up to date and authoritative, as well as thoroughly engaging.
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Suleiman the Magnificent write by Andre Clot. This book was released on 2012-02-13. Suleiman the Magnificent available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Suleiman the Magnificent, most glorious of the Ottoman sultans, kept Europe atremble for nearly half a century. In a few years he led his army as far as the gates of Vienna, made himself master of the Mediterranean and established his court in Baghdad. Faced with this redoubtable champion, who regarded it as his duty to extend the boundaries of Islam farther and farther, the Christian world struggled to unite against him. 'The Shadow of God on Earth', but also an expert politician and all-powerful despot, Suleiman ruled the state firmly with the help of his viziers. He extended the borders of the empire beyond what any of the Ottoman sultans had achieved, yet it is primarily as a lawgiver that he is remembered in Turkish history. His empire held dominion over three continents populated by more than thirty million inhabitants, among whom nearly all of the races and religions of mankind were represented. Prospering under a well-directed, authoritarian economy, Suleiman's reign marked the apogee of Ottoman power. City and country alike experienced unprecedented economic and demographic growth. Istanbul was the largest city in the world, enjoying a remarkable renaissance of arts and letters; a mighty capital, it was the seat of the Seraglio and dark intrigue.
The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem
The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem write by Jane Hathaway. This book was released on 2018-08-30. The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A study of the chief of the African eunuchs who guarded the sultan's harem in Istanbul under the Ottoman Empire.
