Image of the Turk in Italy

Mustafa Soykut
Image of the "Turk" in Italy

ISLAMKUNDLICHE UNTERSUCHUNGEN • BAND 236
begründet
von Klaus Schwarz
herausgegeben
von Gerd Winkelhane
ISLAMKUNDLICHE UNTERSUCHUNGEN • BAND 236
Mustafa Soykut
Image of the "Turk" in Italy
A History of the "Other"

in Early Modern Europe: 1453-1683
K
KLAUS SCHWARZ VERLAG • BERLIN
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for

the scholarship that it provided for the present research. A special thank goes to
Ingeborg Sonsuz from the German Embassy in Ankara for all the
encouragement throughout my studies. Likewise, I would like to thank also
Ahmet Evin for providing the necessary contacts with the German academia. I
am most grateful to all the members Mioni family in Padua for all the hospitality
that they have offered to me during my research in Italy. I would like to thank
especially my friend Anna and her father Alberto Mioni, not only as a host, but
also as an effervescent inspirer in academic matters. Without Professor Mioni's
circle of Veneto academics, the present book would not have come to existence.
In this respect, it has been a most felicitous event having met Paolo Preto from
Padua University, whose contribution to the present work has been immense. I
am also grateful to the most pleasant character of Gaetano Platania and his
guidance into the Vatican libraries.
The present book would have not existed, if it were not for the most full-
hearted assistance and encouragement of the two women who have been my
supervisors: namely Petra Kappert from Hamburg University and Nur Bilge
Criss from Bilkent University in Ankara. I would like to thank them both
immensely.
It is impossible to do justice to all the people - as one says in Turkish -

"who added some salt into the soup". Lastly, I thank my family for always
having supported me in my projects.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE xi
CHAPTER I
The "Turk" as the Antithesis of the European 1
The Turk as representative of the "other" 3
CHAPTER II
Italian Images of Islam and the Turks as its
Banner-Holders: 1453 to the Eighteenth Century 15
CHAPTER III
Apostolic Dreams of European Unity and the Turks 46
The Fifteenth Century Crus ader Idea 48
An Account of the Ottoman Incursion in Friuli 56

From the First Siege of Vienna (1529) to the Aftermath of
Lepanto (1571) 62
CHAPTER IV
The Seventeenth Century Until the Final War in 1683 67
Marcello Marchesi: A bellicose oration to Pope Paul V 69
Commentary on Marchesi's manuscript 80
Congregazione di Propaganda Fide 83
Angelo Petricca da Sonnino 84
Treatise on the easy wcy cf defeating the Turk 87
Commentary on Petricca's Manuscript 99
The "Turkish Question" and European Unity 107
CHAPTER V
A New Vision from Venice: Delia Letteratura de' Turchi 112
CONCLUSION 148
APPENDIXI
Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, "The war against the

Turk": Alla Santità di nostro Signore Papa Paolo Quinto
Beatissimo Padre
154
APPENDIX II
Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Trattato del modo facile

d'espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo dalli molti Regni che
possiede in Europa.
Composto dal padre Maestro Angelo Petricca da Sonnino
Min: Conven: già Vicario Patriarcale di Constantinopoli,
Commissario gn~le in Oriente, e Prefetto de Missionarij di
Valacchia, et Moldavia
164
BIBLIOGRAPHY 174
APPENDIX III
List of manuscripts and of original source frontispieces 192
INDEX 208
PREFACE
T he present book came into existence as a result of the research

that the author made in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia and
Biblioteca Marciana of Venice and Biblioteca Apostolica
Yaticana of the Vatican Gty in Spring-Summer 1998. The idea behind the
present study was to bring together a comprehensive work on the Turkish
image in Italy in the Early Modern Age, studying its origins, development and
historical meaning that it represented for Italy between 1453 and 1683, that
is, the conquest of Constantinople and the second siege of Vienna by the
Ottomans. The word "Turk" is used in the book, to denote the Ottomans,
and the two words have been used interchangeably, although remaining
conscious of the fact that "Ottoman" denotes a far larger multi-ethnic entity
than the Turks, who were only one of the ethnicities - the most dominant
one - in the Ottoman Empire. In this respect, the word Turk is used more
like the European historians have been using it, rather than the Turkish ones.
The pioneer work of excellent documentation of Prof. Paolo Preto of
Padua University1, published twenty five years ago, as well as Prof. Preto's
personal guidance constituted a milestone for the pursuit of the present study
on the Venetian component of the book. However, nothing quite like the
comprehensive work of Preto has been produced on the Turkish image in
Venice since twenty five years. Therefore, the study of this theme which fell
into oblivion for some decades was taken up by the present author,
incorporating also the role of the Papacy in creation of the Turkish image in
Italy. The valuable guidance of Prof. Gaetano Platania2 from the University
of Viterbo, enabled the study of the Vatican archives, and the book unifying
data from the Venetian and Roman libraries came into existence.
The aim of the book has been to leave the reader as often as possible
with the testimony of the original sources, backing up the theoretical part
with the varied and rich secondary sources in Italian, English, German and
1
Paolo Preto, Venezia el Turchi, (Firenze: G. C. Sansoni Editore, 1975.)
2
See the works of Gaetano Platania in the bibliography.
XI
Preface
Turkish. In this way, the reader would have been introduced into the theme
with the secondary sources, left with appreciation of the first-hand material,
followed with the final comments and interpretation of the author. The use
of secondary sources in Turkish acted as a good element of counter-balance
on a subject like the Turkish image in Europe, which has been material for a
good deal of misperception as well as cultural antagonism. Considering the
lack of a comprehensive work on the Turkish image in Italy, the present work
hopes to have filled the gap, in the absence of much scholarly work on the
development, description, as well as political and cultural functions of the
Turkish image created in Italy between 1453 and 1683. That is, the period
which coincides with the apex of power of the Ottoman Empire and its
interaction with Europe in general and with Italy in particular, on the
political, military and cultural plains. The hereto existing works have made
valuable contributions to specific aspects of the Turkish image created as a
result of these intricate and multiple-sided relations, without which, the
present book could not have come into existence. However, what the present
work claims is to have had, is an all-encompassing approach towards the
plurality and intricacies of the Turkish image in Italy from mainly the military
and political - and finally cultural points of view, which is the by-product of
the former two.
As further explained in the following chapter, sources of popular
nature, such as popular literature, songs, poetry and the like (although are a
source of immense richness and variety) have been excluded from the present
study on grounds that their popular, and most importantly, uninformed
nature often based on popular myths and legends, would have deviated from
the course and general structure of the work. It is believed that such research
is more appropriate for scholars of literature, and therefore thought to have
been outside the scope of the present study.
Another novelty that the present study claims to have accomplished is a
balanced approach towards the theme of the Turkish image in Italy through
original sources from Venice and Rome together. Testimonies of sources
from these two cities representing veiy diverse, and often opposing and
clashing ideologies, give the reader a more complete idea of the creation of
the Turkish image and the vision of the "Turk" in Italy, rather than a work
which would have studied only one of the sources claiming to represent the
Italian point of view in the subject period.
Xll
Preface
Last but not the least, the present study stands to have realised the
important task of having translated a considerable amount of first-hand
sources and having made it public for the use of the anglophone scholar, in
an area that remained material for Italian academicians, with few non-Italian
scholars. Furthermore, the present author is the first Turkish scholar to have
made a comprehensive research of this kind with rich original sources, on a
theme that the Turkish academia hereto largely ignored, partly due to
linguistic difficulties. This highlights the relevance of the present work when
the importance of the Italian sources are considered, especially thinking of
the later fifteenth century and the sixteenth century, when the Veneto-
Ottoman relations were at their peak Considering the rich source of works
of Venetian origin on the Ottoman Empire, where one has a shortage of
information of the Ottoman sources themselves on the social and cultural
aspects of the Ottoman society, due to the official character of the Ottoman
archives, the Italian sources become even more important. The reader will
appreciate that the comprehension and the translation of material written in
a period of history where no standard Italian existed, often with convoluted
language, has been a philological and a linguistic undertaking of its own. The
testimony of the Vatican sources becomes clear in the book, in the fourth
chapter on the seventeenth century crusader idea, which is an aspect of
European history that remained relatively neglected.
The first chapter presents an overview of the Turkish image with its
general characteristics within the historical context of its development. It
starts out with the clash of two cultural and religious spheres of civilisation,
namely those of the Christian and Islamic ones from the birth and expansion
of Islam, a religion with claim of universality. It follows with the beginnings
of the shift of power in Islamic civilisation from the Arabs to the Turks in the
eleventh century, and the final identification of the Islamic civilisation with
the Turks from the later thirteenth century onwards. The image of the Turk
representing the "other" as opposed to "Europeanness" is presented in the
light of first-hand testimony of literature pertaining to the prominent figures
of Italian statesmen and clergymen.
The following chapter on the image of Islam created in Italy, has been
based on the classical studies of scholars like D'Ancona, Malvezzi and Curcio
and Lewis.3 In addition to these classical commentaries, it sheds light to the
3
Alessandro D'Ancona, "La leggenda di Maometto in Occidente", in Giarmle Storico della
Letteratwa Italiam, (Torino: XIII, 1889); Aldobrandino Malvezzi, L 'Islatrism) e la Cdtwa
Xlll
Preface
image that Islam and the Turks as its prime agents enjoyed, in the eye of the
Italians with testimony of less-known manuscripts of Marchesi4, da Lagni5,
Petricca6, and the works known to the scholars of the present theme, namely
those of Bessarion7 and Soranzo8.
The third chapter is both an introduction to the following chapter and
an introduction to the role of military confrontation between the Italian states
and the Ottomans in creating the Turkish image in Italy between the two
fateful dates of the fall of Constantinople and the second siege of Vienna by
the Ottomans. This chapter sheds light not only on the dynamics of the idea
of crusade against the Turks, but also brings a new interpretation to the
function of the Turkish image as a uniting factor for Europe in general, and for
Catholic Europe under the auspices of the Roman Church against Protestant
Europe in particular.
The fourth chapter concentrates on the period from the aftermath of
the battle of Lepanto in 1571 until the second siege of Vienna in 1683. This
chapter sheds light on the less-researched aspects of the Papal policy in the
seventeenth century towards the Ottoman Empire and the junction of the
Turkish image in European politics in the same century. The subject is
studied through the testimony of two unpublished manuscripts of the
seventeenth century, namely those of Marcello Marchesi (his first letter to
Europea, (Firenze: Sansoni Editore, 1956); Carlo Curdo, Europa. Stana di un Idea, (Firenze:
Vallecchi Editore, 1958); Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West, (New York-Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1993.)
4 Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, op. cit.
5Fra Paolo Da Lagni, Memoriale di fra Paolo da Lagni cappuccino alponttfice Inmmzo XI nel
quale si dimostra la necessità de' Principi Cristiani di premure il Turco ed dichiararci la guerra,
1679, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vat. lat. 6926.)
6 Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, op. cit.
7 Scipione Ammirato, Orazioni dd Sigiar Scipione Ammirato a diversi principi intorno ai

preparirrenti che s'awebbono a farsi cantra la potenza dd Turco. Aggurtum nd firn le lettere &
orazioni di Monsignor Bessarione Cardinal Niceno scritte a Prindpi d'Italia, (Fiorenza: Per Filippo
Giunti, 1598.)
8 Lazaro Soranzo, L'Othormnno, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale, 1598.)
xiv
Preface
Pope Paul V) and Angelo Petricca da Sonnino9, whose original transcriptions

are presented to the reader in the appendix section.
The Turkish image which is thematically presented until the fifth
chapter, is recapitulated in the form of an epitome in the last chapter, whose
article version has been published separately.10 The chapter is built around the
very important work of the Venetian ambassador Giambattista Dona, Delia
Letteratura de' Turchi y[, an almost forgotten book, which appeared in a
publication in detail for the first time in the author's mentioned article as a
separate theme, and for the first time ever in the English language. The work
of Dona, however, is not the only important less-known work among the
original sources. This final chapter covers a wide range of original and
secondary sources written on the theme of the Turkish image, and describes
its development and transformation well into the age of Enlightenment,
where the subject-period of the dissertation ends.
Finally, the present study claims to have filled a gap in the study of the theme
"Image of the 'Turk' in Italy" in Early Modern Europe. It is hoped that it
succeeded in bringing together hereto existing material on the subject which
remained separate, and to have organised it in an organic unity, having added
additional less-studied and/or undiscovered material. This study hopes also
to shed light on many current debates in Turkish-European relations, which
contemporary Turkish and European scholars of political science and
international relations try to answer with a history-free approach. Although
beyond the aims of the present dissertation, it is hoped that the present work
may also help a re-evaluation of the Turkish-European relations, its
drawbacks as well as its positive points. The present work does not claim to
have said the final word on current Turkish-European relations, rather it may
be considered a pioneer in future academic debates on the subject. In this
respect, the present study may deepen the understanding of a current and
9 ibid.
10 Mustafa Soykut, "The Development of the Image 'Turk' in Italy through Delia
Letteratura de' Tttnhi of Giambattista Dona", (Malta), Jamal cf Mediterranean Studies,

Volume 9, Number 2, (1999).
11Giovanni Battista Donado, Della Letteratura de' Tunhi, (Venetia: Per Andrea Poletti,
1688.)
xv
Preface
popular issue, through the methodology of classical historical research, which

remained neglected for a long time.
xvi
CHAPTER I
The "Turk" as the Antithesis of the "European"
I slam represented for Italy and for Europe, a threat of military

nature as well as that of a cultural one in terms of representing the
"other", vis-a-vis Europe. Europe defined itself along the lines of
Christendom, especially beginning with the conquests of Spain and Sicily by
the Arabs in the eighth and the ninth centuries. As a result of the rapid
Ottoman conquests in Eastern Europe, from the midst of fifteenth century
onwards, when thinking of Islam, what was in the European mind were the
Ottoman Turks. "While the image of Islam as well as that of the "Turk"
served to define "Europeanness" as opposed to the "other", this image
gradually started to change towards the end of the seventeenth century with
Ottoman decline.
F r o m the fall of Constantinople, the Italians as well as the general
European public opinion identified the Turks as the anti-thesis of Europe,
and everything that the European civilisation represented. The identification
of Islam as the anti-thesis of Christendom and European civilisation was
already present by 1453 - the fall of Constantinople - thanks to the rapid
expansion of the Muslims within a century of the birth of the last heavenly
religion. The Arabs had conquered by the eighth century, Spain, North Africa
and the Middle East, which were Christian lands until a century before.
Coincidentally, in 1071 when the Seljukides were opening the gates of
Anatolia to the Turks by winning the battle of Manzikert; the following year,
the Normans had conquered Palermo from the Arabs, the last bastion of
Muslim Sicily. Although it took a few centuries more for Christendom in
1492, to completely cast away the Muslim Arab presence in Europe with the
reamquista in Spain, with the final passage of the Muslim banners from the
hands of the Arabs to the Turks in 1453 - the fall of the last Christian
bastion in the Levant and the fall of the millennium-old Eastern Roman
Empire - the Muslim presence in Europe was to remain until the present day,
as an inseparable part of European reality.
1
It is within this historical perspective that the crucial role of the

Ottoman Turks, as a continuation of their Seljukide brethren should be seen.
The Italian sources, perhaps better than most of its contemporaries reflect
the worries and fears caused by this new alien presence in Europe. The
Ottomans, who managed to conquer almost the entirety of the Balkans by
mid-fifteenth century, not only were threatening and diminishing the
Venetian commercial presence in Eastern Mediterranean, but were also
posing a threat to the Italian peninsula with naval incursions of pirates under
the Ottoman flag, and furthermore with the incursions of the Turkish troops
well into the Venetian terra femu in Friuli in 1473, and the conquest of
Otranto in southern Italy, off the coast of Albania in Puglia, in 1480. It is not
surprising that there is an abundance of literature of official, as well as
popular nature on the Turks, starting with the second half of the fifteenth
century, only to increase to vast quantities by the sixteenth and the
seventeenth centuries with the increasing might of the Ottomans reaching
their apex under Siileyman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Although the
Ottomans did not make significant additional conquests in the seventeenth
century in Europe, their consolidated military presence was sufficient to
perpetuate the Turkish terror to make plans of crusades projected by Italians
under the encouragement of the Catholic Church well into the mid-
seventeenth century, not so far away from the Ottoman failure in the second
siege of Vienna in 1683.
The genealogy of image creation about Islam in Europe had three
elements. The first one was the military one: namely, the conquests
undertaken by the Arabs first, in the Middle East, North Africa, Spain and
Sicily between the seventh and the ninth centuries, in these lands which were
considered to be the natural territories of Christendom. Due to these
conquests, with the shrinking of Christendom to Europe, came the conquests
of the Ottoman Turks in Eastern Europe starting in the late fourteenth
century. The second element was the theological problems arising with the
arrival of Islam, the last religion of the Judeo-Christian line, which claimed to
revise and replace Christianity as a universal religion. The third one was the
general lack of political unity in Christendom - which was now Europe - that
coincided with the apex of Muslim Arab expansion as well as that of the
Ottoman one. As Bernard Lewis points out the oddity of talking about
"Europe and Islam" - one of which is a graphical entity, and the other a
religions one - states that Europe came to represent the antithesis of Islam.
2
This was a result of the concept of Europe transformed into a post-medieval

secular re-definition of what was once called Christendom.1 Under these
circumstances Islam, and later, the Turks provided the general European
mind with the perfect example of the other.
Thus the image that the Turks enjoyed in Europe, hence Italy, is strictly
connected with the general image that Islam enjoyed in Europe. The victory
at the battle of Malazgirt (Manzikert) in 1071 won by the Seljukide Turks
against the Byzantines, represents the milestone for opening the gates of the
Eastern Roman Empire to the Muslim Turks. The same years mark the
Norman conquest of Palermo in 1072, the last bastion of Muslim presence in
Sicily. The gradual passage of the banners of Islam from Arab hands to those
of the Turks, marked the irrevocable passage of Christian Byzantine Anatolia
into Muslim Turkish hands, which was Christendom par excdlence from the
time of Constantine the Great. This was a task left incomplete by the Arabs.
However, its real importance stems from the fact that the Seljukide Turkish
conquest of Anatolia in the eleventh century paved the way for Islam in the
coming centuries, to become an indelible part of Eastern Europe, unlike its
destiny in the Iberian peninsula and Sicily.
The Turk as representative of the "other"
One of the most curious facts that exists on the sources that gave
information on the Turks to the general Italian public is, that as it was the
custom of those days, many of the books on the Turks were copied from one
another without citing their sources of information. The curiosity about the
Turks was so high in this period, that preoccupation with fame as well as with
money produced an immense quantity of books, manuscripts, pamphlets and
travel accounts on the Turks. The wslaziom of the Venetian ambassadors or of
legates of other Italian states must be considered separately from the
aforementioned works. The latter were written for political, espionage or
simply for pragmatic information purposes, to bolster political or commercial
aims. The former were read merely for satisfying the curiosity of the
intellectuals of the time. A third category of sources on the Turkish image,
are the literaiy and folk literature works, which will not be examined in the
present work, as it was mentioned earlier in the introduction. A good
example of books written for the intellectuals of the time, is Ccstwri et modi
1 Bernard Lewis, L'Eurcpa e I'lslam, (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1999), pp.5-6.
3
particdari della lita de' Ttmhi of Luigi Bassano2 published in Rome in 1545.
Almost an identical text of this book, with some additions, was published a
hundred years later in Venice in 1654, edited by the Count Maiolino
Bisaccioni under the title, Histoid uniwrsak dell'origirie, guerre et imperii) de Ttmhi
as a re-edition of another sixteenth century Venetian writer, Francesco
Sansovino.3 This indicates the demand on information on the Turks, since a
century after almost an identical book was published. It also indicates to the
fact that information about the Turks that circulated in the intellectual milieu,
was not always updated, and usually definitely not first-hand. This was
certainly not the case for the Venetian ambassadorial dispatches that came at
least once a month from the Ottoman capital, coupled with the relazione of
each bailo upon his return to Venice. Although the ambassadorial reports that
the Papacy enjoyed were of different interest, usually concerned with the
missions, and usually had as their sources the missionaries, Rome was also
not badly informed about the state of affairs in the Ottoman Empire. As the
"most favoured nation" among the Italian states, there is good reason to
presume that Venetians occasionally provided also the other Italian states
with information, as the considerable quantity of Venetian relaziom found in
the Vatican library, and the indelible presence of the Venetian legates in
Rome suggest. As Lucette Valensi says about the political career of the
Venetian patricians, "Embassies - ordinary as well as extraordinary - were
part of the emus honorum, among which the position of bailo in Istanbul was
the most prestigious and most important that a patrician could hope for" and
adds: "Copies of these [relazioni] circulated in the city [Venice] and were
acquired by collectors both in Venice and in other cities as far away as Rome
and Oxford". 4 This is one of the reasons why the relaziom, not only of the
2 M. Luigi da Zara Bassano, I Costumi et i Modi Particdari de la Vita de' Turchi, Roma: 1545,
ristampato da Franz Babinger, (Monaco di Baviera: Casa Editrice Max Hueber, 1963.)
3 Francesco Sansovino, Historia ummak ddl'origim, gitene et imperio de Turchi, (Veneria: n.p.,
1654.) On Sansovino see also Giovanni Sforza, "Francesco Sansovino e le sue opere
storiche", in Memorie della Reale Accademia ddle Scienze di Torino, ser. II, t.XLVII, (Torino:
n.p., 1897).
4 Lucette Valensi, "The Making of a Political Paradigm: The Ottoman State and
Oriental Despotism" in The Transmision cf Culture in Early Modern Europe, eds. Anthony
Grafton and Ann Blair, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), pp.176-
177.
4
Venetian ambassadors, but also those reports of Italians written in the

ivlaziane style, had considerable influence from 1550 to the beginning of 1700,
in forming the Turkish image in Europe outside of Italy as well. In the 1500s,
there were the famous works of people like Augerius Busbequius5 and his
Turkish Letters, however, concerning the quantity and the richness of
information that they had, the sheer number and regularity of the rehziom
made them far more influential in their times. Due to the number and
accuracy of the rdazvm, but also thanks to the influx of Byzantine expatriates
and the literature they produced, Venice served as the opinion creator of
Europe on the Turks between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries.6
For centuries, from the very beginnings of interactions between the
Muslims and Christians, Turks represented for the European the "other" par
excellence! To the Protestant, it represented the evilness of the Catholic; to the
Catholic, the heresy of the Protestant; the man of the Renaissance identified
the Turk with the Persians as enemies of the Greek civilisation, and of the
European civilisation per se, to the Church in Rome, they were the arch-
enemies of Christendom to wage war at all costs; and to Venice, an indelible
"infidel" commercial partner, with whom amicable relations were of vital
importance for its very existence.
Luther was of the conviction that the Catholics and Turks (Muslims)
were similar. According to him, they both thought that God gave help only to
the pious, and that like the Pope, the Turks were also not going to ascend to
the Father through Christ, because the Turks did not recognise Christ's
5
On Busbequius, see Zweder von Martels, "Impressions of the Ottoman Empire in the
Writings of Augerius Busbequius (1520/1-1591)", in Journal (f Mediterranean Studies,
Volume 5, Number 2, (Malta: Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta, 1995.)
6
Antonio Carile, "La crudele tirannide: archetipi politici e religiosi dell'immaginario
turchesco da Bisanzio a Venezia" in Venezia e I Ttmhi, ed. Carlo Pirovano, (Milano:
Electa Editrice, 1985), p.76.
7
On the concept of the "otherness" see also Kate Fleet, "Italian Perceptions of the
Turks in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries", in Journal of Mediterranean Studies,
Volume 5, Number 2, (Malta: Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta, 1995.)
5
divine nature, and because the pope had betrayed him.8 Strangely enough, for
another Protestant and an opponent of the Pope like Elisabeth I of England,
the Turks and Protestants were quite similar. In 1583, Elisabeth I sent her
ambassador William Harborne to sultan Murad III (1574-1595), described as
a "totally lost Calvinist" by the Venetian bailo in Constantinople,
Gianfrancesco Morosini, for the aim of promoting England's trade interests
in the Orient. Hie letter that she gave to the ambassador contained the
affirmation that friendship between Turkey and England was natural. Since
France and Spain and especially the Pope were idol worshippers, and
England abhorred sacred images as much as the Muslims, and that their
religion was greatly similar to the Turkish one as much as a Christian
confession could be.9
Other opinions on the religion of the Turks were made in the rdazioni,
which was the result of more accurate and truthful description of the Turks:
The Turks really venerate the name of our lord Jesus

Christ; and their opinion is almost the same as that of the
Arians, as will be shown as follows: Firstly they say that
there have been four preachers of the law on earth. The
first one was Moses, who left the Bible. The second one
was David, who similarly left the Psalms, and these were
sent by God, as the first law had been trespassed by men.
However, as that of David was also trespassed by human
wickedness, came Jesus the saviour, of whom they have
such an opinion that he was the messenger of God, but
not his son; that he was born of Virgin Mary (they believe
Our Dame to be virgin, as the Turks also believe that
there be sons not conceived of man, who they call nefis),
that he had lived without any sin; that his precepts are
sacred, and that his miracles were real. They believe in all
8 Franco Cardini, Studi sulla storia e sull'idea di crociata, (Roma: Editori Laterza, 1993),
p.222.
9 Ricoldi Ordiras PrcebcatorumCentra seaamMahmmtimmrimiridi^m scitu libellus. Parisiis, off.

Henrici Stephani, 1511 in L'Islanisrm e la Cultura Europea, Aldobrandino Malvezzi,
(Firenze: Sansoni Editore,1956), pp.261-262.
6
his life, until when he went to speak in the woods, but that
he was not captured or martyred, and that in his guise the
Jews had crucified another body, and that Jesus from then
on went in soul and body to heaven, where, on God's lap
he enjoys eternal glory. Therefore, they hate the Jews,
because they had such a perfidious mind to catch and
condemn a man sent by God to give the law to the world;
and thy hate Christians, since they accuse them of not
having written the truth about his life, because they
abused and perverted his commandments, and because
they venerate the cross, upon which the Jews tried to
vituperate the sacred and holy prophet Christ; therefore it
was witnessed (they say) that God being infuriated wanted
to send another prophet, that is Mohammed, to renew the
law.10
The aforementioned citation from an anonymous ivlazione dated circa 1579,

presumably belongs to the bailo Giovanni Corraro, or to his secretary11; and
describes the Turks as similar to the Arians, which was considered to be
heresy of Christianity, founded by a priest of Alexandria named Alius (250-
336). Arms denied the full deity of Christ, and asserted that he was created by
God and had the "likeness" of God in him. Arianism which was well-spread
among the subjects of the Roman Empire, started posing a threat to the
political authority of the Church, which held to the orthodox view that Christ
was in body and nature divine and the son of God. The political issue was
solved by the first ecumenical council convoked in Nicaea in 325 A.D., under
the auspices of Emperor Constantine (b. circa 280-d.337) condemned
Arianism, but could not eradicate it. Although it is the common attitude of
Catholic theologians to draw parallels between Arianism and Islam12, the
above attitude of the Italians not only drew considerable parallels between
the Turks and the oriental rites of Christianity, as the degeneration of a long-
10 Eugenio Alberi (ed), Relazioni ck$i Arrbasàatati Veneti al Senato, Serie III, Volume I,
(Firenze: Tipografia e Calcografia all'Insegna di Clio, 1840), pp.455-456.
11 Eugenio Alberi, ed, op. cit., p.438.
12 The GttbdicEnydqpedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01707c.htm
7
rooted oriental heresy, but - as it will be seen in the proceeding chapters -

many Renaissance writers also drew considerable parallels between the Turks
and the Persians.13 In both of the analogies, be it as in the case of an oriental
heresy, or in the case of the Persians as opposed to the Greeks, the Turks
were what the man of Renaissance saw as the antithesis of the civilised world.
The Persians were destroyers of the values of antiquity, and the oriental
heretics, as in the case of the Arians, did not recognise the authority and
civilisation of Rome. And for the man of the Renaissance, both ancient
Greece and Rome were sources of inspiration. There is a surprisingly
abundant literature tracing the origins of the Turks back to the Scythians,
which were a folk of Asian descent, however, with nothing much to do with
the Turks. Others claimed the origin of the Turks back to the Trojans. Many
confused the Turks with the Saracens, Moors, Arabs or Muslims in general.
Still for many, the word Turk was used simultaneously to denote a Muslim, as
the expression il farsi Turco (to become a Turk) simply meant to convert to
Islam, originally meant for the nrmegati or the Christians who converted to
Islam. For most Italians, clerics as well as secular intellectuals, Turks were the
incarnation of the anti-Christ.
Apart from these negative characteristics, they have also represented an
admirable example for Christendom of how a mighty state should be. The
Turks were admired and praised by many Italians for their military valour,
obedience to authority, discipline, perseverance, justice, order and many other
qualities that the Italians perceived to lack in Christendom in general and in
the Italian states in particular. Another Venetian velazione praises the Turks as
follows:
They terribly fear their ruler and they are very obedient to
their superiors in such a way, that when they are in the
presence of the Great Turk [the sultan], one would not
hear even the faintest noise - a marvellous thing - which
is worthy of setting an example to the Christian nation.14
13
See R. Schwoebel, The Shadow cf the Cresoat: The Renaissance Imzge cf the Turk (1453-
1517), (Nieuwkoop: n.p., 1967.)
14
Eugenio Alberi, ed., op. cit., p.397.
8
Another fact that was a matter of praise among the Italians was the
institution of the deisiiTW, or in other words, the Ottoman state policy of
taking Christian children in their early teens from their families and raising
them as part of the Janissary corps or as part of the Ottoman bureaucracy. In
the subject period, almost all of the high-ranking state officials were of
Christian origin, raised within the deqirme system. The Roman pilgrim, Pietro
della Valle, describes admiration for the Ottoman capital in the following
words in his travel accounts published in Rome in 1662.
One day when the dizan was being held (it is customary to
do it several times a week) which is the council of state
here, or rather as we would say in Rome: the ooncistoro,
where one would treat not only matters of state, but also
those of justice. I went near the gate of the serai to see the
viziers enter, as well as other major ministers who were
present there. All of which go by horse, with pomp and
escort, almost like the cardinals in Rome. However, with
all the good grace of the things of my land, one must
confess, that this one in Constantinople is much more
majestic, concerning the great quantity of people, all of
which appear not only in solemn dresses, all according to
his office, but also with superb and rich dresses, the best
of them that everyone can [afford]. They definitely
become very impressive. When one further considers that
all of them are slaves, and that even among the greatest
ones, there is nobody born noble, like in our countries, it
creates less admiration in me, with all their ostentation.15
The words of della Valle, which reflect both admiration and contempt for
this Ottoman custom, was typical of the Italian envoys and ambassadors.
They mosdy came from noble families, for whom it was a point of
admiration and a scandal together as to how such a vast empire could be
governed virtually by slaves. These would not even have been admitted to
15 Pietro della Valle, Viaggi, di Pietro delb Valle, Il Pdlegino, Parte Prima: Turchia, (Roma:
Apresso Iacomo Dragoncelli, 1662), pp.44-45.
9
their presence in Italy. Yet the scandal was that in the Ottoman capital, these
nobles were the ones to ask for an audience with these slaves.
It is , however, true that this form of government has also

given the Turks not little utility to enlarge their state, since
all of them are slaves trained in a vile way, the sultans
managed to keep them more easily in that state of
obedience which is necessary for the conservation of the
states, which, in the Turks' case has been very big. Since,
apart from being trained in such a vile and abject way, in
the government there's also a very useful way for the
preservation and enlargement of the state, (and this is
perhaps more true for the Turks than elsewhere) which is
the hope for prizes and the fear of punishment, for they
are ruled by a single prince, upon which all the
commodities, life and honours depend, just as all the
created things receive their vigour from the sun. [ ]
those who commit errors cannot escape so easily, like the
delinquents do in our countries; furthermore, the distance
of the borders makes it difficult to escape, as the
bordering countries are, of religion and ideas, veiy inimical
to the Turks, from which, those who escape do not expect
any security. Therefore, no homicides take place among
the Turks [ f
This exaggerated view that no homicides took place in the Ottoman Empire
is indicative of the high esteem that the Italians had for the Ottomans. Such
myths, however not totally untrue, become clear, considering the reign of
bandits in much of Italy in the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. Rumour
among the Venetians had, that there were more murders committed in
Venice in one night, than all of the murders committed in Constantinople in
a year.
Considering the other face of the rimiegati (conversion) scandal for the
aristocracy of the time, Lucetta Scaraffia demonstrated, that within the
Mediterranean milieu, there had been approximately three hundred thousand
16 Eugenio Alberi, ed., op. cit., pp.327-328.
10
rirmegati between 1500 and 1600. "Most of which were slaves and they saw
the conversion to Islam, as a way to improve their situation and attaining
freedom either by concession of the master or by escaping, thanks to a lesser
degree of surveillance."17 However, Scaraffia adds that also among the free
people, there were those who converted to Islam in great numbers willingly,
since they saw it as a way of improving their social and economic condition.18
She says that among the famous Ottomans were names like that of Ulu£ Ali
Reis (known under the name of Occhiali in Italy), who was the commander
of the only Ottoman naval unit which managed to remain intact, repulsing
the Genoese at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, and was a rinnegato from
Calabria in southern Italy.19
Apart from these considerations from the eye of the observer who
admired the Ottoman Empire from afar, as in the case of the travellers and
diplomatic envoys, there was also the presence of Turks in Venice. The Turks
who made their appearance in Venice were either merchants or diplomatic
envoys. The peaceful relations that existed between Venice and the Ottoman
Empire between the peace treaty of 1573 until the war of Candia in 1644-
1669 marked a fertile period of rivalry coupled with rich commercial contacts.
Ottoman merchants started appearing in Venice as a commercial community
from mid-sixteenth century onwards. As it was the custom of the time, each
nation was assigned a place to stay and to deposit their goods in a certain
quarter of the city. The Turks were also assigned various places to use in
Venice. The first place to be used as the Fondaco dei Twxhi was the Ostem
dell'A nsflo offered by a certain Bartolomeo Vendramin on 4 August 1579,
which soon proved to be too small and inconvenient for all the quantity of
goods that the Ottoman merchants had.20 It was in an anonymous proposal
of 13th April 1602 that the plan to assign a proper building for the Turkish
merchants in Venice was opposed on grounds that in addition to the Fondaco
dei Tedeschi (residence of the German merchants) with their reformed heresy
and the Jews, the permanent and official presence of the Turks and their
17Lucetta Scaraffia, Rinnegati Per una Stcria ddl'Identita Ooddentale, (Roma-Bari: Laterza,
1993), p.4.
18 ibid.
19 Scaraffia, op. cit., p.VIII.
20 Paolo Preto, Venezia el Titrdri, (Firenze: G. C Sansoni Editore, 1975), p.131.
11
The "Turk" as the Antithesis ofthe "European"
"adoration of Muhammad" was opposed.21 The Fondaoo dei Tunhi, the

building in Venice still known under the same name, was finally assigned to
the use of Ottoman merchants definitively on 11th March 162122, a
convenient place not so close to the centre of the city, on the Canal Grande.
The presence of the Turks, which was in itself not free of problems inherent
to the more general Turco-Italian relations, not only made the Venetian
public curious towards this tremendous exotic nation who had become the
arch-enemy of Christendom in such a short time, but helped create the myth
of the Turk in iconography. This was reflected in the works of painters like
Carpaccio as in his paintings of the arrival of ambassadors, and in paintings
of other artists like Tiziano and the celebrated portrait of Mehmed II of
Gentile Bellini, as well as the indelible memory of the paintings, still adorning
the walls of the Palazzo Ducale depicting the Ottoman figures as the noble,
tremendous and respected "other", be it in the form of the enemy, "cruel
tyrant", "exotic" or simply commercial partner.
It is surprising, that even a historian of a certain calibre like Franz
Babinger, whose valuable contributions to the study of Ottoman-Italian
relations cannot be denied - as it is shown by his selected works in the
bibliography of the present work - was not free of the prejudices that the
Italians had about the Turks some hundred years ago. One example, however
not an exception in his general tone, is his work "Maometto il Conquistatore
e gli umanisti d'ltalia"23, an expose in the form of an article about the alleged
"humanist" traits and the contacts that Mehmed II, the Conqueror had with
the Italian humanists (a term strictly meaning men of Renaissance here). In
the aforementioned work, Babinger attempts at demonstrating that Mehmed
the Conqueror was not in any case a humanist, starting with the
presupposition that there had already been the myth created around him that
he was a humanist, a man of learning of the Renaissance, due to his alleged
21
A ttionefatta adi 13 April 1602 doe in caso doe il Turn ridoiedesse dalla Sigwria chefossef
fontegoper li Twxhi doe habitano a venetia, doe non sia fatto, contra Andrea Ddfin de S. Be
Biblioteca del Gvico Museo Correr di Venezia, cod. cicogna, 2972/17 in Paolo Preto,
op. cit., p. 132.
22 Paolo Preto, op. cit., p.133.

23 Franz Babinger, "Maometto il Conquistatore e gli umanisti dltalia", in Aujsaetze und
AUoandhm^nzur Gesdoidote Swdosteurcpas und der Lemnte, Franz Babinger, (Muenchen: Dr.
Dr. Rudolf Trofenik, 1976.)
12
contacts with the Italian humanists, his interest in arts as his invitation of the
famous artist Gentile Bellini to Istanbul demonstrates, as well as the interest
that he had for learning the classics and the alleged five or more languages
that he spoke including Greek and Latin. About these common suppositions
that Mehmed's contemporaries had of him - whether true or not - Babinger
bluntly says that "The only thing that Mehmed II had in common with the
Italian princes of his time, was his cruelty and the abuse that he made of his
co-operators, but this is not enough to declare him a man of Renaissance."24
Mehmed the Conqueror was perhaps the Ottoman sultan about whom most
speculations of every kind were made by the Europeans and the Turks alike.
While it is true that his Italian contemporaries considered him a tyrant -
which was an image not reserved to him, but to all the Turkish rulers in
general - they held him in highest esteem and admiration in numerous
contemporary books and rdaziam, if not for his alleged humanist character,
for his genial ability as a statesman.25 Be Mehmed II a real humanist or not -
which is not the main issue in question - his being pictured by a twentieth
century historian like Babinger, as little more than a civilised barbarian,
almost a Djinghis Khan, either shows Babinger as excessively influenced by
the centuries-old historical material that he studied, and a consequent
identification with them, or it indicates a deeper prejudice that was present
until a few decades ago in European historiographers on the image that they
held of the Turks. In Babinger's words,
All that mattered to Mehmed II was to know the means

and methods that enabled the great characters of antiquity
- Alexander the Great, Xerxes, Caesar, Ptolomeos - to
realise their conquests. However, that which his western
mentors had not taught him, was the fact that the
impetuous current of events always put wars and political
successes, victories and failures in oblivion, while
24 Franz Babinger, op. cit., p.293.
The same Babinger demonstrates in another article of his that the first state treaty that
25
Mehmed II concluded was with the Venetians. See Franz Babinger, "Mehmed's II.
Fruehster Staats vertrag (1446)", in A tfsaetze und Abhandlungen zur Geschkhte Snedosteuropas
undderLewrite, Franz Babinger, (Muenchen: Dr. Dr. Rudolf Trofenik, 1976.)
13
transforming through time and space, deeds and creations

of human spirit.26
The following chapter is an overview of the birth of antagonism

between Christianity and Islam as two rival spheres of culture and civilisation.
As the origin and the development of the Turkish image got ever more
intricate with increasing relations between the Ottoman Empire and Italy
after the fall of Constantinople, the already existing image was probably the
chief reason why it did not take a better turn with increasing relations.
26Franz Babinger, "Maometto il Conquistatore e gli umanisti d'Italia", in Aufiaetze und

AbbandLungpi zur Geschichte Suedateuropas und der Lemnte, Franz Babinger, (Muenchen: Dr.
Dr. Rudolf Trofenik, 1976), p.293.
14
CHAPTER II
Italian Images of Islam and the Turks as its Banner-

Holders: 1453 to the Eighteenth Century
£ £ ""W Vom the later fourteenth centuiy to the beginning of the

twentieth, Europeans tended to identify Islam with the
J L Ottoman Empire", are the words of Kenneth M. Setton in
his book entitled Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies of Turkish Doom.1 The
subject matter of the present chapter on the Italian images of Islam, the
Turks and the Rinnegati, will be studied in the light of first hand sources of
clerical as well as secular origin. While, first of all, the identification of Islam
with the Turks results from the content of the documents in question in the
period concerning the present dissertation, the examination of first-hand
sources will be classified as to: a) the origin and scope of the writer (i.e.
secular or clerical), and b) the time period in which it was written. Concerning
the image issue in question, the sources of popular origin, i.e. poetry, plays,
songs, and the like are excluded from the present study as a main
classification, precisely due to their usually highly popular and uninformed
character.
Although one sees a boom in the literature of clerical and secular origin
after the fall of Constantinople, the background that helped the creation of
the image of Islam in the Italian mind was already present prior to 1453. In
his pioneering work, Alessandro D'Ancona gives an excellent documentation
of the development of the image of Islam as heresy and secta diabdiat, in other
words a diabolic degeneration of Christianity, portraying Muhammad in a
variety of images from an agent of Devil to the excommunicated Vatican
cardinal who founded his own perverted religion.2 It seems that the image of
1 Kenneth M. Setton, Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies if Turkish Doom, (n.p.,
American Philosophical Society, 1992), p.17.

2Alessandro D'Ancona, "La leggenda di Maometto in Occidente", in Giornale Storico della
Letteratura Italiana, XIII, (Torino: Etmano Loescher Editori, 1889.) On the Western
views of Islam see also: Graf, A., "Spigolature per la Leggenda di Maometto", in Giornale
15
Italian Images of Islam
Islam created in the Italian as well as the general European mind made
justifications based on the aforementioned ideas. Fra Ricoldo da Montecroce
(1243-1320), according to Setton, "learned about Islam and the Moslems
during his travels in Syria, Persia and Mesopotamia and his long sojourn at
Baghdad, where he may have begun a translation of the Qur'an. Upon his
return to Italy, however, he was more concerned with rehearsing the errors of
Islam than with attempting to increase understanding between his fellow
Christians and the Moslems."3 Fra Ricoldo was not the only one to have
studied the Qur'an among Christians. There have been from the very early
stages of Islam, Christians who were themselves Arabs or Arabic-speaking
and who attempted at writing theological disputations against Islam. An early
example of this is the Greek and Arabic speaking bishop of Harran, Abu
Qurra (ca. 750-ca. 820), who wrote theological considerations on the swat al-
Tazehid of the Qur'an.4 According to D'Ancona, the theological justification
for considering Islam not only stemmed from the Judeo-Christian content
and continuity of Islam with Christianity, but also from the veiy Islamic
historical and hadith tradition in which mention was made of the two
celebrated figures of Bahlr {Bohayra orBahim) and Waraqa (Varaat). According
to the first fact, that is, Islam being a religion of Judeo-Islamic tradition
posterior to the advent of Christianity, clashed with the Christian vision of
Christ being the true saviour of the human kind. As to the second fact
concerning the two protagonists of Islamic tradition, Bahlr and Waraqa, true
Stanco della Letteratura Italiana, XIV, (Torino: Ermano Loescher Editori, 1889);
Aldobrandino Malvezzi, L 'Islanisrmela Cultura Europea, (Firenze: Sansoni Editore,1956);
Carlo Curcio, Europa. Storia di un Idea, (Firenze: Vallecchi Editore, 1958); R. W.
Southern, Western View <fIslam in the Middle Ages, (n.p., Harvard University Press, 1962);
John Victor Tolan, ed., Medieud Christian Perceptions (fIslam, (New York-London: Garland
Publishing Inc., 1996); N. Daniel, Islam and the West: The Making cf an Inu^, (Edinbugh:
Edinburgh University Press, 1960) and also Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West, (New
York-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
3 Setton, op. cit., pp. 12-13.
4 Daniel J. Sahas " 'Holosphyros?' A Byzantine Perception of 'The God of
Muhammad'", in ChrßtknMuslimErvmnters, eds. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Wadi
Zaidan Haddad, (n.p., University Press of Florida, 1995), p . l l l .
16
was it that these persons exist in the Islamic sources. The former was a
Christian monk (rahiB) who foretold the prophecy of Muhammad, as
Muhammad visited a convent in Syria with his uncle Abu Talib. The second
was the famous Waraqa, a relation of Hadija - Muhammad's first wife - who
assured Hadija of the divine inspiration that Muhammad began to receive
from the angel Gabriel. Waraqa is especially respected in the Islamic tradition
itself in spite of being a Christian (at least known to follow the Judeo-
Christian scriptures) and is one of the persons who is promised the Paradise.5
D'Ancona further proceeds to explain how these theological considerations
in the course of eight centuries, well into the midst of the fourteenth
century, gave way to legends about Islam, in a series of theological fables full
of fantasy.6 Among the numerous examples pertaining to the nature and
prophecy of Muhammad, a most imaginative one, full of fantasy is cited by
Kenneth M. Setton, which had been edited by Augusto Mancini from a Pisan
manuscript in the Biblioteca del Seminario di Pisa. The legend describes
Muhammad to be the disciple of a certain Maurus who came to Arabia after
the death of his own master Nicolaus, one of the seven deacons of Rome,
and had the aspiration to become the Pope. As Nicolaus was an evil-spirited
man, and had many vices like that of necromancy, he was excommunicated
and imprisoned and died there from lack of food as a punishment.
Mohammed, having become the disciple of Maurus who came to Arabia to
5 There are actually more concrete evidences in the Qur'an itself which could have been
used by the Christians for theological argumentation, however, usually the Medieval
sources that the Christian theologians made use of, about Islam, were either second or
third-hand sources, or sources of most obscure and unreliable character, most of which
suffered severe alterations and corruption in the coming centuries after Islam. One of
the ayats in the Qur'an (surah Maidah: 81-85) talks about the Christians in the following
manner: "Among the human beings, you would find the Jews and those who claim
partners to Allah, as the most ardent enemies of the faithful. And you would find the
closest to the faithful in love, those who say: "We are Christians". For there are monks
and priests (rahib) among them who do not claim superiority. You would see their eyes
filled and abounded with tears as a result of the truth, when they listen to what has been
inspired to the last messenger (;rasul). They say: "Our Lord, we believed, record us with
those who witness" "When we hope that our Lord should join us among the good, why
would not we believe in Allah and the truth that came to us ?" As a result of these words
of theirs, Allah gave them Paradises in which rivers flow underneath, where they will
reside forever. So is the reward of those who behave beautifully."
6 See D'Ancona, op.cit.
17
avenge his master's death, became proficient in religion and in the evil arts
and with the opportunity of the death of the king of the city, Mohammed was
elected king by intrigues. So was Islam formed as a corruption of Christianity
and the Qur'an was written together with Maurus.7 Among the numerous
legends and prophecies about the doom of the Turks mentioned in Setton's
book, is the famous one pertaining to the Red Apple. This legend which is of
supposed Byzantine origin is about the conquest of Rome (Rizil Elrm=Red
Appiè) by the Turks and subsequent re-conquest of it by Christianity,
triumphing against the infidel Turks.8 D'Ancona's work ends with mid-
fourteenth centuryr, which is precisely when "access to a basic knowledge of
Islamic culture, declined markedly after about 1330, not to be revived until
the seventeenth century".9
In other words, the heyday of interaction between the Turks and
Italians - which is roughly from 1453 to the end of the seventeenth century -
falls roughly in the period where access to reliable information about Islam
declined until it was regained in the seventeenth century. Therefore, it is not
surprising that such a period of dearth of reliable information on Islam,
coincided with the apex of the Ottoman expansion into the heart of Europe,
followed by its retreat starting at the end of the seventeenth century, in which
Islam was most identified with the Turks.
Pope Pius II ( his secular name: Enea Silvio Piccolomini, b. Oct. 18,
1405, d. Aug. 15, 1464, remained pope from Aug. 19, 1458, until his death),
being one of the most ardent propagators of the crusade against the Turks in
his time, provides one with characteristic images of Islam in his Epistola ad
7 Kenneth M. Setton, Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies cf Turkish Doom, (n.p.,
American Philosophical Society, 1992), pp.2-3.
8 About the same legend, see also Ettore Rossi, "La leggenda turco-bizantina del Porno
Rosso", in Stodii BkartimeNeodlemd, vol.V, (1937).
9 Ugo Monneret de Villard, LoStudioddl'IslaminEuropa (1944), pp. 35-37, and "La Vita,
le opere e i viaggi di Frate Ricoldo da Montecroce, O.P.," in Orientalia Christiana Periodica,
X(1944), 227-74, as well as the same autor's study of II Librn dellaperegrimzione ndleparti
d'Oriented Frate Ricoldo da Montecmas, Rome, 1948 in Kenneth M. Setton, op. cit., p.13.
18
Mahunrtem^- already identified with the Turks, by the second half of the
fifteenth century.
It is interesting to note that Pius II, being a humanist writer of the
Renaissance himself, wrote about the Turks who had, after the fall of
Constantinople, recently started occupying the minds of the Italians in a
serious way. Although the solidification of ideas about Islam in the Italian
mind were already established approximately a century ago, their
identification with the already hostile image of Islam was a consequence of
the Turks' relatively rapid entrance into the European, hence Christian
territories. With this interest of the Renaissance writers for the Turks - among
whom there was Pius II himself - an analogy is drawn between Herodotus'
interest for the Persians after the encounters of the latter two peoples as a
result of Persian invasions.11 It is not only the identification of hostile Islam
with the Turks as opposed to Christian Europe, which was one of the themes
of the Renaissance writers like Pius II, but there was also an analogy drawn
between the situation of the Turks and those of the Persians vis-a-vis the
Greeks: The ancient Greeks and the European nations representing the
civilised world and the West; and the Persians and Muslim Turks representing
the East, hence barbarism.12 If one remembers that the ancient Greeks and
Persians were both pagans, the Renaissance image of the Turk, coupled with
the already negative image of Islam, was even more powerful than the Greek-
Persian example. For in the latter example, image-creation served not only of
10 Franco Gaeta, "Sulla 'Lettera a Maometto' di Pio II", in Bolletino di Istituto Storico
Italiano, (Roma: n.p., 1965.) See also Franco Gaeta, "Alcune osservazioni sulla prima
redazione della 'lettera a Maometto'", in Otranto 1480. Atti del amegno internazionale di
studio promesso in occasione del V. ce>tenario della caduta di Otranto ad opera dei Turchi (Otranto,
19-23 miglio 1980), Volume 1, ed. Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, (Lecce: Galatina Congedo
Editore, 1986.)
11R. Schwoebel, The Shadowcfthe Crescerà The Renaissance Irm& qftbe Turk (1453-1517),
(Nieuwkoop: n.p.,1967), p. 147-8.
12Francesco Tateo, "L'ideologia umanistica e il simbolo 'immane' di Otranto", in Otranto
1480. A tti dd convello interruzionale di studio promosso in ccmsiane dd V. centenario della caduta di
Otranto ad opera dei Tunhi (Otranto, 19-23 miggo 1980), Volume 1, ed. Cosimo Damiano
Fonseca, (Lecce: Galatina Congedo Editore, 1986), p.154.
19
the "dash" between two different civilisations, but also as a powerful element
of the two rival world religions. Under such circumstances, many writers
made use of Biblical and religious analogies, as in the example of a letter
written to the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, by Marsilio Ficino in
1480, to take up arms against the Turk - drawing an analogy between
Matthias and Moses - the liberator of the Jews from the oppressor Pharaoh.
13 "At the end of the '70s (fifteenth century) the Turkish peril was really
becoming one of the many occasions through which the humanistic ideology
was trying to absorb the religious instances and to transfer them in classicist
terms, and to present itself as the depository of the purest Christian tradition,
in polemic with the ecclesiastical structures in crisis."14
The renowned Epistola ad Mahumetem of Pius II, is an invitation from
the famous Pope to the Ottoman conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmed II,
in which Pius invites him to convert to Christianity and if Mehmed does, Pius
promises to put Rome under Mehmed, who would have by then become the
second Constantine. The Lettera a Maonvtto which had never been sent to the
Ottoman sultan, is an extremely curious piece of literature owing to its
eccentric ideas such as the conversion of "the arch-enemy of Christendom",
as well as, many facts that Pius got wrong in his information of the Ottoman
sultan, such as thinking him to be the sultan of all the Muslim world.
However, what is important to the present theme is the ideological content of
the Lettera a Maorretto, which once more according to Franco Gaeta,
postulates the Turks and/or Islam as follows:
To say little, since the disaster of Varna, Enea Silvio had

started to dream of the crusade and since Varna the
contrast between Christendom and Islam had had for him
the precise meaning, not only of a politico-religious-
military fight, or to put it better; an incurable contrast
between culture and civilisation on the one hand, and
barbarity on the other; when Constantinople had fallen,
Enea Silvio had cried the second death of Homer [ ]15
13 Francesco Tateo, op. cit., p. 160.
14 Francesco Tateo, op. cit., p. 160-1
20
The Lettera a Maormtto, which re-enforces the then-present image of the Turks
identified with Islam from the first-hand authority of the Pope, is shown to
have taken as its inspiration two works: the Cribratio Akoram of Niccolo da
Cusa and Contra prinapales emm petfidi Madxweti by Giovanni Torquemada.
The former was a German cardinal and the latter one of his major supporters
on the idea of crusade (together with Bessarion) at the Congress of
Mantova.16 Pius is supposed to have received the information on Islam which
is present in his letter, from these two works mentioned, having even copied
some parts of the Cbntra prinapales errom perfidi Machomzti in his Epistda.17
In another less known book, La Discntione del'Asiaet Eumpa di Papa Pio
II, Pius II gives an account of how he perceived the Turks at the time shortly
after the fall of Constantinople:18 He says that Asia was saved from idol
worshipping of the Romans and lived under the holy Gospel, but it all was
corrupted by the advent of the Turks:
However, with the advent of the Turks, everything

changed: the law of Muhammad [Mahwnete\ which had its
beginning at the time of Emperor Heraclius19- as a
consequence of the corruption of the Christians - drew
out the Gospel of Christ,20 because as the Asians
15 Franco Gaeta, "Sulla 'Lettera a Maometto' di Pio II", in Bolletino di Istituto Storim
Italiano, (Roma: n.p., 1965), p.131.
16 Franco Gaeta, op. cit., p.163.
17 Franco Gaeta, op. cit., pp.167-173.
18 Pio II. (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), La Discritione de I'Asia et Eumpa di Papa Pio II,
(Vinegia: Appresso Vicenzo Vaugris a '1 segno d'Erasimo, 1544.) Pius II (19 August 1458
- 15 August 1464
Refers to the East Roman emperor Herakleios (r. 610-641), at the time of which
19
Muhammad started to receive his Divine inspirations, which later came to be the Qur'an.
20It is interesting to note here that there is a sura of the Qur'an entitled the sura of Rum
(Romans) that talks about the wars that went on between the Persians and the Eastern
21
demanded help, they neither gave them advice nor help.

The old and filthy brutality came back, and although the
Turks abhor idols, and adore a single God; they feel about
Christ indecent things, neither do they adore the Trinity,
nor do they understand how God can (have three aspects)
and yet be one. Ministers of all dishonest pleasures have
deprived the Holy Scripture. The sacred letters perished
and all the studies of the good arts vanished. Among few
slaves, is the name of Christ praised. Neither those that in
Asia whom one calls Christians are real Christians, since
they do not walk towards the truth of the Gospel;
although there are many Greeks, who are raised with
Christian rites, nevertheless, they separated themselves
from the rules of the old holy fathers; nor do they deign to
hear the Roman Church, mother of all the faithful. It is all
too much that Christ lost in Asia.21
As seen above, another recurrent theme in the above document, written as

early as the beginning of the second half of the fifteenth century, does not
only view Islam as a catastrophe for the Christian faith in Asia, but also
shows an attitude of contempt towards the Greeks for their denial of the
Catholic Church. La Dkcritkm de I'Asia et Eumpa di Papa Pio II, which was
published in Venice in 1544, is most probably the unfinished work of Pius II
Romans and clearly praises and wishes success to the Christian armies in front of the
idol-worshipper Persians. The verse from the sura Rum follows: "Defeated is the Rum...
At a very close place on the earth. But they will be victorious after their defeat, in a few
years. The ultimate verdict belongs to Allah. The faithful will be relieved at the day of
their victory, With the help of Allah. He helps whomever He wishes... He is the great,
merciful. This is the promise of Allah... Allah would not betray His own promise.
However, most of the human beings do not know." (The Qur'an, surah Rum, verses 2-
6.)
21Pio II. (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), La Discritione de I'Asia et Eumpa di Papa Pio II,
(Vinegia: Appresso Vicenzo Vaugris a '1 segno d'Erasimo, 1544), p. 175.
22
on the description <f the world knoirn at his times, 22 which he must have written
sometime between the 1453 and 1461. In his book there is the narrative of
the conquest of Constantinople, but we understand that Trebisond had not
yet fallen. Therefore, it can be asserted that La Discritione de I'Asia etEmopa di
Papa Pio II was written before the Lettera a Maormtto (1461) and contains some
of the key ideas which were used by Pius in his Lettera a Maormtto.
The Vatican manuscript written by Giovanni Battista Gigli, dedicated to
Pope Paul V, entitled // Maormttano (The Mohammedan) dating from 1613
confirms the image of the Turk shared in common by almost all the members
of the Catholic church of the time.23 According to Gigli, Muhammad was the
false prophet of the Devil, an evil man whose origins were obscure, as to
whether he was Persian or an Arab. His father was an idol worshipper and his
mother was an Ismailite (here meant as adherent to the prophet Ishmael, not
to be confounded with the Ismailiya rmdhhab in Islam), who knew the old
Hebrew law. As a result, il fanckdlo tirato hora da questa parte, hora a qudla,
dkmtato ne gentile ne ebreo [the child was pulled towards this and that side and
ended up to be neither gentile nor Jewish].24 Therefore, Gigli says that
Mohammed accordingly learned from both the cultures and laws from his
parents and abandoned both of them, to found his heretic creed.
In many of the unpublished first-hand sources as well as many

published and well-known material on the Catholic views of Islam, one
encounters a need for justification for waging war against the Turks as well as
the justification for waging war per se. In part stemming from theological
debates whether war is at all legitimate in Christianity, spirited by the saying
See: R. Aubenas and R. Ricard, Storia (Mia chiesa dalie origini fino ai giorni nostri XV La
22
Chiesa e ilRinasàmerita, (Torino: Editrice S. A. I. E., 1963), p. 69.
23 Giovanni Battista Gigli, Manuscript of Giovanni Battista Gigli entitled: "Il Maomettano
di Già Batta Gigli Alla Santità dil Sig Papa Pado Cuánto Romano. Origine della Turchia et
Costantinopoli ordini et leggi Mahomettani" Roma: 1613., (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. lat. 4781).
24 Gigli, op. cit. p.2V
23
of Jesus "if one smites thee, turn thy other cheek", Catholic theologians
inevitably felt the need to make justifications to wage war against the Turks,
although the reasons behind it were a result of the rapid loss of territory and
the lack of a due response to the Ottomans in the disunity among the
Christian states. Furthermore, in such a state of affairs "the crusade was
almost the only consistent eastern policy the papacy ever devised, and
hostility to the Turk had almost become an article of faith".25
Another extremely important figure to be mentioned in his sui gmens

character, is the protagonist Cardinal Bessarion (b.1399-1408 ? - d.18
Nov. 1472). Cardinal Bessarion, a Byzantine born in Trebisond who took
refuge in Italy, converted to Catholicism, after having served the Byzantine
Orthodox Church as the bishop of Nicaea. Eventually, he became a cardinal
in Rome. Not only is he a very important figure in the continuity of antiquity
in the Italian Renaissance thanks to the manuscripts taken from Anatolian
monasteries to Italy, but also the contributor to the foundation of the San
Marco Library in Venice with these manuscripts.26 Cardinal Bessarion is the
author, among other things, of bellicose orations to the European princes
against the Turks,27 as well as having contributed to the creation of the
classical image of the Turk in Italy which was to endure until the eighteenth
2o
century.
25 Setton, op. cit., p.17. See also Setton, The Papacy and the Learnt (1204-1571),
(Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1976-1984.)
See: "Il cardinale Bessarione e i suoi legami con Venezia", in La Librerìa di San Marco,
26
Marino Zorzi, (Milano: Mondadori, 1987.)
27 Scipione Ammirato, Orazioni del Sigiar Scipione Ammirato a diversi principi intorno ai
preparimene che s'atrebbcmo a farsi cantra la potenza del Turca Aûrtkn nel firn le lettere &
orazioni di Monsignor Bessarione Cardimi Niceno scrìtte a Prìncipi d'Italia, (Fiorenza: Per Filippo
Giunti, 1598.) (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Ferraioli. IV. 1794.)
28See: Elpidio Mioni, "Bessarione e la caduta di Costantinopoli", in Miscellanea Marciana,

ed. Marino Zorzi, Voi. VI, (Venezia: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 1991); Giacomo E.
Carretto, "Bessarione e il Turco", in Bessarione e l'Umanesimo, ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori,
(Napoli: Vivarium,1994.)
24
It is interesting to note that the Renaissance image of the Turk not only
continually emphasised the brutal aspects of the Turks who were the most
fierce enemies of Christendom, but they also established a curious bond
between the heroes of antiquity with the Ottoman sultans. Being perfectly
erudite in the study of antiquity - a Byzantine Greek himself - Cardinal
Bessarion also made use of these classical analogies in his Orations to the Primes
of Italy, which he wrote in the year 1470 when Negroponte fell to the
Ottomans. His Orations start with the remark "Illustrious Princes, on the
seventh of July, it was first of all announced to us, the infelicitous loss and
ruin of Negroponte...". The Orations of Bessarion to the Italian princes
continue with the aforementioned Renaissance style of drawing analogies (i.e.
the Greek-Persian analogy of Herodotus) between characters of antiquity and
the heroes of their contemporary age. It is curious to note that both
Bessarion and Pius II adopt similar styles in their bellicose orations. What is
common to the works of these two figures is the heroifkatkm of their
protagonists (i.e. Ottoman sultans and/or Turks in general) in reference to a
figure of antiquity, in the case of Bessarion, as it will be seen in the coming
extract. As to the Lettera a Maometto of Pius II a similar style was adopted in
heroifying Mehmed II, as Gaeta put it: "The fierce head of Islam who had
killed Homer for the second time, all of a sudden becomes a man 'cuius
naturam bonam esse confidimus', having 'animi magnitudo', 'sapientis';
'princeps nobilis', 'non...rationis incapax'",29 if he converted to Christianity
and thus accepted to become a second Constantine. The identification
between the Turks and the heroes of antiquity reach their apex in Bessarions
Orations, as he tries unsuccessfully, to mobilise the rulers of Italy against the
Ottomans, warning them of an imminent Turkish rage:
And to the Turk, will his spirit not suffice ? - who is -

concerning valour of his soldiers, as well as for the
dimension of his boundaries, far superior to Pirithous; 30
who knows well that Italy is divided concerning its
factions and forces, and who wants to undertake what
29Franco Gaeta, "Sulla 'Lettera a Maometto' di Pio II", Bolletino di Istituto Storico Italiano,
1965, p.131-2.
30 In Greek mythology, Pirithous was king of the Lapiths in Thessaly.
25
Pirithous undertook.31 His [the Turk's] virtue matches that

of Alexander, be it that, in his deeds of competition for
glory, he came forth to overtake Alexander. This very
Alexander, having heard the disputation of Anaxagoras,
that there were more than one world,32 it is said that he
sighed and wept, for not having been able to bring the
other one under his sovereignty. He [Mehmed II] reads his
deeds, and it is all within him. He does not consider
himself inferior to him [Alexander], as he has the habit of
usually bragging, and very often uses these words, that he
is superior to Alexander at least ten times, given that he
[Alexander] conduced his army around the circle of the
earth only with thirty thousand men and seventy talents
[taknti].1'' However, he feels himself to be much better and
abundantly equipped, and wealthy of all things. The
following considerations result, that these stimuli of
competition which gave birth to great effects and reached
that, which he aspired; especially considering that the Turk
does not lack power, who has the reputation of possessing
forces major than whom he imitates. Thus Theseos34
motivated by the example of Hercules, and Themistocles35
by that of Miltiades,36 concluded marvellous facts.
Actually, I do not know what imitating Alexander has
31 Probably referring to Pirithous' invasion of Attica.
32Allusion is made here to the theory of the philosopher and scientist Anaxagoras (d.
428 B . C ) that there are other worlds besides ours, inhabited by men in a similar way.
33 Official weight of gold or silver, equivalent to 60 mines.
34Theseos is the mythical hero who is supposed to have made Athens a city, who
became its first king, causing the development of civilisation in the city.
35Themistocles, C.524-C.460 BQ was the statesmen of Athens who created the navy of
Athens, thus opening the way to Athens to becoming an empire.
36 The Athenian general Miltiades, c.554-c.489 B C
26
anything so fatal, meaning that with the same intention,

Julius Caesar, after having concluded most celebrated
undertakings, reverted [his] forces also against the civil
blood of the country. Whereas if the Turk conducts
himself with the example of who subdued Africa, Asia and
almost the entire world, and if he follows suit in enlarging
the boundaries of the empire, he not only defies in
matching him, but also in surpassing him; given that he
possesses a bigger army than thirty thousand men, and
more money than seventy talents \takriti\. Where do we
estimate that he will finally address his aim and make use
of so many forces ?37
So is the warning of Cardinal Bessarion to the rulers of Italy, with his final
interrogative remark, that the next address to suffer the brutalities of the
Turk - according to Bessarion - was Italy. His prophecy was to come true a
decade after the aforementioned treatise in 1480, with the fall of Otranto to
the Ottomans. Although it did not remain in Ottoman hands for a very long
time, it was the first and the last Ottoman conquest on the Italian peninsula.
Certainly the 1473 incursion of Ottoman raiders into the Venetian terra ferrm,
in Friuli - just three years after Bessarion's warning treatise - is also one of the
alarms that the Italians had to face for the first time concerning Turks
penetrating into the heart of the Italian continent.38
The language of Bessarion about the Turks - as a Byzantine expatriate,
who witnessed the Ottoman conquest of Anatolia first-hand in an amazingly
short time - is naturally as little sparing as its Byzantine contemporaries,
whose works either found their way into Italy39 or who were expatriates like
37 Scipione Ammirato, Orazioni dd Signer Scipione A mrrirato a diiersi principi intorno ai

preparinomi doe s'azrebbono a farsi cortra la potenza dd lurax Aûntiari nd fine le lettere &
orazioni di Monsignor Bessarione Cardinal Niasno scritte a Principi d'Italia, (Fiorenza: Per Filippo
Giunti, 1598.) (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Ferraioli. IV. 1794), p.20.
38 See the Friuli incursione text by Percichi in the following chapter.
39The most famous of these documents are that of Michele Gitobulos, Michele Ducas,
Leonico Chalcocondyias and Giorgio Sphrantzes. On such documents of Byzantine
origin which acquired popularity in Italy see the rich collection of Agostino Pertusi, ed,
27
Bessarion himself. This was the same in the case of Teodoro Spandugino, a
Venetian of Cantacuzene Byzantine origin, who is the author of one of the
first examples of reliable works on the Ottomans - all written in Italian - in
the first half of the sixteenth century in Venice.40 After the fall of
Constantinople, the Turks who were identified with the incarnation of anti-
Christ, were depicted in the same manner by Bessarion, who heard the
depiction of the fall of Constantinople - among other accounts - from
Cardinal Isidore of Kiev in his letter ad Bessarionem episoopum Tusadarmm ac
catdinalem Niosmm Banamaeqm kgatum;41 In a lamenting letter due to Venetian
inaction vis-a-vis the Turks, dated 13 July - after the fall of the city - written
to the Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari, Bessarion describes the events in
Constantinople saying that Constantinople was raped by " most cruel
barbarians, ferocious enemies of the Christian faith, by raging beasts was it
conquered The churches and chapels of the saints were profaned by
blasphemies strokes, blood and all sorts of injuries, the temples of God
La Caduta di Costantinopoli L Eco nel Mondo, (n.p., Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1976) and
Agostino Pertusi, ed, La Caduta di Costantinopoli Le Testimonianze dei Contemporanei, (n.p.,
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1976.)
40 The most reliably annotated edition of the wok is by, Donald M. Nicol, Theodore
Spandowies: On the Origin cf the Ottoman Emperors, (Cambridge University Press, 1997.) The
book of Nicols is translated from the edition of GN.Sathas, Documents inédits rdaùjs a
l'histdw de la Grece au moyen àge, IX (Paris, 1890), pp. 133-261: Theodoro Spandugnino, Patrith
Constantinopditano, De la orione deli Imperatori Ottormm, ordini de la corte, forma del gierreggare
loro, rito, et costimi de la mtione Another smaller copy in the manuscript form is in the
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Theodoro Spandugino, "Relatione of the
Constantinopolitan nobleman Theodoras Spandouginos on the order and origin of the
Turkish princes and their court, customs and nation; and on the origin of the Ottoman
family.", Dated to the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. lat. 5342.)
41For the complete text of Cardinal Isidoro's letter, see: Agostino Pertusi, ed, La Caduta
di Costantinopoli Le Testimonianze dei Contemporanei, (n.p., Arnoldo Mondadori Editore,
1976), pp.52-119.
28
transformed into encampments and the sacred objects taken into the
encampments" ,42
In the ambiguity of the hatred-admiration mixed remarks about the
Turks, elevating them above Alexander the Great due to their military valour,
and degrading them below the most ferocious of all beasts due to their being
arch-enemies of the Christian faith, Bessarion in his Orations, invites the rulers
and princes of Italy once again to unite against the Turk by forgetting old
enmities and to take a solid stand in front of the common enemy.43
A not so well-known figure - yet an important one - Monsignor

Marcello Marchesi (d. 1 August 1613) was one of the propagators of the
crusade against the Turks. He served as the bishop of Senj in Croatia before
being transferred to Split, after which he served as the scribe of the Archive
of Curia Rormm, pmtonolano and the apostolic secretary.44 More information
about Marcello Marchesi and about the Vatican manuscript written by him
will be given in the next chapter. Returning to the theological considerations
made by this clergyman on the idea of just war, Marchesi wrote the following
on the legitimacy of war, speaking on behalf of the Christians:
[ ] Some heretics denied the Christians the legitimacy of

waging war, not to mention war against the Turks.
Furthermore, Luther madly preached by saying, not only
not to wage war against the Turks, but not even to make
resistance in order not to oppose the Divine Will, for God
through them [Turks] castigates us. So do other heretics
claim - as the nobles already claimed - the Christian
Elpidio Mioni, "Bessarione e la caduta di Costantinopoli" in Miscellanea Marnant, ed.

42
Marino Zorzi, Vol. VI, (Venezia: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 1991), pp.175-6.
43 On the ambiguity of the standpoint of Italians vis-à-vis the Turks, see: Kate Fleet,
"Italian Perceptions of the Turks in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries", (Malta),
Journal cfMediterranean Studies, Volume 5, Number 2, (1995).
44C. Eubel, (ed.), Hieranhia Cathdka Medii et Reœndcris Aed, (Regensburg: Sumptibus et
Tvpis Librariae Regensbergianae Monasterii: 1935), p.309.
29
religion to be a threat against the republic and the

mundane state, having put an end to the gallantry of the
antiques, having ruined the Roman Empire, in being
totally against military virtue, like that which suppresses
the instincts of revenge and repulses the desire of praise
and glory, that it commands humbleness; and loathes
honour and other things which are incentives for which
one fights. Therefore, making human beings into humble
uncouth people, without having the aim, neither of
conservation nor that of expansion of the state, nor
having any other aim but peace and patience and the
tolerance of evil by pronouncing the name of Christ.
[ r
Marchesi further admits that another cause of the lack of success against the
Turks is the celibacy and monogamy induced by Christianity in contrast to
the polygamy practised by the Muslims.46 He also introduces a further
theological finesse by making a distinction between the tolerance of evil by
private individuals and by public persons. While he says that for the former
the tolerance of evil is a Christian duty for the sake of their souls, for the
latter the tolerance of evil is prohibited, as revenge against evil acts of
external enemies and the internal ones is also prohibited "for the service of
the defence of the republic".47 According to Marchesi, all sorts of vices like
pomp, luxury, greed, as well as many others do not stem from anything but
the corrupt nature of human beings and certainly not from the most pure,
chaste and reasonable religion, i.e. Christianity. On the other hand, many
vices among the Turks stem from their licentious, unreasonable and dirty
45 Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, Five Treatises on "The war against the Turk". (17th
century): 1) A Ila Santìta ' di nastro Sigiare Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre, 2) A Ila Maesta '
del Re Cdtboliw Filippo III. Sacra Cathdim Maestà, 3) All'Illustrissimo et Eccellentissirm Sigiare
Duca di Lerrru, 4) A Ua Maesta ' del Re d'Ungheria Mathia II. Sacra Maesta ', 5) Dd detto quinto
trattato proemio, dhisione, et ordine, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana:
Barb. Lat. 5366), pp.lV-2R
46 Marchesi, op. cit., p. 3&

47 Marchesi, op. cit., 4V-5R.
30
education and sect, i.e. Islam,48 where it is not even recognised as a religion
but depending on the range of interpretation, merely as a heresy of
Christianity to the adoration of the Devil.
There must be made a distinction between Catholic views of Islam put

forward by people like Giovanni Battista Gigli, who wrote against Islam and
their most fierce representatives, the Turks, more for the sake of religious
propaganda, which is not based upon knowledge of the subject in question,
and the Venetian ambassadors, who wrote relatively objectively about the
subject. Not only many writers and poets, and basically anyone who wanted
to attain quick popularity wrote on the Turks, but in a similar fashion, also
members of the Catholic Church did the same for propaganda purposes. It
could be presumed that for a writer like Gigli, whether a member of the
Church or not, he was an important figure enough to have been able to
present his manuscript composed in the form of a book to Pope Paul V, as
the aforementioned manuscript of Marchesi was also dedicated to the same
Pope. However, there is quite a difference between the two manuscripts. One
is a clear anti-Islamic propaganda, typical and not surprising for its time, in
conformity with the fashion of the time, largely filled with myths rather than
facts and contains clearly wrong information such as about the birth date of
the Prophet, his ancestry, not to mention misinformation about Islam. On
the other hand, the tone, the style, the sources and the information of the
manuscript that belongs to Monsignor Marchesi is equipped with more or
less accurate facts. Its purpose is not so much a theological disputation to
prove whether Islam is really a heresy of Christianity or whether it is really
adoration of the Devil; rather it is to mobilise the Christian community
against the Ottomans. In that sense, utterances against Islam and the Turks
acquire a much more pragmatic and well-informed tone when they come
from Church members who are nor solely motivated by the love of religion,
but by pragmatic military aims. The description by the Capuchin Friar,
Paolo da Lagni of the Yezidi, (a sub-stratum of the Muslim community,
sometimes not accepted as Muslims by the Muslims themselves) whom Da
Lagni thought could be mobilised against the Ottomans, presumes an
accurate observation of the Capuchin missionaries in the Ottoman territories.
48 Marchesi, op. cit., 7V.
31
The manuscript that was presented to Pope Innocenzo XI, in the year 167949
by Friar Paolo da Lagni, shows the informed character of such documents, in
spite of not really contributing to form widespread public opinion about the
image of the Turk;
The third division in Asia can be made through the

barbarian people Yezidl [gezidi\, who are neither
Mohammedans nor Christians, however they are much
more inclined towards the Christians than they are
towards the Turks; since they descend from Christian
relatives and because they are treated by Turks in a most
cruel way: where they do not seek any other thing than
free themselves from that tyranny, in such a way that they
could bring together an army of forty thousand
combatters in Asia. Father Giustiniano Capucino, who is
by the way in Rome, has talked with these Yezldi peoples
and he knows their language very well to be able to
bargain about that affair.50
Therefore, documents such as the one cited above, first of all contribute to
establish the fact that among those missionaries - especially those belonging
to the missions organised by the CcmQ-egazxane di Propaganda Fide
(Congregation of the Propagation of Faith) - there was a non negligible
amount of accurate information concerning the visible aspects of the Islamic
world. While this was presumably due to the pragmatic purposes of using the
accumulated information in a possible prospective conversion or crusade,
nevertheless, compared to the ignorance of many of the documents just a
century ago, there is a remarkable improvement in the amount of information
49
Gaetano Platania, "L'Europa orientale e lXJnione delle Chiese", in Bessarione e
l'Umanesimo, ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori, (Napoli: Vivarium, 1994), p.255.
50
Fra Paolo Da Lagni, Merariale difraPaolo da Lagni cappuccino al pontefice Innocenzo XI nd
quale si dimostra la neœssiû de' Principi Cristiani di prevenire il Turco ed dichiararci la guerra,
1679, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vat. lat. 6926), p.38V.
32
that was flowing into the Italian sources about the Muslim Turks and their
co-religious subjects, after a century. However, it should be emphasised that
the better informed nature of these documents such as those of Marchesi,
Soranzo, da Sonnino, da Lagni, as well as many other relaziom, owe their
accuracy, first, to first-hand observations, and second, to the pragmatic
nature of their purpose. Furthermore, while there existed from the thirteenth
century onwards velaziom depicting the daily practices, religion, iderm (doctors
of Islamic law), muftis and the like of the Muslims and the Ottomans, most
of these travel literature or ambassadorial rdaziom depicted the outwardly
observable aspects of the religion of the Turks, rather than giving innovative
theological explanations or seriously studying Islam. Attempts at innovation
in studying Islam, as well as the Ottoman culture would be undertaken at the
end of the seventeenth century by the Venetian bailo Dona (which will be a
subject matter in the fourth chapter), as well as the erudite abbot Toderini,
another Venetian, in the eighteenth century.
One classical sixteenth century image of Islam comes from an Italian

traveller, Luigi da Zara Bassano, on the theological points of view on Islam as
follows in his famous book / Costurri et ¿ModiPartiwLai dela Vita de' Tunhi:
They [the Sufis] have their own convents and they are
great in number. Their heads, abbots or generals, so to
say, are instructed in Arabic and understand the Qur'an
very well. I got to know one of them, which took place in
the year 1537, within the circle of a very blessed heresy in
the city of Constantinople. He sustained this conclusion
that Isapehamter (Isa peygamber), that is Jesus Christ
deserves more veneration than Mehermth (Muhammad),
given that our Lord Jesus was born of Virgin Mary, and
that he had certainly ascended into heaven with God, and
that whom we believe to have been crucified by the Jews
was not Jesus, but a Jew who resembled him, who was by
Divine Will shown to the Jews to be him; calling us,
Christians to be mad who believe that Jesus would have
allowed himself to be tortured and killed by people of
33
such nature.51 Furthermore, he affirmed that Christ had

never committed any sin while he was in human flesh. On
the contrary he said that Muhammad (Mehemeth) was
born of carnal intercourse and in sin, and that he was not
alive in heaven like Christ, but that he was dead and that
his body was in Larmh (Mecca?), and that there was no
certainty about his soul. Therefore, for these and other
reasons, he concluded that, more reverence should be
given to our Lord Jesus than their Muhammed. This good
opinion of his, as it appealed to many, there were not,
however, lack of people who most in a blameworthy
manner put it into the ears of the Pa§as [Basso] and the
Sultan [gran Turcho], who immediately got hold of the
situation and forced the good man to repent, and as he did
not comply, he had him burned together with more than
forty followers of his, and there would have been more
than two hundred of them dead. As the Sultan saw them
obstinate, he commanded there be no one anymore who
spoke about this matter, to be punished by being beaten
up, as it is their custom, he wanted more of them to be
burned and still today they are of this opinion.52
There are many in Turkey who are considered to be
relatives of Muhammad. Some of them wear a turban of
totally green colour, and some of them only carry the tip
[of the turban] as such, and the rest white. They use this
colour because they say that Muhammad used to carry the
51 This belief in Islam stems from the Qur'an in the sura of Nisa, verse 157: "It is
because they say We have killed the messenger of Allah, Jesus the Messiah, son of
Mary'. However, they did not loll him, they did not hang him either; he was only shown
to them alike. Those who discuss about him, are totally in doubt about him. They have
no knowledge about him; they only suppose. They certainly did not kill him."
52 M. Luigi da Zara Bassano, I Ccsturri et iModi Particolari de la Vita de' Timhi, Roma: n.p.,
1545, facsimile edition by Franz Babinger, (Monaco di Baviera: Casa Editrice Mix
Hueber, 1963), pp.69-70.
34
colour green on his head, as the Sofianf'szy that he wore

the colour red.54
In another Vatican manuscript, dated 1640, written by the Franciscan

Friar Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, who had been the former Patriarcal Vicar
of Constantinople and General Commissioner in the Orient and Governor of
missionaries of Wallachia and Moldavia, we encounter another typical view of
the Vatican of the seventeenth century towards Islam as represented by the
Turks.55 The manuscript which was dedicated to Cardinal Antonio Barberino,
who was an important figure in the crusader ideas of the time follows:
[ ] at the present [in the Ottoman territories] the

Christians are in minor quantity than the Turks [Muslims],
whereas before the Turk [Muslims] was not one tenth of
the Christian people, who inhabited the Greek Empire; at
present, of the eight parts of the people, only one [part] is
Christian, since they have a dearth of religious people,
and of doctrine having denied the Faith, and having
embraced the sect of Mehemet as the Turk [the sultan]
does not permit that his subjects pursue letters or sciences,
thus are made those peoples ignorant, making themselves
Turks [i.e. converting to Islam] as a result of each
insignificant bullying. I cannot deny that while I am
53The word Stfiam here is used to mean the Kczilba§ (literally: readhead; a term still in
usage in Turkey) or the Alewites. Although sometimes in Italian texts pertaining to the
same centuries it denotes Sufis and/or Alewites; or sometimes in the form d Scfi, to
denote the Shah of Persia.
54 Bassano, op. cit., p.71.
55Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Trattato dd modo facile d'espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo dalli
rwlti Regni che possiede in Europa. Composto dal padre Maestro A ngdo Petricca da Sondrio Min
Canmu già Vicario Patriarcale di Constantinopoli, Gormissario gn~le in Oriente, e Prfetto de
Missionarij di Valacchia, et MdcLma. Dedicated to Cardinal Antonio Barberina I0h Maggp 1640.,
(Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. lat. 5151.)
35
writing these things which I have seen, that there occurs a

willingness to exaggerate - or to put it better - to animate
the Christian arms to defend the honour of God against
the infidels, rather than proceeding to write briefly this
treatise.56
The author not only complains here about the decrease in number of the
Christian people, but also ties this to the fact that they have denied their own
religion because of bullying by the Turks, and that they have become heretics
rather than converting to another religion. This attitude that Islam is really a
heresy (sect) of Christianity is an attitude that was present in most of the
documents studied. The general trend of the Italian Catholics was to consider
Islam as well as other interpretations of Christianity, i.e. Orthodoxy and later
Protestantism, also as heresies. The tone with which Marchesi speaks of
Luther's ideas of the Turks is demonstrated above. In the above passage from
Petricca da Sonnino, referring to "the Christian people, who inhabited the
Greek Empire", and who now converted to the sect of Muhammad, a similar
criticism had been made by another author of a Vatican manuscript. Allusion
is made here to the so-called heresy of the Greeks by Catholic standards, who
were considered to be in conspiracy against the Catholics, and many times
were accused of having joined arms with the Turks. In another manuscript
dedicated to Cardinal Barberino in 1637, in the form of a relaziane on
Constantinople, three years before the one by Paolo Vecchia, he describes the
Greeks as "the enemies of the Catholics". Paolo Vecchia further describes
the Greeks as the " 'natural' enemies of the Catholics" who would rather
"convert themselves to being a Turk (Muslim) rather than making themselves
Latins (Catholics)". He also describes them as sharing "a mutual hatred" with
the Armenians and having "a natural antipathy towards the Jews".57 It is also
interesting to note in the manuscript of Da Sonnino that, according to the
author not only il farsi Tuna (making oneself a Turk, i.e. converting to Islam)
is used synonymously, but conversion to Islam and thus becoming a Turk
56 Angelo Petricca Da Sonnino, op.cit., pp.4R-4V.

57 See Paolo Vecchia, Relatione di Costantinopoli dell'anno 1637. All'Èninenàssimo et
Reierendissimo Signore, il Signor Cardimi Barberino, (Gttà del Vaticno: Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana: Barb. Lat. 5192), f. 44.
36
comes as the result of the lack of erudition, the lack of pursuit of sciences,
and in short as the result of a forced ignorance imposed by supreme
authority, as well as the fear created out of bullying. Hence the connotation
of Islam with many despicable human qualities, not to forget that "Turk" is
synonymous with Muslim, the word "Latin" is used in a similar way in the
text to denote Catholic.
Invariably, in all the documents that are written with the scope of
mobilising the Christian states against the Ottomans, share a few
characteristics: First of all, the information that they supply the reader on
Islam is based on either direct observation or on reliable sources. Second, the
tone with which they speak, is not as fanatical as those works written for the
sake of theological argumentation, most of whose authors are either ill-
informed or they corrupt simple facts even about the life and mission of
Muhammad.
One can call for the sake of categorisation, the works such as //
Maomettano by Gigli and the famous Lettera a Maormtto of Pius II, ukdqgatl and
prvpagawlistk as opposed to the extremely pragrrutic and irformed nature of the
works of Da Sonnino, Da Lagni, Marchesi and another, L Othomanno of
Lazzaro Soranzo,58 which we shall define in the political categoiy. The works
of pditkal nature invariably have some common elements in the way they
present an image of the Muslim Turks and Islam. These are infallible
references to the ritmegati (the Christians who converted to Islam), the
Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire, and differences as well as
definitions in the interpretation of Islam among Ottoman subjects.
In his excellent work of espionage reports of the Venetians, Soranzo's
attitude in L 'Othormnm is not anymore a dkhe vision of the rmhurrEtica seda,
but an informed and pragmatic report on how one can make use of the
differences within the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, as well as seeking
their strong and weak points. Soranzo writes the following on the ever-
present theme of the rirmegatv.
The natural Turks, that is those of old origin, although

they are not ill-disposed towards the other yirmegati Turks,
58 Lazaro Soranzo, L 'Othommno, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale, 1598.)
37
they are however, so disgusted and discontent, that it

would not be a surprise if they (the rirmegtti) had an
uprising one day, especially if they had a leader for that
purpose. The reason of their (of the original Turks)
disgust stems from seeing that all the military posts
depend on them and property and honour as the above,
are given to therirmegatiTurks. From those little except,
are conceded by great grace to some of the natural ones
(original Turks), or to the sons of the wives of the sultans
(sultane). Therefore, it happens that among all the Muslims,
nothing is more honoured and desired than that of being
the slave of the sultan; and nothing is more infamous and
abhorred than the word Turk. It signifies in their language
the word Turk, villain; as among the Greeks, the word
narmd signifies not only inhabitant of Numidia, but also
shepherd, where Strabo calls the Schythians nomads. In a
similar way, as a modern writer has observed on this
matter, in the same manner that the Italians introduce in
their comedies Zam, who is a boor from Bergamo;
likewise, the Turks introduce in their fables a Turk, that is,
a rough man, a villager. (.....) It is certain that if the rirmegati
Turks, recognised by grace of God what they have lost,
they would easily revolt against that state, that would end
up with total extermination of that empire. Since they
have in their hands - as it is mentioned - the reputation
and the riches, which are things with which they
necessarily achieve credit and obedience. However, given
that they are very spoiled by nature and because they are
permitted every bestial insolence and the ardour of
committing it, that they voluntarily are satisfied to live in
that infamous liberty, without producing new things.59
Certainly, if one considers - Muhammad, their legislator
- commanded his followers to abstain from wine so
severely, not for any other reason than his intention of
defending his law by arms. It was convenient that he made
59
Lazzaro Soranzo, op. cit., pp.110-111.
38
them with sobriety as fit as possible for war. Apart from

this, he subdued them to the dominion of fate, to make
them more obedient towards the commanders and more
determined in combat; and ordered them that they washed
themselves many times to keep them more easily clean
and to keep the armies from diseases that are born out of
dirtiness, and to make them more resistant towards the
inclemency heaven and other similar things.60
Soranzo, talking about Sultan Murad III (d. 1595), describes him as "the
zealous observer of that most vane superstition of the Mushaphum (mushaf,
refers to the Qur'an in Arabic), as so is called their book of law by Turks,
called by the Arabs A l-ko>'dn." fA
Among the members of the Church, who opposed the classical idea of
crusade against the Turks at any cost is Erasmus of Rotterdam. In his
Constdtatio ck bello Turns irferendo (1530),62 Erasmus provides his own ideas of
how a holy war should be conducted against the Turks, as well as hints of his
own image of the Turks from a theological view. His views contrast
considerably with those members of the Church in Italy, with most of the
works financed by the Vatican, or with those who support that view in Italy.
Although, Erasmus does not represent an Italian image of Islam and the
Turks, given his importance in the history of the European thought, it is
useful to hear what he says about this matter, precisely for the contrast with
the Italian image of Islam:
[ ] while it is true that not every war against the Turk is

just and pious, it is also the case that non-resistance to the
Turks is nothing other than betraying Christianity to its
60 Lazzaro Soranzo, op. cit., p.33.
61 Lazzaro Soranzo, op. cit., p.45.
62 Erasmus of Rotterdam, ed. A. G. Weiler, 'Utilissima consultatio de bello Turcis

inferendo', in Opera omnia Desiderii Erasm Roteonlam (Amsterdam, New York, Oxford
and Tokyo, 1969-), III, 1-8, at 52-6, 68-71, 74, 81-2, in Norman Housley, (ed. & trans.),
Documents an the later crusades 1274-1580, (London: 1996), pp.178-183.
39
most savage foes, and abandoning our brothers to a

servitude which they do not deserve.63 When the ignorant
masses hear the Turks mentioned, they immediately
become incensed and bloodthirsty, labelling them as dogs
and the enemies of the Christian name. They forget that
[the Turks] are human beings, and secondly that they are
half-Christian. [ ] Now I come to those who adhere to
Luther's belief, that those who make war against the Turks
are rebelling against God, because He is using them to
punish our sins. On this opinion the Paris theologians
commented as follows: 'This proposition is judged to be
erroneous in every respect, and does not conform to Holy
Scripture'.64 It is error which is attacked here, not heresy,
and it is not simply condemned, but declared to be totally
contrary to the truth. Unless I am mistaken, the
commentators are saying that war against the Turks may
be undertaken rightly or wrongly, according to the
circumstances.65
While Erasmus' standpoint was as above, it is worth taking note that both
Marcello Marchesi in his manuscript on the crusade against the Turks,66 and
Erasmus in his work written on the same subject, refute Luther's ideas of the
Turks being a castigation sent upon the Christians. While the former
proceeds from this point of departure, the idea that the Turks should be
combated at any cost and under any circumstance, the latter proposes in his
Consultatio that "war against the Turks may be undertaken rightly or wrongly,
63"Erasmus was writing at the time of Hungary's collapse, following the disastrous
defeat suffered by King Louis II at Mohacs in 1526.", Norman Housley, op. cit., p.182.
64"The theology faculty passed this verdict on Luther's writings about the Turkish war in
1521.", in Norman Housley, ibid.
65 Norman Housley, op.cit., pp.178-9.
66 Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, op. cit., IV.
40
according to the circumstances".67 As to Erasmus' view that the Turks are

"half-Christians", although the reason is not clearly stated in the manuscript
itself, the reason for such utterances which are present also in other writers of
the time possibly stemmed from two facts: The first one was the general
assumption that Islam and the religion of Muhammad was in fact a heresy or
a sect of Christianity.68 The second fact was the verses in the Qur'an which
provided Christian theologians with such an assumption. This came from the
Quranic verses, which recognised Jesus Christ, son of Mary, a rightful
prophet of God, but not the son of God.69 While the first assumption
depended on the ill-informed popular beliefs and myths, coupled with a
deliberate distortion of facts; the second was a theological effort to
demonstrate the invalidity of Islam in front of Christianity. Furthermore, for
both assumptions, the continual loss of supremacy by Christian powers,
especially vis-a-vis the Ottoman conquests, was of paramount importance.
Some theological considerations on this fact are expressed as follows by Peter
Antes:
The main obstacle for Christianity to approach Islam

positively, stems from the claim of Islam to be a religion
of Divine inspiration. As a result of this, the issues of
where Islam should be situated in the history of religions
67 Norman Housley, ibid. On the ideas of war against the Turks of Luther, see: Setton K.
M., "Lutheranism and the Turkish Peril", Balkan Studies, Nr. 3,1962.
68 i.e. the aforementioned works: Giovanni Battista Gigli, op. cit., and the Pisan
manuscript mentioned in Kenneth M. Setton, Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies cf
Turkish Doom, American Philosophical Society, 1992, pp.2-3. A much more moderate,
however, in essence a similar approach was adopted in the twentieth century by the
Catholic Church theologians to demonstrate the somewhat second-handedness and lack
of authenticity in Islam, inviting the Muslims to accept the supremacy of Jesus Christ:
"Also the Muslims are called to join this family (a single family under Jesus Christ). After
having studied the words, the work and the person of Jesus Christ, to whom the founder
of Islam gave testimony, they will understand that all the peoples must turn to Him for
salvation." See: G. Fausti, "LTslam nella luce del pensiero cattolico", in La Ciiilta
Cattdim, anno 84, vol. Ill, Roma: 1933, p.167.
69 For more detailed information on this fact see: the Qur'an, surah: Family of Imran.
41
and how the prophet Muhammad should be shown in

Christianity, have been dealt with in the known ways in
the Middle Ages. Even if the image of Islam in the
Reformation Age seems a little better than this, since, as a
result of the wars made with the Turks, it was charged
with other negative considerations, it cannot be said that it
was totally better than the image of Islam in the Middle
Ages. Enlightenment and the newly forming orientalism
have actually brought some corrections. However, for
Christianity the adoption of a new approach in its
relations with Islam, could be possible only after the end
of World War II. This new rapprochement is known
under the name of "inter-religious dialog".70
Antes, further gives an account of the Christian image of Islam and of the
qualities attributed to its prophet as follows:
[ ] by attributing arrogance and fraud to the negative

character of Muhammad, he could then be cast out. In this
way, Muhammad is pictured as a person who does not
recognise his limits, and as a cheater, it is absolutely not
allowed to believe in such a person, therefore to take the
Qur'an seriously and get engaged with it is meaningless,
due to the dubious character of its prophet.
On this matter, one sees that the imagination of people,
especially in Europe is without limits. As some placed
Muhammad as the God of the Muslims, others saw him as
Satan; furthermore, there were even those who developed
theses that Muhammad were a cardinal of the Roman
Church and that upon not being elected to papacy, he got
angry and went to Arabia to found a new and an
70 Peter Antes, conference notes entitled "Hiristiyanlik Baki§i ile Islam", pp.1-2,
Beziehungen, Türkei und Etmpa, Vergangenheit und Gegemmrt. DEUTSCH-TÜRKISCHES
SYMPOSIUM. 4.-6. Dezember 1998. Veranstalter: Institut für Soziologie der Universität
Hannover und Deutsch-Türkische Vereinigung zum Sozial und
Geisteswissenschaftlichen Austausch e.V. (DTA)
42
independent religion. In this way, the image of

Muhammad got totally deviated from what the Muslims
think about their own prophet and from what the Qur'an
says.71
The image that Islam enjoyed in the eye of the Italians changed with
minute differences in the eighteenth century in the writings of Pietro
Businello and Giambattista Toderini. The former was the secretary of the
Venetian ambassador Giovanni Dona in Istanbul, and his essays which he
compiled in 1746 o n the Ottoman Empire entitled: Lettere irfomutke ddk oose
de Turchi riguardo alia reliâne et al gjwmo diile, nilitare, pditim, et ecxmricJ 2,
constitute according to Paolo Preto, one of the milestones of the new image
of the Turk in the eyes of the Venetians.73 Although Businello's Lettere
irfonmtke were quite different from its precedents in the quality and the
accuracy of information that they provided the reader, and as much as it was
possibly free of the traditional prejudices on Islam that the Italians had, still
Businello did not escape the common image that Islam was founded on solely
political objectives, and that it was directed solely towards political ends. He
wrote that this was the reason for its expansion, and that to this end, it was
adapted to matters of state.74 In this way, although Businello recognised the
civilisation of the Turks as a valid one, meriting attention and appreciation,
his views on Islam still had echoes of centuries-old rhetoric that the validity of
Islam as a divine religion was corrupted by its mundane and political nature.
As to Giambattista Toderini, his book in three volumes entitled
Letteratura Twxhesai published in Venice in 1787, remains the most detailed
and in-depth studied work perhaps ever to be written until then by any Italian.
This book was written more than a century after the period of the present
work, that is to say the second siege of Vienna in 1683, and almost a century
after the appearance of Giambattista Dona's book entitled Delia Letteratura de'
71 Peter Antes, op. cit., p.3
72Pietro Businello, Lettere irforrmtivs delle cose de Tunhiriguank)alia vdigaie et al gpnmio diile,
rrilitare, politico, et econonica Scritto dal Sig. Pietro Businello segretario del Senato Veneto, (Padova:
manoscritti, Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova).
73 Paolo Preto, Venezia el Tunhi, (Firenze: G. C Sansoni Editore, 1975), pp.442-450.
74 Businello, op. cit., pp.63-72.
43
Tutxhi. In spite of this, although Toderini's work was extremely well-studied

and researched, it still presented the reader of the time with a view of Islam
that did not recognise the authenticity of Islam as a valid religion, and still
portrayed Mohammed as a clever liar at best. Toderini exposes his views on
Mohammed as he explains the voice hadith, that is, the "oral traditions of the
prophet":
Study on the revelations of Muhammed. Hadis. This voice

sounds the same in our language as oracle pronounced by
the false prophet with prophetic spirit, according to the
Muslims. Therefore, it concentrates the study on these
faculties on the prophecies contained in the Koran.
According to their errors, it happened in two ways: as the
divine ones from the angel Gabriel dictated to the false
prophet, and the others which are purely prophetic, which
regard what Muhammed said out of immediate
inspiration. The first ones are called Hadisi Kudus, sacred
oracles, and the second ones Hadi Surmebed, [sic. corrige:
hadith un-nab awl] prophetic oracles [ ] Muhammed had
a clever mind of a liar, and made use of fraud as a result of
his encumbrance, so was he forming his predictions. Many
times he was faking oracles which were supposed to come
from Gabriel, and since "infinite is the mass of fools",
with such lies he was covering his weakness and
imposture.75
In general, between 1453 and 1683, Islam in the eye of the Italians enjoyed a
partially misunderstood, and a partially manipulated image of a false sect or
that of a religion which belonged to an infidel race, whose existence was a
threat to the very existence of Christendom, if not that of Christianity. Dates
like 1072, the Norman conquest of Palermo marks the beginning, and 1492,
the fall of Granada and the extinction of the Arab presence on the Iberian
peninsula marks the completion of the passage of the banners of Islam from
Arab hands into the Turkish hands in Europe. The fall of Constantinople in
75Giambattista Toderini, Letteratura Ttmhesca, (Venezia: Presso Giacomo Storti, 1787),

pp.16-17.
44
1453 marks the imminence of the threat of Islam towards Christianity in the
hands of the Turks. Mildly favourable views of Islam, and hesitant attempts
at understanding it - although present in the welazkm of the Venetian
ambassadors as an exception - come as a general trend however, only after
the European perception that the Ottoman Empire was no longer a
formidable military threat to Christendom, as the defence of Vienna in 1683,
organised in the form of a crusade by Pope Innocent XI shows.
45
CHAPTER III
Apostolic Dreams of European Unity and the Turks
T he lack of unity and integrity against the Turkish advance

especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, was one of the
main themes of the European milieu. However, for the Holy See
in Rome after this point, the theme Turks, not only presented the opportunity
for a prospective European unity, but it also gave the Pontificate the chance
to bring Christianity once again under the authority of Rome, in an era when
the schismatic Byzantine Empire was long gone and the wars between the
new schismatic reformed Europeans and the Catholics devastated Europe.
The following chapter studies two manuscripts from the first half of the
seventeenth century which will shed light on the general European political
situation as well as on the spirit of the so-called later crusades, defined in the
present dissertation considered as those, planned and/or realised after 1453
against the Ottomans. The two manuscripts taken into consideration are the
first letter of Monsignor Marcello Marchesi to Pope Paul V,1 and the entire
manuscript of Angelo Petricca da Sonnino.2 Before going into the
manuscripts, the present chapter provides the reader with background
information pertaining to the characteristics, context and the common traits
1
Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, Five Treatises on "Hie war against the Turk": 1) Alia
Santità di nostro Signore Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre, 2) A Ila Maestà del Re Catholico
Filippo III. Sacra Catholic% Maestà, 3) Ali 'Illustrìssimo et E ccdlentissimo Sigiare Duca di L erma, 4
Alla Maestà del Re d'Ungheria Mathia II. Sacra Maestà, 5) Del detto quinto trattato proemio,
diiisione, et ordine, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barb. Lat. 5366.)
2
Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Trattato del mxh facile d'espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo dalli
molti Regni che possiede in Europa. Conpesto dal padre Maestro A ngplo Petricca da Sormino Min
Conwv già Vicario Patriarcale di Camtartiinopdi, Chmnissario gjrfle in Oriente, e Prtfetto de
Missionary di Valacchia, et Moldava. Dedicated to Cantimi Antonio Barberina lCfr Magp 1640.,
(Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat. 5151.)
46
Apostolic Dreams of European Unity
of documents of similar nature written by the Catholic Church, or by its

advocates for the purpose of promoting a war against the ever-growing
Ottoman might in the period from the fifteenth to the midst of the
seventeenth centuries.
The era of counter-Reformation for the Catholic Church was an era of
increasing intolerance towards the Protestants as well as the Orthodox. The
separation of a considerable part of Europe from the "Holy Mother Church"
coupled with the Thirty Years War and its political, ideological and material
destruction, obliged Rome to take a number of measures. On the theological
front, The Council of Trent resulted in a further mutual alienation of the
Catholic and the Protestant worlds. In a way, these measures destroyed the
ecumenical structure of the medieval church - at least in theory - if not in
practice. "[ ] Protestantism and Catholicism were in solution in medieval
thought. What so dramatically happened during the age of Reformation is
that they crystallised into two distinct and opposed systems " 3
On the political as well as the ideological level, the counterreformation
era for the Catholic Church shifted the importance of the crusades from a
solely religious rhetoric, to the political level. By the beginning of the
seventeenth century, the Turks were for Rome the only target of a fully
legitimate possible crusade, which would have enabled Rome to bring once
again pax dmstiam to Europe under apostolic auspices, regaining the
authority that it had enjoyed between the aftermath of the conquest of
Constantinople and before the Reformation. From this point of view, there
was no novelty in the policy of the Holy See towards the Turks and the
"heretic" Greeks, as it could not always decide which one was worse. On the
other hand, for Venice, it was a matter of trade. The Ottomans were to be
gotten along as diplomatically as possible. In fact, one sees this divergence of
policy between Rome and Venice in the counterreformation era clearly:
And it was in Venice that the conflict of the papacy with

the Catholic states received its most spectacular
expression. The Republic of Venice was an Italian
Catholic state which fiercely guarded its practical
independence of the papacy. It existed to trade: it had
3 Eugene F. Rice Jr. and Anthony Graton, The Foundations cf Early Modern Europe. 1460-
1559., (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994), p.173.
47
protestant mercantile communities within its territory, it

needed to maintain good relations with the Turks. Fierce
Counter-Reformation papal policies, calling for Crusade
against the Turks and persecution of Protestants, could
not be adopted as Venetian policy. Venice was devout and
orthodox, but it policed its own orthodoxy.4
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, in April 1606, as a result

of Venice's passing laws concerning the prohibition of construction of new
churches, and prohibiting leaving legacies to the clergy and putting two
priests on trial, Pope Paul V placed the city of Venice under interdiction,
banning the performance of sacraments, baptisms, services and so on, which
lasted for a year, and was lifted since the interdiction did not result in any
concessions.5
The Fifteenth Century Crusader Idea
It can be asserted that in the fifteenth century, when the Turks started
to leave their definite mark on the European scene, the exhortations to go to
war against the Turks, still had somewhat a medieval connotation of a
crusade.6 They were primarily motivated by religious reasons, namely to
liberate the Christian lands from the infidel Turks, where still the giving of
indulgences in exchange for fighting against the Turks and exemption from
certain taxes had been the practise.7 Although compared to exhortations of
4
Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners. A History cf the Popes., (Connecticut: Yale University
Press: 1997), p.178.
5
Duffy, op. cit. p.179.
6
On the comparative study on the ideas of "holy war" in Islam and Christianity see
Albrecht Noth, Müslürmnhk w Hiristiyarfokta Kutsal Saza§ ie Miiatdde (Heiliger Krieg und
Heiliger Kampf in Islam und Christentum), trans. Ihsan £atay, (Istanbul: Ozne Yayinlari,
1999.)
7
This had been the case in 1463, in a papal plan of a crusade against the Ottomans
following the Ottoman invasion of Bosnia in the same year and the death of the pacifist
dope Pas quale Malipiero a year before in 1462. Bessarion had come to Venice to mobilise
the Venetians against the Ottomans and after a discourse at the Senate on the 23rd July,
48
war of the following centuries, the fifteenth century rhetoric sounded the
same, its implementation in the hands of the Pontificate was not a means of
unifying the further divided Europe as a result of the Reformation, under the
auspices of the Pontificate. The fifteenth century representatives of the
Catholic Church were also complaining about disunity among the Christian
princes, however, they did not see the desired crusade against the Turk as the
"means" to political unification of Europe, rather as a means to the end of
liberating Christian Europe from the infidels. Since talking about a politically
united Europe in the midst of the fifteenth century was still a dream too far
away, where most of the European countries still preserved their feudal
nature, and Italy was perhaps the prime example. The rhetoric of the crusade
was to give way to the idea of the lega ocntro il Twm [league or alliance against
the Turk] towards the end of the sixteenth century, whose most successful
incarnations were the battle of Lepanto (Greek original: Navpaktos) in 1571
and the liberation of Vienna in 1683. The political connotation of the lega still
needed the further political fragmentation of Europe brought by the
Reformation, and the Holy See losing its authority over almost half of
Europe.
One of the most prominent figures of the late fifteenth century that
propagated the idea of the crusade was Cardinal Bessarion. (b. 1399-1408 ? -
d.18 Nov.1472).8 According to Gaetano Platania, he had dedicated his whole
life to two issues: "to organise a crusade to the end of saving Constantinople
from the Turkish conquest; to defend as much as possible, the treasures of
the Greek culture which fell into the hands of the infidels".9 Although
promising Venice 1/ 10th of the clergy's income, apart from a few other concessions, he
convinced Venice to attack the Ottomans in the Morea. Although the Turks were drawn
out of the peninsula on September 1, on the 20th of October they re-conquered the
Morea. See Marino Zorzi, "Cenni sulk vita e sulla figura di Bessarione" in Bessarime e
I'Urmnesimo, ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori, (Napoli: Vivarium, 1994), pp.5-6.
8 See the last chapter on Bessarion. One of the arguments that was used against the
election of Bessarion as Pope in 1455 (he lost the election with eight votes against fifteen
from the cardinals) was the fact that he still had a beard, even if he had converted to
Catholicism, and insisted on wearing his Greek habit, which raised doubts on the
sincerity of his conversion. See Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Lewnt (1204-1571).
Vd.II., (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1978), p.162, as well as
Marino Zorzi, op. cit., p.2.
49
Bessarion's first ideal never came true, he collected and bought a great
amount of Greek manuscripts which ended up in the Biblioteca Marciana of
Venice, making a great contribution to humanist studies and the revival of
the learning of Greek in Renaissance Italy.10
Perhaps Bessarion's most important work was his letter in the nature of
an invitation to war against the Turks, which he wrote to another clergyman
bearing the same name, Bessarion the monk, on the occasion of the conquest
of Negroponte (Eubea) by the Turks in 1470.11 He was proposing in his
letter a strategy which became a model, that was to be proposed in the
following two centuries by the propagators of war against the Turks until
1683: "Let us not wait that the Turk attacks Italy. Believe me that he looks
and aspires to this, and is mobilising and working to this end, with all [his]
forces and industry. I will say it, and I will say it explicitly 'O god, what a
grief', he will fulfil his dream"12 This strategy consisted of the necessity of
attacking the Ottomans with an all-Christian, at least with an all-Italian
alliance, without waiting for their attack first. The justification for such a
strategy was the supposition that every time the Ottomans attacked first, they
won. In other words, the proposal was to convert the military confrontation
with the Turks from a defensive into an offensive war. However, Bessarion
himself is conscious of the fact that the disunity among the Italian rulers is
9 Platania, Gaetano, "L'Europa orientale e l'unione delle chiese" in Bessarione e

l'Urmnesimo, ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori, (Napoli: Vivarium, 1994), p.249.
10 According to an inventory in 1473, his books numbered 1024 in the Venetian library.
Marino Zorzi, op. cit. p.8.
11 Hie copy of his letter to the monk Bessarion that the present author studied is
included in the book of Scipione Ammirato, Oraziani dd Sigiar Scipione Amnirato a diversi
prìncipi intorno ai preparimenti doe s airebbono a farsi contra la potenza dd Turca A ggzimtiom nel fine
le lettere & orazioni di Monsignor Bessarione Cardinal Nkeno scritte a Principi d'Italia, (Fiorenza:
Per Filippo Giunti, 1598.) (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Ferraioli. IV. 1794). It must
be presumed that there are various copies of the letters that he wrote to Bessarion the
monk and the orations dedicated to the rulers of Italy to promote a crusade against the
Turks. They were written originally either in Latin or in Greek, since there are minor
variations in the Italian text, which might indicate a translation into Italian from another
language.
12 Scipione Ammirato, op. cit., p.3.
50
what prevents them from making a decisive attack "Some say 'what do we
have to do with the Greeks or the Bulgarians or with the Dalmatians, nor
with the Hungarians. Let them go to hell, what is it to us? We are fine and let
the others lose [ ] It is the job of the Venetians. It serves them right. It
would be better, if they were afflicted by more harms'"13
A characteristic that will be encountered also in the following
propagators of the crusade against the Turks in the following centuries,
almost as a pattern, is the inconsistency of the authors of the bellicose
orations. Namely, they firstly praise and almost underestimate the military
capacities of the Ottomans to frighten the rulers by the imminence of the
Ottoman threat. This is immediately followed by an underestimation of their
military capacities when it comes to invite the rulers to take arms against the
Ottomans.
Certainly great and without comparison is his power. His

[the Turk's] appetite cannot be satiated, infinite is his
greed for domination, and together with the science of
war , he finds himself in the blossom of his age, having a
trained body, strengthened in the hardships of war.14 [ ]
Do you think that he has made such great expenses and
put the soldiers in so many dangers, and in so many
contrasting seasons put himself in most important
undertakings, to dominate the small state of the
Bulgarians, or the arid mountains of the Serbs, or the
poverty of the Dalmatians? For the riches of Italy, I say,
for the fertility of the country, for the sweetness of the
fruits and for this light itself, in which he desires to live.15
In the following pages Bessarion contradicts himself almost totally, giving a

totally different picture of the state of the Ottomans:
13 Scipione Ammirato, op. cit., pp.4-5.
51
What are we waiting for unarmed? The fury of the Turks?

Weapons can be beaten with weapons.16 [....] We are
absolutely certain that the Turk has ordinarily only sixty
thousand soldiers17, who take their wages always from the
treasury of the lord. However, lend me your ears
gracefully, with a little bit of optimism. Of these sixty
thousand men, at most fifteen to twenty thousand receive
money every month, which stay in guard of their emperor
personally. All the others, which are called sipabi [spadti]
are supported by [their] lands and estates in the time of
war, which is given to them by the sultan \Tutvo\ in the
provinces. They are called Urmr [tirmn] , which are so few
and distributed to them scarcely, that for the whole year,
they have so much to suffice only for four months.18
Following this argument, Bessarion proposes that a sustained war against the
Ottomans will exhaust the finances and the resources of the sultan and he
will be defeated. 19 Giacomo E. Carretto, referring to the inaccuracy of
Bessarion, says that it is useless to refer to all the inaccuracies of the facts
mentioned by Bessarion, however he admits a large presence of irregulars and
the fact that the cavalry was waged on basis of their estates. 20 Referring to
the military confrontation between the West and the Ottomans, Carretto
says: "The westerners could not manage to solve the problem posed by the
17The numbers given of soldiers as well as any supposedly precise information about the
Ottoman state in these writings are not to be taken literally, and not always seriously, but
rather as either wishful thinking or as misinformation. As most of the time, there is
evidence to the contrary resulting from the Ottoman archives.
20Giacomo Carretto, E., "Bessarione e il Turco", in Bessanone e l'Ummesimo, ed.

Gianfranco Fiaccadori, (Napoli: Vivarium, 1994), p.268.
52
Ottoman armies, until when the internal evolution in the Islamic empire
[Ottoman Empire], and the new technologies will have changed things." 21
Platania says that even the unification of the Catholic and the Byzantine
churches that was achieved as a result of the council of Ferrara-Florence in
1439, where on 13-14 April Bessarion read the Oratio dogmtica pro Urkme;1
and which was signed on 6 July, was seen by Bessarion as a fact which would
have facilitated the interest of the Italians in the fate of Constantinople and
save it from an imminent attack of the Turks.23 As to the political
components of Bessarion's idea of the crusade,
there is no doubt that the figure of the Nicaean

[Bessarion] is connected to the idea of crusade intended in a
clear and definite sense, looking towards the past, the
Middle Ages, when the idea was strictly connected to the
regeneration of Christian Europe, therefore it not only
had a political, social and economic importance "but also
an intellectual and a spiritual one, which was already
expressing itself in a reinvigoration of thought and of
culture, in a new first artistic blossoming, in the renovated
21 ibid. In the crusade which was arranged by Pope Sixtus IV in 1472 as the first action
that he undertook after becoming the pope a year before, Bessarion was sent to France
as the legate to convince the king of an anti-Turkish crusade. Hie whole campaign was a
fiasco and it "achieved little beyond the bringing back to Rome of twenty-five Turkish
prisoners, who were paraded in triumph through the streets of the city." See voice in The
Catholic Encyclopedia, voice "Pope Sixtus IV", www.newadvent.org/ cathen/ 14032b.htm.
22 Marino Zorzi, op. cit., p.2.

23 Gaetano Platania, "L'Europa orientale e l'unione delle chiese" in Bessarione e
I'Unnnesimo, ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori, Vivarium, Napoli: 1994, p.249. The union of the
Catholic and the Orthodox churches was a brief event. Already when Bessarion returned
to Constantinople after the council of Florence, the Orthodox Church and the people
were not happy about the event. The union was officially reversed in the council of
Trebisond during the patriarchate of Symeon in 1484. See Charles A Frazee, Catholics
and Sultans. The Church and the Ottoman Empire. 1453-1923, (Bristol: Cambridge University
Press: 1983), p.23. The union was not only against the Greek clergy's wish, but it was
also part of the Ottoman policy to favour the Greek Orthodox Church (which officially
still kept its ecumenical character) against the Catholic one.
53
independence that the papacy had by now reached, and

come out victor in the fight against the empire, tended to
replace it as the directing force and therefore to put itself
at the head of Europe"24
It is within this political, cultural and spiritual milieu that the Ottomans
made their first appearance on the Italian mainland, in their incursions in
Friuli, in the last three decades of the fifteenth century. There does not seem
to be an exact year when these incursions were made. Rather, it seems there
were a number of Ottoman incursions into Friuli, the most important of
which was realised by Iskender Beg {Scunder Basso?1), who is identified with
the beg of Bosnia.26 It seems that already by 2 December 1468, there were the
rumours about an imminent Ottoman attack in Friuli.27 On the August 12,
1470, the Dqg? Moro ordered that graves were to be dug up around the city of
Udine. There were seven Ottoman incursions made in Friuli in the fifteenth
century, the first of which was on 21 September 1470, where an army of eight
thousand at the command of Asabeco or Marbeoo (Isa Beg?) attacked the Carso
region near modern Trieste, passing through Monfalcone, Duino and
24
G. Soranzo, L'aspetto rdigeso ei rapportifra Oriente e Occidente nd Medicelo, in Nuove questioni
di Storia Medkeade, (Milano: 1974), p. 678 in G. Platania, op. cit., p.254.
25
Giovan Maria Angioletti, the author of Histcna Tunhesca mentions the name of the
commander of the Ottoman army as Scander Bassa. According to Angolelli, Scander Bassa
of Bosnia was sent to make the incursions upon the order of the sultan. See I. Ursu, ed.,
Donado da Lezze. Historia Tunhesca. (1300-1514), (Bucure§ti: Instit. De Arte Grafice "Carol
Goebl" S-r Ion St. Rasidescu,1909), pp. 100,232.
26
Aldo Gallotta, "I Turchi e la terra d'Otranto" in Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, ed,
Otranto 1480. Atti dd comedo internazionale di studio promesso in occasione dd V. centenario ddla
caduta di Otranto ad opera dà Turchi (Otranto, 19-23 mtggo 1980), Volume 1&2, (Lecce:
Galatina Congedo Editore, 1986), p.184.
27
Francesco Di Manzano, Annali dd Friuli, Vol. VI, (Udine: Tip. Di Giuseppe Seitz
Editrice, 1868), p. 367. See also Pio Paschini, Storia dd Friuli. Dalla seconda metà del duecento
alb fine dd settecento, Volume II., (Udine: Libreria Editrice, 1954.) There is sufficient
reason to give credit to Di Manzano about the dates, since he made use of local histories
about the Turkish invasion.
54
Prosecco, however, not attempting to take the castle (referring probably the
castle of Duino28, until recently owned by the Prince Torre e Tasso (Thurn
und Taxis). Another incursion is mentioned on 24 September, 1472 towards
the Monfalcone and Gorizia area. Two others are mentioned by Di Manzano
in 147729, to be followed by the more famous 1478 incursion at the command
of Scanderio (Iskender Beg or Iskender Pa§a), where fifteen thousand soldiers
plundered the region until the river Isonzo on the 5th of April, but seeing the
more numerous Venetian army, returned to Bosnia.30
On 23 April 1479, Venice signed peace with the Ottoman Empire,
putting an end to the major clashes between these two major Mediterranean
powers in the second half of the fifteenth century, after the war in Morea in
1463 and Negroponte in 1470. In the peace treaty signed in Istanbul, Venice
agreed to pay 10.000 dimd as well as the handing over of Scutari, Croia,
Negroponte, Lemnos and Maina to the Ottomans.31
These first military encounters in the heartland of Italy had various
results. It provided an additional terror in the eye of the people as well as the
rulers of the Turkish image. The enemy which was confronted until now in
the periphery of the Venetian colonies, was confronted for the first time at
home. This showed the imminence as well as the gravity of the "Turkish
question". There were mobilisations due to strong fear in Friuli in the years
1501, 1570, 1593 and as late as 1657.32 It can be asserted that the last decades
of the fifteenth century, especially after the Friuli incursions, were decisive in
the policy of Venice towards the Ottoman Empire. Venice from then on
pursued a policy of peaceful co-existence with the Ottomans, rather than
being lured by the invitations of the Popes to conduct crusades against the
28 Francesco Di Manzano, op. cit., p.368.
29 Hie 1477 incursion is mentioned also by Uzunârjili. According to him, the

commander was the sarmkbeyi of Bosnia, Turahanzäde Omer Bey. Ismail Hakki
Uzungaiîli, Qsrmrii Tarihi, vol: 2 (Ankara: Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yiiksek
Kurumu, Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayinlan, 1999), pp.121-122.
30 Francesco Di Manzano, op. cit. pp. 368-369.
31 Marino Zorzi, op. cit., p.8.
32 Francesco Di Manzano, op. cit., p.373.
55
Turks. It must be made clear that, although Venice tried to evade at any cost
to enter into direct military conflict with the Ottomans as a general rule, as
the Turco-Venetian war of 1499-1502, which ended with the 1502 peace
treaty shows, the decisive consideration for Venice to go to war against the
Ottomans was usually a calculation of whether war or peace would have
given itself more profit. In fact, as the great anti-Turkish alliances of 1571
Lepanto and 1683 Vienna demonstrate, Venice was not opposed to war
against the Turks, but rather against the idea of war per se as a means of
solving problems. This certainly was not the philosophy of the Papacy,
however.
An important first-hand source that reflects the pathos of the time,
provoked by the Ottoman incursions into Friuli comes from a certain Friar
Antonio of Padova, from the Online de$i emritam (Hermits of St.
Augustine).33 There is nothing known on the figure of Antonio of Padua.
This little-known document was taken from the Biblioteca Universitaria di
Padova. Although the manuscript refers to the events of the 24 September
1472 incursion, it is dated 1473, since it is in a compilation edited by a certain
monk called Don Basilio di Montona.34 The translation of the manuscript
from Latin is as follows:
An Account of the Ottoman Incursion in Friuli

The prose text by Percichi
It was about mid-autumn, on a day when the first darkness was already
spreading against any expectation of the inhabitants of the region, a very big
enemy army appeared on the other side of the Isonzo river. Many of the
Turkish forerunners had already succeeded in finding a ford and had already
33 The manuscript is in Antonio Medin, "Un Carme Latino contro i Turchi. Dopo la
prima incursione nel Friuli. (1472)", in Nuaw Ardoiiio Veneta Pubblicazione periodica delb
R. Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria, tomo V, (Venezia: Fratelli Visentini, 1893.) The title
of the article presumes the text to pertain to the first incursion of the Turks in Friuli.
However, as seen above, there was an incursion two years before the 1472-73 incursion.
34 Antonio Medin, op. cit., p.458.
56
reached the other side of this river which is easy to cross, when the Venetian
cavalry rushed from their positions which were nearby, compelled the
enemies to go back to the other side and also succeeded in killing many of
them. Even if the Venetian cavalry which was quite strong in this province,
facing this first Turkish attack had displayed every effort in repelling from
their fields all the trespassers to the other side of the river, and had compelled
them to retreat to their camp and compelled them to move about a mile, this
not withstanding, the [Venetian] cavalry remained for sometime uncertain in
front of so huge an enemy cavalry and they could not decide whether it was
more opportune to watch it until the next morning or to withdraw to a more
secure place. However, the anxious Venetians, more afraid than courageous,
after an almost completely sleepless night in the doubt of deciding what they
should do, of the opinion that there was no sense in resisting the numerous
enemy, abandoned the side of the river that few hours before they had
attacked and occupied with virile courage, they withdrew on an island called
Cervia35, not very far from Aquileia, which is surrounded by the rivers
Anfora, Rovendola and Alsa. All the surrounding territory was in terrible fear
as soon as they heard the news of the arrival of the Turks, both the day
before that same night and in the following day. Even more terrified were the
people living in the surroundings. Therefore, a huge migration of peasants
with all their possessions, a great number of peasants from the villages and
the surrounding suburbs of towns fled towards places with better munitions,
taking with them their possessions in order to secure them.
In the morning the Turks moved their camp keeping the same under
their banners as if they were in front of the enemy, went back on the other
side of the river, once they were repelled by the missions. And as they saw
that on the other side there was nobody to oppose them, audaciously crossed
the river and seen that the surrounding fields were deserted, they dispersed
here and there and destroyed everything. The people, when they saw from
afar smoke coming from the burning villages, were taken by a big fear, as
they understood how close the enemy was. Even more terrible fear took the
inhabitants fleeing with their little families, with their animals and
possessions. And the ferocious and terrible enemy took as prey the people
who could not flee in time, destroyed everything with fire or sword and
plundered without mercy this fertile region with all their hatred. The enemy,
35 The modem Cervignano in the present region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.
57
however, did not know where the Venetian cavalry had withdrawn,
wondering whether they had fled somewhere else in fear, or whether they had
come back somewhere in the surroundings in order to stop the advancing
Turks better. Therefore, the enemy did not dare to proceed further. Indeed, if
by coincidence they knew that the Venetians had taken refuge on the mouths
of the rivers along the sea, having dismissed any unjustified fear, they would
have invaded all in a wide and long rush not only for two days, but would
have spread [the incursion] in plundering this region so full of inhabitants. It
[the enemy] reached almost the third milestone from Udine, but in the
evening of the same day it went back to its camp full of preys, from where
they had come out in the morning. As far as I know, only Marcus Antonius
Sabellicus36 described this first Turkish incursion to Gvidale in Foroiulium37.
For as he says, he was in Udine at that time. He accounts that the town-
dwellers, when the news came that the enemies had arrived plundering as far
as the third milestone near the town, [the dwellers] were taken by such a fear
and consternation - especially when they saw the coming of a crowd of
terrified peasants - that they thought the enemies would soon attack the
town; the men ran with their weapons, they closed the city-gates and they
gathered in the city-square and in the castle, waiting for the final destruction
of their town. And the shy females went to the churches with their children
and embraced the altars so tightly so that nobody would be able to move
them but dead. And a town that in other occasions was so powerful over
people, was so down-hearted that if the Turk had moved forward his
banners, he would have kept her [the town] with no difficulty because of a so
wide-spread terror. However, the enemy was already full of preys [plunder]
and as the day was already giving place to the night, did not deem to go on
36The latinized version of the famous Venetian historian Sabellico, whose real name was
Marco Antonio Coccio. Sabellico was a Venetian historiographer, who dedicated a few
pages to the "origin of the Turks" in his Entmdes, which was the first example of an
official historiography, although it was extremely Veneto-centric in its approach which
neglected the role of the other Italian and European peoples in the political life of the
time. See Paolo Preto, Venezia el Turchi, (Firenze: G. C Sansoni Editore, 1975), pp.18-
19.
37Foroiulium is the name given by the Romans to the Friuli region, named after Iulius
Caesar (from the words Forum and Iidius in nominative), from where the modern word
"Friuli" ( Friul , in the language of the region, called jwián) comes.
58
plundering and also because they did not know where and in what condition
the Venetians were. He [the enemy] rather preferred to leave with all his huge
plunder and go back in security to where he had come from. And this has
been the first eruption [incursion] of the Turks in Friuli around the year 1473
A.D.38
The text of Antonio from Padua is an astonishing account of an eye-

witness to the Ottoman incursions of the Italian mainland and takes the
reader to the spirit of the time, describing the pathos of the contemporaries
vis-a-vis the imminence of an Ottoman conquest of Italy, reducing the
church of St. Peter into the condition that St. Sophia had suffered a few
decades earlier. The purpose of Antonio of Padua's lament was political. Its
aim was to mobilise the sovereigns against the infidels. Otherwise the danger
was the loss of whole of Italy, which was seen worse than the invasions of
the Goths, of Hannibal or that of the Gauls.39 The fear that the Turks might
take up an invasion of Italy through Monfalcone and the Northeast was still
present in Lazzaro Soranzo more than a century after the Friuli incursions.
Soranzo says that, in fact, one of the most probable ways, from which the
Turks could come to invade Italy is through a departure from Belgrade,
passing through the rivers Drava and Sava and entering into Gorizia from the
direction of Ljubliana. According to Soranzo, this vulnerable position of the
North East area was the reason why the Goth king Theoderic fortified the
Monfalcone area, after becoming the sovereign of Italy.40
Although the church of St. Peter did not suffer the same fate of St.
Sophia in the new Islamic capital Istanbul, the Ottomans conquered the city
of Otranto in 1480, thanks to the peace signed with the Venetians a year
38 Antonio Medin, op. cit., pp.459-462. The present author would like thank Prof.
Alberto Mioni from the Department of Linguistics of the University of Padua for the
translation of the above text from Latin.
39 ibid, p.462.
40Lazaro Soranzo, L 'Qhommno, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale, 1598),

pp.91-92.
59
before and the tacit agreement that Venice was not to intervene in such an
undertaking. The conquest of Otranto - although it remained under the
Ottomans only for one year - to the contemporaries, was one of the events
that were most shocking, which only confirmed the intentions of the Turks
to conquer Italy and eventually Rome. There are various speculations
concerning the real aims of Sultan Mehmed II, and whether he seriously
considered the conquest of the Italian peninsula.41 Be it this way or the other,
Otranto fell to the Ottoman army under the command of Gedik Ahmed
Pa§a on 11th August 1480.42 The great planner of crusades against the Turks,
Pope Sixtus IV, whose crusade plans in 1471 failed in mobilising Christianity,
called for another mobilisation upon the fall of Otranto in 1480 43 , and at the
same time, made preparations to flee to Avignon if things went wrong.44
Histories recorded enormous massacres of the inhabitants, which certainly
were engraved in the collective memory of the people. The most important
of these massacres is the one that took place on Monte Mineria after the fall of
Otranto, which ended in the massacre of eight hundred people.45 A year after,
41It is the renowned legend of the "red apple" representing Rome that was published by
Ettore Rossi on the aforementioned speculations and the supposed yearning of the
Ottomans for Rome. See Ettore Rossi, "La leggenda turco-bizantina del Pomo Rosso",
in Studii Bizantini e Neoellenid, vol.V, (1937.)
42 There is an excellent compilation of the conference notes on the 500th anniversary of

the fall of Otranto, which treats in every aspect the political and cultural meaning of the
fall of Otranto. See Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, ed, Otranto 1480. Atti, del convello
internazionale di studio promosso in occasione dd V. centenario ddla otduta di Otranto ad opera dei
Turchi (Otranto, 19-23 rm&p 1980), Volume 1&2, (Lecce: Galatina Congedo Editore,
1986.)
43 Venice wrote to its ambassador in Rome to be extremely careful not to give any signs
that would disturb the existing peace with the Ottomans. Edoardo Piva, "L'Opposizione
diplomatica di Venezia alle mire di Sisto IV su Pesaro e ai tentativi di una crociata contro
i Turchi. 1480-1481." in NmiaArdmio Veneto, (1903), p. 81-82.
44Charles A. Frazee, Catholics and Sultans. The Ghurch and the Ottoman Empire. 1453-1923,
(Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p.17.
45Donato Moro, "Fonti salentine sugli avvenimenti otrantini del 1480/81" in Otranto
1480. Attidd contegno internazionale di studio promesso in occasione del V. osntenario ddla caduta di
60
on 10th September 1481, the city was recaptured. Again most of the
contemporary historians agree on the fact that it was Mehmed II's death and
not the gallantly or the efficiency of the soldiers of Kingdom of Naples that
saved Otranto from the Turks.46 Whatever the reason of Otranto's recapture
was, it remained engraved in the collective memory of the rulers and of the
intellectuals of the time, and was later on transformed by the Renaissance
culture into archetypes of the civilised world as opposed to barbarians: the
civilised world as represented by Athens and Greece - the barbarians as
represented by the Persians, transformed now into Italy as opposed to the
barbarian Turks.47
Another fact that marked the closing of the fifteenth century, was the
political games that were cleverly played by the Italians upon Gem Sultan. He
was the brother of the new sultan Bayezid II and Mehmed II's son, and had
claims on the Ottoman throne, and had taken refuge with the Knights of
Rhodes and then was transferred to Nice by the Knights. He consequently
ended up in Rome, as a tool of bargain and income to the Pontiff, against
Bayezid II. Cem's unfortunate death at the hands of the French King Charles
VIII who had occupied Italy for a brief period, and the subsequent shipping
Otranto ad opera dei Turchi (Otranto, 19-23 rmggo 1980), v. 2, Cosimo Damiano Fonseca,
ed, (Lecce: Galatina Congedo Editore, 1986.)
46See Ismail Hakki Uzunfarjili, Osmanli Tarihi, voi. 2, (Ankara: Atatiirk Kultiir, Dil ve
Tarih Yiiksek Kurumu, Turk Tarili Kurumu Yayinlari,1999), p. 137 and Charles A.
Frazee, Catholics and Sultans. The Church and the Ottoman Empire. 1453-1923, (Bristol:
Cambridge University Press: 1983), p. 18.
47Francesco Tateo, "L'Ideologia umanistica e il simbolo 'immane' di Otranto" in Otranto
1480. Atti del amwjipo intemazionale di studio promosso in occasione dd V. centenario della caduta di
Otranto ad opera dei Turchi (Otranto, 19-23 rmggo 1980), Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, ed,
Volume 2, (Lecce: Galatina Congedo Editore, 1986.) The same function of the antiquity
as a legitimising factor, which so often served to apply the past into the present events to
give examples, which was a characteristic of the Renaissance civilisation, was used also
by Bessarion in his aforementioned work He is speaking from the mouth of the
Athenian orator Demosthenes (fourth century B.C), placing the Turks in the position of
Philip II of Macedonia, the Italians in the position of the Athenians, and himself as
Demosthenes. See Persuasione del Rewrendissirm Bessarione, Cardinale Niaeno, a$i Illustrissimi et
Inditi Principi d'Italia. Dalla autorità di Demostene in Scipione Ammirato, op. cit., 1598.
61
of his body to Bayezid are the events that marked the end of the fifteenth
century in the Turco-Italian relations.
From the First Siege of Vienna to the Aftermath of

Lepanto
The events that took place between the first and the second siege of
Vienna by the Ottomans, and the political-military milieu that existed in this
period was fundamental in the formation of the "image of the Turk" in Italy.
From 1529 to 1683, between the former and latter events, the Ottoman
Empire went from its apex to the beginning of its stagnation. While the
Ottomans were seen as the utmost military fear in mid-sixteenth century,
with the end of the battle of Lepanto (1571), the possibility of beating this
mythical beast was proved. However, it cannot be said that the battle of
Lepanto, which was caused as a result of the coalition of the Papacy, Venice,
Spain and Genoa under the command of Don John of Austria, achieved
much of a militaiy success. The Ottoman fleet was again in the
Mediterranean in the following year with 250 ships.
Here are examples from the picture that was depicted immediately after
the first siege of Vienna by the Papal nuncio to Vienna in 1529.48 Then two
examples from the end of the sixteenth century, Lazzaro Soranzo49 and
Scipione Ammirato50 are drawn as examples of exhortations to war against
the Turks, as representative of the ideals of the Holy See. Then the
translations of the two unpublished, less-known, however extremely
important manuscripts are introduced. Namely, those of Monsignor Marcello
Marchesi51 and Angelo Petricca da Sonnino52, which present one with
48 Arcivescovo di Rosano, Littera ddRewrmtissirm Arduescavo di Rosano, nando di Nastro S.
Papa Clerrmte VII, appresso al Serenss. Ferdinando Re de Ungzria e Bosnia. Sopra il sucasso ddla
cbsidiaie e cppu^wtum di Viemu dal Gran Turm, (Ex Moravia, XVI Novemb. 1529.) (Gtta
del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Miscellanea.)
49 Lazaro Soranzo, op. cit.
50 Scipione Ammirato, op. cit.
62
excellent examples on the role that the "Turk" played in European politics of
the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries.
Details of the reasons and the political and military details about
Suleyman the Magnificent's siege of Vienna and his alliance with the French
king François I, who was the rival of the Empire in the delicate balance of
power of the sixteenth century Europe will not be furnished here. Rather, our
concern is to focus, how this event was used and seen once again by the
Papacy as an opportunity to gain political power in Europe. It must not be
forgotten that this is an era right after the Protestant Reformation, which was
a period of shock and uncertainty for the Holy See as how to recuperate the
authority that slipped out of its hands. It was Luther who had proposed not
to wage war against the Turks, since they were a tool of God to punish
Christians for the sins that they had committed. Therefore, opposing them
would have meant, opposing the Divine will. What made him change his
mind to invite the German nobility to age war against the Turks, was the
siege of Vienna by the Ottoman army.
The Pontifical nuncio wrote to Clement VII (1523-34), describing the
withdrawal of the Ottoman army as a "great and unexpected victory".53 He
describes the Ottomans saying that, from the time of Xerxes54no such great
and trained army had been seen. He says that the number and the munitions
of the Christians were not sufficient to fight even one quarter of the enemy.
I t says, it is thanks to the high waters of the Danube, that the Ottomans
century): l ) Alla Santità dinœtro S ignare Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre, 2) Alla Maestà del
Re Catholico Filippo III. Sacra Cathdim Maestà, 3) A II 'Illustrissimo et E codlentissirm Sigiare Duca
di Lenrn, 4) A Ila Maestà del Re d'Urqferia Mathia II. Sacra Maestà, 5) Del detto quinto trattato
premio, dkisione, et ordine, (Qua del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat.
5366.)
52Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Trattato del modo facile d'espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo dalli
molti Regni che possiede in Europa. Conposto dal padre Maestro A rigelo Petrkm da Sennino Min
Comm- già Vicario Patriarcale di Constantincpdi Commissario gn~le in Oriente, e Prefetto de
Missionari] di Valacchia, etMddava. Dedicated to Cardinal A ntamo Barberina 10^ Maggio 1640.,
(Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. lat. 5151.)
53 Arcivescovo di Rosano, op. cit., p.49 V.

54Xerxes was the Persian king of the Achaemenid empire from 486-465 BC. Once again
one encounters a comparison of the Turks with the Persians.
63
arrived one month later. Otherwise, they would have had much less
munitions.55 After recounting how the Christian army forced the Ottomans
to retreat, he comes to the main purpose of the letter: that of promoting a
Christian league against the Ottomans.
I know that Your Holiness knows, [and] is most vigilant

and inclined towards this particular plan. As [Your
Holiness] usually says, the real way to defend the faith of
Christ is to launch an offensive on this infidel tyrant, with
a most potent army through Hungary, and another one
from the sea. For which there will not be shortage of
men, money, ships and allies, if there be the sacred union
inspired by the Holy Spirit. [ ] And I have hope in God
that all the Christian peoples will take example from these
subjects to the King56 [Seremssimo Re], that is the
Bohemians, the Moravians and the Austrians.57
The battle of Lepanto will not be discussed in detail, since it is this

battle that caused much controversy among historians as to its consequences
for the Ottoman empire as well as for Europe. However, there is no doubt
that it was this battle which showed the Europeans that the Ottoman could
be beaten by a league of Christians, and gave them the short-lived hope and
illusion that the Ottomans could be defeated by a final decisive war. It was
the Venetian ambassador to Rome, Paolo Paruta, who opposed Clement VIII
(1592-1605) in 1594 who wanted to wage war against the Ottomans, taking
advantage of the supposed weakness of the new sultan Murad III compared
to his ancestors and the weakening effects of the long Turco-Persian war
(1578-1590). It was Paruta's vision seen from the Venetian perspective that,
precisely because the Ottomans had come out of the Turco-Persian war
55 ibid.
56The allusion is to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman emperor (1558-64) and king of Hungary
and Bohemia (1526-64).
57 Arcivescovo di Rosano, op. cit., p.52V.
64
victorious, the counterbalancing effect of Persia was gone, and the best policy
would be a wait-and-see one, instead of a new crusade which would be
detrimental to the interest of the Italians.58
Around the same years another book appeared full of bellicose
exhortations, first presented to Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) and subsequently to
Clement VIII by a prominent figure from Rome, Scipione Ammirato.59 He
proposed to Sixtus V the creation of a sacred militia of ten thousand people,
composed of soldiers trained from childhood in hardships and the art of war.
He proposed to take children between ten and twelve years and train them to
create a permanent professional army.60 This plan was almost copied after the
Ottoman model of the deqirrm.61 Whether he actually took the deqirrm system
as a model, one does not know. Among the other rulers that he wrote a letter
to invite them to fight the Turks were the king of Naples and the king of
Spain.62
A person whom Ammirato considered in high esteem was the Duke of
Ferrara due to his efforts to combat the Turk 63 It is at the auspices of the
aforementioned Duke of Ferrara that Lazzaro Soranzo wrote his OthomtrmoA
in the same year that Ammirato presented his oration to Clement VIII, an
extremely interesting book of exhortation to war against the Turks, backed
up with a considerable amount of espionage information gathered from the
Venetians.65 Soranzo's book is treated in detail in the next chapter, as the
manuscript of Petricca is interpreted.
58Giovanni Pillinini, "Un discorso inedito di Paolo Paruta" in Archiiio Veneto, LXXIV,
(1964), pp.7-8.
59 Scipione Ammirato, op. cit.
61The deqirrn system was the state practice to take Christian boys at early adolescence
from their families and to train them at various state offices, including the army. The
Janissaries were mosdy composed of deiîrmes.
63 Oratitene detta Clementina terza in Scipione Ammirato, op. cit., p. 16.

64 Lazaro Soranzo, op. cit.
65
The following chapter studies the seventeenth century crusades against

the Turks and their characteristics, similarities and differences with those holy
wars, which were planned in the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. The
seventeenth century "war against the Turk" is studied in the following
chapter in light of first-hand testimonies of the planners of such wars.
65 For more detailed information on Soranzo see the chapters 4 and 5.
66
CHAPTER IV
The Seventeenth Century Until the Final W a r in 1 6 8 3
T he notion of a crusade and the seventeenth century do not

traditionally go together in a classical approach to history where
the crusades are thought to be material of the Middle Ages. The
purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that, concerning the standpoint the
Papacy and other Italian states had towards the Turks, there was not much of
a difference between the Middle Ages and the seventeenth century as far as
the notion of a "holy war" was concerned. The defence of Christendom
organised under the auspices of the Papacy of Innocent XI in 1683 was the
final war that marked the Ottoman advance in Europe and its subsequent
retreat as a threat to Europe. The present chapter sheds light on the
"bellicose exhortations" of the two architects of the idea of a religious war
against the Ottomans in the seventeenth century namely, the exhortations of
Monsignor Marcello Marchesi and Angelo Petricca da Sonnino.
The first manuscript from the Vatican library, whose translation is given
here belongs to Marcello Marchesi.1 Although there is not much detailed
information on the figure of Marchesi, C. Eubel, in his Hieranhia Cathdica
Medii et Recentioris Aeri, writes briefly that Marchesi was born in Varzi, a
province of the northern Italian city of Pavia. He was the bishop of Senj in
Croatia and held the office of "scribe of the archive of Curia Romana". He
was sacerdotal doctor in utroque jttre (in both civil and canonical law) and that
he was the "prothonotary apostolic"2 and apostolic secretary and that he died
century): 1) A Ila Santità di nostm Sigiare Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre, 2) Alla Maestà del
Re Catholko Filippo III. Sacra Gzthdim Maestà, 3) Alllllustrissimo et Eadlatiissim) Signore Duca
di Lernu, 4) A Ila Maestà del Re d'Unôeria Matbia II. Sacra Maestà, 5) Del detto quinto trattato
proemio, divisione, et ordine, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat.
5366.)
2Prothonotary apostolic is "a member of the highest college of prelates in the Roman
Curia, and also of the honorary prelates on whom the Pope has conferred this title and
67
The Seventeenth Century until Vienna
on 1 August 1613.3 As it results from the second letter in the manuscript

written by Marchesi to the king of Spain, Ferdinand III, that Marchesi was
present at the battles of Keresztes (Kerestis) in 1596 and at that of Kanizsa
(Canism) in 1601. He writes to Ferdinand III many details about the
particulars of these battles. Among these are his nominal appointment as
bishop (probably the nominal bishopric of Senj in Dalmatia) and his
nomination as the counsellor (probablythat of the Emperor).4
Marchesi expresses his discontent, at various occasions in the
manuscript, with the peace signed between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans
in 1606. His aim is to promote a general war by the Christians against the
Ottomans. His manuscript to Pope Paul V (16 May 1605 - 28 January 1621)
is the work of an experienced military strategist clergyman as well as a top
ranking clergyman of the Holy See. The manuscript's date is unknown,
however considering the aforementioned dates, it must not have been
composed many years later than 1606, after the peace signed between the
Austrians and the Ottomans (Zichatoruk Mmbedesi). The manuscript, as soon
will be seen, does not only provide the reader with an image of the Turks as
perceived in military, cultural and religious matters, but also gives a self-
perception of Christendom seen from the eyes of the Catholic world. The
self-picture of Europe and its armies are depicted as incompetent,
unprofessional and its aristocracy vain, ineffective against the Turks and idle,
its special privileges. In later antiquity there were in Rome seven regional notaries, who,
on the further development of the papal administration and the accompanying increase
of the notaries, remained the supreme palace notaries of the papal chancery (notarii
apostolia or protonotarii). In the Middle Ages, the prothonotaries were very high papal
officials, and were often raised direcdy from this office to the cardinalate. Sixtus V
(1585-90) increased their number to twelve. Their importance gradually diminished, and
at the time of the French Revolution the office had almost entirely disappeared. On 8
February, 1838, Gregory XVI re-established the college of real prothonotaries with
seven members called "protonotarii de numero parucipantium", because they shared in
the revenues." The Catholic Encyclopedia, "prothonotary apostolic" in
http://www.newadvent.org/ cathen/ 12503a.htm.
3 C Eubel, ed., Hieravchia Gzthdiai Medii et Recentiaris Aezi, vol. IV, (Regensburg:
Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae Monasterii: 1935), p.309.
4 Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, op. cit., pp,15R-22V.
68
lost within the daily pleasures of life. The translation of the first letter to Pope
Paul V is as follows:
TO HIS HOLINESS OUR FATHER POPE PAUL V

THE MOST BLISSFUL
(1 R) It is beyond doubt that the resolutions and efforts realised by

Christian princes on the land and on the sea against the Turks at different
times, have been astonishing, however, not less astonishing has been the
infelicity of the events, having the Turks in the end always gained superiority,
and having acquired in such a short time such a great empire. Of whose
prosperity and our infelicity, various reasons have been put forward.
However [they are] partly false and cruel, and partly general and partly remote
reasons and with grave calumny to our religion. Nonetheless, neither the
particular nor the immediate cause has been mentioned, or even if some have
intuited [felt] the cause, they failed in finding the remedy. My intention,
therefore, according to my humble faculties, is to (IV) investigate into the
real and proper remedy to such great evil. The reasons, therefore, put forward
by others are the following: First of all, some heretics have denied the
Christians the legitimacy of waging war, not to mention war against the
Turks. Furthermore, Luther madly preached by saying, not only not to wage
war against the Turks, but even not to show resistance in order not to oppose
the Divine Will, for God through them castigates us. So do other heretics, or
rather atheists claim - as the nobles already claimed - the Christian religion to
be a threat against the Republic and the mundane state, having put an end to
the gallantry of antiquity [as a result of] having ruined the Roman Empire, in
being totally against military virtue, like that which suppresses the instincts of
revenge, and repulses the desire of praise and glory, that it commands
humbleness and loathes honour and other things which are incentives for
which one fights. Therefore making (2 R) human beings into humble passive
[imbilli] people, without having the aim neither of conservation nor of
expansion of the state, nor having any other aim but peace and patience and
the tolerance of evil by pronouncing the name of Christ. On the contrary, I
say to you not to resist evil. If someone smites you on one cheek, offer him
also the other one, and to whom wants to dispute with you on a judgement,
and wants to grab your tunic, give him also your mantel. Love your enemies
69
and benefit from those who hate you. He who kills with the sword, perishes
by the sword. St. Paul [says] do not exchange the one who caused you evil
with evil, and do not defend your dear selves, rather let fury go. Since it is
written that "revenge belongs to me and I will give the compensation", etc.
Among the Christians the majority of the people occupy their time with vain
things, games, time-killers and various handcrafts, a great deal of which are
unnecessary and unreasonable both in public and in private, spending in them
their time and their fortunes such as in unnecessary devices, in sculptures and
vain pictures and time-killers, in infinite vain works and clothing, and pomp
and recreations, in the game of comeLa! (2 V) and in the excess of vices that in
certain parts of Christendom never cease; doing very little study of military
matters and very few people pay attention to them. As a matter of fact, when
armies are formed, none of them are distinguished, no army has much
discipline - if any at all - and have little modesty, sobriety and obedience, and
little tolerance of fatigue and discomfort, as well as, little hope of rewards, is
to be seen. Since more positions and honour are given to the wealthy or to
the nobles, or to other sorts of people, rather than those of valour, as well as
the uncertainty and the absence of severity of punishment which one usually
evades thanks to sophistry of advocates or by favours or corruption. An
increasing number of Christians get occupied with useless, or even harmful
sciences and letters, whereas others get occupied with the legal and judicial
profession whereby many judges, solicitors, advocates, notaries and the like,
where they earn their bread and honour with this art, to which the professors
nowadays dedicate themselves, rather than to the merits of arms. These very
persons attract infinite excitement of the debaters, who to a great extent
originally are the actors and the designers in non-ending debates. (3 R) As to
the division of kingdoms and Christian states due to discords among
themselves, although they unite against the Turks for this undertaking,
nonetheless, easily do they return to disunion due to the diversity of aims and
interests among themselves. Not to mention many princes and lords, and
nations which cannot even unite neither among themselves nor with others,
due to the variety of religions and sects in which they live which appal each
other. Furthermore, celibacy and monogamy that Christian law induces,
deprives the Republic of the number of people that it would generate. Those
who went [to Turkey] say things to be the contrary among the Turks. Since
5 A translation of jeu de la carrée, evidently a popular game among the aristocracy of the
time.
70
they have a sole religion, a sole prince and a sole government, and since there
are few celibates among them and more so due to polygamy, do they abound
in number of people. Neither do they have artists or doers of
superabundantly useless things, nor do they care excessively about the study
of industries and vain things or about pomp or eating and drinking. (3 V)
They do not have scholars of letters or advocates or similar professors. Even
if they have, debates among them are very few and short. However, they
dedicate themselves universally to the art of war and they engage their time
and money in it. They like this, and to this are the honours, the rewards and
the incomes are adjusted, as in the case of Timars [i Tirmri\, that is to say
benefices for life of different sorts founded in the whole empire, (in the guise
of ecclesiastical benefices in our lands) or military fiefs to be given to soldiers,
especially to the cavalry and to the worthy and appropriate, as well as many
others who thrust their way into the court of the prince and ground it. They
select the men for war at the stage of childhood, they instruct and bring him
up in perpetual military exercises, therefore, they have discipline and sobriety,
obedience and tolerance of discomfort. Punishment is inevitable and the
hope of reward is certain among them, which are given to whom deserves it
as a result of one's own merit and they are not given for other reasons.
Therefore, they say that it was not a wonder that the Turks are superior to us
and that they grew (4 R) to such grandeur, and that a great portion of
Christendom has been lost in a short time.
However, let it that, of the aforementioned assertions some of them be

false and cruel, and others true, not solely from those true ones that stem the
victory of the Turks. Primarily, therefore, it is false that our religion is the
cause of our losses, neither is it harmful to the state, nor does it prohibit war
or pushes away gallantry or military virtue, nor does it make us uncouth. It is
not harmful to the state, for on the contrary, it is the most useful [religion]
that there ever is, since the effect of religion consists of, as far as usefulness
to the state is concerned, making the subjects good and to subdue them to
the prince, and make sure that they love and obey him. The religion and law
of Christ subdues to the prince not only the bodies and faculties, but souls
and consciences as well. In a manner that, it not only prohibits the exterior
evil acts and commands the exterior good ones, but it also bans the very evil
feelings and thoughts and commands the good ones, not only to the good
princes to whom one must obey (4 V) - but also to the herd - so that they
71
do not command things or laws against the natural; in which cases [our
religion] wants everything to be according to the precepts, giving
recommendations to make men not only good, but also in their goodness,
perfect, before they degenerate. [Our religion] not only commands or
recommends, but also dispenses various aids in order to act and proceed, not
to the end of mundane and temporal goods, but to the end of celestial and
eternal blissfulness, an aim that no other religion had in such a revealed
fashion. In fact no other religion was so favourable and useful for the
mundane state of a republic or of a prince, as this one of Christ, which does
not prohibit war to the least. Therefore, in the aforementioned places of
private offences, it is spoken to private individuals, and not to public persons
who are to defend the state by public authority. Whereby it is recommended
to the private individuals, the tolerance of private offences (5 R) readily for
the sake of their souls, rather than offending God; or sometimes tolerance is
commanded to the effect of the service of God, or it is commended without
any necessity for virtue and perfection, or even when no use would result out
of it. However, to the public persons the use of tolerance in the service of the
defence of the republic is prohibited, as well as revenge against evil acts of
external enemies and the internal ones who perturb the republic. Therefore,
however much one tells the privates to endure injustice, on the other hand it
is not told to the magistrates no to castigate the wrong-doers. In a similar
manner, the precept of enduring injustice and loving ones' enemies does not
take away from an emperor or from a soldier his office. In this respect we
have many examples of wars in the Old Testament and we have clear
examples of authority also in the 6, in the interpretation of the church
and in the perpetual custom of the Christian people. For this reason the
Christians never ceased to make war even in the armies of Pagan princes with
testimonies of (5 V) miracles of being saints and the beloved ones of God.
Constantine and after him many other Catholic [pious] emperors waged wars
with testimony of miraculous assistance, especially against infidels, and to the
greatest extent against Mohammedans; and this thanks to the councils and
encouragement of highest pontefices like that of, Urban II7, Pascal II8, as well
6 illegible.
7 1088-1099. He was the Pope who organised the first crusade.
8 13 August 1099-21 January 1118.
72
as with helpful contributions of Eugene IV9, Callistus III10, Pius II11, Paul
III12, Pius V13, the predecessor of Your Holiness14, and Your very Holiness
since the beginning of your pontificate, and thank to the decrees of general
councils, like that of the Lateran15, the Lyons16 and the Viennese17 ones, as
well as, thanks to exhortations of saintly people like that of St. Bernard18 and
others, the very saint who modestly declared his preaching to be confirmed
by God, with which he encouraged the peoples for this war. Therefore, even
with Apostolic authority many unions of knights were established, hence it is
utterly a clear error to say that it is not legitimate for the Christians to make
war, (6 R) and that faceless Luther had to be ashamed, as later on he was, of
having let himself indulge too much into hatred of the Pope, that he desired
to see the whole of Christianity go as soon as possible under the Turk, to be
9 4 March 1431-23 February 1447.
10 1455-1458
u 1 9 August 1458-14 August 1464. He died during the preparations for the new crusade
against the Ottomans.
12 12 October 1534-10 November 1549.
13 Pius V was the Pope (7 Jan 1566-IMay 1572) who had an important role in the
organisation of the league against the Ottomans at the battle of Lepanto. His pontificate
is marked by his fight against the Turks and the Protestants.
14 Leo XI, reigned for a brief time in 1605.
15There have been three Lateran Councils held: in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215 respectively.
The fourth one was the most important council of the Middle Ages, at the apex of Papal
power.
16 There were two ecumenical councils held in Lyons in 1245 and 1274.
17 Held in the city of Vienne in France between 1311-1313, where the projects for a new
crusade were made.
18 The allusion is to St. Bernard of Qairvaux. He is the person who, upon the
recapturing of Edessa (modern Urfa in Turkey) preached a new crusade in 1134 in
Burgundy, upon the invitation of the Pope.
73
able to see the extinction of the name of the Pope.19 Preaching, therefore, not
to resist the Turk, in order no to oppose divine castigation, as if we did not
have to find remedies in the case of plague, famine and other public
castigation, and turn to God, for that is why we are castigated, and implore
His help to resist them. As our Catholic religion does not prohibit us the just
war, similarly, it does not withhold us from acquiring materials and states
through such a war. It does not reject gallantry, for gallantly and Christian
humility are not in contradiction, however, the gallant gives himself to great
acts as a result of his confidence in rewards that he receives from God and
for great honours that deserve appreciation for the consideration of these
rewards. However, the humble bows down and reputes himself unworthy for
the consideration of his defects, (6 V) nonetheless, honouring others and
considering them worthy of the gifts of God that he sees in them. The
unworthy will always admire the humble and the gallant together, with regard
to his own imperfections, and great actions will he do for virtue that God
gives him, as the Apostle expressed: Omraa possum in eo qui we confortdt [I am
capable of everything in Him who comforts me]. As the Christian religion
does not reject gallantry, nor does it reject military virtue, or the
encouragement of honour or of glory. On the contrary, it wishes that things
worthy of honour and glory be performed, and condemns he who does not
perform them, and he who wants to be honoured without doing them. As
much as it does not wish that people have honour and glory as the ultimate
aim against God and His precepts, it wants rather that the ultimate aim be
God Himself, His testimony and His glory. As a consequence, our religion is
not only not against the desire of honour and glory, on the contrary, most
highly does it praise desiring the celestial and immortal glory, having seen the
temporary and mundane one. Major examples of constant gallantry (7 R) and
vigour against all the horrors of the world were shown not as a result of
motivation for vain glory, but for love of one's country, for the zeal of the
honour of God, or for other most noble and holy aims - that were worthy of
divine and immortal glory - which was never seen so extensively but among
the propagators of this religion. The reason for the ruin of the Roman
19What is meant here is the proposition of Luther that waging war against the Turks was
sin, as it would have been opposing the divine will. Luther modified his proposition after
the first siege of Vienna by Suleyman the Magnificent in 1529 and invited the German
princes to fight the Turk.
74
Empire, as history shows us, was the great vices and lavishness of many
emperors, who amongst other things neglected the military art and discipline;
history also shows us that those Catholic emperors blossomed and easily
triumphed over the enemies, who gave themselves to God with all their harts;
on the contrary were those princes ruined who persecuted the Catholic
religion or disobeyed the Holy Church. Hence, it would clearly follow that
[our] religion has been unjustly calumniated and our losses against the Turks
do not stem from it. Neither should our religion be blamed for having peace
as the goal, for as the politicians show, peace is the aim of every just war, (7
V) however, every well-instituted republic must be ordered not towards war
but towards peace. It is beyond doubt that in Christianity there are several
artifices pertaining to pomp, luxury, greed and other disapproval or
unnecessaiy things. However, it should not be conceded that the great and
ornate artifices are disapprovable things, as the moralists show, they are
materials of magnificence and noble virtue, since they were used at all times
by the Romans and Greeks and by other bellicose nations. As to pomp, it
does not lack among the Turks with great luxury and voracity, as well as all
sorts of vices in great abundance. These vices among us stem from nothing
else but from corrupt nature and not from our most pure, cast and
reasonable religion, and be it that many vices among them [the Turks] stem
from their licentious, unreasonable and dirty education and sect. Apart from
the fact that God prepared nature for our religion and not for theirs, however
our religion is suitable for healing the soul of everyone, (8 R) reintegrates it
into the Divine grace and sustains it so that it does not fall into sin again and
straightens it if it falls again, and helps it with the freedom of His will to do
good. It is of this will of Divine grace that our religion is the fruit, it is
accepted, favoured and helped not by the ill-inclinations of nature, but by the
moderate Divine grace, which will not absent itself from anyone until it will
be the ultimate reparation of nature and the total liberation from all evil by
glorious resurrection, as thanks to it our religion is reasoned by Divine virtue.
Apparently, there is a major number of religious people and celibates among
us, than those among the Turks. For this reason, as well as monogamy
(although this and celibacy were instituted for higher and worthier aims), do
we have minor reproduction. Nevertheless, there is not a dearth of people
who would be sufficient to beat the Turk in every principal part of
Christendom in Europe, though not in all of them together, as it will be duly
shown. The same thing is said about the professors of letters, and especially
75
(8 V) about the jurists, not to deny that this profession today has many
adherents and that it has become the object of too much esteem and value,
and the error of honouring it more than the military is committed by some
princes, the merit in the exercise of jurisprudence not having the proportion
of merit of the military science, and that in the fatigues, discomforts and
danger of war, jurisprudence has grown into too many constitutions and
commentaries, and into too many tricks against the intention of our
Legislator Christ: who handed over the morals and ceremonials, but no
judgements [disputations], for he wanted them not to be known. So say the
scholars, against the recommendation of the saints and high doctors.
Whereas, it could also not be denied that a major number of arguments are
born, which last ever longer and that this is not the way to walk the path
which goes from bad to worse, if we do not return to do what Justinian did
for the same reasons and the inconveniences of his time. Today, it will
succeed as felicitously, (9 R) for this century is much more propitious than
the era of Justinian and the method would be much better understood20,
especially after much lucubration and treatises to pave this road which has
been walked by many other minds. However, to return to my point, it cannot
be denied that the jurisprudence occupies a great number of scholars and that
it attracts a great number of disputations. Nevertheless, all this withstanding,
sufficient number of people for war does not lack. None of the things
mentioned above can be said to be the real cause of our suffering from the
Turks. In addition to them, the forces for the division of states in
Christendom are diverse and disunited are the hearts for the variety of sects
which are commodities of the princes who let them enter into their states
without intention - not for impiety and for other evils that they were falling
into - but as a result of weakness in which they reduced themselves for
various reasons. Since from the beginning of Christianity they were separated
and in times of need of force (9 V) they could and wanted to exchange aid
which cannot be denied and does not harm us. Although sects and divisions
within the religion of the Turks do not lack either, however their prince
knows better how to contain them and shows more prudence in it, than ours
have done or are doing. Furthermore, it will duly be shown that in
Christendom there are more Catholic kings, each of whom happen not to
20Justinian (527-565), Roman Emperor. What Marchesi refers to here is most probably,
the codification of the thereto existing laws in the Empire by Justinian, and their
arrangement in a logical and ordered manner.
76
have united enough forces to be able to resist and beat the Turk. It is in this
fashion that many Christians indulge in passiveness, in games and time-killers
and few pay attention to military matters, not to mention that there are no
armies or discipline, nor the certainty of rewards and punishment like among
the Turks. However, one cannot deny this to be a great failure. Since there is
an infinity of similar lazy people among the Turks, and the fault of neglecting
the military should not be bestowed upon the religion, but to the princes and
mostly to the superiors; who mostly, for bad training or for other infelicity do
not engage in their own job, (10 R) which is the art of war. Therefore, neither
can they even enable the subjects to engage themselves, nor to establish
armies or discipline, or to institute rewards, provisions and entries, nor to
dispense them adequately. Although our people have lost many times for
being unfit and undisciplined, it has nevertheless not been the entire and
immediate cause of our infelicities. In the above mentioned expeditions
procured by holy pontefices and decreed by Councils, there were such
apparata and armies of undisciplined people, who, however, on the field
disciplined itself, who were sufficient to beat the enemy, and nevertheless at
the end were always beaten. It must be that this stems from something else.
Whatever the cause, it must be searched considering the Romans who did not
have any of the mentioned defaults, yet lost against such enemies, like the
Turks, which were the Persians, Parthians, the Huns, the Saracens and others
(10 V) who troubled Caesar considerably. History certainly shows us that
they certainly lost for nothing else but for the numerousness of the enemy's
cavalry and its way of fighting, and for the Romans' failure to know the art of
opposing them. It is this therefore, the particular and the veiy cause why we
have ordinarily lost and in the end still losing against the Turks, for not
knowing the art of fighting such enemies; who abound in cavalry - light
cavalry for the most part - and who fight encircling mostly from a distance
without order and in an unstable manner, fugitively and from the back
without letting oneself be attacked or reached; a different way from the
Roman one and from the one used among us, with which not knowing how
to beat them, we either are defeated at battle or in any way they remain the
masters of the expedition. Although some Roman commanders and
emperors knew how to prevail in front of such disadvantage, they have not
been imitated either by the emperors or by kings of ours who lost battles
against the Turks, including this last war in Hungary. (11 R) It has not been
managed to proceed neither with these ways which have been used nor with
77
new ones, in a way that a battle could have been won, or at last the enemy
would not have remained as usual the superior one.
Considering the immense importance of this fact, and finding oneself
with the real cause and remedy of the evil, may the irreligious be ashamed
and may they never attribute the reason to our religion, and may the enemy in
the future not be able to subjugate Christendom and may our people manage
to re-conquer from his hands the subjugated. About which it is written that
Carl V afflicted himself a lot and left it upon his son, the king, to think and as
the prime occupation, to find the remedy, which the king neither made
known nor is it known that he has found it. With much courage, which
neither my weak talent nor my unhappy21 fortune has - although with that
heart and trust in God I left my affairs in Rome - I undertook from the very
beginning and always to persevere in this fight, (11V) with my own expenses,
with many travels to kings of Europe and many times on the battle field
where I did not cease to be industrious, nor discouraged by fatigue or any
danger to be able to do that which could be done if not by example, by
counselling and some result with the pen. I have engaged, among other
things, in meditating and in observing with lecture and with experience, the
way to fight these enemies. Upon my last return from Germany I gave a copy
to Your Holiness, be it under the mentioned respect and be it particularly to
remove the diffidence about winning against the Turks on the land (if it
happened to cross the mind of Your Holiness, as it is in the minds of
everyone), as it most voluntarily animated the diligence to promote a war in
Hungary, with the hope and assignment of aids procured by you for the
offensive war, and to shift it into the enemy lands, partially wherein all of
Hungary would be liberated quickly, after which it would be penetrated into
the heart of the enemy empire, as Your Holiness was inclined to do if (12 R)
You would not have been distracted by the controversies around You, and if
You would not have been impeded by the peace which in the meanwhile was
concluded with the Turk. However, why that volume was nothing but a draft
which was in an abridged manner and without any order annotated, will be
explained by the absence of books and by the occupations and
inconveniences of the battlefield, and by the travels that I was able to do, and
because the mentioned peace was not yet concluded, and therefore still
depended on the will of the Emperor, in which I never believed, as it was
seen , and however it is now concluded, it cannot last long - although it lasts
21 Although not properly legible, the word is probably i f f dice.
78
in Hungaiy - it is not the habit of the enemy to leave too much time all the
parts of Christendom in peace, apart from the need in which I saw the Holy
See to manage the way of humiliating those who disobeyed, with a short war;
since it seemed to me that mere disputes were to bring no effect. Two years
ago, I have again dedicated myself to this treatise of waging war, although
mostly against the Turks, however not only them, (12 V) but also against
those other enemies in respect to the other mentioned need, reducing the
matter into method and art, which I divided into five treatises and in ten
volumes, as I did in spite of all the distractions of my disputes and the
hardships of poverty. God be thanked, four are finished and the others are
schemed: I present it humbly to Your Holiness as the result of the fatigue in
particular service to Your Holiness, in case there occurs the need - may God
forbid it - and for the public good of Christendom which unfortunately will
need it, of whom Your Holiness, is the head. God knows that my mind
begins to be interested - I not having been as such in the whole course of my
life - not having in all these travels of mine ever asked for any minimal aid
nor any compensation to the Holy See or to the kings or anyone else, apart
from receiving the nude title of bishopric by nomination of the Emperor.
However, today I am compelled to ask for compensation as a result of the
state in which I find myself, since the few possession that I carried to
Germany were detained - as Your Holiness knows - (13 R) by bankrupt
merchants for the aim of service to this cause against the Turks.
That is to say, if I had fallen into captivity there, to be able to pay the ransom
and to be able to live on the battlefield, in which case, if I had left it where I
had it, they would not have left me alive. However, now I am compelled to
declare myself interested in honour, which I appreciate much more than
poverty, as a consequence of great and perpetual persecutions that I suffered
known to Your Holiness, in all the courts and on the battlefield, which
perhaps I continue to suffer due to the hidden ways of those who persecute
me, who were now obliged not to cross this zeal of mine, nor to disturb the
service to Christianity. As they have done together to prevent me everywhere
from getting all honour and pride possession, not through real oppositions,
rather through tricks and with mere and sole respect of their shadow. I am
finally in a deprived situation to implore - as I am doing - Your Holiness to
deign to do some demonstration of Your singular justice towards me, to set
an effective example that (13 V) I have not deserved those many
persecutions, [and] my zeal had to be favoured and assisted, as with their
79
annoyances they have shown, by not castigating me for any mischief, when I
turned back to their hands from the campaign of Kanizsa [Camia], and there
I dwelled more than a year. If on earth You see me in this abjection, it is
because this negative argument was persuasive for my justification than any
positive resolution, which, may Your Holiness deign to do for my honour.
To whom may God always give every felicity.
On Marchesi's Manuscript
There are various points to be considered in Marchesi's letter to Pope

Paul V. The manuscript sets an example in the seventeenth century of a series
of bellicose exhortations written to the Popes, to be followed by Angelo
Petricca da Sonnino and Fra Paolo da Lagni,22 which culminated in the first
effective and successful collective military campaign on the land to stop the
Ottoman advancement in Europe under the auspices of Pope Innocent XI.
The first common theme in Marchesi, as seen in all the other bellicose
exhortations, is the necessity of declaring war on the Ottomans. The second
is the setting up and managing a proper disciplined army (as was seen in
Scipione Ammirato). The third is the invitation to unity of all the concerned
parties with the Ottoman threat, if not all of Christendom.
The obstacles standing between these aims, according to Marchesi are
various. First of all, he is totally dissatisfied with the European nobility almost
in a contemptuous manner. According to him, the nobility is lost in the
pleasures of court life, paying no attention to the real concerns such as the
military. Furthermore he thinks "no army has much discipline - if any at all -
and has little modesty, sobriety and obedience, and little tolerance of fatigue
and discomfort, as well as, little hope of rewards, is to be seen." (Marchesi,
2V) In fact, compared to Petricca, Marchesi emphasises much more the
cultural and the religious aspects of the failure against the Turks. Although
both Marchesi and Petricca represent the point of view of the church,
22 Da Lagni wrote to Innocent XI in 1679, four years before the siege of Vienna, to
convince him of declaring war on the Ottomans instead of waiting to be attacked by
them. Fra Paolo da Lagni, Memoriale di fra Paolo da Lagni cappuccino al pontefice Innocenzo XI
nel quale si dimostra la necessità de' Principi Cristiani di prevenire il Turco col dichiarargli la gterra,
(Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vat. lat. 6926), p.38V.
80
Petricca's manuscript should be read within the context of military and

political rhetoric on the "Turkish question". Although Marchesi is also utterly
concerned with the military aspects, as he himself was on the battle-field in
the war of Hungary, the letter written to Pope Paul V presents the reader
with a self-portrait of Christendom as perceived by a leading member of the
Catholic Church of the early seventeenth century, where religion alone was
not anymore the only factor determining the politics of the day.
Marchesi starts out by refuting the point of view that Christianity as a
religion is responsible for the lack of success in combating the Turks. His
polemic about Luther's position (Marchesi, IV) reflects not only the
acceptance of the Catholic Church of the legitimacy of a "just war" against
the Turks, but also reflects the Catholic antipathy towards the Protestants in
the era of counter-Reformation. In fact, from the very beginning of the
confrontation with the newly arising universal-religion Islam, as well as the
Reformation question, the combat against the "infidels" together with the
"heretics", was not only considered equally legitimate from a theological
view, but was also institutionalised under the name of "just war". As the
author continues to elaborate on this concept, he says that "peace is the aim
of every just war". (Marchesi, 7R) The aristocrats are also pictured as
licentious and indulgent people. As a result, their negligence of military
matters results in Europe being plagued by the Turks. The author sees with
equal contempt also the jurists and the intellectuals, and sees them as an
obstacle in gaining victory over the Turks. For they are also responsible in
engaging excessively in intellectual debates which are nothing but a loss of
time. He thinks that "jurisprudence has grown into too many constitutions
and commentaries, and into too many tricks against the intention of our
Legislator Christ: who handed over the morals and ceremonials, but no
judgements". (Marchesi, 8V) As he also praises the codification of the thereto
existing laws of Emperor Justinian (527-565), coupled with an antipathy
towards the intellectuals, one almost senses the craving for authoritarianism
in Marchesi.
As one once again sees examples from the antiquity also in Marchesi, he
equals the civilised world with the Romans and the Turks with the Huns, the
Parthians and the Saracens, and criticises the Romans for having been
incapable of adapting their military strategy to the "chaotic" and
"undisciplined" manner of fighting of the barbarians. (Marchesi, 10R-10V) It
is a common theme in the writers of the time to presume that the Turks
81
combated chaotically and in an unordered manner, yet it was a mystery for

them to understand how they always ended up being victorious. As he
witnessed it on the battle-field in Hungary, the Turks "abound in cavalry -
light cavalry for the most part - and who fight encircling mostly from a
distance without order and in an unstable manner, fugitively and from the
back without letting oneself be attacked or reached; a different way from the
Roman one and from the one used among us". (Marchesi, 10V) This point
about the character and excellence, yet the oddity of the Turkish armies is
mentioned approximately a decade ago also bySoranzo:
[ ] everyone who fought with the Turks knows very well

how they get positioned at large. That in marching, they
are unordered and confused, where they can easily be
damaged from the tail. [ ] Moreover, the Turks have
confidence in fighting in multitude, in the idea that they
have of fate, in the clamour of their bellicose instruments
and in the horrible cries of their barbarian voices, which
they do not do in proper order and in real discipline.
However, they have many good things: supreme authority
in the captain general, obedience of the soldiers, although
diminished now. [They have] ready forces, where it is not
necessary for them to go and beg for soldiers, as our
princes do, who mostly make use of others' forces rather
than their own [ ]23
As mentioned above, the fact that it was necessary to create a permanent ad

hoc army was mentioned byScipione Ammirato to Pope Sixtus V ,24
Marchesi elaborates his persuasion of the reader that as there have been
the great crusades of the past, an ojfensvus war declared on the Turk is the only
solution to saving Europe from these barbarians. Marchesi not only confirms
the thereto existing necessary military and tactical suggestions to defeat the
Ottomans, but presents the reader also with a valuable self-picture of the
European aristocracy and its disinterest to take any action against their
23Lazaro Soranzo, L 'Otbomirmo, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale,1598),

p.36.
82
principal enemy. It is in a way curious that all of the sources of the time lead
one to conclude that, behind the rhetoric of the "barbarian Turks", enmities
among the Christian rulers surpassed the infidel threat. In this respect the
Marchesi manuscript is not only a source of self-criticism, but also a
representative of the changing political milieu of seventeenth century Europe,
where the upcoming religious wars, coupled with the ever-present Ottoman
threat mark the agenda. In fact, approximately two decades after Marchesi,
Petricca da Sonnino, as representative of the Propaganda Fide will emphasise
the same points in a somewhat different political jargon. Together with
Petricca and Fra Paolo da Lagni, as later will be shown, Marchesi and his
followers within the Pontifical milieu, were the precursors of the idea of a
realisable Christian alliance against the Turks which would only be realised in
1683 under the auspices of Innocent XI.
La Congregazione di Propaganda Fide
"The Congregation for the Propagation of Faith" was the institution of

the Pontificate to bring all the Catholic missions of the world under the
centralised authority of Rome. The reason for the establishment of the
Congtvgazione di Propaganda Fide were mainly twofold: one was to function as
an agent of anti-reformation, the other one was to counterbalance the
authority of the other Catholic monarchs (i.e. Spain and Portugal) over the
Catholic missions throughout the world. It was founded by Gregory XV
(1621-1623) in 1622, under the name, the Sacred Congregation for the
Propagation of Faith. As it became one of the most efficient institutions of
the Holy See, all the Catholic missionary lands came under its jurisdiction in
the Ottoman Empire, apart from those in Albania and the Greek islands.25
The "vicar apostolic" (liatrio apcstolico) as they were called, were directly
responsible to the Pope, to fight the influence that the monarchs had upon
the missionaries protected by them, and therefore protecting national
interests. According to Giovanna Motta, France had its share of influence on
the foundation of the Congregazione di Propaganda Fide, thanks to the privileged
position that it enjoyed with the Ottomans. The congregation was founded
25Charles A. Frazee, Cathdics and Sultans. The Chwxh and the Ottonun Empire. 1453-1923,
(Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p.88.
83
on the idea that it was more advantageous to engage in missionary activities

in Europe, rather than the peripheral Americas. This had the purpose of a
rapprochement of the Catholic peoples with the Protestant and the Orthodox
faiths, as well as the protection of the Maronites, and Armenians in the
Ottoman territories.26
The position of the vicar apostolic is described by Alvise Contarini, the
Venetian ambassador in Istanbul at the time of Angelo Petricca's office there,
as Petricca's office being completely independent and as having the sole
accountability to the Pope himself. He also mentions the aims of the French
ambassador to take the vicar apostolic under France's protection, which were
"rightly rejected".27 Contarini describes the Franciscan order, to which
Petricca belonged, as the most important order in the Empire. Contarini also
alludes to the fact that the Greek islands were not under the Propaganda Fide's
jurisdiction, stating that the quarrels among the bishoprics of the Archipelago
happen very frequently and that a solution might be to bring them under the
archbishopric of Candia, as it was this archbishop who settled the disputes
among them.28 On the other hand, the policy of Venice towards the Greek
Patriarch was quite different from that of Rome. While Rome saw the Greek
Patriarchate mainly as a rival and a heretic enemy, Venice saw it as an agent
with whose help it could have further benefits in the Ottoman lands.
Angelo Petricca da Sonnino
As to information that one has on the figure of Angelo Petricca da

Sonnino, it comes mainly from the office that he held as "vicar apostolic",
that is, the representative of Propaganda Fide in the Ottoman Empire. He
sojourned in Istanbul between 1636 and 1639. Charles A. Frazee refers to a
26 Giovanna Motta, "Presenza ottomana tra Mediterraneo e centro-Europa: contrasti e

reciproche influenze" in L'Europa centm-orientale e ilperkdo turco tra sei e settecenta Atti del
amegno internazkmak (Viterbo, 23-25 Nawrrbre 1998), ed. Gaetano Platania, (Viterbo: Sette
Gtta, 2000), pp.21-22.
27Nicolo Barozzi, and Berchet, Guglielmo, LeRdaziom stati. emvpei lette al Senato dagli
Arrbasaatari Veneziam nd Secdo Dedmcsettimx Tunhia. Volume unico-Parte I., (Venezia:
PrenxStabil. Tip. Di P. Naratovich Edit., 1871), p.398.
28 ibid.
84
memoir of his written in 1639, in which Petricca "claimed that Murad IV had
lost control over the armed forces and that the opportunity was open for a
united Christian Europe to push the Turks back into Asia".29 These memoirs,
probably refer to the collection of the relazioni written during his stay in
Istanbul, and most probably, the rdazioni were formed into the treatise that he
presented to Cardinal Antonio Barberino30 - a most important patron of the
idea of crusade himself - a year later, in 1640.
The Venetian ambassador, Alvise Contarini, was the bailo during
Petricca's office in Istanbul. Contarini and Petricca arrived in Istanbul the
same year in 1636. Contarini remained in Istanbul as the Venetian
ambassador from 1636 to 1641. In comparison with Petricca's manuscript,
Contarini's relazione provides one with quite a different perception of the
same issues, observed by two Italians. The major points on which they agree
are, mainly on the structure of the Ottoman navy and its capabilities. In fact,
it is exactly this point that proves the accuracy of information on the
structure of the Ottoman navy, a subject where an abundance of information
from Ottoman sources is basically unavailable. The main source of
disagreement between the two contemporaries, is the political and strategic
consequences of the observed facts. Contarini represents an expert and
experienced ambassador, preferring diplomacy to war (as experience dictated
many times) at any cost. Petricca gives the picture of an ardent propagator of
a crusade, often underestimating the military capabilities of the Ottoman
Empire, although recognising the impossibility of any war against the
Ottomans without an all-Christian-alliance.
Contarini's excellent vdazhne sheds additional light to the figure of
Angelo Petricca da Sonnino. According to Contarini, the office that Petricca
occupied - which was that of the Patriarchal Vicar of Constantinople -was an
important office, exercising the role of mono patriarcde through the
Congregation of Faith in Rome.31
29Frazee, op. cit., p.97. The memoir mentioned is: G. B. Cervellini, ed., 'Relazioni da
Costantinopoli del Vicario Patriarcale Angelo Petricca, 1636-39', Bessarione, XXVIII
(1912).
30Cardinal Antonio Barberino belonged to the influential Barberini Family in Rome,

who had himself as a youth •written a treatise of war against the Turks.
31 Nicolò Barozzi, and Berchet, Guglielmo, op. cit., p.398.
85
The title patriarchal wear that Petricca da Sonnino had, as well as the
general situation of the Catholics in Istanbul are described by the famous
Venetian erudite Giovanni Botero in 1671 in his b o o k Rdatiom Ummsali,
roughly a decade before the second siege of Vienna. Botero says that in 1204,
in the fourth crusade, as the Latins occupied Constantinople and as a union
of the Latin Church with the Greek one happened, there was an Italian
patriarch of Constantinople appointed, named Tomaso Morosini. However,
he adds that since the loss of the Latin rule to the Greeks again thanks to
Michael Paleologos seventy years later, the title of the latin patriará) became
merely nominal.
The aforementioned patriarch does not live in

Constantinople but rather in Rome. However, he keeps
there a vicar. And if nothing at all, he ordinarily exercices
the office of prior of the Dominicans or of the
Franciscans, who preach there the Advent and Lent. The
Latins who live in Constantinople do not reach the
number of two hundred and they are called Caffaluchi.
They are the group from Kaffa [adj. Cajfamdca]. For when
Mahometto, king of the Turks took Caffa' 2, he made
seven hundred families of them migrate to
Constantinople, of which there do no remain today but
ten or twelve There are more Catholics in Pera, because
they reach the number of five hundred souls apart from
the slaves. Apart from these, there are the families of the
ambassadors of the European sovereigns, who are not
more than a hundred persons, the merchants and
travellers are abundant In Pera there are eight churches
and a Dominican Convent with four friars, and another
one of the Franciscans with ten [friars]. There is also the
abbacy of St. Benedict, whose income is in maná di Genom,
which is more than four thousand scudi, which are
transferred to the mensa of the Archbishopric of that city
32 The city of Kaffa (i.e. Theodosia or Feodosia) in the Crimea.
86
[Constantinople] each time the fathers of St. Benedict

leave Pera.33
So is the description of the situation of the Catholic community in

Constantinople in 1671. Following is the perception of the patriarchal vicar
Petricca in his manuscript thirty years before Botero:
The Manuscript
(Frontispiece)
Treatise on the easy way of defeating the Turk, and of expelling him
from many kingdoms that he possesses in Europe.
Composed by the master father Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Order of
Minorites (Franciscans) former Patriarchal Vicar of Constantinople,
Commissary General in the Orient, and Prefect of the missionaries of
Wallachia and Moldavia.
BAY. Barb. Lat. 5151
(1R) To His Most Revered Eminence Signore and (Prone...)

Cotendissimo, Signor Cardinal Antonio Barberino
All'Eminentissimo et Reverendissimo Signore e
( Prone...) Cote ndis s imo
il Signor Cardinale Antonio Barberino
33
Giovanni Botero, Rdatiom Umwrsali, (Venetia: Per li Bertani, 1671), pp.427-428.
87
I know that I am bothering Your Eminence with this little contribution

that I present to You, however, I have considered giving You the occasion of
accusing my impudence minor error, than neglecting the execution of my
debt. It is a treatise on the easy way of defeating the Turk, and of expelling
him from many kingdoms that he possesses in Europe, composed by me, as a
result of many years that I have spent in those kingdoms which are subject to
Him [the sultan], in the service of the Holy Congregation of Propaganda Fide
[Sacra Congi^gatwne de Propaganda Fide], of which Your Eminence is the
respectable head; as well as for the desire that I have that the cult of our
Redemptor returns to the Orient, given the easiness of the undertaking. I am
offering it to Your Eminence since You are a generous ruler, as well as for
the purpose of making You have a taste of the fruits gathered (1 V) in ten
years, in which I have served in many foreign countries. What is offered is
small, since the capabilities are pale. However, offering that which I have
selected, I am presenting that, to which I am obliged. May Your Eminence
thus please to honour me in taking this small work into consideration, as You
did in keeping me under Your protection, under which You have already
received me with grace. Lastly, I kiss reverently your holy vest in prostration.
Rome, 10 May 1640

Dedicated to Your Revered Eminence
(D. V. Emin:za Rev:ma)
The most humble and devoted servant

Friar Angelo Petricca da Sonnino
Order of Minorites, former Patriarchal Vicar of
Constantinople
88
(2 R) On the easy way of defeating the Turk

and expelling him from many kingdoms that
He possesses in Europe
Travelling in Thrace and Bulgaria on my way to Wallachia and

Moldavia, having been assigned on me the care-taking of those missions,
while it is eight years that I was in Constantinople in the service of the Holy
Congregation of Propaganda Fide, as a result of the continual displeasure that
I had in seeing the great dominion of the Turks, and the plight of many
Christian nations subject to them, the beauty and the fertility of the land, and
how the heredity of our Lord Christ had gone under the infidel barbarians - 1
started to ponder on the way in which the Christian princes could (2 V) take
revenge of this outrage and conquer many kingdoms. Realising the easiness
of putting it into action, I started to observe the whole Turkish state, not only
in the aforementioned travel by land, but also in the other [voyage] that I
have made twice in the Eastern Mediterranean [Mare di Leutnte], particularly
around the islands of the Archipelago and the Thracian Bosphorus. Firstly, to
reason about the states that the Turk has on the main land, it is to note that,
when Mehmed II, King of the Turks, 187 years ago took Constantinople and
the Greek Empire, out of fear of rebellion of the peoples, most of which
were of Christians of the Greek rite, he demolished all the fortresses and
almost all the cities which were circled by many towers and high walls, fit to
resist (3 R) the impact of armies. This I have seen, as I walked in the
aforementioned countries for an entire month on the way to, and another
month on the return route from Constantinople, having seen all the cities
ruined to enjoy those lands and those commodities, however with houses
made of wood and earth, low, without any magnificence, which almost look
like pavilions or like the tents of Gypsies. Although Adrianople [Edime],
Sofia and some other antique cities are still standing, nevertheless they are not
strong, but rather exposed to any army which wants to enter them, and the
aforementioned cities are not maintained with the antique magnificence, but
rather, the houses being destroyed either by time or burnt by fire, they have
been reconstructed alia tuixu, that is to say, of wood and earth. Therefore, it is
(3 V) a most certain conclusion that, the sultan [il Gran Turoo] does not have
any strong city or fortress within his state.
It is not necessary that I exaggerate this point, since it will suffice to add
for the sake of the clarity of truth that, not even in Constantinople where the
89
sultan resides, are there any fortress, on the contrary, since the mentioned city
is very big, it is open to anyone who wants to enter it, and the antique city-
walls by which it is circled, are not [worthy] of any consideration, since they
are thin and easy to break, not having been constructed to resist the cannons,
as when they were constructed artillery was not used. Therefore, the sultan [il
Turn] does not have the tradition of having fortresses in his state, he
destroyed those which are there, (4 R) [and] neither after the Turks
[Muslims] have grown [in number], have they produced fortresses although at
the present the Christians are in minor quantity than the Turks [Muslims],
whereas before the Turk [Muslims] was not one tenth of the Christian
people, who inhabited the Greek Empire; at present, of the eight parts of the
people, only one [part] is Christian, since they have a dearth of religious
people, and of doctrine having denied the Faith, and having embraced the
sect of Mehemet34 as the Turk [the sultan] does not permit that his subjects
pursue letters or sciences, thus are made those peoples ignorant, making
themselves Turks [i.e. converting to Islam] as a result of each insignificant
bullying. I cannot deny that while I am writing these things which I have
seen, that there occurs a willingness to exaggerate - (4 V) or to put it better -
to animate the Christian arms to defend the honour of God against the
infidels, rather than proceeding to write briefly this treatise. However, in
order not to deviate from what I have promised:
I say that the Turkish state is open to any army that wants to enter
there, and this is a point that deserves a great deal of consideration, because
whenever Christian armies wanted to direct themselves towards such an
undertaking, they would not have to halt to besiege and fight the fortresses in
34Allusion is made here to the so-called heresy of the Greeks by Catholic standards, who
were considered to be in conspiracy against the Catholics, many times accused of having
joined arms with the Turks. In another manuscript dedicated to Cardinal Barberino in
the form of a relazione on Constantinople, three years before the present one, in 1637, by
Paolo Vecchia, he describes the Greeks as "Greeks, the enemies of the Catholics". Paolo
Vecchia further describes the Greeks as the "natural enemies of the Catholics" who
would rather "convert themselves to being a Turk (Muslim) rather than making
themselves Latins (Catholics)" He also describes them as sharing "a mutual hatred"
towards the Armenians and having "a natural antipathy towards the Jews". See: Paolo
Vecchia Relatione di Costantincpoli dell'anno 1637. All'ErrimntissirmetRewrendissirmSigm,
Sigior Cardinal Barberino, (Gtta del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat.
5192), f. 44.
90
order not to leave them behind against the proper rule of fighting. Since if
they left fortresses behind, it would soon turn out to be making incursions
into the foreign kingdoms, rather than conquering and possessing them. In
warring against the (5 R) Turk, to start with one does not have this difficulty,
which is the major one that the armies have when they want to subjugate a
foreign kingdom.
The second point that deserves consideration to the same effect is that
the Turkish state has many Christians as I have mentioned above, and
although they are schismatic - that is to say disobedient to the High Roman
Pontificate - according to my experience, this schism and this difference is
limited in our times solely to the Geek prelates. Since people are now made
uncouth and ignorant, as they are unable to discern these questions of Prirmtu
Papd\ by seeing only a cross on the banners of the armies, knowing that they
are armies gathered under the name of Christ (5 V), they would run to unite
with them. There would be many auxiliary soldiers and villagers there, who
could perhaps guide many as leaders, and would end up competing to liberate
themselves from the slavery of the Turks together with their sons that were
taken away from them by force of the same Turks, of whom they make later
on whatever they want. These not only would serve as soldiers, but also as
guides and for the provision of all the necessary supplies to the armies in all
those lands.
The third point worthy of reflection is that, these same Christians, with
the guidance of some of ours, who could turn back and take care in the
meanwhile to fortify the cities, and to erect in the provinces (6 R) some
fortresses, in places which are most suitable to consolidate dominion for
good. As a result of being Christians, they would readily do it, as it would be
for the defence of their own liberty, sons and possessions, so much so that
the first rule that should be given to our men would be not to harm those
Christians, but to embrace them and to treat them courteously.
The fourth point to consider is this, that any Christian prince alone
cannot undertake this task, rather, at least two are necessary, or three, since it
is necessary to divide the forces of the Turk, and to deprive the Sultan of the
possibility of going to war in persona, for as a result of being attacked by a
single band, he himself encounters it with innumerable army against which
one can barely (6V) resist due to its number, not to mention the factor of
The recognition of primacy of the Pope amongst the other churches and authorities in
35
Christendom.
91
encouragement by the presence of their lord. However, if he is attacked from

various parts, the Great Turk will be obliged to stay in Constantinople to
defend the throne of the empire, and consequently he would send a pasha
with a hundred thousand Turks against the Christian army, which would
come from Poland. Furthermore, the reader should consider what an easy
task it is to beat such an army of the Turks, if one first of all considers that
the Turks do not have much military discipline and that they combat without
order, without any distance and with great confusion. It is with experience
that I have seen, since I was for six years in Moldavia, responsible for the
missionaries in that province, which (7 R) borders with the Kingdom of
Poland. The Sultan [Gran Turn] who died recently (brother of Sultan Osman
who went to Poland to conquer that kingdom, and was killed by the militia
on the way back)36 is worth remembering that he sent eighty thousand Turks
against the Polack almost suddenly, with the hope of beating him with a great
army. [However], they were met by the commander in chief of the Kingdom
of Poland with twelve thousand soldiers - and not more - that few of them
returned back, and the Sultan had that pasha later beheaded. And this is not a
fable, since the Polacks who have this experience, can confirm it. Now, I
would say that, (7 V) if a pasha with eighty thousand Turks was beaten by the
general of Poland with twelve thousand soldiers, what would the Turk do if
he were attacked from more sides, and if he were to face the very King of
Poland who would go [to war] in persona to fight the Turk with a hundred
thousand soldiers, [who are] rightful Christians with another sort of
judgement and discipline of combat that the Turk does not have. And the
Kingdom of Poland, as it is known, easily has an army of a hundred thousand
soldiers. And when this general of the kingdom went [to war] with twelve
thousand soldiers, he did not do it as a result of the lack of soldiers, but
rather because he evaluated the valour of the Polish soldiers against those of
the Turks, knowing the easiness of defeating the Turks. (8 R) The same
reason applies also to the army, where the Emperor would campaign through
the Kingdom of Hungary, where I also have been, as a result of having been
the former minister in that country. It is true that the Turk does not have any
fortresses in his lands. He has a few in Hungary on those borders, which he
took from the King of Hungary, and he preserves them as a result of
36
Allusion is made to the military campaign of Hotin in 1621, a Polish fortress near the
Dnyepr river, the details of which follow in the commentary on the text.
92
bordering with the Emperor. However, they are very few, and if the Turk
were attacked by different bands, he would not think of defending but two or
three fortresses. In this way, one could also talk about armies which could be
formed by other allied Christian princes. Since against (8 V) everyone, the
Great Turk can do nothing but send a pasha with a hundred thousand
soldiers at most, who would suffer the same thing that happened to the
aforementioned pasha who went against the Polacks. In this way, the Turk
would take all the armies, and could do nothing but flee by leaving
Constantinople, to escape in Asia.
Some would ask, "who would then bring agreement among the
Christian princes once the Turk is defeated?". "They would fight among each
other and there would never be peace." I would respond, that who brought
agreement between the French and the Venetians when they took
Constantinople and the empire of the Greeks, as history speaks. (9 R) With
utmost peace the French remained lords of Constantinople, and gave the
patriarchate of the terra ferrm to the Venetians with the islands and other
provinces. The empire of the French in Constantinople lasted around sixty
years. In the future, many kingdoms occupied by the Turk in Europe could
do like this. Every prince would take [a land] which would be the closest to
him, as someone would join [him for aid]. If it were so easy to conquer the
Turks, why have we not seen such progress when there were wars between
the Christians and the Turks? To which, I respond that, never have the
Christian princes fought the Turk in a united fashion by several bands on the
sea, (9 V) and at the same time by several bands on the land. As a result, the
Turk has not been conquered, as it could have been done, as it can still be
done. Since I know Turkey, as I have been there for many years, and as I
have talked with ambassadors and other personalities of various princes in
Constantinople, I do not know of any way through which the Turk could
resist. For further confirmation of what I have said, I am mentioning here a
council gathered by the dead Great Turk, where some of our [men] in
Constantinople penetrated. As he [the Great Turk] recently saw the disunity
among Christian princes, and how they were debilitated by continual wars,
stated to his counsellors his intentions of occupying some neighbouring
kingdom of the Christians. (10 R) Many applauded such an intention, saying
that such an opportunity should not be lost. However, an old pasha answered
saying: "My lord. Before having been appointed to this post by Your Majesty,
I was a shepherd of the sheep. (It is not the custom of the Great Turk to
93
have nobility of blood in his kingdom, rather, he selects some who have the
more natural talent for such an office.) Once upon a time, when I was giving
bread to the dogs which were guarding the ranch, they started fighting and
mistreating each other, but fortunately, there came a wolf which devoured
some of the sheep. As the dogs saw this, they made peace (10 V) among each
other, went against the wolf and killed it in a united way, My lord." This
pasha added "the Christians are similar to these dogs, who lacerate each other
for a piece of bread, so to say. And our army is similar to the wolf which
wants to take away their state. When they will see it close, immediately, will
they come to terms among each other, and come against us in a united way.
It is known by all of us, what a fright it is, a league of the Christian princes."
Conversing about not knowing what they would have done, if Turkey were
attacked from various sides, another pasha added for consolation of the
Great Turk: "My lord, there is no reason to fear that the (11 R) Christian
princes unite against us. They are so inimical to each other, that soon they
will unite with us, to their detriment, rather than uniting among each other, to
ours." And thus was closed that session.
From this, it results that, the best way to beat the Turk is to attack him
from various sides at the same time. May God permit that the Christian arms
join against the Turk. Moreover, if I am not mistaken, this would enable the
easiest way to dictate him at least a truce - if not peace - so that one can
make peace among the [Christian] princes for at least a few years , without
leaving arms. I do not want to mention (11 V) how Christian princes will
account for this in the tribunal of God, since it is not my concern. However,
I would like to say that, it [the war plan] would be the taking of many
kingdoms, even empires, rather than that of a city or of a fortress. Where one
loses thousands and thousands of Christians, one presents himself useful and
honest in this life, and earns himself a reward in the other one with proper
intentions.
As to the dominion of the Turk on the sea, it is to be known that, as it

is not the custom to have fortresses and citadels in the countries that he has
on land, [and] neither is it [the sultan's] custom to have them on the islands,
on the marine cities or on the many islands of the Archipelago which he
possesses, it is certain that he does not posses (12 R) any fortress but in
Rhodes which he recently took from the Knights of St. John of Malta. [The
fortress] is preserved at present, in the same way as they found it. In spite of
the fact that, on the islands of the Archipelago he has many cities, as I have
94
already seen, having travelled most of those islands, he does not keep them
fortified. When I went to Constantinople for the first time, under the
circumstances of not having found a place on a ship, I travelled on a brig37
\Ber^tntino\, which departed from Crete [Candid] towards Chios? [Sera]38, with
whom I travelled slowly and comfortably to all of those islands. Similarly, one
can see a small fortress in the city of Scio, which also recently fell into the
hands of the Turks, after having been kept (12 V) under the dominion of the
Genoese for many years. In the present, apart from those four [fortresses]
that are on the Bosphorus in Thrace, one cannot see in other maritime
localities subject to the Turk, any fortress worthy of consideration.
Therefore, the most important fortresses that the Turk has, are those
four which see the city of Constantinople on the sea: those two in
Constantinople towards the Black Sea, five miles away from the city; and two
others towards this side, two hundred miles from Constantinople, where it
extends in a range of one Italian mile, the Turk has the aforementioned
fortresses, one on the Asian and the other on the European side. In a similar
way, the other two fortresses towards the Black Sea, (13 R) induce
astonishment to everyone, as to how that sea called Bosphorus of Thrace,
which is two hundred Italian miles long, comes to close itself naturally
without any artifice, coming from both parts of Constantinople. However,
the reader should know, as everyone could prove, what these fortresses are
worth on the sea, considering the number of the cannons, with which one
can easily launch an offensive against ships, even when there are no towers or
walls. However, on the land side, one can launch an attack so easily, since the
walls are low and old, and the bastions are low, without any graves [around
them]. If [the author] did not know, those who have seen it, will testify the
(13 V) same. I would not say that they could be taken by [throwing] oranges
[mranci]. However, the one on the European side, has a hill on the back
side, from the top of which one can beat that small castle with rocks.39
37
A brig is a two-masted ship with square sails and an extra fore-and-aft sail on the main
mast. See voice "brig" in A S. Hornby, Ckford Admnoed Learner's Dictionary cf Current
English, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974), p.105.
38
The place that the author mentions as Sao in Italian, is most probably the island of
Chios, off the coast of Izmir.
39
The hUl that the author refers to, is the hill behind the Rumdibisan fortress on the
European side of the Bosphorus. Although it is true that one can launch an attack from
95
Do not say that I did not see them properly, as I saw them only passing
by on the ship. Since every time that I went there, I stayed in those castles.
For there is a villa next to it where the Turks live, who sell the passengers
objects of need on such journeys. Moreover, in the mentioned villa, there
lives a Jannissary by the name of Asian Qelebi [Asian Cekbi], who is very
friendly towards the (14 R) Latin Christians. As I have personally received
him in the convent upon his arrival in Constantinople, since he serves many
ambassadors and merchants, upon the occasion of the passage of merchant
ships, and I have stayed in the house of the aforementioned. Together with
him, I have seen the castle in the very detail, which is on the Asian side. Since
the mentioned Janissary is a soldier of the mentioned casde, and not only I,
but everyone else with me saw how little care the Turk takes of fortifying his
land. Which I believe is the will of blessed God, so that one day the cult of
God can return to those places, thanks to the Christian forces. (14 V) May
the reader especially take into consideration that when I went to
Constantinople, I did not have the occasion of taking a ship as I have just
mentioned. Having sailed to Chios from Crete on a Greek brig - which is
four hundred Italian miles away from Constantinople - I found in Chios, or
to put it better, arriving in the mentioned city, two galleys of the Great Turk,
which were coming from Alexandria. I was persuaded by our Christians who
live in that city, not to let go that convenience of travelling to Constantinople.
At the beginning, I did not want to concede out of fear of navigating with the
Turks. However, in the end, having myself recommended by those merchants
to the captain of the galleys, I embarked with my (15 R) companions, in
that hill and that it is not surrounded by graves, the renovated castle today is not small at
all, and the walls are not low. It is not certain what the exact condition of the casde was
at the beginning of the seventeenth century. However, interestingly enough, a
reproduction of a picture of Rurrdihisan dating 1698 by Cornelle Le Bruyn (Rosen wn
Cornelius de Bruyn. Delft, 1698.) depicts the fortress as a rather unimpressive place. Other
pictures from the nineteenth century on the other hand, depict the same fortress as more
impressive and restored. Therefore, it may be presumed that Rurrdihisan was indeed not
a very strong castle in the seventeenth century due to the relative lack of importance of
maintenance of a castle on the Bosphorus, after it had completed its original purpose of
controlling the passage from the Bosphorus during the conquest of Constantinople. The
pictures are in Mustafa Sevim, (ed.), GraTurlerle Trnkiye. istanbii 1., (Ankara: T.C Kultiir
Bakanlrgi Yayimlar Dairesi Ba§ kanlrgi, 1996.)
96
exchange for the small fee of two scudi40 only for each person. I happily went
with them, without receiving any hassle, on with this very occasion, I stayed
for a few days in the aforementioned castles. I observed everything very well,
considering how easily those castles could be taken by the Christian army,
which can find a berth four or five miles off the mentioned castles - as the
sea is most convenient for any sort of navigation - and attack the mentioned
castles from the land and take them
As a result of the voyage that I made with the Turks, I will narrate a
custom that these people have, which will serve as mere entertainment to the
reader. As I was (15 V) eating with my companions on those galleys of the
Turk, many of them were coming around our table without being invited, and
were starting not only to eat, but also to share what was on the table, and
they were offering to us the pieces as if they were the hosts, and we, the
guests. As I arrived in Constantinople, narrating to many [people] what
happened on the voyage, among other things, I also narrated this fact. They
told me with much laughter, that this is the custom of the Turks. "When they
find others who are eating, they take a seat at the table without being invited,
and as a part of Turkish custom, they distribute and share the food that is on
the table. In the course of time, (16 R) I have experienced this to be true on
many occasions.
However, to come back to what I was saying to conclude, it is very easy
to win the fight and beat the Turk and to drive him away, at least from the
lands that he usurped in Europe. Let not anyone think that the Turk have
great forces and armies on the sea, for he certainly would be mistaken. Since,
considering the navy here, as I have talked many times to our ambassadors
here in Constantinople, the Turk has become extremely weak in naval affairs.
At present, he does not have more than sixty galleys, and hardly any army.
Although he ordered many galleys to be constructed, as a result of fighting
with the Venetians and the capture of the (16 V) barbarian galleys in the last
year, nonetheless it was observed by those gentlemen and by me in
Constantinople, that he cannot construct a great fleet. Since he does not have
seasoned wood, nor does he have slave oarsmen, since it is not his custom to
condemn the criminals as oarsmen. Furthermore, when he wants to arm a
new galley, as he does not have any Christian slaves, he pays many Turks that
he calls from the villages on the mainland, so that they would oar that
40
A scudo was a golden or silver coin.
97
summer in the navy. They are inept for such work Since in the navy, there is
need for people who have practice, and who are born on the sea, so to say,
(17 R) and apart from the fact that in such practices, the Turks have very
little experience in maritime matters, being a rough people of intelligence.
However, nowadays, the galleys that the Turk has are guided by Christians,
who are above those in the chain [of command]. I have seen this myself with
experience, as I have mentioned above.
It is finally to note that the Turk has arsenals with the necessary
provisions for a navy, as the Christians have. However, he only has arsenals
to construct ships, without having seasoned wood and other similar things.
When he wants to mobilise, he green [unseasoned] wood, which only comes
from the Black Sea, with which it is impossible to construct galleys or (17 V)
ships, as they end up to be inept for navigation. [This fact] was observed by,
and [we talked about it] with the aforementioned gentlemen on recent past
occasions, and it was observed by those who live or pass through the
mentioned city.
It therefore remains that, blessed God inspire him, who can unite the
Christian forces for the greater glory of Christ, our Lord, and to the
detriment of the Turk, enemy of the Christians. As to the easiness of realising
and putting it into action, it is such that it brings astonishment to whom has
seen it
41
I am adding a few more words that, if those peoples at present, were

subjugated by the Latin forces, they would follow (18 R) - or to put it better -
they would observe the Latin rite in matters of religion. As there are few
Greeks left - as I have mentioned before - in comparison to the Turks, they
have this past [traditione] of becoming Christians [again] one day.42
Consequently, as soon as the Latin princes come to possess those lands, they
would have the subjects of the same rite without any difficulty, since the
41 illegible.
42The author's interpretation of this vague sentence is that, Petricca da Sonnino hopes
the Greeks to embrace the true Catholic faith one day. Since he sees the Greek version
of Orthodox Christianity, a degeneration of the one and only true faith(see note no:l to
the text).
98
Turks would become Christians without any difficulty. This is very important
for peace and preservation of the dominion, since it has partially been the
diversity in rite, the reason of schism and hatred which reigned between the
Latins and the Greeks.
As I was travelling in those lands, I thought to myself, (18 V) how the

blessed God permits that many Christian lands be occupied by the enemies
of Christ, our Lord. May that hour that God wishes come, in which, with the
help of the Latin forces the Latin rite be established in the whole world,
which would bring more unity and peace. May the reader now conclude and
think what an acquisition the Christian armies could make, which are now
turned against the very Christians, to the indignation of the faithful of the
Orient and the Occident. How much they could conquer, for the service and
name only, of Christ, our Lord. Our Lord, in the tribunal of whom, they will
rigidly account for... May our Lord God illuminate and inspire to obey, to
whom f t commands peace. Amen.
On Petricca's Manuscript
There is a book that was briefly mentioned in the previous chapters,

which sheds light on the content and interpretation of the manuscripts of
Marchesi and Petricca. This book is the L 'Othommno by Lazzarro Soranzo.43
The book which was written forty two years before Petricca's treatise, and
probably a few years before that of Marchesi, serves to confirm many of the
military perceptions enjoyed by the Venetians concerning a possible war
against the Ottomans. There are important parallels between Soranzo's and
Petricca's work - as it further on appears - especially concerning the naval
aspects of a prospective war. If one considers the first part of the Marchesi
treatise as a political sample of the late crusader ideal, engineered by the Holy
See, then the Petricca treatise provides the reader with both a political as well
as military point of view. In this case L 'Othcmmm of Soranzo is more similar
to the Petricca treatise, from a stylistic as well as content point of view.
It will be useful to repeat here that Soranzo was a Venetian whose book
L'Otbormmo was banned in Venice as a result of its anti-Ottoman rhetoric,
43 Lazaro Soranzo, L 'Ohormrmo, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale, 1598.)
99
and could only be published in 1598 in Ferrara, in the Pontificate territory.

An interesting observation of how to conduct war against the Ottomans
comes from Soranzo in a similar military tactic as in Petricca's work. Soranzo
elaborately depicts the scenario of a total irnr proposing the Polish,
Hungarians and Transylvanians, using various possible routes to attack the
Turks, noting that the most feared route by the Turks is the line that follows
Sofia, Plovdiv and Adrianople.44 He further depicts a total war scenario: the
Emperor accompanied by a cavalry of Hungarians and that of the Polish
which are experienced in combat against the Turks, together with German
infantry, should sail on the Danube through Serbia, to arrive in Thrace to
attack Constantinople. The King of France, with all his forces, should sail
from Brindisi in southern Italy to Albania, accompanied by the Venetians and
other Italians as well as Swiss infantry, who would then attack Greece, which
is populated by Christian inhabitants, who would rebel against the Turks.
Furthermore, the kings of Spain, Portugal and England should unite their
armies at Carthage, consisting of two hundred ships full of Spanish and other
nationalities' soldiers, to move on to the strait of Gallipoli to conquer it.
Towards the same spot, the Pope should sail from Ancona on the Adriatic
coast in Italy, with a hundred galleys, attacking Ottoman territories on land as
well as from the sea.45
Another interesting information from Soranzo is on the reciprocal
intelligence activities of the Ottomans and the Venetians, which also appears
in Petricca's accounts of the Janissary providing him information.46
According to Soranzo, the sultan is very well informed about the plans and
plots of the Christians through merchants and Christians themselves who
work as spies either for money in compensation for their service, or to
compensate for a crime they have committed, to liberate themselves from
incarceration. He claims that Jews, who are great enemies of Christianity,
perform a good amount of spying activity for the Ottomans, as their
commercial activity with Italy facilitates this. He says they do this partly to
receive good compensation, and partly to secure their children and families,
having done good service to influential people in the Ottoman hierarchy.
One of these Jews that Soranzo mentions is a man by the name of Giovanni
Miches, whom Soranzo blames for having been partly the cause of the last
44 Soranzo, op. cit. p. 124.

45 Soranzo, op. cit. pp. 125-126.
46 Petricca, p. 13 V- 14R.
100
war that the Venetians had with the Ottomans.47 Soranzo claims that
Giovanni Miches was disgusted with the Venetians as a result of his trade
affairs having been prevented by them. Soranzo also mentions another Jew
by the name of Giovanni Lopes, whose picture was burned in Rome by the
Inquisition, who informed Sultan Murad III of many secrets of Pope Sixtus V
(pont. 1585-1590). He furthermore, warns the reader of the certain existence
of paid spies of the sultan in every country and that (he adds "unbelievable
but true") there are also the Swiss among them.48
Naval matters about the Ottomans were of prime importance to anyone
who wanted to wage war against the Ottomans. As to the confirmation of
naval facts about the Ottoman Empire, Soranzo, some forty years before,
repeats the same lines as Petricca on the ships of the Ottomans:
It is certain that, as mentioned the Turks make use of such

badly seasoned, green wood, which is cut without
observing the moon, that their galleys end up to be not
very good and resistant. Moreover, they have the custom
of making them always in a hurry, besides, the façades that
47 This "last war" might be referring to two incidents. It might either be the 1585
incident where the family of Ramazan Pa§a - the defunct governor of Libia - was
attacked and raped by the Venetian commander on the sea, on their way to Istanbul.
Another possibility is that, it might refer to the Uskok incident, where a series of Uskok
pirate attacks on the Ottoman possessions on the land as well as Ottoman ships took
place around Dalmatia in 1590. In both incidents, the Ottoman Empire and Venice
came to the verge of war. However, it seems, both the incidents were prevented from
further escalation by Safiye Sultan - a Venetian herself - who was the wife of Sultan
Murad III. Strangely enough it seems, that around the same years, there was a Jewish
woman by the name of Kim working in the Ottoman harem's cellars, who was providing
the Venetians with information in exchange for important favours in Cyprus, provided
by the Venetian merchants. Yet it is not certain to which war Soranzo alludes. See Ismail
Hakki Uzungar§ili, Osrmnli Tariki, vol:4, (Ankara: Atatiirk Kiiltiir, Dil ve Tarih Yuksek
Kurumu, Turk Tarih Kurumu Yayinlan, 1999), p.138-139. The incident about Kira
appears in Harrrmr Tarihi (Ata Bey Terciimesi), c.7, s.136., in Ismail Hakki Uzun§ar§ili,
op. cit., ibid.)
48 Soranzo, op. cit., p.66.
101
are made to cover them are not well-placed and are not
rain-proof.49
Soranzo adds that the Ottomans were dependent on the Christians for
constructing as well as operating their navy50 The same fact is mentioned by
Contarini in his relazione saying that the last two ships recendy constructed in
his time in Istanbul - which were the best ever constructed there - were made
by a Greek convert, who learned the art of constructing ships in the arsenal
of Livorno. Contarini reports that the sultan spends 5000 vedi per month for
the maintenance of the arsenal. According to Soranzo, the Ottomans take the
wood for their ship, especially from the Gulf of Nicomedia (Izmit) near the
capital, among other places, where they have abundance of wood.51 Contarini
emphasises the Black Sea region as the place where most of the wood comes
for ship-construction. However, he says the same thing as Soranzo that the
Ottomans do not respect the moon phases for the cutting of wood and that
they do not cut the forests in such a way that it could regain its vigour.
Apparently, this all resulted in de-forestation, as Contarini says that whereas
they were cutting wood near the seashore a few years ago, now they have to
travel a few days' distance inwards.52 On these points, Contarini and Soranzo
seem to be in total agreement with Petricca that the Ottoman navy was not
the match for a united Christian navy. The incompetence of the commanders
and the lack of expertise is also mentioned by Contarini, in agreement with
Petricca. Contarini says that when the aforementioned galleys were
constructed there was "no one who was willing and capable of commanding
[them], it is also because of this shortage that they are today inept and
unarmed".53
Overall, one gets the impression from Petricca's manuscript that, a total
and united Christian attack on the Ottomans was an easy task, as the title of
his manuscript suggests. Leaving aside the political considerations in the
49 Soranzo, op. cit., p.38.
50 Soranzo, op.cit., p.39.
51 Soranzo, op.cit., p.38.

52 Nicolò Barozzi, and Berchet, Guglielmo, op. cit., pp.349-351.
53 Nicolò Barozzi, and Berchet, Guglielmo, op. cit., p.356.
102
midst of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), seen solely from the military
point of view, Petricca's dream of "easily conquering" the Ottoman lands,
seems out of every realistic military consideration in the seventeenth century.
As it results from Contarini's wdazione, the Ottoman army, in spite of losing
some of the grandeur of the past times, was still a formidable army even in
front of a Christian alliance in the aforementioned period.54
However, the real importance of Petricca's manuscript lies in the fact
that, together with the ideas of Marchesi before him and those of Fra Paolo
da Lagni after him, who presented a similar treatise for waging war against
the Turks to the apostolic authorities in 1679, Petricca's ideas set the
foundations of the idea of a crusade to Pope Innocent XI55, the architect of
the defence of Vienna in 1683, and that of the first collective efficient military
campaign against the Turks on land.
The first point on which Petricca bases his idea of waging war against
the Ottomans is the fact that the Ottomans demolished the castles in the
places that they conquered, therefore he says that the Christian army would
have a great advantage in not besieging and trying to conquer castles of the
Turks. In a way he presents a picture that the way to Istanbul was open to a
marching Christian army without much resistance on the side of the
Ottomans. (Petricca 2V-4V) Although it cannot be assumed that the
Ottoman armies were to let an enemy army right into the heart of the empire
without a major battle, the success of which was always uncertain, there is an
element of truth in what Petricca says about the Ottoman strategy of
demolishing the castles in the conquered lands for security reasons. Halil
Inalcik, in his article entitled "Ottoman Methods of Conquest", comments on
the issue as follows:
54 Nicolò Barozzi and Berchet, Guglielmo, op. cit., pp.338-348.

55 "Le projet d'Ange Petricca da Sonnino allait être, d'une certaine façon, à la base de
l'idée de 'croisade' défendue par Innocent XI Odescalchi qui, elle-même, reprenait ce qui
avait été suggéré en 1679 au pape par un autre religieux, le capucin français Paul de
Lagny, lequel, après un séjour sur les terres du sultan, était arrivé à la conviction que les
prences chrétiens, au lieu dese limiter à repousser les attaques turques, auraient dû,
ensemble, prendre d'assaut l'empire turc, désormais en plein déclin." Gaetano Platania,
"Innocent XI Odescalchi et l'esprit de 'croisade'" in X VIF Siede La Reconquête Catolique
enEumpe Centrale, (n.p., Société d'Étude du XVIIe Siècle, Avril-Juin 1998), p.259.
103
Before the army of conquest was withdrawn, small

garrisons were immediately placed in several fortresses of
strategic importance. Then the remaining fortresses were
often demolished by special order of the Sultan. This
measure, which was often applied by the Ottomans, was
taken firstly in order to avoid the necessity of maintaining
forces in them, and secondly in order to prevent a
reemergence of centres of resistance under local lords.
Then as a rule sipahis (cavalrymen) who composed the
main force of the Ottoman army were given txmm in the
villages throughout the newly conquered country. Some of
these, with the name hisar-eri or kale-en, were stationed in
the fortresses as well. These hisar-eris constituted the real
military force in most of the fortresses in the 15th Century.
Apparently as a security measure these regular forces were
recruited from distant parts of the Empire. According to
the record-books the majority of hisar-eris in Anatolia came
from Rum-ili (the Balkans), and in Rum-ili from Anatolia.
Even with a limited number of fortified places the
Ottomans found it necessary to employ the native
population as auxiliary forces, otherwise a large part of the
Ottoman army would have had to remain inactive in
hundreds of fortresses throughout the Empire. The
faithfulness of these native forces was encouraged by
special privileges, such as exemption from certain taxes.
Such privileges, however, were not granted permanently
and could be withdrawn at the pleasure of the Sultan.56
The second point that Petricca strongly emphasises is the presence of

the Christian peoples within the Ottoman Empire. Evidently Petricca sees the
Christian peoples in the empire as a potential ally, upon whom one may
count. For as he elaborates, the fathers would join up with the converted
sons serving in the Turkish army, once there was a war between the
Christians and Ottomans (Petricca, 5V). According to him, the differences of
56Halil Inalcik, "Ottoman Methods of Conquest" in Studia Islanica, V.2, (Paris: Larose,
1954), pp.107-108.
104
sect between the Orthodox and Catholics to the common people is not a
matter of discernment, and that seeing the cross on the banners of the
Christian army would suffice for the common people to join the Catholics.
The differences of faith between the two Christian communities, according to
Petricca, stem from theological matters and could easily be overcome.
However, the general tone of the manuscript suggests - as Petricca himself
later on explicitly states - that he would have rather preferred conversion of
the Eastern Christians to the Catholic faith, as he mentions this wish of his
(Petricca , 18R) not only for the Eastern Christians, but quite unrealistically
also for the Turks.
The traditional rivaliy between the two Christian rites can later on be
read between the lines, as Petricca puts forward his third point, in suggesting
re-edification of castes in the re-conquered lands from the Turks, for the
purpose of consolidation of the conquest. He suggests that the Christians of
the conquered lands not be harmed, and (unlike the past examples of the
Latin conquests of Byzantine lands) the people be treated as brothers.
The fourth and perhaps the most crucial point of the manuscript is
Petricca's open invitation to all the Christian rulers of Europe to go to war
against the Turks. For he considers the failure to do so, the biggest strategic
and political mistake of all times against the infidels. Since, the only way to
defeat the Sultan is to attack him from various sides, on the land and on the
sea simultaneously (Petricca, 9R-9V), in order to divide his forces and to
prevent him from going to the battlefield personally, which would de-
moralise his soldiers. The most crucial aspect of this move would be the unity
of Christian princes at least in time of war. He gives the historical fact of the
fourth crusade where the French and Venetians joined to conquer
Constantinople as an example. (8V-9R) There is an implicit reference to the
ongoing Thirty Years War, as later on Petricca suggests the fighting Christian
princes to make at least a truce, if not peace and instead attack the Turks
(Petricca, 11R). As to the ease of realising this task, he mistakenly says that
the Turks do not know how to combat and confuses the different military
strategy of the Ottomans with the European ones valid in those times, with
lack of order and discipline. Oddly enough, according to Marchesi, these
military tactics were precisely the reason why the Christians had been
unsuccessful against the Turks (Marchesi, 10V).
Petricca further on gives yet another miscalculated military evaluation
of the Ottoman Janissaries and alludes to their defeat at the military campaign
105
of Hotin in 1621, a Polish fortress near the Dnyepr river. The military
campaign of Hotin which was undertaken at the time of Sultan Osman II
(b.l603-d.l622) coincided with a time of extreme loss of discipline of the
Janissaries, coupled with an unhappy military campaign which caused the
Sultan to blame the soldiers for the failure on the battle-field and refused
payment of the promised money to them. The consequent alienation between
the Osman II and the Janissaries culminated in Osman's dethronement the
following year and his execution. This fact, which was an exceptionally
unhappy fate for a sultan, was one of the rare occasions of a sultan being
dethroned and killed by his own soldiers. However, Osman was succeeded by
his brother Murad IV (1623-1640), who compensated for the weaknesses of
his brother, and is known to be one of the most powerful Ottoman sultans,
quite an exception especially for the stagnation period of the Ottomans in the
first half of the seventeenth century. Therefore, it is either Petricca's
misperception to underestimate the Ottoman military power in the early
seventeenth century, or he deliberately ignores certain facts to encourage his
audience. Just three decades ago Marchesi presents the reader with a totally
different image of the military might of the Turks, and despite the Ottoman
military stagnation, this image was to endure until 1683.
Considering these ideas contained in Petricca's work, having examined
the realistic, as well as the unrealistic parts contained in it, one is left with two
conclusions: Petricca was either too ignorant of the military facts as well as
over-optimistic about the political ones, or that the whole treatise must be
considered in another light. Namely, that of the political milieu the Holy See
found itself towards the mid-seventeenth century, and in the midst of the
Thirty Yeas War, after which almost half of Europe was lost to the
Protestants. The years following Petricca's work mark the Treaty of
Westphalia in 1648, and the consolidation of the Protestant states, as well as
the reassertion of France into the European political system - a state with a
Catholic majority, but almost never in agreement with the Holy See - a state
which did not hesitate to ally itself with Protestant Sweden to counter-
balance the Catholic German presence in Europe. Under such conditions, the
political jargon presented by Petricca, reflects the policy of Pope Urban VIII
(Maffeo Barberini), who tried in vain to settle the enmities between France
and Spain, to ally them against the Protestants in the Thirty Years War. "The
failure of the Pope to achieve peace between the Catholic parties to the
Thirty Years War was an eloquent - and for the Papacy an ominous -
106
indicator of the increasingly marginal place of religious considerations in

determining the politics of Europe" 57 The same efforts of Petricca to unite
the Christian rulers against the Ottoman infidels - although proved to be a
failure during the Thirty Years War - having set the example to the future
clergy and Pope Innocent XI, was a final success. However, Petricca's
intentions during the religious wars, were precisely to divert the attention
from the ongoing war in Europe to the Ottomans, trying to create a
completely different front. This would have served the triple-function of
ending enmities between the Christians, defeating and conquering Ottoman
lands, hence its riches; and finally reasserting the unifying and supreme
ancient role of the Mother Church, in an era where Europe of the modern
times was drawing itself away towards another political system, which did not
care too much about religion, if it did not suit its interest. In other words,
whereas before religion meant unity under Christendom against the infidels, it
started to have a more national colour and the religious diversities between
the European states stemmed directly from political rivalries, rather than
from mere theological questions.
The "Turkish Question" and European Unity
There were mainly two sources of confrontation-cooperation between

the Italians and Ottomans: trade and war. Venice mainly tried to perpetuate
trade relations with the Ottomans. As a general rule, when the balance
showed that war brought more profit than trade, it did not hesitate to take
part in it. In such cases it presented itself as the most ardent propagator of
war, as it was on the occasion of the naval battle of Lepanto. However, the
balance usually indicated for Venice a peaceful co-existence with the
Ottomans, as trade and war usually do not go together.
An important source of information about the image that the Turks
enjoyed in this period, are the vdaziom of the Venetian ambassadors. They
somehow present the historian with a different point of view about the
military aspects of the Ottoman Empire than those sources of the clergymen
of Rome. This results from the substantial amount of diversity in the
perception of Venice and Rome of the Ottoman Empire. While for the
former, as it results from the rdazione of Alvise Contarini, the Turks were an
57 Eamon Duffy, op. cit., p. 184.
107
entity to get along as diplomatically as possible with minimum losses,

probably evading war at all costs, with the prime aim of maximising trade
profits. For the former, they were an entity upon whom to wage war at all
costs, although, ironically enough, it somehow could never be realised.
It seems that although Petricca was not a diplomat and an expert
military strategist, he must have had enough common sense to understand
that the picture he gave in his treatise of the Ottoman Empire, and especially
of its military aspects, were not totally realistic. The exaggerated image he
presents the reader about the military weaknesses of the Ottomans most
reasonably stem from the ideological preoccupation of convincing to
promote a crusade against the Ottomans in an era of Catholic-Protestant
clash in Europe. It somehow sounds unusual to hear pleas for a crusade from
an authority of the Catholic Church in the middle of the Thirty Years War,
from a political point of view. However, it totally makes sense from an
ideological point of view to promote war against the infidels to diverge the
attention from the Protestant question to the infidel question, therefore hitting
the twofold aim of transporting an essentially European war to a
geographically remote area, and fulfilling the role of once again having a say
in European politics as the uniting factor. This was a role that was lost
following the Reformation, after centuries of prestige as the spiritual and
partially also as the temporal leader of Christendom.
In fact this argument is indirectly supported in strong language by the
overemphasis on the centuries-old "unity of Christendom" rhetoric by
Petricca. It may easily be presumed that - once the crusade were realised - the
"war against the Turk" represented an excellent opportunity for
Christendom, not only a valuable acquisition in terms of wealth and land, but
also temporary political unity, if not at least a truce: "May God permit that
the Christian arms join against the Turk. Moreover, if I am not mistaken, this
would enable the easiest way to dictate him at least a truce - if not peace - so
that one can make peace among the princes for at least a few years, without
leaving the arms."58 The feasibility of the task is illustrated by Petricca giving
the historical example of the crusader conquest of Constantinople in the
Fourth Crusade in 1204.
58 Petricca, op. cit., p.llR.
108
Some would ask, "who would then bring agreement

among the Christian princes once the Turk is defeated?".
"They would fight among each other and there would
never be peace." I would respond, who brought
agreement between the French and the Venetians when
they took Constantinople and the empire of the Greeks, as
histoiy speaks. With utmost peace the French remained
the lords of Constantinople, and gave the patriarchate of
the terra fenru to the Venetians with the islands and other
provinces. The empire of the French in Constantinople
lasted around sixty years. In the future, many kingdoms
occupied by the Turk in Europe could do like this.59
In this respect Petricca's emphasis on the similarities between the Greeks and
the Latins from a religious point of view and his total deliberate neglect of
the Protestants as far as religious diversities are concerned, are his very aim of
diverging attention from inter-European problems to a different geographical
area. It seems that the Turks almost served as an outlet of expression for
being the other and the disapproved, of, in the mind of the Europeans if the
reciprocal perceptions of the Protestants and the Catholics about their
similarities to the Turks are considered.
To conclude, as Norman Housley asserts, confirming what K.M.Setton
said:
Until a few years ago most historians would have said that
the inclusion of a chapter on events in the sixteenth
century in a book about the later crusades was at best
superfluous, and at worst misguided. They would have
argued that popular and governmental commitment to a
crusade against the Turks was negligible by 1500; that calls
for a crusade, no matter how frequently or forcefully made
by individual enthusiasts or the papal Curia, were
therefore anachronistic, meriting serious study only by
antiquarians; and most importantly, that narrating the
great conflicts which occurred in the sixteenth century
between the Ottomans and their western enemies,
especially the Habsburgs, in terms of a religious war is as
59
Petricca, op.cit., pp.8 V-9 R
109
misleading as applying that description to, say, the allied

campaigns against the Turkish armies in the First World
War. It is the achievements of Professor K.M.Setton to
have shown how inaccurate this view was.60 By simply
describing what took place, Professor Setton
demonstrated that, while these relations accommodated
many new features characteristic of an age of profound
change, they also formed a continuation of crusading
history, in terms of basic ideas and institutions as well as
terminology. No great chasm separated the world of King
Philip II of Spain and Pope Pius V from that of Philip the
Good of Burgundy and Pius II; the one evolved from the
other and shared many of its features. 61
As the battle of Nicopolis (Nigbolu) in Bulgaria on 25 September 1396

against the Ottomans was a turning point for the crusaders where the great
enthusiasm of the past to re-conquer the Holy Lands and Eastern Europe
was lost for good.62 The fall of Constantinople made the Europeans realise a
fact that was gradually, but rapidly taking shape in Eastern Europe: that the
Ottomans possessed almost the entire Balkans. The various incursions of the
Ottomans in Friuli in the late 1460s and the 1470s, followed by the fall of
Otranto in 1480, only engraved in the Italian mind, the urgent necessity of
defence of the homeland. For Rome, the period that passed between the fall
of Constantinople until Reformation at the beginning of the sixteenth century
was a time of the attempts to organise various crusades for saving
Christendom from the infidels. Beginning with the Reformation, to be
followed by the Thirty Years War, the Turkish question was to be solved
simultaneously with the Protestant question. This was either in the form of
targeting the Protestants within exhortations to war against the Turks, as seen
60 On the mentioned ideas of Setton, see Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Leiwt
(1204-1571). Vd.II., (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1978.)
61Norman Housley, The Later Crusades. From Lyons to Alcazar. 1274-1580, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press: 1992), p.118.
62Aziz S. Atiya, Crusade, Commerce and Culture, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1962), p.110.
110
in the Marchesi manuscript, or in the form of an ideological counter-

Reformation rhetoric, or in the form of "unity of Christendom" rhetoric to
take united military action against the Turks with the Protestants in order to
shift the ongoing military clash between the Protestants and the Catholics to
the Ottoman lands, as seen in the Petricca manuscript. As Malvezzi
documents it in his b o o k L'Isbrrismo e la Qdtura Eumpea, Dupreau in 1605
wrote: "In these times of ours, Mohammedanism was renovated by Luther
and by his disciples" and as Lodovico Maracci wrote in 1689: "The Calvinists
and the Sacramentists are both sons and disciples of Mohammedans". 63
It is only after 1683 that it became evident for the Europeans that the
Turks did not have neither the willingness anymore, nor the military capacity
of undertaking a conquest of the whole of Europe, let alone that of Rome
and becoming the masters of Ram caput rrundi, which still was the perception
of the Italians on the eve of 1683. International politics were partly
determined by the internal weaknesses of the Ottomans towards the turn of
the seventeenth century. The new European balance of power and relative
stability of the Westphalian system achieved in 1648 after decades of
Protestant-Catholic clash was coupled with the consolidation of power of the
old nation states such as France and England. Furthermore the extension of
European sovereignty to the newly conquered colonies outside Europe also
gradually opened an era where the European questions were now transported
and fought in the world at large. This not only prepared the ground for the
more favourable Enlightenment image of the Turk, but also created a
tangible change in the European attitude towards the Turkish question. It is
not a coincidence that the birth of orientalism in the modern sense and the
turqueries were born, and became a part of the European perception of the
Orient in this period. In fact, the Ottoman question which never became an
issue of a "total crusade of Christendom" after the beginning of the
eighteenth century - needless to say excluding single military clashes between
the Ottomans and the European powers - returned to the agenda on the eve
of World War I in a different political jargon, not under the name "crusade"
anymore, but under the rhetoric, "sick man Europe". This was a period of
exhaustion of the fight in the colonies among European powers outside of
Europe, and once again a short-lived period of transporting the familiar
refrain of the "civilised world" against the old "despots".
63 Aldobrandino Malvezzi, L 'Islarrisrm e la Cultura Eumpea, (Firenze: Sansoni Editore,

1956), p.260.
Ill
CHAPTER V
A N e w V i s i o n f r o m Venice: Delia Letteratura de' Turchi
A lthough the self image of the Ottomans or of the "Turks" as

they were called in Europe, is a relatively new study among
cultural historians of Turkey, the study of the image of the Turk
in Europe still remains a neglected subject amongst the same group of
historians. The image created in Italy about the Turks between the fifteenth
and the seventeenth centuries is of fundamental value to the modern
understanding of the European image of the Turk. This chapter gives an
overview of the Italian image of the Turks in the aforementioned centuries
through the rare and selected works of prominent figures of Italian religious
and secular authorities. This study examines and situates in its historical
context, an important representative milestone in the development of the
Turkish image; namely, the book of the Venetian ambassador Giambattista
D o n a : Delia Letteratttra de' Tuixhi. 1
Before starting to treat the argument, one should clarify the meaning or
rather the connotation of the word "Turk", as it is understood from the
Ottoman perspective, which differed considerably from that of the European
viewpoint. According to the classical viewpoint of the Ottomans, the "Turk"
was mostly viewed as being the nomadic Turcomans of Anatolia, often
having the connotation of uncouth and rough people, who in any case did
not belong to the Ottoman ruling elite. Although it had other meanings and
connotations, in almost no case, did it come to denote the Ottoman ruling
elite or the sultan. In other words, whether the members of the Ottoman
ruling elite - ethnically Turkish or not (given that the Ottoman Empire was a
multi-national Empire, as empires in the classical sense always are) - in the
heyday of the Ottoman Empire the word "Turk", as used by the Ottoman
elite had mostly pejorative connotations.2
1 Giovanni Battista Donado, Della Letteratura de' Turchi, (Veneria: Per Andrea Poletti,
1688.)
2Mehmet Kalpakk, "Osmanli Edebi Metinlerine Göre TürHük ve Osmanhlik", (Mersin:

Mersin Universitesi I. Ulusal Tarih Kongresi, Nisan 1997.) See also Taner Timur,
Corradi Kuriigi, (istanbul: Hil Yaym, 1986.)
112
A New Vision from Venice
The meaning of the "Turk" for Europe, on the other hand, was entirely-
different. The connotations of the word Turk for the Europeans differed to a
considerable extent from the mid-fifteenth century when the Turks
effectively started to become a military threat well into the heart of the
Balkans and Mittelmropa, until the European colonisation period at the
beginning of the twentieth century. Writers, historians and chroniclers of the
Middle Ages until the second half of the fifteenth century depicted the Turks
(which generally denoted the Ottomans) as barbarians and anti-Christ, of
whose obfuscated origin they knew little or nothing. By the sixteenth century
and with the increase of relations with the Ottomans through Italian, French,
English and Dutch merchants and the diplomatic representations that they
established in Istanbul, the Europeans started to have for the first time a
substantial amount of first-hand testimony of the "things about the Turks"
(cose de' Twxhi) as the Italians called it.
The Italians, and especially Venice plays an extremely important role in
the creation of the image of the Turk in Europe. Firstly, due to the
possessions of Venice in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the vital commercial
ties that it had through the numerous islands that it possessed. Second,
Venetian perceptions were effective because of the role that it played in
Europe especially from the second half of the fifteenth century to the end of
1600s as the press offwe of Europe between the sixteenth and the seventeenth
centuries.3 Venice had diplomatic representation at Constantinople centuries
before the conquest of the city by the Turks in 1453. Venice managed also to
carve out a good deal of Byzantine territory after the fourth Crusade (i.e. 3/8
altogether) and the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 thanks
to the Venetian bankers4 and thanks to the Venetian Dqg Enrico Dandolo
whose tomb is today on the right hand side of the gdlery inside the Saint
3 Carl Gollner, Twviot Die eurcpaésdxn Tùrkendrucke des XVI. Jahrhunderts, IMDI-MDL,
(1961.)
4Frederic G Lane, Storia di Venezia, 1973 The Johns Hopkins University Press, trans.
Franco Salvatorelli, (Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1978.) On the same subject see also
§erafettin Turan, Twkiye-itdya ili§kileri Selguklular'danBizans'insona ergine, (Istanbul: Metis
Yayinlari, 1990), on the first Turco-Italian treaty of peace and Cupertino of 1220 dating
back to the reign of Izzettin Keykavus (1211-1220), the Seljukide sultan.
113
Sophia in Istanbul.5 One of the first accounts of the Venetians of the Turks
in Anatolia comes from Marco Polo's famous travel book Milione around the
year 1260, some decades after the conquest of Constantinople by the
Crusaders:
Here is divided the province of Turkomania [Turkmen

lands]. In Turkomania there are three kinds of people. One
is the Turkmens and they adore Malcometo [Mohammed];
they are simple people and have rough language. They
dwell on the mountains and the valleys and live on animals;
they have horses and big mules of great worth. The others
are the Armenians and the Greeks who dwell in villas and
castles and live on commerce and arts. Here are produced
the most valuable and beautiful carpets of the world, and
every colour of silk is worked. There are other things,
which I will not mention. They are subdued to the Tartars
of the Levant.6
It is interesting to note here that there is very little mention of Anatolia, and
the Turks are depicted as rough shepherds in contrast to the cultivated
Armenians and the Greeks, and that the name Turoammma (deriving from
Turkmen) is used to denote Anatolia; whereas the name Grande Ttmhia (Great
Turkey) stood for the Qigatay Empire and Ttirkistan in Marco Polo's Milione.
5 See also Thomas F. Madden, "Venice and Constantinople in 1171 and 1172: Enrico
Dandolo's Attitude towards Byzantium", Mediterranean Historical Reuew, Vol: 8, No: 1,

(June 1993.)
6 Marco Polo, Milione, ed. Giorgio R. Cardona and Valeria Bertolucci Pizzorusso,
(Milano: Adelphi Edizioni S.P.A, 1975), pp. 27-28. What Marco Polo means by "them
being subdued to the Tatars of the Levant" is the reference to the Mongol invasion of
Anatolia in the thirteenth century. The linguist Cardona says that the Mongols were
called in Medieval Italy "Tatars of the Levant" (referring to the successors of Hulegii,
the Ilkhanids of Persia) and "the Tatars of the Occident" (referring to the Mongols
governed by Yo$i, the first son of £ingis, and subsequently by Batu). See Marco Polo,
op. cit, p.731. See also Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottormn Turkey, (New York: Taplinger
Publishing Co., INC, 1968.)
114
Little mention of Anatolia in such texts is not a surprising fact. It should be

sufficient to consider that most of the travellers' and ambassadorial reports
were extremely detailed and accurate in providing information on Istanbul,
due to help and protection received from the European ambassadorial and
trade establishments in the capital. There was the added reluctance of
travelling into Anatolia alone, coupled with language problems. These
produced the result that Italian relazioni on the Ottoman Empire were of
prime quality of information on the capital and - though rare - of scarce
quality and often inaccurate on the rest of Anatolia.
According to Signor Giacomazzi, the secretary of the last bailo to
Istanbul, Francesco Vendramin (1796-12 May 1797), "the title of bailo
corresponds to that of Podestà,7 which has its origin in the conventions made
with Baldwin,8 as he ascended on the throne of Constantinople".9 It is
presumed that the Venetians started to hold permanent diplomatic mission in
Istanbul after 1453, which was called bailaô (embassy), with their
ambassador called bailo. Unfortunately, the regular reports of the Venetian
ambassadors presented to the Venetian Senate - of which we have the text -
start from 1512 onwards, edited by Eugenio Alberi, Nicolò Barozzi and
Gulielmo Berchet in the nineteenth century, and recently by Maria Pia
Pedani.10 There are diplomatic dispatches preserved at the Venetian State
7
Podestà was the term used by the Venetians for noble governors in some cities and
provinces of their state. See: Giuseppe Boerio, Dizionario del Dialetto Veneziano(Venezia:
Premiata Tipografia di Giovanni Cecchini edit., 1856), fac-simile edition by Giunti,
(Firenze: Giunti, 1983), p.516.
8
Balduino or Baldorino (Baldwin) is the Count of Flanders who became the Latin
Emperor of Constantinople thanks to Venetian backing after the fourth Crusade in
1204.
9
Nicolò Barozzi and Guglielmo Berchet, Le Relazioni de$i stati europei lette al Senato dagli
Ambasciatori Veneziani nel Secolo Decimxettima Turchia, Volume unico-Parte I., (Venezia:
Prem. Stabil. Tip. Di P. Naratovich Edit., 1871), p. 352-353.
10
Eugenio Alberi, ed, Relazioni degliAnhisàatori Veneti al Senato, Serie III, Volumes I-III,
(Firenze: Tipografia e Calcografia all'Insegna di Clio, 1840-1855.) Nicolò Barozzi and
Guglielmo Berchet, Le Relazioni degfi stati europei lette al Senato dagliAmhzsciatori Veneziani
nel Secolo Dedrnosettìmx Turchia., Volume unico-Parte I., (Venezia: Prem. Stabil. Tip. Di P.
Naratovich Edit., 1871.) Maria Pia Pedani, Relazioni di Ambasciatori Veneti al Senato.
115
Archive dating as early as the second half of the fifteenth century, as well as
various manuscripts in the form of travel accounts from the Ottoman
Empire in various libraries in Venice. However, the dispatches of the
Venetian State Archive are more of a daily political nature, and do not really
provide us with images on the Turks.
From the second half of the fifteenth century onwards, there is a rich
collection of testimonies of contemporaries, of the conquest of
Constantinople and the echo that it created in the Christian world mostly
accounted by Italians, edited by A Pertusi. 11 A typical approach to the image
of the Turks in this period is reflected by a rare book written by Pope Pius II,
entitled La Discritione del'Asiaet Eumpa,12 Pius II (19 August 1458-15 August
1464) who was a fervent propagator of the crusade against the Turks is also
the author of the famous letter to Mohammed II 13 , inviting him to convert to
Christianity. In his Discritione he describes the Turks as such:
Of the origin, descent, life, dress and, customs cf the Turks
I warn many at our age- not writers or poets- but rather

historians who are still involved with the error of thinking
the Turks to be the Teucres. I believe, therefore, that they
presume [this], for the Turks possess Troy, which was the
VdurrE XIV CatantimpdiRdaziom Inedite (1512-1789), (Padova: Aldo Ausilio Editore in

Padova, 1996)
11Agostino Pertusi, ed, La Caduta di Costantinopoli L 'Eco nd Mondo, (n.p., Arnoldo

Mondadori Editore, 1976.) Agostino Pertusi, ed, La Caduta di Costantinopoli Le
Testimonianze dei Contemporanei, (n.p., Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1976.)
12Pio II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), La Discritione de l'Asia et Europa di Papa Pio II,
(Vinegia: Appresso Vicenzo Vaugris a '1 segno dErasimo, 1544.)
13 Franco Gaeta, "Sulla 'Lettera a Maometto' di Pio II", in Bolletino di Istituto Storico
Italiano, (Roma: 1965.) See also Franco Gaeta, "Alcune osservazioni sulla prima
redazione della 'lettera a Maometto'", in Otranto 1480. A tti del contegno intemazionale di
studio promosso in occasione dd V. centenario della caduta di Otranto ad opera dei Turchi (Otranto,
19-23 maggo 1980), Volume 1, ed. Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, (Lecce: 1986.)
116
habitation of the Teucres, however, those [Teucres] traced

their origin back to Crete. The Turkish people are
Scythic14 and barbarian: whose origin and progress -
although it [their progress] seems out of every proportion
- I presume not to be completely alien, now that in our
times these people have conquered with such a vigour
that, dominating Asia and Greece, they have dispersed the
Latins and the Christians. This narration will further shed
light on the affairs of Thrace, from where our reasoning
commenced. The Turks, as the philosopher Ethico says,
had their fatherland beyond the Pyrenean Mountains [sic!]
on the Nordic Ocean. They are cruel and ignoble people,
and being ardent in every manner of luxury, they eat those
things that others would abhor, such as the meat of wild
animals, wolves and vultures, and neither would they
abstain themselves from the excretions of the immature
parts of the body.15
This attitude of the Holy See against the Turks, in whom they saw the
embodiment of the anti-Christ and the dreadful threat to the security of
Europe against which the whole of Christendom should unite, went on well
until the end of the seventeenth century. However, returning to the
14 The word scytico ("scitico" in contemporary spelling) or Scyta (scita) apart from
denoting the ancient people of Asia, the Scythians (of Iranian stock), was also
synonymous with "barbarian". See G. Alessio and C Battisti, Dizionario Etimologico
Italiano, Vol. V, (Firenze: Barbèra Editore, 1975), p. 3403-3404.
15 Pio II. (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), La Dhmtione de l'Asia et Europa di Papa Pio II,
(Vinegia: Appresso Vicenzo Vaugris a 1 segno d'Erasmo, 1544), pp. 187 V-188 R The
Discritione de lAsia et Europa di Papa Pio II, which was published in Venice in 1544, is
most probably the unfinished work of Pius II on the description of the wM knoun in his
times, See R Aubenas and R Ricard, Storia della chiesa dalle originifino ai gjarni nostri XV La
Chiesa e il Rinascinmta, (Torino: Editrice S. A I. E., 1963), p. 69.) which he must have
written sometime between the 1453 and 1461. In his book there is the narrative of the
conquest of Constantinople, but one understands that Trebisond had not yet fallen
(1461).
117
Venetians, the Venetian historiography alone saw a veiy fertile period of

writings on the thing cf the Tmks between the sixteenth and the end of the
seventeenth centuries. Some of the most renowned authors of this kind of
literature in Venice of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are Francesco
Sansovino, Giovanni Sagredo, Lazzaro Soranzo until the change of image of
the Turks especially after the failure of the second siege of Vienna at the end
of the seventeenth century, which is represented in the new work of G. Dona
published for the first time in 1688.16 17
There is to be a distinction made between works written on the Turks
by the Venetians as opposed to works written on the same subject by the
men of the Holy See in Rome. As the works of the clergy of the Pontificate
are overloaded with the boringly repetitive theme of crusade against the Turks,
the works written in Venice - although still generally negative - at least saw
the Turks as a noble enemy or a rival. This was certainly imposed by the
interests of Venice in the Levant - mostly of commercial nature - in whose
interest the maintenance of peace was more important than launching
ideological messages to Christendom, like Rome did. As Charles A. Frazee in
his book Catholics and Sultans put it, referring to the Latin Catholics who lived
in Galata, the biggest communities of which were composed by the Genoese
and the Venetians: "It made little difference to them whether the ruler of
Constantinople was Greek or a Turk. Their concern was business; they could
deal with anyone who allowed them to pursue their commercial interests in
the East." 18
As opposed to the clergy of Rome, a man like Toderini - the author of
the celebrated Letteratwa Turchesca19 - who himself was part of the clergy, is
16 Giovanni Battista Donado, op. cit.
17 On the aforementioned authors see Francesco Sansovino, Gli Armali Tunhesdn aiem
Vite de' Principi ddla Casa Othormna, (Venetia: n.p., 1573); Giovanni Sforza, "Francesco
Sansovino e le sue opere storiche", in Memorie ddla Reale Aocadenia delle Scienze di Tarino,
ser. II, t.XLVII, (Torino: 1898); Giovanni Sagredo, Memorie ¡storiche de' monarchi cttormm,
(Venetia: 1688); Lazzaro Soranzo, L'Ochommno, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore
Camerale, 1598.)
18Charles A. Frazee, Cathdics and Sultans. The Chrnh and the Ottormn Empire. 1453-1923,
(Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 5.
19 Giambattista Toderini, Letteratura Tunhesca, (Venezia: Presso Giacomo Storti, 1787.)
118
more tolerant of the Turks, like his predecessor Giambattista Dona,

recognising the chilisation of the Turks as in recognising that of a noble rival,
protably due to his more tolerant Venetian cultural milieu as well as the altered
eighteenth century image of the Turks, which was no longer the terrilie Turk,
having left this image to the romanticisation of the image of the Turk, tied to
themes of the exotic Orient, as well as starting a period of serious studies in
turcology.
The official policy of the Holy See towards the Ottoman Empire was a
policy of continual enmity and invitations to new Crusades, coupled with the
effort of creating a carman enemy cf Christendom, considering the fact that the
states of Christendom had little in common as far as their political interests
went, especially after the Protestant schism.
(1 V) [ ] Some heretics denied the Christians the

legitimacy of waging war, not to mention war against the
Turks. Furthermore, Luther madly preached by saying, not
only not to wage war against the Turks, but not even to
make resistance in order not to oppose the Divine Will, for
God through them [Turks] castigates us.20
Apart from the political content of this anti-Turkish propaganda, it also

pictured the Turks as uncouth barbarians. As in all the anti-Turkish literature
"made-in-Rome", most of which was the fruit of pure fantasy, not based on
travels in the Ottoman Empire, or on solid documentation, the strong aura
was felt markedly in comparison to the works of the Venetians.
(3 R) Those who went [to Turkey], say things to be the

contrary among the Turks. Since they [the Turks] have a
century) : 1) Alla Santità di metro Signore Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissima Padre, 2) A Ila Maestà del
Re Cathdico Filippo III. Sacra Cathdica Maestà, 3) A II 'Illustrìssimo et E adlentissirw Sigiare Duca
di L errm, 4) A Ila Maestà del Re d'Ungheria Matbia II. Sacra Maestà, 5) Del detto quinto trattato
proerna, dkisiane, et ordine, (Gttà del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat.
5366). On the clerical offices that Marcello Marchesi held see: G Eubel, ed., Hieranhia
Cathdica Meda et Recentioris Aeii, vol. IV, (n.p., Sumptibus et Typis Librariae
Regensbergianae Monasterii, 1935), p.309.
119
sole religion, a sole prince and a sole form of government,

and since there are few celibates among them - and more
so due to polygamy - they abound in people. Neither do
they have many artists or doers of useless things or of
excesses, nor are they excessively keen on furs and clothes
or on pomp, eating and drinking. (3 V) They do not have
scholars of letters or advocates [in the text, it is atusicHoo,
which means advocate or lawyer of little worth], or similar
professors. Even if they have, the debates among them are
very few and brief. However, all of them dedicate
themselves to the art of war, and they invest their time and
money in it.21
Here, one sees the standpoint of the Catholic Church in relation to the
Ottomans that while the Turks are uncivilised and barbarian, the object of
the European envy is their supreme military organisation and the object of
their scorn is the Europeans' inability to politically and militarily organise
themselves to defeat the Turks. While the Turk is portrayed almost as an
animal that does not even know the pleasures of "furs, clothes and pomp",
the European nations are "castigated" by God for the excessive indulgence
into these same things.
Starting from as early as the second half of the fifteenth century, there
were Venetian writers who travelled in the Ottoman Empire, producing
valuable historical testimonies on their times. Giovan Maria degli Angiolelli is
the famous nobleman from Vicenza who fell prisoner to the Ottomans
during the war between Venice and the Ottomans at Eubea (Negroponte) in
1469.22 A classical example of these sixteenth century travellers is Luigi
21 ibid.
22 See: Giovan Maria degli Angiolelli, Viagsio di Negroponte (1468), ed. Cristina Bazzolo,
(Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1982); G. Mantese, "Aggiunte e correzioni al profilo
storico del viaggiatore vicentino Gio. Maria degli Angiolelli", in Arxhiiio Veneto, t. V.,
LXXI, (Venezia: 1962); I. Ursu, ed., Domdo da Lezze Historia Ttmhesca. (1300-1514),
(Bucure§ti: Ins tit. De Arte Grafice "Carol Goebl", 1909); I. Ursu, "Uno sconosciuto
storico veneziano del secolo XVI (Donato da Lezze)", in NwwAnhiiio Veneto-Periodico
storico trimestrale della R. Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria, (Venezia: 1910.). Franz
Babinger considers the Historia Ttmhesca of Angiolelli "one of the major sources of
120
Bassano whose book I Costuni el i Modi Partkolari de la Vita de' Tunhi (The
Customs and Particular Ways of Life of the Turks) was published in Rome in
1545:23
The Turks do not have much intricacy of erudition and

jurists. As soon as their children have learned to read and
to write, they take them away from school. And the child
who is able to do this well is accompanied into the city by
all the other children of his school, who chant odes to him.
His disposition proudly vain in front of all, encourages the
other children to compete to learn as soon as possible, in
order to be accompanied and honoured with the same
chants.24
importance on the reigns of Mehmed II and Bayezid II. See Paolo Preto, Venezia e i
Tunhi, (Firenze: G. C Sansoni Editore, 1975), p.17.
23M. Luigi da Zara Bassano, I Costurri et i Modi ParticoLiri de la Vita de' Timhi, (Roma:
1545), fac-simile edition by Franz Babinger, (Monaco di Baviera: Casa Editrice Max
Hueber, 1963.)
24 ibid., p. 37 recto. It must not go unmentioned that there is a striking similarity between
the image of the Turk as depicted by Europeans and the image of the Muslims of India
as having been martial oppressors of the Hindus for centimes: On this subject see the
beginning of the 19th century Abbé J. Dubois, Hindu Manners, Custom and Ceremonies, ed.
and trans. H. K. Rupa Beuchamp, (Calcutta: 1992.) The arrogant and the contemptuous
attitude with which to consider a foreign culture, ie. the Hindu as well as the Muslim
ones in India in the case of the European writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and the
nineteenth centuries, as uncouth and uncivilised beings, bears astonishing similarity to
the comments that the European writers made on the Ottomans, even in a man like
Dona's book who repetitively claims the Turks to be generally not intelligent and not in
possession of the arts and letters. On this subject, see in addition to Dubois, also the
travels of Pietro della Valle: Pietro della Valle, Viagsi di Pietro ddla Valle, IlPellegino, Parte
Prima: Twxhia, Parte Seconda: Persia, Parte Terza: India, (Roma: 1662) and François Bernier,
Trawls inéeMcgdEmpire(1656-1668), (NewDelhi: S. Chand, 1972.)
Referring to the European travellers in India, Sudhir Kakar says: "The
ethnographers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who were also
the cultural psychologists of their eras, are pre-eminently the European travellers. (....)
Lacking any knowledge of the country's religious traditions, the travellers' interest is
excited by what appears to them as strange Hindu ceremonies, rituals, and customs - with
an emphasis on temple courtesans, burning of widows, and orgiastic religiosity". See
121
As to the important works written on Turks in Italy, the work of

Teodoro Spandugino deserves a special place.25 Since it is Spandugino's work,
a Venetian of Cantacuzene Byzantine origin, which is one of the first
examples of reliable works written on the Ottomans in the first half of the
sixteenth century in Venice. Although Spandugino shares the point of view
that the Ottomans are the enemies of Christianity and therefore should be
fought, he also accurately traces their origin back to the Oguz tribe of the
Turks,26 rather than to the mythical barbaric Scythians. In another sense,
Spandugino represents the mythical incarnation of the influx of knowledge
from Byzantium to Venice, so typical of the Renaissance. As he himself was
the son of Byzantine refugees to Venice, whose great-grandfather had served
the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palailogos.27
Sudhir Kakar, The Colors ( f Violence. Cultural Identities, Religion, and Conflict, (London: The
University of Chicago Press,1996), p. 18.
25 The most reliably annotated edition of the wok is by, Donald M. Nicol, Theodore
Spandounes: On the Origjn cf tbeOttorranEmpemrs, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997.) Nicol's book is translated from the edition of CN. Sathas, Documents inédits vdatijs
a I'histoire de la Grece au rmyen age, IX (Paris, 1890), pp. 133-261: Theodoro Spandugnino, Patritio
Constantincpolitano, De la ariane deli Imperatori Ottorrurù, ordini de la cote, formi del gjimeggare
loro, rito, et astimi de la mtiane Another smaller undated version in the manuscript form is
in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Theodoro Spandugino, Relatione di Theodoro
Spandugino patritio costantinopolitana Online de la origine de principi de Turdn et della carte e
costimi loro et della natione. (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Barb. Lat.
5342).
26 Nicol, op. cit., p.9.

27 Nicol, op. cit., pp. ix, xiv. Here, due mention must be made of the most celebrated
figure of Cardinal Bessarion, a Byzantine born in Trebisond who took refuge in Italy,
converted to Catholicism and became a cardinal, after having served the Byzantine
Orthodox Church as the bishop of Nicaea. Not only is he a veiy important figure in the
continuity of antiquity in the Italian Renaissance thanks to the manuscripts taken from
Anatolian monasteries to Italy, but also the contributor to the foundation of the San
Marco Library with these manuscripts. Cardinal Bessarion is the author, among other
things, of bellicose orations to the European princes against the Turks, as well as having
contributed to the creation of the classical image of the Turk in Italy which was to
endure until the eighteenth century. Elpidio Mioni, "Bessarione e la caduta di
Costantinopoli", in MisoeUanea Mardam, Vol. VI, ed. Marino Zorzi, (Venezia: Biblioteca
122
In the sixteenth century, there was an extreme interest about any news,
article, book or simply pamphlet about the Turks. Evidently, the publishers
made much money out of publishing these Tttrkish themes that almost
anything was published on this subject irrespective of the reliability of its
source. As it is testified in Lazzaro Soranzo's book, L'Othamrmo (The
Ottoman), published in Ferrara in 1598, the same year the Ottoman-
Hungarian war was going on, referred to an earlier book of Soranzo's entitled
Sopra la guerra de' Timhi in Ongaiia (On the Turkish war in Hungary) which was
evidently full of some wrong information, and the author wanted to withdraw
from the milieu in which it was disseminated:
However, knowing by experience that it was impossible if

not uncomfortable to recuperate all of them, since they
were disseminated and multiplied in various countries, and
that furthermore, such indecent and lacerated people
started to publish, as so the publishing houses do for little
things - for which this century is to be blamed - printing
eagerly books of little worth as long as they (the readers)
are curious - as they are now - about books which take the
Turks as subject.28
One of the most famous Venetian writers of the sixteenth century Venice on
the theme of the Turks, is Francesco Sansovino (Rome, 1521- Venice, 1583),
mentioned earlier. Very well aware of the demand by public curiosity to read
about the Turks, Sansovino wrote numerous works on the Turks, whose
sources were not only the books of his earlier colleagues such as Angiolelli,
Bassano, Spandugino, but also leakage of information from the bailos and the
yvlaziom, travellers, pilgrims and merchants who went to the Levant, in short
any source of information available at the time. In one of Sansovino's books,
Mehmed the Conqueror is described as follows:
Nazionale Marciana, 1991); Giacomo E. Carretto, "Bessarione e il Turco", in Bessarionee

l'Urmnesìm), ed. Gianfranco Fiaccadori, (Napoli: Vivarium, 1994.)
28 Lazzaro Soranzo, op.cit., extract from the last word of the book
123
[Mehmed was] very shrewd and had a bright intelligence,

because of which he was interested in various things.
Beside other things, he was very fond of the study of
astrology and used to say that he had foreseen, thanks to
that science, that he would become the ruler of the world.
Apart from this, he knew five languages besides his natural
one, since he certainly spoke Greek, Latin, Arabic,
Chaldean [called also Chaldaic, is synonymous with the
biblical language Aramaic, called also Syriac] and Persian.
He had extreme pleasure reading great things in these
languages, among which coming before all were the
matters on Caesar and Alexander the Great, whom he had
pursued to imitate, enjoying very much to be considered an
other Alexander the Great.29
[Bayezid II] enjoyed peace, as he had a serene soul and a

pleasurable nature. He was intelligent and used to study
philosophy and especially he liked the works of Averroes
[i.e. Ibn Rushd. 1126 Cordoba- 1198 Marrakesh]. He was
in brief, a prince of good nature.30
[Selim I] was especially fond of the leaders of antiquity like

Alexander the Great and Caesar the Dictator, and he was
always reading their affairs translated into the Turkish
language.31
This theme that the Ottoman sultans immensely enjoyed reading the histories
of Alexander the Great, is encountered also in the aforementioned book
published in Rome earlier in 1545 by Luigi Bassano, I Costurri et i Modi
Pardoolari de la Vita de' Tuvchi (The Particular Ways and Customs of the Life of
the Turks). In his book written during the office of (Damat) Rustem Pas a
(Grand Vizier and son-in-law of Suleyman the Magnificent), Bassano claims
29 Francesco Sansovino, op. cit., p 151.
30 Francesco Sansovino, op. cit., p. 171.
31 Francesco Sansovino, op. cit., p. 204.
124
that the sultans were especially delighted in reading the history of Alexander
the Great written in Arabic.32 These kind of similarities in the books of
different writers confirms the fact that they most often copied from each
other, rather than verifying the truth about these facts, and testify to the
dearth of original information. It is a recurrent theme in books written in this
period to make allusions to the fact that the Ottoman lands were once owned
by either Christians or by the predecessors of Christian culture. In this
respect, geographical names of places in Anatolia are almost exclusively
written in the Greco-Roman version such as Bithinia, Ciliaa, Cappadoda,
Cddea, Phriga and so on. Considering that the word Anatolia in Turkish -
which is of Greek origin - is inseparable from the Turkish mother tongue, it
probably is not a shocking fact. However, the habit of tracing one's origins to
the great figures of the antiquity, with overwhelming references to the
historical figures of the time (i.e. Alexander the Great), was a double effort of
showing firstly the alien origin of the Turks as Scythians, being members of a
barbaric nation of the Asian steppes, who conquered the lands which once
belonged to people of their own cultural sphere. Second, it was an attempt to
presume, or at least to ignore the fact that this barbaric nation could have
anyone to read as worthy literature except the very works of the predecessors
of the Christian civilisation, of which the Renaissance Europe delighted in
seeing itself as the heir. In this respect, a work like Gli A rmati Turchesdoi of
Sansovino stating Averroes (Ibn Rushd) - belonging to the enemy's cultural
sphere - being read by Bayezid II, an Ottoman sultan, is rather the exception
than the rule.
The confirmation of the rule, perhaps right until Dona's book is the
enemy image of the Turk, whose euphoric emotions gave birth to a myriad of
anti-Turkish literary works, particularly after the Ottoman defeat at Lepanto,
which was the first instance for the Europeans to shake the image in their eyes
of the imindUe Turk. An exemplary of the short-lived post-Lepanto euphoria
is characterised by the following Venetian sonnet:
Ben, sier Selin, sda sta de nelm

la criaa de sti nostri batizai
32 M. Luigi da Zara Bassano, op.cit., p. 110.
125
sessanta nik turchi, e venegai

con tresento to vele se andò, in bruo
"Caronte, aspetta l'onore d pduo

d'Ali, Piali co i atri AlabedaL
Fa che'l Mixhes, con quei to Bassai,
medega la sdnncada che ti <ha>abuo
"Chepensaùstu a metterà rrindoion

la Italia e Spagna, coniato canaia?
e a Christo creder chepuoda Macon?
'Roma, l'Aquila e 'iLion con lesgpffe

passar d stretto no stimi um paia,
sì (he aspetta a sentir, txf, taffe, e tijfe.33
Well, Signor Selim, it has been of velvet the league of our baptised ones
[Christians]: Sixty thousand Turks and the converted, with three hundred sails
of yours went into the broth.
Charon 34 awaits their souls at the swamp: Ali, Piale, with the other sons of
Allah. Let your Mohammed (?) now, with those pasas of yours, medicate the
defeat which you have had.
What did you think, that you could have fooled Italy and Spain with your
rascals? Did you think that Mohammed could beat Christ?
33
(Anonymous, Miscellanea Marciana, 169,2), in Guido Antonio Quarti, La Battalia di
Lq>anto mi Canti Popolari Dell'Epoca, (Milano: Istituto Editoriale Avio-Navale, 1930), pp.
128-129.
34
The ferryman of Greek Mythology who carries the condemned souls on a ship
through the Hell's swamp Styx.
126
Rome [Pius V], the Eagle [Spain], and the Lion with paws [Venice] can easily
pass the straits [the Dardanells], thus behold to hear their cannons,
arquebuses and their swords.
The literary works of the Venetians dare consider the civilised aspects
of the Ottomans only after the failure at Vienna. The tremendous imindHe
image of the Turk following the fall of Constantinople, was altered at
Lepanto as the unciHe Turk, followed by digesting the Turk in the European
mind consequently in the coming decades after the failure at Vienna of 1683,
as the "nunc" innocuous Turk of the eighteenth century. It then culminated in
the second half of the nineteenth century into the image of the sick mm cf
Europe. It is after this innocuous Turk phase that we see the Venetians starting
to write about an image of the Turk that was to produce in the coming
eighteenth century Venetian literature, particularly after the treaty of
Passarowitz in 1718, themes of interest about the daily and cultural life of the
Turks not spoiled by themes "directly tied to war-matters or inspired to
visceral hatred".35 In Delia Letteratura de' Turchi Dona could be considered
heralding such a future in Venetian literature on the Turks. Although 1688,
the year Delia Letteratura de' Tunhi was published, is a date barely posterior to
the defeat of Vienna, it is still anterior to - but on the eve - of rormntidsatton of
the Orient and the appearance of the Ottoman Empire as the home of
oriental mystery and the ferrinine Orient. However, in Delia Letteratura de' Tuivhi,
one can feel the trend. As it is expressed by Donado: "It was thought that my
principal preoccupation were to be that colossal might - as I was in its vicinity
- which makes itself ever more complex, devouring the others, which had not
been punished by any nation until now. In any way, it was my most precise
incumbency to discover its power and weakness. Since the world, as it is in
itself, does not contain anything eternal." 36
No episode in the history of Europe in the seventeenth

century has attracted more attention than the second
Turkish siege of Vienna. The centenaiy "remembrance of
35 Paolo Preto, "Il mito del Turco nella letteratura veneziana" in Venezia e i Turdri. Scontri
e confronti di due civiltà, ed. Carlo Pirovano, (Milano: Electa Editrice, 1985), p. 136.
36 Giovanni Battista Donado, op.cit., p. 2.
127
things past" in 1983 as well as in 1883 has produced an

abundance of literature on the subject.37
It is around these years that Giambattista Dona makes his appearance in

the literature on the Ottoman Empire. Dona was elected as the ambassador to
Constantinople on 19 May 1680. In 1683, he was called back to Venice for
surpassing his authorisation as an ambassador and was suspected of having
made secret agreements with the Ottomans, after which his innocence was
proved. Dona read his relazione on his mission in Constantinople, in the
Venetian senate on 20 August 1684. His vdazkm remains to be the last one
until the peace of Karlowitz.38 According to Kenneth M. Setton, Dona
enjoyed close relations with the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pa§a starting
from 1682, for it was in the latter's interest to keep close relations with Venice
for his plan to attack the Habsburgs, "bestowing gifts upon Dona"39, also
given that there had been peace between Venice and the Ottomans for more
than a decade, which was not to be disturbed on the eve of the second siege
of Vienna, and that was to come the following year.40 The Delia Letteratura de'
Timhi of Giambattista Dona
has a great, though an ephemeral success, because

evidently after centuries of Turqmque publicity obsessed by
the monotony of themes of the Crusade, the wickedness,
barbarities and ferocity of the Turks, many receive this
book with a sigh of relief, though with inadequate means
to be able to know the literary patrimony of a nation which
37 Kenneth M. Setton, Venice, Austria and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century, (Philadelphia:
The American Philosophical Society, 1991), p.260.
38 Nicolò Barozzi and Guglielmo Berchet, Le Relazioni degfi stati europèi lette al Senato dagli
A rribasciatori Veneziani nel Secolo Dedmxettimx Turchia., Voltane unico-Parte I., (Venezia:
PrenxStabil. Tip. di P. Naratovich Edit., 1871), p. 7.
39 Kenneth M. Setton, Venice, op. cit., p. 257.
40 ibid.
128
was believed to be unable to express itself as a valid and

autonomous civilisation.41
The term "inadequate means to be able to know the literary patrimony of a

nation", used by Paolo Preto in the above citation, alludes to the fact that
Giambattista Dona was neither a man of letters nor a philologist by
profession. He admits to have learned some Turkish in Venice before going
on to his kalaggo in Istanbul, however, neither his linguistic skills nor the
availability of his time for undertaking such a work like Delia Letteratura de'
Turchi were adequate. Dona was a politician by profession. He served in
Venice as the member (sauo) of the council of Venice, he was appointed to
the difficult task of ambassador to Constantinople in 1680, was called back to
Venice in 1684, and incarcerated for his alleged conspiracy to make secret
agreements with the Ottomans. Namely, that of having caused Venice to pay
too high a sum of money as reparations for the damages caused on the
Ottomans in 1682 by the quasi-Venetian subjects of Dalmatia, the Morlacchi.
After his innocence was proved, his membership to the council was returned
to him, and he died in 1700, at the age of seventy-six.42
It is within this historical background that Dona's book should be read.

His inquisitive mind and his work should not be considered as a scholarly
work of a man who is an expert on the area, but rather as the author of a
pioneer work which attempted to eradicate the negative and uncouth image
of the Turk in Venice (and not only in Venice) until the 1680s. The preface
to his book is written by the dragoman of the Venetian embassy in Istanbul,
Gian Rinaldo Carli and Pietro Dona, the son of the author. In the book it is
written that G. Dona made use of Gian Rinaldo Carli for the translations of
the material he has used for his book. Although Dona is the first Venetian
ambassador to learn some rudimentary Turkish before departing to Istanbul
in Venice, his knowledge of the Turkish language was certainly not sufficient
for such an undertaking. The translation of the preface to Delia Letteratura de'
Tunhi is as follows:
41 Paolo Preto, Venezia e ì Tunhi, (Firenze: G. C. Sansoni Editore, 1975), p. 345.

42 Nicolò Barozzi and Guglielmo Berchet, op. cit., p. 292.
129
[Preface]
The publisher
to the reader
Of the vast empire of the Turks, which extends itself to

a major part of Asia, Africa and Europe, many described
the countries, the nations and the traditions, not to
mention the political government of the great court of the
Ottoman monarchs. It is the curiosity of the French
writers43 who have surpassed the Italians and the Germans
with minute diligence, that described all the sects of their
religions, very sacred ceremonies, as well as the profane
ones, the differences of dress of women as well as men, the
civil laws and offices as well as the military ones, and the
various and diverse emblems of their dignitaries, which to a
major extent consist of the various and different forms of
their caps and turbans. However, of the study of the
literature of the Turks, no or very little news until now has
been disclosed in Europe. Moreover, the universal, or
rather, the erroneous idea was diffused that the Turkish
Nation were indeed ignorant of the good and fine letters,
incapable of rhetoric, of poetry and were remote from the
study of law, medicine, philosophy and mathematics and
that it were solely devoted to the use of arms. Since
military discipline and the art of war have been the areas
where the Turks have made themselves excellent and
terrible, they occupied, thanks to their victories, many
kingdoms and provinces of Christian princes and of other
neighbouring sects of theirs.44 Therefore, within a range of
43 Probably the first name that comes to one's mind is the famous Frenchman Guillaume
Postel (born in 1510), or Guglielmo Postello (as he was called in Venice), whose figure is
inseparable from Venice. The manuscripts that he got hold of in his travels in the Orient
are today in the San Marco Library of Venice. Postel, whose first travel commenced in
the year 1536, stayed also in Istanbul, looking for books in Chaldean. See Marion
Leathers Kuntz, "L'Orientalismo di Guglielmo Postello e Venezia", in Veneziael'Oriente,
ed. Lionello Lanciotti, (Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1987.)
44 The allusion here is to the Shiites.
130
a hundred and fifty years, six eminent authors undertook to

teach the Christian princes the way to beat them in war and
really to expel them from Europe. These were Gilenio
Busbeqio45 and Francesco Savaro, the lord of Breves
[Bresse in France?], both of them ambassadors, the former,
that of the Emperor [Gsare], the latter, that of the King of
France [Re Qmsttamssirm] to the Porte. One wrote in Latin
on the strategy of resisting and waging war against the
Turk, the other one wrote a book in the French language
on the secure means of destroying the Ottoman monarchy.
Subsequently, the same matter was cleverly treated by the
lord of Nue in the French language, and by Lazzaro
Soranzo46 in Italian in the book Imperio Ottaruno [The
Ottoman Empire] and by Achille Tarducci in the discourse
entitled II Turco wiaHe in Ungaria can rmdiocn aiud di
Germma [The vincible Turk in Hungary with moderate aid
of Germany]. Lastly the learned Giobbo Ludolfo [Hiob
Ludolf, 1624-1704], counselor of the Holy Imperial
Majesty, in the book that he wrote, De bdlo contra Turcas
feliater oonfukndo [How to successfully conduct the war
against the Turks], teaches with extremely fine politics, the
means of really extinguishing the Turkish Religion in
Europe and of conserving and maintaining the kingdoms
and provinces in obedience which have been taken away
from the barbarians with the last victories. Therefore, not
being there anyone who took care of researching on the
study and the literature of the Turks, the senator of
eminent judgement, of firm letters and of notable
eloquence, Giovanni Battista Donado, in the conspicuous
45O. G. de Busbeq, The Turkish Letters, ed. E. Forster, (Oxford: 1968.) See also Zweder
von Martels, "Impressions of the Ottoman Empire in the Writings of Augerius
Busbequius (1520/i-1591)", Joumd cfMediteiramzn Studies, (Malta), Vol. 5, No: 2, (1995),
pp. 209-221.
See: Lazzaro Soranzo, op. cit. It is alluded to the same Lazzaro Soranzo and his work
46
mentioned earlier in the article.
131
office of bailo in Constantinople for the Serenissima

Republic of Venice, gave all the signs of extreme prudence,
of invincible perseverance and that of unreachable zeal
towards his country, who more than anyone else was able
to grasp secret notices with shrewd diligence from the
Turkish Empire: the illustrious ivlazime on the sciences of
the Turks, which he wrote to his Monsignor brother the
Abbot. I - knowing what a pity it would have been that, it
stayed buried in private hands - have implored His
Excellency [Dona's brother] not to envy such rare curiosity
of the men of letters and important knowledge. As a result
of his benign concession, which gave honour to my
printers, the learned curiosity of your erudite intelligence
will be nourished, O Reader. May you live happily.47
The preface of the book is followed by the introduction of Dona in the form
of a letter to his brother Andrea the abbot: 48
47The translation of the passages from the book Delia ktterature de' Turchi of Dona and
the page numbers are taken from the copy found in the Bibliteca Universitaria of Padua,
and due to printing inadequacies of the time, there may occur - as it sometime does -
shifts in page numbers or minuscule differences in the text, when compared with other
copies of the book even when printed by the same publisher.
48 It is worth mentioning here that the epistolary style is chosen by Dona, rather than
writing about the Ottomans in the form of rmmires - as mostly so do the diplomats of
today - or rather than writing it in the form of an unofficial vetazione, besides the official
one he had to submit to the senate. Interestingly enough, one sees the same deliberate
choice also in an other more famous work of similar nature: namely, the Ttakish Letters
of Busbeq, the ambassador to Turkey of the Habsburg Empire. As Zweder von Martels
puts it: "As a diplomat and servant of the Emperor, Busbequius had to be more cautious
than others in airing his views and he may deliberately have chosen the epistolary genre
as the most appropriate medium to do this." See Zweder von Martels, op. cit., p.211.
132
Of the Literature of the Turks.

Observations made by Gio: Battista Donado
Senator Veneto, ex-ambassador in Constantinople
Irfotmd narrative mittenfor my brother SvjznorA ndrea the abbot,

uiho questioned rre on the intelligence and custom that the Turks
haie
cf the sciences
and on their literature
I recall that conversing with you when in the year 1680

our Serenissima Republic wanted to post me to the grave
office of (p.2) ambassador [bailo] at the Ottoman Porte,
many pondered reflections were made, not only about the
circumstances of the times; but also about the might of the
lordship where I was to reside. It was thought that my
principal preoccupation were to be that colossal might - as
I was in its vicinity - which makes itself ever more
complex, devouring others, which had not been punished
by any nation until now. In any way, it was my most
precise incumbency to discover its power and weakness,
since the world, as it is, does not contain in itself anything
eternal. Having set my eyes on the object, I comprehended
it sufficiently, as I put it in the form of notes under subject,
in my report on that empire to the excellency of our
Senate: that, that nation is not as greatly vigorous as it had
the reputation to be invincible; however, not that, (p. 3) it
had such a roughness of intelligence and that it was totally
unskilful in the cognition of sciences and arts.
To be able to have access to such a reality with more
proof, I gained the confidence of the most qualified and
distinct men of their government. As it is known to you,
also that vast country is governed in the civil, commercial
and military areas, which is conformed to the other
countries of the world. However, in any of the mentioned
133
activities, which are more or less practised with attention to

our favour. I will tell you on the first one that among the
subjects of the Turks, there are currently a great number
people employed, who are called ejfertdi, who are persons
that are experts - as they say - in law. Likewise, I remind
you that they have equally and freely permitted the vise the
jurisprudence both of canon (p. 4) law, and of the civil one
as well, as having reached that intelligence which is
necessaiy to lead the consciences in the parishes and to
administrate justice with jurisprudence in the tribunals,
they promiscuously use the former as well as the latter.
Having acquired the familiarity of the qualified people of
the above mentioned category, not only did I find myself in
their familiar gatherings of erudition, but also I have joined
meetings that mostly took place in the homes of various
people, to converse in matters of science, and in particular
in the house of Abdullah Efendi [.Abckda Effendi], who lives
outside the Porte of Silivrea [Porta di SUkmt, i.e. Silivri
Kapi], in the outskirts of that metropolis. He was a man
who enjoyed several offices as mufti, and at his advanced
age, after having served many years for the sultan [Gran
Sigiore] with his faculties, enjoyed (p. 5) humbly three
hundred nsali49 of stipend a month, living a solitary life free
of office, accompanied solely by numerous books and
from time to time, by not a small number of other major
Efendis of Constantinople, who usually went to see and
venerate him, like Seneca was by his nation and age.
In these frequent gatherings, I got to know their ability,
and by their means I got hold of books of various sources
{ford sic, corrige: fond = sources] 50 and many works, as well
49 One reale was a golden money which corresponded to ten shillings in England of the
sixteenth century.
30 In the text, there is a printing mistake where the word forti (plural form of the word
forte, strong) appears, instead of the word fond (which means sources).
134
as the veiy canons of their studies and the discipline of

doctorate.
However, you my brother sigwe, should know that, in
spite of the above information, one should not think all the
Turks to be in possession of arts and sciences, since most
of them are deprived of publications and are compelled to
a forced ignorance. However, (p. 6) there are various
concrete reflections to permit the not-mediocre cognition
of letters and that of intelligence, most of which are in
positive terms.
The dilation of acquisitions in the provinces inhabited
by people of major erudition;
The crowd of the quantity of the converted [nmiegati] of
various nations, most of whom are advanced in a way more
than mediocre in the scholastic cognition, some of whom
in not secular [education], before making themselves
Turkish [converting to Islam];
The continual use of command, in which jurisprudence
is a necessary part, also legal cognition is studied;
The necessity of teaching the Qur'an [A Icoram] for the
purpose of their own instruction as well as for other
aspects, very easily facilitate not to allow the universal error
that they are totally ignorant.
To be able to understand this truth better, however, one
should consider that the Turkish language is, like it is in (p.
7) provincial Italy, where every person speaks with the
forms, the pronunciation and the accent of his own
locality. However it [Turkish] becomes embellished by
Persian, as we do with the Tuscan language.
Likewise, also Arabic is present among the Turks, like
Latin among us. Since the Qur'an is written in the
mentioned language, Arabic becomes necessary for them,
like it would to LIS the language in which the Holy
Scriptures are written. They use the entire Arabic manners,
voices, and periods for ornament, eloquence and decor
mostly in the schemes and commandments, and other
orders of major transactions and arbiters; letters of the
135
prince, ministers, pa§as \Bassa\ and the command of the

imperial will. As a result, the major erudition among them
is explained and is present in the men of law, who are (p. 8)
those, who are employed in the tribunals of the judiciary, in
the parishes or clergy of theirs, as said; as well as in the
most distinguished men of the court of the notaries,
secretaries and chancellors, all of which for the sake of
necessity of their office understand, speak and write
Arabic. It is well-known how much these arts and sciences
have been explained by Arab authors, whose entire works
are found since a long time among the Turks in their
original character and language. It, however, - in its pious
and charitable assistance to catechumens - will usually find
persons of not mediocre knowledge and it will have
obvious pursuit of the previously narrated truth.
Indeed, the Turks work about the mentioned purpose, I
will refer to what I saw, that anyone curious of it could
easily have (p. 9) the most certain pursuit.
On the streets of Constantinople, there are mostly shops
of various goods and materials that are in use in the cities
of the West {ponente]. Among them, some shops are seen
with big tables - like at tailors' by us - on which many
children sit in order, who have their books in hand,
learning the alphabet, proceeding to read, to write and to
count, taking notes as we practice.
It is customary to shout at one of them in a loud voice
and at the same time, the others say the same thing, as well
as they make them recite their lessons and orations all of
them together, with which they facilitate learning to all.
There are sites also in the streets for the [teaching of]
grammar, as above, where others show the principles, and
also other teachers in their private houses, like by us, where
one (p. 10) sends the youth to learn. There are also other
teachers who go to the coffee-houses of men of major
level to teach the youths.
Sufficient and evident proof of this comes from a book
entitled: Rudinmto della Lingua Ttmhesca [Rudiments of
136
Turkish Language] written by the Armenian Signor D.

Giovanni Agaup, born in Constantinople, published in
Venice in the year 1685, dedicated to you my brother,
Signor Andrea the abbot, for your pious employment at
the house of catechumens, where the Turkish language is
taught with all the grammatical rules, as they do in the
above mentioned Gty of Constantinople.
However, those who have been in the mentioned city
with the ambassadors of Christian princes, can testify that
the teacher of reading, writing and of Turkish grammar
went every day to every palace, to teach (p. 11) it to the
young students of Turkish language of every nation, as it
was the custom, particularly with the Venetian youths
residing with me.
There are also various teachers at their homes who teach
the youths, according to their capabilities, those sciences
which they desire to learn, however, only in positive terms
and not in the speculative and inquiring way like we do.
To strengthen this matter further, it is witnessed that the
sultans have from time to time, erected various schools,
many colleges and lecture houses, also at the level of
doctorate to qualify the men at the judiciary, and especially
those serving at mosques and to regulate the consciences
of the priests in charge, or others, especially to train them
for the pulpit on which they climb particularly at feasts, (p.
12) preaching to the people where they inculcate to
persuade the moral virtues, to detest vices and to revere
and adore the supreme Deity. However, in order to give an
example, I resolve to record here that which Htiseyin
Efendi [Hussein EffmS\ writes in his treatise Delia Grandezza
ddht Casa Ottormm [Of the Grandeur of the House of
Osman], written in Constantinople.
The Huseyin Efendi mentioned here is Htiseyin Hezarfen, born in Istankoy -

died on 24 September 1691 in Istanbul. The translation reported here by
Dona is the first part of the greater work he wrote, entitled Telhis M-beym f i
kaxamn-i dl-i Csrmn, about the laws of Mehmed IV, the first part being on the
137
origins of the Ottoman Dynasty, their family trees and order of ascendance to
the throne. We learn from Babinger that Hiiseyin Hezarfen met many
European travellers and was eager to share with them his library and
knowledge.51 Hence, the assumption that Dona's personal ties with Hiiseyin
Hezarfen made him quote Hezarfen's book extensively between pages 12-43,
89-92, in Delia Letteratura de' Turchi. The translation from Hiiseyin Hezarfen's
book starts with the short introduction on the beginning, the origin and the
deeds of the first members of the House of Osman. Dona inserts bits and
pieces from various chapters of Hiiseyin Hezarfen's book, arriving at the time
of the-then-alive Valide Sultan's (Mother Sultan) starting the building of a
mosque in the year 1663, between pages 12-17. This is followed by other
translations from chapters on the hierarchy among the idetm on pages 17-43.
After which, Dona goes on to explain his selection and/or collection of
books in different disciplines of letters and sciences starting from grammar
and following with poetry and logic, mathematics, geometry and the like.
(p. 43) Having acquired the aforementioned facts, I have

commenced the collection of some Turkish books, to
converse with people who are revered by them for their
virtue, whom I found - as I said - in the Effendk (as such
the men of law are called), in other words, those who
profess the divine as well as mundane law. [....] In the
collection of the books, I have united different ones - not
with little difficulty - since the Turks do not have printers,
furthermore, (p. 44) it being prohibited by their sovereign,
in order not to deprive many of their jobs, and in
consequence, many of their food, namely the scribes.
Otherwise, for some other furtive aim, since they are
extremely cautious about us Christians, thinking that by
communicating their things they would become profane,
for it is especially prohibited to do in the matters of law.
Nevertheless, one overcomes everything in that country
with flatteries and with manners. I have come into
possession of many (books), and of others, have I had the
51Franz Babinger, Osrmrii Tarih Yazarlan ie Eserieri, trans. Co§kun U§ok, (Ankara:
Kiiltiir ve Turizm Bakanligi, 1982), pp. 251-255.
138
information, having had them translated, and as I returned

home, from his Excellency Signor Pietro Duodo, who
came to possess them through the acquisition of Coron.
However, of many others, I have had information from
Signor Timoteo Agnolini, the bishop of Mardin [.MahanS\,
who at the present, is in possession of many of them, and
he also reported to have seen information, which I will
hereby record, (p. 45) About this particular fact, it is to
note that, many sciences and fine arts are not in the
cognition of the Turks, given that many authors which will
hereby be mentioned are Arabs, or copied from the Arabs
themselves, many of them having already been translated
into Latin languages, Greek, French, and Italian [wlga?v] by
various gentlemen, who had had the curiosity about their
content, as I will hereby record.
Some of the books listed by Dona are as follows:

In grammar, the listed books are the Touch cf Gramrmr (Lucerna
Grammaticale) by an anonymous author. An Arabic, Persian, Turkish and
Chaldean dictionary, whose authors are not mentioned. Rudiments cf Turkish
Gramrmr (Rudimenti della Grammatica Turca), which is written - as it is
reported by Dona - by Andrea di Ryer, who was the consul of the French king
in Egypt, published in Paris in 1633.52
In poetiy Dona says that there are numerous authors. Compendium cf
Poetry (Summario di Poesia), written by Hafiz §irazi (Alfez Srirazi); Compendium
in Persian (Summario in Persiano) by Fuzuli (Fesuli); Compendium of Poetry
(Summario di Poesia), by Baki (Badn); Compendium cf the Ads cf Christ
(Summario de' fatti di Christo), in praise of his heroic actions by Nesimi
(Nasdni); History of (Kassan Sehanj-, History by the Patriarch Josef (Gioseffo
Patriarox); The Loies of Putifar (Amori di Putifat^, (Iusul Ezeliche) (Yusuf u-
Zaliha).53
Dona claims the discipline of logic to be the instrument for the rest of
the sciences, where he says that there are various types of argumentation, all
52 Dona, op. cit. p. 45-46.
53 ibid., p. 46-47.
139
of which are to be found in the book Intmit to Logic (Isahuugi) of an

unmentioned author.54
In mathematics, the author enumerates: a book of speculative and
practical arithmetic by Ali Kuscu ( ? -1474) (A 11A Icusi); a book of geometry
by A biakufa; another book of general geometry by Aflinw, and De Pondzribus
by Irani.55
In geometry, a book of Euclid's; in optics, a book of Ptolemeus'; and in
music the books of Alfasati and A bisdifa among few others are mentioned.56
Details of the books listed in all the disciplines by Dona are beyond the
confines of this work; the examples mentioned above will be sufficient to
give the reader an idea the way the author treated the subject in his book.
However, the rest of the disciplines mentioned with occasional citations of
the translations of some books written in these disciplines are: optics, music,
medicine, chemistry, astrology, astronomy, philosophy, law, history,
geography and prose.57
Dona, after having mentioned various authors in various subjects, says

that he wants to give a translated extract from the introduction of the history
book written by Hiiseyin Efendi [Cusseino Effencb], entitled: Of the Grandeur of
the Ottoman Empire [Delle g-ondezze ddl'Imperio Ottommo], alluding to the
aforementioned book of Hiiseyin Hezarfen, Telhis ul-beydn fi kawmn-i dl-i
Oman. He repeats the recurrent theme that the Turks are generally not as
intelligent as the Venetians, and that they do not possess knowledge on
sciences as much as they do.58 Following the translation from Hiiseyin
Hezarfen's book, which goes on in tone of odes for three pages on the
Grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, and was written during the reign of
Mehmed IV. The author says that the reason why he included the mentioned
translation in his book, is his talks with "the famous and most knowledgeable
Ifes EffencB'. Dona mentions to Ifes Ejfendi his intentions of writing a book on
54 ibid., p. 47-48.
55 ibid., p.48
56 ibid., p.48-49.
57 ibid., p. 49-88.
58 ibid., p. 88.
140
the Ottomans, as well as showing him another book written by him entitled,
Of the History cf Primes cf the Past [DeU'Historie de' prindpi passatt]. The book
mentioned was written on the princes of Kim [China], and Ifes Ejfendi urged
him to write a book also on the Ottoman sultans, so that it sets an example to
the European writers to write something decent and in positive terms about
the Ottomans. Dona claims that upon this encouragement of Ifes Ejfendi, he
composed the present book entitled: The History cf Grandeur cf the Ottoman
Emperors [Racconto ddla grandezza degli imperatori ottonum\.s9 At this point, it must
be said that it is not really clear whether he alludes to Delia Letteratura de'
Ttmhi or whether there is another book written by him entitled: Raaoonto ddla
grandeza de$i imperatori ottonum. However, the former is more plausible.
This is followed by the translation of an oration or prayer [dm] in
Turkish,60 which had been recited by Hasan Pa§a [Kassan Basso] - as the author
says - was the Pa§a of Napdi di Romania (the city of Kavala, then being called
in Greek Nedpdis).bl The dm of Hasan Pa§a leads in Dona's book to a list of
translations of sayings in Turkish.62 Some of which are reported here as
follows in Dona's transcription:
Ne Kader gad idersbnbir murade

Nassib dmas mucadenkn ziade
transcription in proper Turkish and translation:

Ne kadar cihad idersen bir murada
Nasib olmaz mukadderden ziyade
However much one would strive for an end

One would not receive anything more than the
predestined
59 ibid., p. 92-93.
60Dona says that the dm (the oration as he calls it) is in Turkish, however, there is every
reason to believe that it was in Arabic.
61 Dona, op. cit. p. 94-96
62 ibid. p. 97-100.
141
A refsen bir did ieter

coriatsen §rir bargfoia (sic.)
transcription and translation:

(corrige) Arifsen bir giil yeter kokmaya
Hoyrat isen gir bahceye yikmaya63
For the man of understanding a rose is enough to smell

An uncouth person [on the other hand] enters a garden to
demolish it
Bir tazi idol taussan bark Mamas

Bir tazi iki tav§an birden tutamaz
A hunting dog cannot catch two rabbits at a time
Ar^ssiaddmbuâamîmdh&her
Giaael harrise nessad okimkr esem sechei^

Arif §ad olur bu cihanda gam geker
Akil hemi§e §ad olayim der elem 9eker
A man of understanding, in his strife for happiness in this

world, misses happiness and grieves.
One learns from the book that eventually there was a book to be published
by the Press of Padua's Seminary, founded by Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo,
63E. Kemal Eyiiboglu, ed., Orrngmu YiizyMzn gimirmze kadar §iirde m Hoik Dilinde
Atasazleriwdeyirrler, Birinci Kitap, (istanbul: 1973), p.18.
64 ibid., pp. 97-98.
142
containing five hundred Turkish proverbs. 65 Therefore, the author says that
he prefers not to give more examples of Turkish sayings. Rather, Dona wants
to provide his brother the abbot, with some knowledge about the Ottoman
juridical system, recounting the fact - much to his astonishment - that in the
Ottoman system the secular and the religious areas are extremely intertwined.
"The same men who exercise in the mosques as priests, practice also in the
tribunals as judges" 6 6 The translation of The Table of tJxMuftis andKadiaskers cf
the Ottoman Empire (Tavola de' Mufti e Cadileschieri dell'Imperio Ottomano)
by Agi Celeii Mustafa, is given to provide the reader with knowledge on the
matter. 67 T o illustrate the matter further, the author also gives examples of
felius or legal sentences by men of law. An example is as follows:
Petition. Could a man who is ignorant in matters of law,

however known as pious and moral be accepted as a valid
and qualified witness?
Response orfetmt: The ignorant in the divine sciences cannot
be received as witness. K n o w that [addressing his brother]
the aforementioned fetwa is within the realm of reason,
while the mufti who pronounced it added: the man
ignorant of the divine law is as if he is without knowledge;
however, his testimony should not be believed especially in
criminal cases, since the ignorant might make his
neighbour weep out of good intentions.68
After having given the translations of some religious orations for the month
of Ramadan, and a brief explanation on the matter of religious orations,
translations of letters in Turkish are given as examples. After this, one arrives
at the treatment of poetry among the Turks:
65 ibid., p. 100.
66 ibid., pp.100-101.
67 ibid., pp.102-110.
68 ibid., pp. 113-114.
143
(p. 125) Poetry is also very abundantly practised among the

Turks. Here I do not write their rules of composition.
However, they also have - like us - measure, harmony and
desinence, with which they express feelings with thoughts,
and concepts with eloquence, (p. 126) They receive from
Persian the gallantry of the word, as we receive from
Tuscan, or rather from Sienese;69 and from Arabic, like we
do from Latin, they receive the power of the juicy and
decorous way of saying. They boast of some fables from
which, as a result, one can understand what they mean. I
have, however, had the following translated, since I did not
take more time to examine further. For those who want to
entirely satisfy their curiosity, there is an infinity of books
in verse, most of which are in Persian, written in various
meter and in strophe, and with harmony of rhyme, and
they distinguish themselves very well, in the measure they
were praised, from other rhymes and figures for men not
so uncouth. You can therefore read the subsequent
translations:
(p.127)
Astonished was I contemplating as my beloved
With a smile of roses
Ridiculing said she to me,
Now do I distil the water from my roses.70
69 The Tuscan dialect of Italian was gradually adopted as the standard Italian, starting
from the Middle Ages. In this process, the works of Dante Alighieri and Petrarca were
of paramount importance. Although the Tuscan dialect is generally considered to be the
standard Italian, presumably for its proximity to Latin, the Sienese (ie. Siena) dialect was
traditionally considered to be the purest among the other dialects of Tuscany.
70The English translation was made referring to the subject as she, remaining faithful to
the Italian translation in the book by Rinaldo Carli, the dragoman of the Republic of
Venice.
144
Which justice, which event, from the beloved the lover,

From the beloved rose
The idle nightingale
Keeps away and interdicts.
Dona warns the reader that by translating the poetry much is lost in it
and that it loses its "vagueness and often its juice, like do the new-born
flowers transplanted, who do not have neither colour, nor beauty or odour as
they had before."71 Subsequently, the author gives example of Turkish songs
and comments on the music with which the lyrics are accompanied, as well as
giving translations of songs into Italian.72 As an appendix to the book, a song
with its musical notes and lyrics in Turkish is produced at the end. As to
Turkish music, Dona makes interesting observations:
(p. 131) Really, their general and ordinary music happens

to be noisy. Because the Turkish Nation is a belligerent
one, and the Pa§as are obliged to keep at their courts for
their service, at least thirty-three instruments - which are to
a major extent composed of soldiers - like drums, timpani,
trumpets, piffari73 and flutes. (.....) (p. 132) However, I have
not seen them use written music, and sing on the notes of
written songs, like we do. On the contrary, I was told that
they do not have such a thing, but they only have
traditional music, which is handed down by memory to the
successors, which consists of twenty-four airs. Namely, six
melancholic, six merry, six furious, six unctuous or
romantic ones. They accommodate the verses and the
rhymes to the music, and not the music to the rhyme, like
we do.
71 Dona, op. cit. p. 130.
72 ibid., pp. 134-135.
73 A smaller version of the flute.
145
In spite of all these examples in Dona's book to show that the Turks
were no more a barbarian nation, and that they had all the elements of
erudition necessary to qualify them as a civilised nation, Dona cannot help
making the following remark, as an attempt to show that the conquered lands
of the Europeans had a share in civilising the Turks:
(p. 135) Having had the aforementioned things collected, I

suppose that you will have from the reading of these notes,
sufficient cognition that the Turkish Nation is no more
buried in that brutal roughness, as it was before. Also this
empire, as it is in the habit of the conquerors, in expanding
its dominion and in introducing itself into the most
beautiful provinces, conquered also gifts and fine arts,
which the lands gradually conquered by it enjoyed.
On the other hand, it convincingly results from the text, that this passage is
also the harbinger of the fact that the image that the Turk enjoyed in Venice
was gradually undergoing a change after the failure of Vienna in 1683.
Dona's conviction and ideas about the subject matter of his book
continue in the same way also in his relaziane which attests to the change of
image that the Turks until then enjoyed. However, Dona is also still
convinced about the nature and scope of the presence of erudition among
the Turks, as this nature of their erudition appertains not to erudition and
culture for its sake. Rather, all the rmdreses, schools, reading of books, the
building of universities are seen as an effort of the sultans to keep their
subjects under control. As Dona's relazione to the Venetian Senate reads,
upon his return to Venice in 1684, all these cultural facilities were seen as
necessary by the sultans "to keep the people in peace and order thanks to the
judiciary, therefore it was comeraert to back up erudition and study, and to
tolerate the diffusion cf a rmhoae aitrmtian cf the mind'™ However, as Dona
continues in his relazione, now that he admits at least a fragmnt cf culture and
study among the Turks - while even that much was not admitted by the
Venetian public opinion before him - he says that this natural faculty of the
soul which craves for knowledge enables the Turk to discover that the
prophet of their religion was fraud, and that he was destined to perish as a
74 Nicolo Barozzi and Guglielmo Berchet, op. cit., p. 295-296.
146
consequence of his lies. Dona adds that the Turks really do not have a
religion, although from the exterior they profess the Muslim relvgon, and that
they even confound their laws, which are badly written.75 One can assert
considering the selection of works appertaining to the letters and sciences of
the Ottomans enumerated in Dona's book that, his selection is not the result
of a meticulously examined research on the subject. It is rather a dilettante's
bricdage in one of the earliest attempts in the study of turcology. "Dona and
his circle realise at the end of the (seventeenth) century a cultural operation of
great scale, suggesting for the first time to the Venetian public opinion a new
and an original way of approaching the Turkish civilisation, for the first time
studied within its autonomous values, which the West still has to discover."76
Nevertheless, considering the pioneer nature of Dona's work, as well as
the fact that he was by profession an ambassador in the Ottoman Empire,
and not a philologist, his work deserves a great deal of appreciation and
attention, not for the quality of information or that of documentation, but
rather because it is the first example that shows to the Venetian public
opinion that the Ottomans were - not the bestial creatures they were thought
to be - but at least cultured people, however mediocre and inadequate the
scope of their culture was.
None of the authors cited in translation in the present chapter were
marginal characters whose works had a limited and marginal audience at their
times. On the contrary, most of them were authors of remarkable importance
in their times, some of them being celebrities for their contemporaries within
the intellectual circles they were read, not to mention the more renowned
names such as Marco Polo and Pope Pius II. These authors - some of whom
fell into oblivion today - not only gradually helped the creation of the image
of the Turk in Italy as well as in Europe in their times, but were also the
rmkers qfthe amtemporary public opimon, an opinion whose echoes and influences
still linger on in the present day in the form of defining the "other" with
characteristics as opposed to one's own.
75 ibid. p. 297.
76 Preto, Paolo, Venezia e i Tutxhi, (Firenze: G. C Sansoni Editore, 1975), p. 351.
147
CONCLUSION
T here are various conclusions based on the present research. The

first category of conclusions are general ones concerning the
nature of the image. Firstly, that the image of the "Turk" in
Europe in the apex of the Ottoman Empire between the fall of
Constantinople and the second siege of Vienna was generally a negative one.
This image was a continuation of the thereto existing antagonism between
the Christian and the Islamic civilisations until the fall of Constantinople,
which only was crystallised in the figure of the "Turk" (i.e. Ottomans) after
1453. Second, there has been a gradual but a continual change towards the
better in the aforementioned image starting with the military stagnation of the
Ottoman Empire in Europe from 1683 onwards.
The second category of conclusions are those regarding the function of
these various images that were created in Italy between 1453 and 1683. As to
the political aspects of the Turkish image, the period between 1453 and 1517,
until Luther's rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church, marks the period
where the Turks kept their already existing image, not only as the enemy of
Christianity, but from 1453 onwards also as the imminent and greatest threat
to Christendom The efforts of bringing unity to Europe under the auspices of
the agents of the Roman Church and the restoration of pax christiam gained
unprecedented importance after 1453. As the manuscripts of Marchesi and
Petricca demonstrate, the ideological arm of the counter-Reformation
considered it an excellent opportunity to use "war against the Turk", as a
means of diverting attention from the ongoing religious and political
divisions and wars in Europe. Oddly enough, the same Roman Church
considered the Protestants heretics as well as the infidel Turks, as targets of a
possible "crusade". In this way, the diminishing importance of the Roman
Catholic Church forced it to make use of the traditional Turkish enemy as an
attempt to regain control in a Europe, which was not anymore solely ruled by
the Mother Church. The consequences of the Thirty Years War are clear
proofs of this religious and political fragmentation in Europe. The cultural
implications of the Turkish image in the aforementioned period present the
historian with almost a totally negative view, with the few exceptions of
Venetian ambassadors and a few travellers who went to the Ottoman
148
Conclusion
Empire, and witnessed its reality in primt persona. In a certain respect, the
already negative Medieval image of the "Muslim" was carried unto the Turk
between the second half of the fifteenth and the end of seventeenth
centuries. This image was only intensified by the rapid military advance and
the presence of the Ottoman Empire as the only model similar to the past
glories of the Roman Empire, as it was perceived in Italian humanistic
culture.
I have always retained that the greatness and power of

the Turkish nation deserves much consideration. As a
result of seeing their ancient military institution and the
order of their civil government, one must conclude - as it
is evident - that they are men of valour, and not at all
rough [people]. As to the military, I do not see any other
people among ours, which has better order, and more
reminiscent of the Roman order, than the Turkish one.
Considering that they - almost as successors of the
aforementioned Romans - are abstinent in war, resistant to
fatigue and obedient to their superiors [ J1
However, the Ottoman Empire, which was reminiscent of the glorious

Roman Empire from a military and a political point of view, in the eye of the
same humanists, was also the heir to the barbarian Persian heritage, which
represented the antithesis to the Hellenic civilisation, and therefore to their
own, with its tyranny and lack of civilisation.
This negative image slowly gave way to the more tolerant and realistic
image of the Turk in the hands of the Venetians towards the end of the
seventeenth century after Ottoman military and political loss of power,
mostly due to reasons inherent to the Ottoman Empire. The pioneers
heralding the changing Turkish image towards the end of the seventeenth
century are the Venetians Dona 2 and Businello 3 , both members of the
1 Francesco Sansovino, Gli Armali Tunhesòi avsm Vite de' Principi della Casa Otbomma,
(Venetia: n.p., 1573.), foreword.
2Giovanni Battista Donado, Della Letteratura de' Turchi, (Venetia, Per Andrea Poletti,
1688.)
149
Conclusion
Venetian bureaucratic class of prominent families. Perhaps the most radical

change took place in the Letteratura Timhesat of Toderini,4 a clergyman.
Todeiini attempted at eradicating the prejudices against the Turks in his
Letteratura Tunhesca of the new Enlightenment age in the following words:
Before entering into the study of Turkish Literature, I

should remove a great popular error, still rooted in the
minds of many erudite Europeans, who firmly feel and
write about Muhammed, that he closed every way of
science with severe precept, fearing that harm would
[come] to his doctrine if sciences were cultivated; making
ignorance of his people, almost the base, upon which to
found the extravagant Muslim religion. However,
Muhammed was equally concerned, as it would become
clear from his own words of the false prophet: "It is
legitimate" he says "for the Muslims to possess all the
sciences". And in another saying of his [he says]: "Seek
science, even if it were in China". The sentence written on
the library of the conqueror of Constantinople is famous:
"The study of sciences is a divine precept upon the real
believers" Therefore, it is clearly seen, how far from the
truth is, to think that Muhammed wanted to prohibit his
people science and keep them buried in ignorance [ ]
The intelligence and the happy climate of the Turks,
especially the abundance of the Arabic books, the
translations of the Greeks, original and perfect masters of
all knowledge, honour and solemn advantages, give the
Ottomans the fruits of letters. And finally the academies
and the course of well-systemised and laudable studies
make them have a doctrine in many sciences and
cultivated in pleasant literature. As Galand wrote, in
3Pietro Businello, Lettere irfonmtvve delle cose de Turchiriguardoalla religione et al gpwrno àule,
militare, polìtico, et economico. Scritto dal Sig. Pietro Businello segnarlo dd Senato Veneto, (Padova:
manoscritti, Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova).
4 Giambattista Toderini, Letteratura Tunhesot, (Venezia: n.p., 1787.)
150
Conclusion
sciences and in fine letters, the Turks are not beaten

neither by the Arabs, nor by the Persians, which have
been cultivated by them since the beginning of the
Ottoman Empire.5
Toderini says that the Turks have also compensated for the lateness of their
lack of knowledge of foreign languages to follow the sciences and letters:
There is no person of any doctrine and culture there who

does not know the Arabic and the Persian languages
together, which are both necessaiy to penetrate the
sciences and to write in the Turkish tongue with elegance.
Moreover, as the erudite Reviczky declares, that a Turk
would not be able to read inscriptions in his own mother
tongue, without knowing those of the Arabs [at least] in a
mediocre way. [ ] However, in our present day, they
have softened a lot their ferocious literature, and tempered
their barbarous superstition. I know two Turks who are
men of letters and gentlemen, who write and read Italian,
and many others who are most willing to speak it. I was
asked by an eminent French engineer, to provide him with
some treatise of algebra in our language for an Ottoman,
who knew it sufficiently. A mature young Turk, asked me
with much warmth, the logarithmic tables of sinus of
tangents and cotangents, and another one enquired about
the astronomical effemerids of the then-present year 1785,
and other times about unusual and strange things. I have
not taken here the trouble of confuting Baron de Tott,
[Toderini's note: Mémoires du Baron de Tott sur les
Turcs, & les Tartares. Premiere Partie, Préf. page xv,
xxiv,xxv. Mémoires, page 10, 11. A' Amsterdam, 1784.]
who denies the Turks any letters, as he has not researched
, nor read on this subject. It would be futile that I
bothered - as it has been fought with valour - and won by
the erudite Peyssionel. [Toderini's note: Lettre de Mr.
5
Giambattista Toderini, op. cit., pp.1-4.
151
Conclusion
Peyssionel sur les Mémoires du Baron de Tott. A'

Amsterdam, 1785] Finally, this book of mine will show -
still not willingly - how much Tott, Savary and many
others are ignorant of Turkish literature, [Toderini's note:
Lettres sur l'Egypte par M. Savary a Paris, 1785. Lett,
prem. page 17. Les Barbares! (parla de' Turchi) ils ont
étouffé dans leur vaste Empire les arts, les sciences.]6
although since sixty years, the initial splendour has
declined, as the sincere Turkish scholars confirmed to
me.7
Another importance of Italy concerning the Turkish image arises out of

the fact that not only numerous works written in Italy between the fifteenth
and the end of seventeenth century were copied in other parts of Europe, but
also in the eighteenth century the famous works of Italians like the
aforementioned book of Toderini and the manuscript of Businello, Latere
irforrmtwi, enjoyed a wider number of readers than only the Italians. The
Lettere irfomutviE, having enjoyed perhaps more fame in German-speaking
Europe than its homeland, Venice, was translated and published twice in
Germany in 1771-1772 in Ulm and once again in 1778 in Leipzig.9 This
shows the central role of Italy as late as the later eighteenth century in
diffusing the Turkish image in Europe. Another conclusion is the obvious
role that the Roman Church played in the creation of Turkish image - to say
the least in Catholic Europe, as its spiritual head - through the well-
6Barbarians! (speaking of Türks) Theyhave drowned the arts and sciences in their vast
empire.
7 Giambattista Toderini, op. cit., pp.7-9.
8Businello, Pietro, Lettere irfarrmtke Mie cose de Turchiriguardoalla religione etalgpwmo àule,
nilitare, politico, et economico. Scritto dal Sig. Pietro Businello segretario del Senato Veneto,
(Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova, manoscritti.)
9 Magazin zur Gebrauch der Staaten und Kinhengpsdoichte wrmrlid) des Staatsrechts Katdischer
Regmtem in ber Geistlichkeit, I, Ulm: 1771, pp.52-161, II, Ulm: 1772, pp.107-232; GW.
Lüdeke, P. Businello. Historische Nachrichten von der Regierungart, Sitten und Gewohnheiten der
osnunischen Monarchie, Leipzig: 1778, in Paolo Preto, Venezia e I Turchi, (Firenze: G. C.
Sansoni Editore, 1975), p.449.
152
Conclusion
calculated process of ideological and political strife that it went through using
the hostility directed towards the Turks.
The Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718 marks a period where both the
Ottoman Empire and Venice, as well as the Papacy as determinant political
actors in Europe started to decline. With the Treaty of Passarowitz, Venice
concluded its last war against the Ottomans and lost the Morea to its old
rival, which it had managed to capture two decades ago with the Treaty of
Karlowitz in 1699. In 1797 Venice lost its independence to Austria and was
permanently out of the European political scene as an actor. The eighteenth
century Turkish image in Italy as well as in Europe in general was the
Enlightenment vision of the "exotic Turk", not anymore the seen as the
fierce enemies of the past centuries. However, what is important to the
present study is, that from the eighteenth century onwards, politically more
important European actors like France, England and Germany started to
shape the Turkish image in Europe. The relatively positive exotic image
created by the latter powers, became in the nineteenth century the "sick man
Europe" perception of the Ottomans. Indeed, sharing the fate of all the
multi-national empires of Europe, like the Habsburgs, by the end of World
War I the Ottoman Empire was defunct.
153
Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, "The war against the Turk": Alla Santità di
nostro Sigiare Papa, Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre
ALLA SANTITÀ DI NOSTRO SIGNORE PAPA PAOLO Q U I N T O

BEATISSIMO PADRE
( I R ) Grandi non è dubbio et maravigliose sono state le risolutioni e gli

sforzi, fatti in diversi tempi da Prencipi christiani, per terra et per Mare per la
guerra contra Turchi, ma non meno maravigliosa è stata sempre l'infelicità
degli eventi essendo i Turchi alfine prevalsi sempre, et havendo acquistato in
così poco tempo un così grande Imperio. Dilla qual prosperità , et nostra
infelicità varie cagioni sono state addotte, ma parte false, et empie, con grave
calonnia dilla nostrariligione,et parte generali, ò lontane, et non s'è toccato il
punto, ne la particolare et immediata causa; ò se alcuni l'hanno avertita hanno
mancato in trovare (1 V) il rimedio. L'Intento mio adunque, secondo la
debolezza dell'ingegno mio, è d'investigare il vero e proprio rimedio a tanto
male. Le cagioni adunque dalli altri allegati sono queste. Primieramente alcuni
heretici hanno negato esser lecito a christiani di far guerra, tampoco à Turchi;
anzi Luthero pazzamente predicò benche poi si ritrattò, non solo non dover
noi far guerra à Turchi, ma ne anco resistenza, per non opporsi alla Divina
volontà , perche Iddio per mezzo loro ci flagilla. Et altri anzi Athei che
Heretici , dicono, come già dissero i Gentili, la Christiana religione esser
pernitrosa alla República, et allo stato temporale, haver estinta l'antica
grandezza d'animo, haver rovinato l'Imperio Romano, esser in tutto controsia
alla virtù militare, come quilla che reprime i stimoli dilla vendetta, che
repugna al disiderio dille lode, et dilla gloria, che commanda l'umiltà et il
dispregio dill'honore, et dilla robba, che sono i motivi per i quali si combatte,
rendendo p.ciò (2 R) gli huomini imbilli vili, senza haver per fine la
conservazione, ne l'augumento dillo stato, ne altro fine havendo, che pace, et
pazienza, et toleranza dei mali, dicendo Quisto. Ego autem dico vobis, non
resistere malo. Si quis te percusserit in unam maxillam praebe ei et alteram, et
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Alla Sanità di nostro Signore Papa Paolo Quinto Beatissimo Padre
ei qui voluit tecum in iudicio contendere, et tunicam tuam tollere, dimitte ei et

pallium. Diligite inimicos vestros, bene afficite his qui oderunt vos, omnis qui
gladium 1 gladio peribit. Et San Paolo, nulli malum prò malo redentis, et
non vosmet ipsos defendentes diarissimi, sed date locum ira, scriptum est
enim, milii vindictam et ego retribuam, et molti altri luogi simili. Onde fra
christiani la maggior parte degli huomini attende cose otrose, à giuochi, à
passatempi, à varij artifitij di mano, gran parte non necessarij, ne giovevoli al
publico, ne al privato, spendendo in quilli il tempo, et le facoltà, come in
fabriche non necessarie, in scolture e pitture vane, in otrosa supillettile, in
infinite vane opere, per vestimenti, et pompa per dilitte e lusso, in con riti (2
V) e crapole, che in alcune parti dilla christianità non finiscono mai,
pochissimo studio mettendosi nille cose militari, et pochissimi essendo quilli,
che ci attendino. Onde quando si fanno gli eserciti ,niuno diletto si hà, niuno
essercito militare si fa niuna o poca disciplina si vede poca modistia et
sobrietà, poca obedienza, poca tolleranza dille fatiche et dei disagi, poca
speranza de premi;, perche i carichi e gli honori più si danno à i ricchi, ò à i
nobili, o ad altra sorta di gente, che à i valorosi: non severità et certezza di
pene, quali spessissimo per artifici di causidici, o per favori, o altre corrotile si
sfuggono. Di più fra christiani una gran parte attende à scienze et à lettere
inutili, o anco dannose, come fra l'altre alla profissione legale, giuditiaria, in
cui s'impiegano tanti Giudici, Avocati, Causidici, Notari et simili per
guadagnarsi con quest'arte pane et honore, quali à i professori di essa più si
danno, che à i benemeriti nill'armi, tirando seco costoro l'infinita turba dei
litiganti, come quilli che in gran parte dill'origine et (3 R) immortalità dille liti
sono gli autori e gli artefici. Oltre alla divisione dei Regni, et dei stati
Christiani con le discordie, che per ciò sono fra loro. Quali benche talvolta
s'uniscano per quest'impresa contra Turchi, non di meno per i fini, et
interessi diversi che tra loro sono, facilmente ritornano alla disunione. Senza
che molti Prencipi, et Potentati, et nationi unir tampoco non si possono ne
tra loro, ne con gli altri; per la varietà dille religioni, et sette, etiandio tra loro
repugnanti, nille quali vivono. Oltre che per il celibato, et per la monogamia,
che la Christiana legge induce, si priva la Republica di quel più numero di
gente, che si generarla. Andando, dicono, fra Turchi le cose al contrario. Però
che hanno una sola religione, un solo Prencipe, et una sola forma di governo,
et per esser tra loro pochi celibi, et più per la poligamia abondano di gente, ne
hanno tanti artisti, et operaij di cose inutili, et soverchie. Ne mettono tanta
1 illegible
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Monsignor Marcello Marchesi
ciara, ne tanto studio nille fabriche, nilla supellettile, nille pompe, nil mangiare
et bere. (3 V) Ne hanno studiosi di lettere, ne Causidici, ne professori simili.
Onde sono tra loro pochissime liti e brevissime. Ma universalmente si danno
alla militia, et in questa impiegano il tempo, et le spese. Questa stimano, per
questa sono proposti gli honori, i premij, l'entrate, come sono i Timari, cioè
beneficij in vita di più sorti, fondati per tutto l'Imperio ( nilla guisa che tra noi
sono li beneficij Ecclesiastici, et le commende militari per darli à soldati,
spetialmente à cavallo, benemeriti, o idonei aña guerra, et molte altri sorti di
profusioni nilla Corte dil Prencipe et fuori. Fanno la scelta degli huomini per
la guerra etiandio da fanciulli, egli instruiscono et avezzano in perpetui
essercitij militari: hanno disciplina et sobrietà, obedienza, et toleranza dei
disagi, essendo appresso loro inevitabili le pene et certa la speranza dei
premij: quali si danno à chi n'è degno per meniti proprij, et non per altri
rispetti. Si che non è dicono, meraviglia se sono i Turchi a noi superiori, et se
sono cresciuti (4 R) à tanta grandezza, et dilla Christianità tanta parte in poco
tempo s'è perduta.
Ma conciosia che dille dette assertioni alcune siano false et empie, et altre
vere, non però da quille sole, che vere sono, non che dall'altre procedono le
vittorie de Turchi. Primieramente adunque falso è che dille nostre perdite sia
causa la nostra riligione, ne che sia dannosa allo stato, ne che ci prohibisca la
guerra, ne che repugni alla grandezza d'animo, ne alla virtù militare, ne che ci
renda vili ne imbilli. Non è dannosa allo stato, perche anzi è la più giovevole
che mai fusse; perciò che consistendo l'effetto dilla riligione, quanto al
giovare allo stato, in far buoni i sudditi, et sottometterli al Prencipe, et far che
l'amino et l'ubbidiscano. La riligione e legge di Christo sottopone al Prencipe
non solo i corpi et le facoltà, ma gl'animi et le coscienze istisse. Però che
prohibisce non solo l'opere male esteriori et commanda l'esteriori buone, ma
vieta gli istissi affetti, et pensieri mali, et commanda i buoni, et non solo à
Prencipi buoni, vuole che si ubbidisca, (4 V) ma etiandio à i discoli, purché
non commandino cose contra la naturale, o di una legge, ne quali casi vuole
anco che ogni cosa prima si faccia, che venire a' rottura manifista, et a'i
precetti aggiunge consigli per render gli huomini non solamente buoni, ma
nilla bontà perfetti; et non solamente commanda o consigla, ma dà divirsi
aiuti per operare et esseguire, et non per fine di beni terreni e temporali, ma
per fine di beatitudine cileste et eterna; qual fine non hebbe mai cosi
revelatamente alcun'altra riligione ne legge. Si che mai alcuna non fu più'
favorvole et utile allo stato temporale dilla República et dil Prencipe , che
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questa di Christo, la quale tampoco non prohibisce la guerra. Perciò che ne i

luoghi di sopra citati dille offise private et agli huomini privati si parla, et non
alle persone publiche, che con l'auttorità publica hanno a diffender lo stato.
Onde o si commanda alle persone private la toleranza dille private offese
sempre quanto alla dispositene dill'animo (5 R) più presto che offender Dio,
o si commanda talvolta la toleranza anco in effetto secondo la necessità dil
servitio di Dio, o fuori dilla necessità si consiglia per virtù et perfettione , o
anco non si consiglia quando niuna utilità ne risulta. Ma alle persone publiche
ne si vieta la difisa dilla República, ne la vendetta contra i misfatti dei nemici
esterni, ne degli interni che perturbano la República. Perciò che quantunque
si dica à i privati che sopportino le ingiurie, non però si dice à i Magistrati, che
non castighino gli ingiurianti di maniera che si come il precetto et il conseglio
di sopportar l'ingiurie et d'amar gli inimici non toglie l'offizio suo à gli
Imperadori ne à i soldati: onde abbiamo tanti essempi di guerre nil tistamento
antico, et n'habbiamo chiare autorità anco nil 2 . et interpretatione dilla
chiesa, et uso perpetuo dil popolo christiano. Perciò che non lasciarono mai i
christiani di militare etiando negli esserciti de Prencipi pagani con tistimoni de
(5 V) miracoli d'esser Santi, et cari a Dio. Et Costantino et dopo lui tanti altri
Imper." catholici fecero guerre etiando con tistimonio di miracolosi aiuti,
espetialmente contra gli infidili, et massime contra i Mahomettani; et ciò per
consiglio et impulso de sommi Pontefici; come di Urbano 2°, di Pascale 2 o , o
anco con contributioni d'aiuti, come di Eugenio 4°, di Calisto 3°, di Pio 2°, di
paolo 3°, di Pio V, dil predecissore di Vostra Santità et di lei stissa fin dal
principio dil suo Pontificato, et per decreti di Concili) generali, come
lateranente, lugdunente, vienente, et esortationi di Santi huomini come di S.
Bernardo, et di altri, il qual santo modestamente accenna haver anco con
miracoli confirmato Dio le prediche sue, con le quali eccittava li popoli a
questa guerra: per cui anco con l'autorità Apostolica si instituirono tante
religioni di Cavallieri di modo che errore troppo manifisto è il dire, che a
Christiani leciti non sia di far guerra, et doveva vergognarsi (6 R) ancorché
sfacciatissimo Luthero, come pur poi si vergognò di lasciarsi tanto trasportare
dall'odio contra il Papa, che desiderasse di veder più presto tutta la
Christianità andar sotto al Turco, che non veder estinto il nome dil Papa,
predicando perciò non doversi resistere al Turco, per non opporsi al divino
flagillo; quasi che contra la peste, contra la fame, et altri publici flagilli non
habbiamo da cercare il rimedij; et fra gli altri convertirsi a Dio, ch'è il suo fine,
2 illegible
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per cui ci flagilla, et implorare il suo aiuto per poter loro resistere. Et come la
religione nostra Catholica non ci vieta la guerra giusta, cosi' non ci vieta
d'acquistar robba e stati per mezzo di tal guerra. Ne repugna alla
magnanimità, però che contrarie non sono Phumiltà Christiana, et la
magnanimità, ma il magnanimo si da ad operationi grandi per la fiducia dei
doni, che ha da dio et di grandi honori degno di stime per la consideratione
dei detti doni, ma l'umile si abbassa et in degno si reputa per la
considerazione dei propri) difetti, honorando (6 V) però gli altri, et degni
stimandoli per li doni di Dio che in loro vede: si che l'humile et magnanimo
insieme ben sempre stimarà indegno in risguardo alle proprie imperfettioni,
ma però attioni grandi farà per la virtù, che gli da Dio, come professava
l'Apostolo. Omnia possum in eo qui me confortât. Et come la Christiana
religione non repugna alla magnanimità, cosi non repugna alla virtù militare,
ne allo stimolo dell'honore, ed alla gloria. Volendo anzi, che cose degne
d'honore et di gloriasi facciano, et dannando chi non le fa, et chi senza farle
vuole esser honorato, quantunque non voglia, che l'onore e gloria degli
huomini s'habbia per ultimo fine contra Dio, et I precetti suoi, ma che
l'ultimo fine sia istisso Dio, il tistimonio suo, la gloria su; con che non solo
non è contraria la riligione nostra al disiderio dill'honore e dilla gloria, che
anzi più altamente l'accende, facendo sopra la terrena et caduca gloria,
disiderarne un'altra cileste et immortale. Onde maggiori essempi di
magnanimità di costanza, (7 R) et di fortezza d'animo contra tutte le
terribilità' di Mondo, mostrati, non per stimolo di gloria vana, ma per amor
dilla patria, o per zilo dill'honore di Dio, o per altri fini nobilissimi, et santi, et
degni di gloria immortale et divina, non si videro mai, che fra i profissori di
quista riligione la quale perciò tanto è lungi(?), che sia stata la ruina
dill'Imperio Romano, che le historié mostrandoci l'Imperio esser caduto per i
gran viti) et dapocagine di molti Imperatori et fra l'altre cose per aver negletta
la disciplina et arte militare, ci mostrano insieme haver fiorito, et de nemici
haver facilmente trionfato quiUi Imperatori Catholici, che di tutto cuore si
diedero a Dio, et al contrario esser rovinati quei Prencipi, che la Catholica
riligione hanno perseguitato, ò à santa chiesa hanno disubbidito. Si che da
queste ragioni esser stata iniquamente calonniata la riligione et da issa non
esser procedute le nostre pertide cò Turchi, chiaramente si convince. La quale
riligione manco deve esser biasimata, perche sia indirizzata alla pace; perciò
che, come dimostrano i politici, la quale è il fine di (7 V) tutte le giuste guerre,
et però ogni ben instituita Republica non alla guerra, ma alla pace deve esser
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ordinata. Ben si concede che in Christianità sono assai artefici pertinenti à

pompe, à lusso, à gola, et ad altre cose biasimevoli, ò non necessarie:
quantunque non si conceda, che biasimevoli siano le ampie, et ornate
fabriche, le quali fra l'altre cose, come dimostrano i morali, sono materia dilla
magnificenza, virtù nobilissima, et però usate in ogni tempo et da Romani, e
da Greci, et da altre bellicose nationi. Ma quanto alle pompe, ne queste
mancano fra i Turchi con lusso e voracità, et ogni sorte di vitij in molto
maggior abondanza. Si che fra noi da altro non procedono, che dalla natura
corrotta, et non dalla riligione purissima, castissima, ragionevolissima, che sia
che molti vitij fra loro procedano etiandio dalla licentiosa, irragionevole, e
sporchissima loro educatione e setta. Oltre che Dio per la riligione nostra, et
non per la loro, ha riparato la natura, pero che atta è la riligione nostra à sanar
l'animo di ciascuno, (8 R) reintegrandolo nilla divina gratia, et à sostenerlo
che nil peccato non ricada, et à rizzarlo di nuovo, se ricade, et ad aiutarlo con
la libertà dil suo arbitrio al bene operare, quale arbitrio dalla Divina gratia, che
di essa nostra riligione è il frutto, viene eccettato, favorito, aiutato,
accompagnato, non che dalla mala inclinatione dilla natura, che da essa
Divina gratia molto è moderata, à niuno si toglia, fin che sarà dilla natura
l'ultima riparatione, et l'intera liberatione da tutti i mali per la resurrettione
gloriosa, pur per essa nostra riligione dalla divina virtù cagionata. Parimenti si
concede esser tra noi numero maggiore di riligiosi, e di cilibi, che fra loro non
sono. Per le quali cause, et per la monogamia (ben che quista et il cilibato
instituiti sono per più alti, et più degni fini) habbiamo di gente minor copia.
Ma con tutto ciò non manca gente a sofficienza per vincer il Turco in
ciascuna dille principali parti dilla Christianità in Europa, non che in tutte
insieme, come al suo luogo si dimostrarà. Et il medesimo si dice dei profissori
dille lettere, et in spetie (8 V) dilla giuditiaria, non negandosi che questa
profissione non habbia hoggi mai troppo numero di seguaci, per esser tra noi
diventata in troppa stima, et in troppo pregio, ne che errore non si faccia da
quei Prencipi, che più l'honorano che la militia, non havendo proportione il
benemerito nill'esercitio dilla giuditiaria col benemerito dilla scienza militare,
et nille fatighe, disagi, et pericoli dilla guerra, ne che non sia cresciuta la
giudiciaria à troppe constitutioni, à troppi commentari), et à troppo artificio
contra l'intentione dil Legislatore nostro Christo, qui traliclio moralia et
cerimonalia, sed nulla indicialia quia voluit nescisi, dicono i scolastici, et
contra il consiglio dei santi, et sommi Dottori. Onde non si può anco negare,
che maggior copia di liti non ne scatorisca, et di esse maggior lunghezza, et
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che ogni di più non sia questa parte per caminare di male in peggio, se non si
torna à fare quillo, che per le medesime cagioni, et inconvenienti dil suo
tempo, fece Giustiniano; cosa che tanto più felicemente hoggi (9 R) riuscirà,
quanto questo secolo è assai più dotto, che non era quillo di Giustiniano, et
molto meglio saria insito il methodo, massimamente dopo tante lucubrationi
e trattati, che per lastricare questa strada già da molti billi ingegni sono stati
fatti. Ma per tornare al mio proposito, non si nega, dico, che la giudiciaria non
occupi gran numero di profissori, et non tiri seco gran numero di litiganti, ma
si dice, che con tutto ciò non manca numero bastante di gente per la guerra.
Si che nessuna dille dette cause si può dire la vera causa dil nostro male cò
Turchi. Che oltre di ciò in Christianità siano diverse le forze per la divisione
de gli stati, et siano disuniti gli animi per la varietà dille sette (merce di quilli
Prencipi che ne gli stati loro le hanno lasciate introdurre senza mirare non che
all'impietà, et altri mali, ne quali cadevano, ma alla debolezza, in che fra l'altre
cause si riducevano, perche dal capo dilla christianità si separavano, il quale
ne bisogni (9 V) di forze diverse in scambievoli aiuto unir potea e solea) non
si può negare, che non ci apporti danno; ma ne fra Turchi mancano sette et
disunioni nilla loro riligione, se bene il Prencipe loro meglio sa comprimerle,
et mostra in ciò maggior prudenza, che li detti nostri non hanno fatto, ò
fanno. Et di più al suo luogo si mostrarà esser in christianità più Re Catholici,
che hanno ciascuno da per se, non che uniti, forze bastanti da resistere al
Turco, et da vincerlo. Così che fra christiani molti si diano all'odo, al giuoco,
ai passatempi, et pochi attendano alle cose militari, et che non ci siano
essercitij, ne disciplina, ne certezza di premij, ne di pene, come fra Turchi.
Negare parimenti non si può, che non sia gran mancamento; ma et infiniti
otiosi simili sono fra Turchi, et dilla negligenza dilla militia non s'ha à dare la
colpa alla religione, ma à i Prencipi, et massimamente à i supremi, i quali,
come per lo più, ò per mala educazione ò per altra infelicità de tempi, non si
dilettano (10 R) essi di quii mistiero, ch'è il loro proprio, che è l'arte dilla
guerra, così non sanno tampoco fare, che se ne dilettino i sudditi, ne sanno
introdurre essercitij militari, ne fondar disciplina, ne constituir premij,
provisioni, entrate, ne dispensarle, come conviene. Ma ben per esser la gente
nostra inessercitata, et indisciplinata, habbia più volte perduto, nondimeno
questa tampoco non è stata l'intiera et immediata causa dille nostre infelicità.
Perciò che nille sudette espeditioni procurate da sommi Pontefici, et da
Concilij decretate ci furono apparecchi, et Essercitij tali di gente
indisciplinata, ma che però in campo si disciplinò , che erano bastevoli à
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vincere i nemici, et nondimeno al fine sempre rimasero superati. Onde è

necessario che ciò procedesse da qualche altra causa. Quale dunque sia
questa, conviene ricercare, la quale si ritrovarà considerando per qual cagione
li Romani, che non hebbero niuno delli detti mancamenti, perdettero con
nemici tali, quali li Turchi sono, che furono li Persiani, et Parthi, li Hunnidi
(10 V) che tanto da fare diedero à Osare, li Saracini, et altri, Et certo ci
dimostrano l'historie, che non per altro perdettero che per la numerosità et
qualità dilla loro cavalleria et per il loro modo di combattere, et per non
sapere al principio li Romani l'arte da opporsi loro. Adunque questa è la causa
particolare e propria per cui noi per l'ordinario habbiamo perduto con
Turchi, et al fine sempre perdiamo, ciò è per non sapere l'arte da combattere
con nemici simili, li quali et abondano di cavalleria per lo più leggera, et
combattono attorniando, et senza ordine, et per lo più da lontano,
instabilmente, et alla sfuggita, et all'indietro, senza attaccarsi, ne lasciarsi
arrivare; modo diverso dal Romano, et dall'usato tra noi; col quale non
potendo ò non sapendo noi vincerli, ò ristiamo sconfitti in battaglia, ò in ogni
modo rimangono essi sempre padroni dilla campagna, contro il quale
disavantaggio, ben che poi alcuni Capitani et Imperatori Romani seppero
prevalere; nondimeno ne da gli Imperatori, et Re nostri, che hanno perduto le
giornate con Turchi, ne in quest'ultima guerra (11 R) di Ungaria sono stati
imitati. Ne cò modi da quilli usati, ne con altri si è saputo procedere in
maniera, che si sia guadagnata una giornata, ò che in fine il nemico non sia
secondo il solito rimasto superiore.
Considerando io adunque l'importanza indicibile di questo punto, acciò
trovandosi insieme con la vera causa il vero rimedio dil male, si confondano
gli empij, ne più ne diano la cagione alla santa religione, et il nemico per
l'avenire più non vada soggiogando la christianità, ma sappiano i nostri
ritoglierli di mano il soggiogato, intorno al qual punto scrivono, che Carlo
Quinto si travagliò assai, e lasciò al Re suo figliuolo, che ci pensasse, et à cura
principale si pigliasse di trovarci il rimedio, quale il Re ne ha publicato, ne s'è
saputo che l'habbia trovato; Con più ardire, che non comporta il debile mio
talento, ne l'infelice(?) mia fortuna, se bene con quii cuore e fiducia in Dio,
con cui abandonando gli affari miei a Roma, m'applicai dal principio, et
sempre à mie spese à seguitar questa (11 V) guerra con tanti viaggi à i Re
d'Europa, et in campo tante volte, non perdonando ivi ad industria, ne à
fatiche, ne à pericoli alcuni per fare o non meno con l'essempio, che col
consiglio, et con la penna qualche frutto, mi misi fra l'altre cose à meditare at
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osservare con la lettione, et con l'esperienza li modi da combattere con questi

nemici; et all'ultimo mio ritorno di Germania ne diedi a V.Sta. un volume, si
per il detto rispetto in generale, et si particolari^ acciò rimossa la diffidenza
(se forse fusse caduta nilla mente di V.Sta. com'è universalmente nell'animo
degli altri) di potersi vincere cò Turchi il fatto d'arme per terra, illa tanto più
volontieri si animasse à fare le diligenze proposte per promovere in Ungaria
con la speranza et assegnamento degli aiuti da lei procurati, la guerra
offensiva, et farla trasportare nil paese nemico, et in parte ove con brevità et
l'Ungaria tutta si liberasse, et nil cuore dil nimico Impero si penetrasse, come
inclinava V.Sta. di fare se (12 R) dalle controversie, che erano in piedi, non
fusse stata distratta, et se dalla pace, che fra tanto è stata conclusa co'l Turco
non rimanesse hora impedita. Ma perche quii volume non era se non una
farraggine succintamente, et senza ordine notata, come in mancamento de
libri, et fra le occupationi e gli incommodi dil campo, et dei viaggi havevo
potuto fare, et perche la detta pace ancora non era fatta, et per quillo che dalla
volontà dill'Imperatore dipendeva, io non la credetti mai, come s'è veduto, et
quantunque hora sia fatta, poco suole durare, et benche durante in Ungaria,
non è costume dil nemico di lasciar troppo tempo tutte le parti dilla
Christianità in pace, oltre al bisogno in che io vedevo all'hora la Sede
Apostolica di sapersi ben la via da humiliar con breve guerra quilli, che
disubedivano, parenedomi, che altrimenti le dispute sole niuno effetto fussero
per fare; Di nuovo mi diedi due anni fa à questa trattatione dil fare il fatto
d'arme campale; ma non solamente contra Turchi, ben che contra loro (12 V)
massimamente, ma anco contra altri nemici in generale per rispetto dill'altro
bisogno detto, riducendo la materia à methodo, et ad arte, quale ho distinta in
cinque trattati, et in dieci volumi, et con tutte le distrattioni dille mie liti, et dei
disagi dilla povertà, n'ho. Dio gratia, finiti quattro, et altri quattro abozzati:
Come fatica dunque fatta per particolare servitio di V.Sta. se più tornarà il
bisogno, che à Dio non piaccia, et per publico benefitio dilla christianità che
pur troppo bisogno ne haverà, di cui V.Sta. è il capo, humilmente à V.Sta. la
presento. Ne saria già l'animo mio, Dio lo sà, di cominciar hora a mostrarmi
interessato, non essendo io mai in tutto il corso dilla mia vita stato tale, et
non havendo mai in tutti questi miei viaggi havuto, come mai non ho
dimandato un minimo aiuto, ne ricompensa dalla Sede Apostolica, ne dai Re,
ne da nissuno, eccetto per nominatione dall'Imperatore il titolo nudo dil
Viscovato. Ma hoggi sforzato sono à chieder mercede per lo stato in che mi
trovo, per essermi ritenuta, come (13 R) V.Stà. sà, da mercanti falliti la mia
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poca facoltà portata in Germania à fine pure dil servitio di questa causa
contra Turchi, cioè per haver ivi pronto il modo et da vivere in campo, et da
riscattarmi, se schiavo fusse rimasto, nil qual caso, lasciandola dove io
l'haveva, non me ne haveriano lasciato valere. Ma più sono sforzato à
dichiarmi interessato per l'honore, quale molto più stimo che la povertà, per
le grandi et perpetue persecut&m note à V.Sta. che in tutte le Corti, et in
campo m'hanno fatto, et forse tuttavia con loro indrette vie mi fanno qilli,
che più erano obligati à non attraversare quisto mio zilo, ne disturbare il
servitio dilla christianità. Come hanno fatto con l'impedirmi insieme da per
tutto ogni honore, et utile privato, non con reali oppositioni, ma con artifitij,
et col puro e solo rispetto dill'ombra loro. Onde io sono finalme~te astretto à
supplicare, come faccio, V.Sta. à degnarsi di fare qualche dimostratione dilla
singolare sua rettidudine verso di me, per dare ad intendere cosi lei con
effetto (13 V) che io non ho meritato quille tante persecutioni, ma che il mio
zilo doveva esser favorito, et aiutato, come à loro dispetto lo mostrarono essi,
col non castigarmi di niun misfatto, quando dall'impresa di Canisia nille mani
loro ritornai, et ci dimorai più d'un'anno, se appresso al Mondo, che in questa
abiettione mi vede, questo argomento negativo fosse di tanta persuasione per
giustificatione mia di quanta saria ogni positiva risolutione, che per l'honor
mio si degnasse fare V. Santità. Alla quale Dio doni sempre ogni felicità.
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[frontispiece]
Trattato del modo facile d'espugnare il Turco, e

discacciarlo dalli molti Regni che possiede in
Europa.
Composto dal padre Maestro Angelo Petricca da
Sonnino Min: Conven:
già Vicario Patriarcale di Constantinopoli,
Commissario gn"le in Oriente, e Prefetto de
Missionarij di Valacchia, et Moldavia
(1R) All'È min"10: et Rev™. Sigre: e Prolie Cotendmo: il Sigr:

Cardinale Antonio Barberino
Sò che fastidisco V.Emin7'1. con questo poco tributo che le presento, mà

ho stimato minor'errore il darle occasione d'accusare il mio ardire, ch'il
tralasciare l'essecutione del mio debito. E un trattato del modo facile
d'espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo dalli molti regni che possiede in Europa,
composto da me, con l'occasione, che hò molti anni conversato in quei Regni
à lui soggetti per servitio della Sacra Congregatione de Propaganda Fide, di
cui V.Emz\ è degnamente Capo; et anco per il desiderio, che ho, ch'il Culto
del Nostro Redentore torni in Oriente; essendo facile l'Impresa. L'Offerisco à
V.Eminza . si perche è Prencipe generoso, come anco per farle gustare de
frutti raccolti in (1 V) diec'anni, che l'hò servita in Molti Regni stranieri.
L'Offerta è debole, perche sono tenui le forze, mà offerendo ciò che vaglio,
vengo ad essibire ciò che devo. Così piaccia à V.Eminza. honorarmi in
considerare quest'operetta, come di conservarmi nella sua protettione, nella
quale mi hà già per sua gratia ricevuto. E qui per fine prostrato in terra le
bacio riverentemente le sacre Vesti.
Roma li 10 Maggio 1640
D.V. Emnf 3 : Rev™:
Humilissimo, e Devotissimo Servo
Fr. Angelo Petricca da Sonnino Min:
Conv. già Vicario Patriarcale di Costant1'
164
Trattato del modo facile d'espugnare il Turco
(2 R) Del modo facile d'espugnare il Turco,

e discacciarlo dalli molti Regni,
che possiede in Europa.
Viaggiando io per la Tracia, e Bulgaria per andare in Vallacchia, e

Moldavia essendomi commessa la Cura di quelle Missioni, mentre otto anni
sono ero in Costantinopoli per servitio della Sacra Congregatione de
propaganda Fide, per il continuo dispiacere, ch'havevo in vedere il gran
dominio de Turchi, et il strapazzo de tanti Popoli Christiani à loro soggetti, la
bellezza, e fertilità del Paese, e come l'heredità di Christo Signor nostro era
data in preda à Barbari Infedeli, comincai à pensare del modo, col quale li
Prencipi Christiani potrebbono (2 V) vendicare quest'oltraggio, e conquistar
tanti Regni, et accorgendomi della facilità di esseguirlo, diedi principio ad
osservar tutto il stato Turchesco non solo nel suddetto viaggio per terra, mà
anco nell'altro, ch'ho fatto due volte per il mare di Levante, e particolarmente
per l'Isole dell'Arcipelago, e per il Bosforo Tracico. È per raggionare prima
degli stati, che il Turco hà in Terra Ferma è da notare, che quando Mehemet
2° Rè de Turchi 187 anni sono prese Constantinopoli, e l'Imperio Greco per
timore di ribellione de Popoli, quali erano Christiani del Rito Greco per la
maggior parte, buttò per terra tutte le fortezze e quasi tutte le Città, ch'erano
cinte di molte Torri, e di alte Mura, et atte à resistere (3 R) all'impeto degli
Esserciti, e questo l'ho visto io, che hò caminato per li sudetti paesi un mese
intiero nell'andare, et un'altro mese nel ritornare in Constantinopoli, e
vedendo tutte le Città rovinate per godere quelli Terreni, e quelle commodità,
mà con Case di Legno, e di Terra, e basse senz'alcuna magnificenza, che
paiono quasi Tentonij, ò Tenne di Zingari. E benche Adrianopoli, Sofia, e
qualche altra Città antica ancora sia in piedi, nondimeno non sono forti, mà
esposte à qualunque essercito volesse entrarvi, e non sono le dette Città
tenute con la magnificenza antica, mà essendo le Case destrutte ò per il
tempo, ò abbruciate dal fuoco l'hanno reedificate alla Turchesca, cioè di
Legno, e di Terra, siche è (3 V) conclusione certissima, ch'il Gran Turco non
hà alcuna Città forte, ò fortezza nel suo stato.
E non occorre ch'io esaggeri questo ponto, perche per chiarezza della
verità bastará soggiungere, che ne meno in Constantinopoli, ove risiede il
Gran Turco vi è alcuna fortezza, anzi detta Città essendo grandissima è aperta
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à qualunque vi vuol entrare, e le muraglia antiche, con quali è cinta non sono
d'alcuna consideratione, perche sono sottili, e facili à rompersi non essendo
state fatte per resistere al Cannone, perche quando fu edificata non s'usavano
artigliane. Il Turco dunque non ha costume tener fortezze nel suo stato,
distrusse quelle, che vi (4 R) sono, nè doppo che gli turchi sono cresciuti ve
ne hanno fabricate tanto più che al presente gli Christiani sono di minor
numero che gli Turchi, perche dove prima il Turco non era la decima parte
del popolo Christiano, ch'habitava nell'Imperio Greco al presente dell'otto
parti del Popolo una solo ne è Christiana havendo per mancamento di
Religiosi, e di dottrina negata la fede, et abbracciata la Setta di Mehemet, non
permettendo il Turco, che gli suoi sudditi posino attendere alle Lettere, ò
Scienze e cosi fatti ignoranti quei Popoli con l'occasione d'ogni picciola
angaria vengono à farsi Turchi. Non posso negare, che mentre scrivo queste
cose, che hò viste non mi nasca volontà più presto d'essagerare (4V) ò per dir
meglio d'animar l'armi Christiane à difesa dell'honor di Dio contro Infedeli,
che proseguire di scrivere brevemente questo trattato, ma per non uscir da
quel che hò promesso
Dico, ch'il Stato Turchesco è aperto à qualsivoglia essercito, che vi
vuol'entrare, e questo è un ponto degno di molta consideratione, perche
gl'esserciti Christiani qua~do volessero inviarsi à far quest'impresa non si
hanno à fermare ad assediare, et espugnare fortezze per non lasciarsele
indietro contro la regola del buon guerreggiare, perche se si lasciassero
fortezze indietro, sarebbe più presto far scorrerie per li Regni altrui, che
occuparli, et impatronirsene; nel guerreggiare col (5 R) Turco, pertanto non
si ha questa difficoltà che la maggiore, che hanno gli Esserciti, quando
vogliono soggiogare qualche Regno straniero.
Il secondo ponto degno di consideratione per quest'istess'effetto, è
che'l stato Turchesco hà molti Christiani, come hò detto di sopra, e benche
siano scismatici cioè disobedienti al Sommo pontefice Romano, fò sapere,
come hò esperimentato, che questo scisma, e questa differenza si reduce in
questi tempi solo ne Prelati Greci, perche il popolo hora fatto rozzo, et
ignorante, che non sa discernere queste questioni de Primatu Papo, vedendo
solo una Croce nell'Insegne degl'Esserciti, e sapendo che sono Esserciti
radunati sotto il nome di Christo (5 V) correrebbono ad unirsi con loro, e vi
sariano tanti soldati ausiliarii, e paesani, che non se ne potrebbono forse
guidare tanti da Capitani, quanti se ridurriano à gara per liberarsi dalla
Schiavitù de Turchi, assieme con loro figliuoli, che gli sono pigliati per forza
166
dall'istessi Turchi, de quali fanno poi quel che vogliono. E questi non solo
servirebbono per soldati, ma per guida, e per far provisioni di tutte le cose
necessarie à gl'Esserciti per tutti quei paesi.
Il terzo ponto degno di reflessione è, che quest'istessi Christiani paesani
con la guida d'alcuni de nostri che potrebbono restare in dietro
attenderebbono intanto à fortificare le Gttà, et à piantare per le Provincie (6
R) alcune fortezze in luoghi più atti per stabilire il dominio per sempre,
perche essendo Christiani lo farebbono volontieri, poiché sarebbe per difesa
della loro libertà, figliuoli e facoltà, tanto più che la prima regola che si
dovrebbe dare à i nostri saria di non strapazzare quelli Christiani, mà
accarezzargli, e trattargli cortesemente.
Quarto ponto da considerarsi è questo, che alcuno Prencipe Christiano
solo non può fare quest'impresa, mà sono necessarij almeno due, ò tre,
perche al Turco bisogna dividergli le forze, e togliere l'occasione al Gran
Turco d'andare alla guerra in persona, perche essendo impugnato da una
banda sola, ne và lui con essercito quasi innumerabile, al quale per la
moltitudine difficilmente si (6 V) resiste tanto più che sono animati dalla
presenza del loro Signore, mà se viene impugnato da più parti, il Gran Turco
è necessitato à restar'in Constantinopoli per conservare la sede dell'Imperio, e
conseguentemete manderebbe contro l'Essercito Christiano che per essempio
esce da Polonia un Bascià con cento mila Turchi al più, e quanto sia facile
superarsi detto Essercito de Turchi da nostri: il Lettore lo giudichi da questo,
che siegue. Primieramente gli Turchi non hanno molta disciplina militare,
perche combattono senz'ordine, e senz'alcuna distanza, e con gran
confusione, e con l'esperienza l'ho visto, perche trovandomi sei anni sono in
Moldavia con la Cura de Missionarij in quella Provincia, che (7 R) confina col
Regno di Polonia il Gran Turco ch'ultimamente è morto (fratello del Gran
Turco Sultán Osman, che andò in Polonia per prender quel Regno, e nel
ritorno fu ammazzato daña militia) ricordevole del caso, spedì un Bascià con
ottantamila Turchi contro il Polacco quasi all'improviso con speranza se
quello havesse fatto profitto di soccorrerlo poi con gros'essercito, dove gionti
furono incontrati al Capitano Gn'ale del Regno di Polonia con 12rn soldati, e
non più, quale fece tanta stragge de Turchi, che puochi ne tornarono in
dietro, et il Gran Turco doppo fece tagliar la Testa à quel Bassà. E questa non
è favola, perche li Polacchi, che hanno quest'esperienza lo possono ratificare.
Hora dico (7 V) così se un Bassà con ottanta mila Turchi fu rotto dal
Generale di Polonia con 12® soldati, che potrebbe fare il Turco quando fusse
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assalito da più parti, e per resistere al proprio Rè di Polonia, che per

espugnare il Turco andrebbe di persona con centomila soldati Christiani
giuditiosi, che hanno altro giuditio, et altra disciplina nel combattere che non
ha il Turco? et il Regno di Polonia senza fare alcun sforzo ha già essercito di
10CT Soldati, come è noto. E quando andò il sudetto Gn'ale del Regno con
12® contro ottanta mila non lo fece per la scarsezza de soldati, ma contrapeso
il valore de soldati Polacchi con quel de Turchi, essendoli nota la facilità di
vincere li Turchi. (8 R) L'istessa raggione vale anco per l'essercito, che
spedirebbe l'Imperatore per il Regno d'Ungaria, dove ancora sono stato, per
esser stato Ministro Priorale in quel Paese, del qual Regno la maggior parte è
posseduta dal Turco; è ben vero questo, ch'il Turco che non hà fortezza
alcuna ne suoi stati, ne hà alcune in Ungaria in quei Confini, quali l'hà tolte da
gli Rè d'Ungaria, e le conserva per la confinanza, che hà con l'Imperatore,
però sono puochissime, e quando il Turco fusse impugnato da diverse bande
haverebbe altro che pensare che difendere due, ò tré fortezze. Così anco
degl'Esserciti, che potrebbono fare gl'altri Prencipi Xri~ani collegati, si può
discorrere, perche contro (8 V) tutti non potrebbe far'altro il Gran Turco che
spedire un Bassà con centomila soldati al più, al quale avverrebbe
quell'istesso, che avvenne al sudetto Bassà, che andò contro Polacchi, e così
nel medesimo tempo il Turco perderebbe tutti gl'Esserciti, e non potrebbe
far'altro, che darsi alla fuga con lasciare Constantinopoli, e fuggire in Asia.
Alcuni potrebbono dire, e chi accordarebbe poi gli Prencipi Christiani,
quando havessero espugnato il Turco? S'azzuffarebbono fra di loro, e non vi
saria mai pace, et io rispondo, chi accardò gli Francesi, e Venetiani, quando
pigliarono Constantinopoli, e l'Imperio de Greci, come l'Historie dicono, pur
si legge, che con (9 R) somma pace, li Francesi restarono Sig.n di
Constantinopoli, e di Terra ferma con concedere il Patriarcato à Venetiani
con l'Isole dellArcipelago, et altre Provincie e durò l'Imperio de Francesi in
Constantinopoli da 60 anni in circa: così potrebbono fare anco per l'avenire,
sono tanti gli Regni, ch'occupa il Turco in Europa, ch'ogni Prencipe se ne
prenderebbe uno, e sarebbe quello, che gl'è più vicino, e s'alcuno
soggiungesse, se è così facile espugnare il Turco, perche non si sono visti tali
progressi quando sono state le guerre fra Christiani, e Turchi? Al che
rispondo, che mai gli Prencipi Christiani hanno unitamente combattuto il
Turco da più bande, e nell'istesso tempo p. Mare (9 V) e da più bande per
Terra: per questo il Turco non è stato espugnato, il che se si facesse, come già
si può fare, essendo io prattico della Turchia per esservi stato molti anni, e
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discorso di ciò anco con Ambasciatori, et altri personaggi di diversi Prencipi

in Constantinopoli, non sò trovare modo, col quale il Turco potesse resistere.
E per maggior confirmatione di quanto ho detto notifico qui un Conseglio
fatto dal Gran Turco morto, e penetrato da alcuni de nostri in
Constantinopoli, Vedendo costui ultimamente la disunione de Prencipi
Christiani, e come si sono fatti deboli per le continue guerre, manifestò à suoi
Consiglieri il suo pensiero d'occupare qualche Regno de Christiani (10 R)
convicino, al qual pensiero molti applauderono con dire, che era bene non
lasciare questa occasione: mà rispose un Bassa vecchio, e disse cosi: Signore
io prima che dalla Mesta Vostra fusse assonto à questa dignità, ero Pastore di
Pecore / non constumando il Gran Turco haver nel suo Regno nobiltà di
sangue mà eleggere alcuni, che hanno solo maggior dispositione naturale per
tal'ufficio / et una volta fra l'altre dando il pane à Cani, che custodivano la
Mandria, s'azzuffarono detti Cani fra di loro, di modo che molto si
maltrattarono, mà per buona sorte passò un Lupo che veniva per devorare
qualche Pecorella, qual visto da Cani, s'accordarono (10 V) fra di loro, et
unitamente andarono contro il Lupo, e l'uccisero. Signore, soggiunse questo
Bassà, gli Christiani sono simili à detti Cani, che per un pane, per cosi dire, si
lacerano fra di loro, et il nostro Essercito è il Lupo, che desidera torre il loro
stato, quando se lo vedranno vicino, dubito, che s'accorderanno fra di loro, et
unitamente verranno contro di noi, e quanto sia da temere la lega de Pencipi
Christiani à noi tutti è noto, e discorrendosi poi come s'haverebbe à fare se gli
Christiani assalissero la Turchia da diverse parti non sapevano trovare il
modo. Un'altro Bassà per consolatione del Gran Turco soggiunse; Signore
non occorre havere timore alcuno, che Pn'pi (11 R) Christiani s'uniscano
contro noi, perche sono cosi nemici fra di loro che più presto s'uniranno con
noi à danno loro che s'uniscano fra di loro à danni nostri, e così finì quella
Sessione.
Di quà si scuopre quanto sia vero il mio discorso, che il modo facile
d'espugnare il Turco è l'assalirlo da più parti nel medesmo tempo. Piacesse à
Dio, che l'armi Christiane volessero applicarsi contro il Turco, anzi s'io non
erro questo sarebbe forse un modo più facile di fargli fare se non pace,
almeno tregua non pensandosi da giuditiosi si possa far pace fra Prencipi
senza che si faccia prima sospensione d'armi per alcuni anni almeno. Io non
voglio discorrere (11 V) se gli Prencipi Christiani hanno da dare di ciò stretto
conto al Tribunale di Dio, perche non tocca à me, mà dico bene che sarebbe
un'acquisto di tanti Regni anzi Imperi), altro che d'una Città, ò fortezza, ove
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si perdono tante migliaia, e migliaia de Christiani, vi sarebbe l'utile, e

l'honesto in questa vita presente, e facendosi con retta intentione anco
premio nell'altra.
In quanto poi al Dominio del Turco in Mare è da sapere, che sicome
ne gli stati, che ha in Terra ferma non costuma haver fortezze, e Gttadelle
essi ne meno usa haverle nell'Isole, che possiede ò nella Gttà di Marina, nelle
molt'Isole dell'Arcipelago, questo è certo, che non vi hà ( 12 R) altra fortezza,
che Rodi, che ultimami prese da Cavalieri di S. Gio. detti di Malta, quale vien
conservata da Turchi nell'istesso modo, che la trovarono nel rimane'te
benche nell'Isole dell'Arcipelago n'Habbia molte Gttà, non però le tiene
fortificate come già hò visto; havendo caminato per la maggior parte di
quell'Isole, quando la prima volta andai in Constantinopoli con l'occasione,
che non potendo haver passaggio di Nave feci viaggio con un Bergamino,
che partì da Candia per Scio, col quale viaggiai pian piano commodamente
per tutte quelllsole. Similmente nella Gttà di Scio si vede un picciolo forte
per esser parimente caduta in mano de Turchi non molt'anni sono essendosi
conservata molto (12 V) tempo sotto il Dominio de Genovesi. Nel rimanente
oltre quelle quattro che sono nel Bosforo Tracico non si vede in altro luogo
maritimo soggetto al Turco fortezza alcuna di consideratione.
Le maggiori fortezze dunque ch'habbia il Turco sono quattro che
guardano la Gttà di Constantinopoli per mare, due di là di Constantinopoli
verso il Mar'negro cinque miglia di là della Gttà e due altre di quà di
Constantinopoli duecento miglia, dove restringendosi il mare in spatio d'un
Miglio Italiano il Turco vi hà le dette fortezze una dalla banda dell'Asia, e
l'altra dalla parte d'Europa, et all'istessa maniera sono l'altre due fortezze
verso il Mar (13 R) negro apportando veramente maraviglia à tutti come quel
Mare detto Bosforo Tracico lungo 200 miglia Italiane venga da ambe, le parti
di Constantinopoli à chiudersi naturalmente senz'alcun artificio. Però sappia il
Lettore che tutte queste fortezze come potrà testificare qualsivoglia, che l'ha
considerate vagliono qualche cosa per Mare per la moltitudine de Cannoni,
che vi è, con quali facilmente s'offendono le Navi, quando anco non vi fusse
alcuna torre ò Muro, mà dalla banda di Terra si possono così facilmente
espugnare essendo le Mura basse, e vecchie, e li Baluardi bassi senza fosse
intorno, che se non sapesse, che molti che l'hanno visto, testificaranno quest'
( 13 V) istesso, non direi che si ponno prendere, per così dire, con li Naranci,
anzi quello che è nella parte dell'Europa hà un Colle, che gli soprastà, sopra
del quale con le pietre si può battere quel picciolo Castello.
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E non dica alcuno, ch'havendoli io veduti solo nel passaggio, che si fa

con la Nave, non haverò potuto sguardarli bene, perche tutte le volte che
sono passato di là sono stato fermo alcuni giorni à quei Castelli, perche vi è
una Villa contigua, dove habitano molti Turchi, quali vendono à passaggieri
quel che bisogna in tali viaggi, anzi habita in detta Villa un Giannizzaro per
nome Aslan Celebi assai amico de Christiani (14 R) latini, e mio particolare
havendolo nella sua venuta in Constantinopoli ricevuto in Convento, perche
serve gli molti Ambasciatori, e Mercanti con l'occasione del passaggio delle
Navi di Mercantie et io nel ritorno sono alloggiato in Casa del sudetto, et
assieme con lui ho visto minutamente il Castello, ch'è nella parte dell'Asia,
perche detto Giannizzaro è soldato detto Castello, e non solo Io, mà tutti
ch'erano meco ammiravano, come il Turco faccia si puoco conto di
fortificare gli suoi Stati, il che credo sia voler di Dio benedetto, acciò un
giorno possi tornare in quelle bande il culto di Dio per mezzo dell'Armi
Christiane.
(14 V) E sappia di più il Lettore, che quando andai in Constantinopoli
non hebbi occasione di Nave come puoco fa ho detto, et essendo andato con
un Bergantino de Greci da Candia à Scio, che è lontana da Constantinopoli
400 miglia Italiane, trovai in Scio, ò per dir meglio, sopragiunsero in detta
Città due Galere del Gran Turco, che venivano d'Alessandria, et essendo
persuaso da Nostri Christiani, che sono in detta Città à non lasciar quella
commodità di transferirmi in Constantinopoli Io al principio non volsi
acconsentire per timor, ch'Havevo di navigare con Turchi, mà finalmente
facendomi raccomandare da quei Mercanti al Capitano delle Galere,
m'imbarcai con miei (15 R) Compagni anco con puoco nolo di due scudi
solo per ciascuno, e n'andai con loro felicemente senza ch'io ricevessi alcuno
dispiacere, e con quell'istess'occasione mi fermai alcuni giorni nelli sudetti
Castelli, et osservai il tutto assai bene considerando quanto facilmente quei
Castelli potrebbono essere presi dall'Armata Christiana, che potrebbe
approdare lontano da detti Castelli quattro, ò cinque miglia per esser'il Mare
commodissimo per ogni sorte di Navilij, et assalire detti Castelli per terra, et
impatronirsene.
Con quest'occasione della navigatione che hò fatta con Turchi, narrerò
un costume che hanno dette genti, che servirà per honesta ricreatione al
Lettore. Quando (15 V) desinavo con miei compagni su quelle Galere del
Turco, ne venivano molti Turchi a sedersi intorno alla Mensa senza
esser'invitati, e cominciavano da loro stessi non solo à mangiare, ma anco à
171
dividere quel che era in tavola, e loro davano la parte à Noi, come se fussero
Padroni, e noi gli Convitati; gionto che fui in Constantinopoli narrando à
molti il successo nel viaggio fra l'altre cose gli raccontai questo fatto, quali
con molte risa mi dissero, che questo è costume de Turchi, che trovando altri
à desinare, se pongono à sedere in tavola senza essere convitati, e per buona
creanza Turchesca fanno il scalo, e dividono gli cibi, che trovano nella mensa,
il che poi ho (16 R) col tempo esperimentato esser vero in molte occasioni.
Ma per tornare à quel che dicevo da quanto si è discorso si conclude,
che è facilissima cosa espugnare il Turco, e discacciarlo almeno da gli Stati,
che hà usurpati in Europa. E non pensi alcuno, che il Turco habbia gran
forze, e grandi Armate per mare, perche certamente s'inganna, poiché dalla
rotta Navale in qua, come più volte ho discorso con gli signori Ambasciatori
nostri, che sono in Constantinopoli, il Turco si è fatto assai debole nelle cose
marittime, al presente non hà più che sessanta galere et anco malamente
armate, e benche per la volontà, ch'haveva di guerreggiare con Venetiani per
la presa delle Galere (16 V) Barbaresche fatta da loro l'anno passato
ordinasse, che si facessero molte Galere, nulla di meno si è osservato da tutti
quei Signori, e da Me in Constantinopoli, che non puoi fare grand'armata,
perche non hà legni Stagionati, nè hà Schiavi per il Remo non costumando lui
condannare al Remo gli Turchi malfattori, e quando vuol'armare qualche
Galere nuova, come molte volte ho visto, non havendo Schiavi Christiani, dà
la paga à molti Turchi, che fà venire dalle Ville di Terra ferma, acciò per
quell'estate remino nell'Armata, e quelli sono inesperti, et inetti à simili opre,
perche nell'Armate di Mare vi sono necessarie genti prattiche, avvezze, e per
così dire, ( 17 R) nate nel Mare, et in tali essercitij oltre che gli Turchi hanno
puochissima attitudine nelle cose marittime, essendo gente di rozzo ingegno:
che però hoggidì le Galere, che hà il Turco, sono guidate da Christiani, che
sono sopra di quelle alla Catena, e l'hò visto io medesimo con l'esperienza,
come hò detto di sopra.
Et è da notare finalmente, che il Turco non hà Arsenali con provisione
di cose necessarie all'Armate, come usano gli Christiani, ma hà solo arsenale
per luogo di fare galere senza haver legni stagionati, et altre cose simili, e
quando vuol'armare prende legni verdi, che vengono dal Mar negro, con quali
è impossibile poter comporre Galere, ò (17 V) Navi, che non riescano inette
per la navigatione, come con gli sudetti Signori nelle prossime passate
occasioni si è osservato e discorso in Constantinopoli e vedesi con
l'esperienza da quelli, che habitano, ò passano per detta Città.
172
Resta dunque, che Iddio benedetto spiri à chi tocca, e puole unire le
forze Christiane per maggior gloria di Christo Sig.r nostro, et à danno del
Turco nemico de christiani, ch'inquanto alla facilità di farlo, et esseguirlo è
1
tale, che apporta ammiratione à chiunque l'ha vista,
soggiungo però queste quattro parole di più ch'ai presente quei Popoli
se fossero soggiogati dall'Armi Latine seguirebbono (18 R) ò per dir meglio
osservariano il rito Latino in materia di Religione. Essendo puochi gli greci,
che sono restati, come hò detto di sopra a comparatione de turchi hanno
questa traditione, ch'un giorno hanno da esser Christiani, e per conseguenza
senz'alcuna difficoltà nel medesmo tempo, che gli Prencipi Latini
s'impatronissero di quei Regni haverebbono gli sudditi del medesmo rito,
perche gli Turchi senz'alcuna difficoltà si fariano Christiani, il che importa
assai per la pace, e conservatione del dominio, essendo stata la diversità del
rito in parte qualche cagione del Scisma, e dell'odio, che regnò fra Latini e
Greci.
Et io viaggiando per quei Regni, pensando (18 V) frà me stesso come
Dio benedetto permetta che tanti Paesi di Christiani siano occupati da nemici
di Christo Signor nostro hò risposto à me stesso, che tal'hora Dio vuole con
l'occasione dell'armi Latine piantare per tutt'il mondo il rito Latino,
ch'apportarebbe maggior'unità, e pace; hor concluda il lettore, e pensi che
acquisto potrebbono fare l'Armi Christiane, che hora sono voltate contro
Christiani medesimi con tanto scandalo de fedeli Orientali, et Occidentali, e
quanto potrebbono acquistare per utilità, e reputatione loro, e per gloria di
Christo signor nostro al Tribunale del quale n'haveranno à dare strettissimo
conto. Il Sig.re Dio gl'illiimini, e gl'inspiri ad obedire à chi gli comanda la pace.
Amen.
1
illegible
173
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193
Orazioni
DÌELSIG SCIPIONE
^ «'^Mi&ÀTp-
A D o g a s i p R i k c i f i.
Intórno i preparartìcnti, che s'aurebbono
ajariìcontra la potenza del Turco.
Q & N Y;fì D I A L O G Q D E L L f IMPRESE
ì) E t M E D E S I M O.
Àggìmtouì nel /¡itele Lettere,^ Or¿(toni diìionpgnor

Beforione àArdimi NIC E NO-,
• $CRlTT|t A PA m O.J * ? 8 ' l T A t U ,
IiîlÒRENZA.
PER FILIPPO GIVNTI.
R D. I I C.
194
pitterà &el •ftenerendissiifrcitiefcotio Di *fcofano : Concio tu' IRotlro.S.
"Papa £lemente.,vii.appretto al Serenis«. Ferdinando "fle oc Angaria
1 JOocinia: fopza a faccetto Della ©bfidione t
Oppugnartene DÌ Vienna
Dal gran
co. *
£atiflimo "fradre poibauere bafiato bumflméte U fanctif

fimi "P>iedi:ooppo la partitale per Dire megliola ignomfó
niofa i funerta fuga DÌ Solimano 3mperatore oe iTurcbi
con fuo efferato Da fflienna.effendo io venuto in iDojaufa
conlaxDaielta Del TRe:i vedendo bene incaminato lo eiTer
j i cito bo voluto rubare vn poco Di tempo 1 tratisfcrirme in
Vienna:'! coli con Diligenria bo villo i intefo per varii raguaglikle cofe mii
nutamente come fonò fuc«fìè:per poterle Dare più vero i più particulare ad
affo a.M. Santita,£t gebe io veggio ebe le mie littef e parte fono capt'tate:c
parte perdute:"P>enfo ebe non fara fuo:a of p:opoi!to:i come mi gfuado etià
dio Tara grato a. ©.Sancita fé r'o recapitolaro co oirtinta b2euita tutto quel
10 cbel iTurco e li nortri banno fatto i patito iin quella irruttfone: i cóme oa
vno incredibile perkalo ne batterne npoitatovna grandifiìma i infperata
®ittoria:alaudeDelonnipotentcC>io:q'ualeperlino(lri peccati ci códuce
allo ertremon poi per fua bontà T clementia in vn fubito ne pozge aiuto:I ne
falua per farne riconofcere oe li nortrierro2u£t certamente Sola oejtera DO
mini fecitvirtutein.2ttefocbeli noltri pzouedimenti erano tardi: ifo:5cn5
erano fufFicient tal quarto De lo eflfercfto Delli infideli:i non eoubbio ebe Da
po Serie mai ertatoefferato alcuno più grolTo ne più inftrutto oe ogni appa
..rato DI guerra oiquelto:per ilcbe veb Cbiiitianisouinibusifenonfipiglia
/partito rifoluto Di obuiare validiffimaméte T C5 celerità:'! crediamo ebe.®*
Sanrita poi ebe ba fi piamente abb:acciata la Cefarea XDaielta non attéde
ra ad altrofineeoe alla pace vniuerfale: per oare effetto ad vna gloriofa im i
prefaioalsquale per infinite ragionife ne baoafperare facile vittoria:! per
11 contrario fe li confultara Iiinp:efafreddamente:none Dubbio alcuno ebe a!
la parnasi era 1 per terrai per mare con grande armate venira lo eccidio
Della Sede di <CbJilto:e celli ^rnperii DÌ £b:iifiani:i fo:ft ebe Dio non ce fa
tKm'ra come ba fatto adelTo. Perche parte Della falntenollra e lìata: ebe coti
tra lo2dinarioDellae(fate:leaquetacotngrofiò:no:cbelC>anubbioi lo S a
«o:la iTilìa.-e lo Orano non fi poteuono pafTare:ilcbe fece tardare vno mefe
la venuta Del iTurco: e certo lei vcniuaoe tirata cetrouaua aliai più mal p:o
oifti DÌ ogni cofa.lRel p:iino fuo arriuare in Angaria abbmgio Cinquecbic
fe Citta nobile:! li noltri medemi oefolomo la Citta De iSiauarino: el '/Tur
coftaccampo ad Ouartb Cartello fo:te i lo efpugno:i vfo gran cr ndeitade.
Mine Dipoi a JOuda i non rendendoti li noltri fecondo la intentione bauea
no Dato vn certo terittioe Di afpettarefoccotfo. f i efpugno con mine i con ta
gliare con picconile muraglie Del Cartello : i rendendoli a pattili noltri;n5
195
I C O S T V M I,
ET I MODI PARTICI
L A R I C E LA V I T A DE
Turchi, deferiti da M* Luigi Bafm
sano da Zara •
Con gratia & frìuiìegio di noflro Signore

Papa Paulo 111*
M, D* X L V*
196
RELATION!
VNI VERSALI
DI G I O V A N N I B O T E R O
B E N E S E-
Diuife in Quattro Parti.
Arichitte di moke cofe rare, e memorabili, con
l'vkima mano dell' Auttore.
Accrefciutoui Varie OJferuationi
DI GIROLAMO BRYSONI
Sopra le medefime Re lattoni <vniuerfaliì con le
notitie degli affar i più rileuanti di Stato,
e di Religione di e/uejìo fecola.
ET A G G I V N T O V 1
LA RAGIONE D I STATO
DEL MEDESIMO BOTERO.
IN VENETIA , Perii Bertani. M. DC. LXXI

Cm ¡¡cinz* de'Superton , & irtmlegio.
197
DELLA LEGA
' CONTHA.IL TVRCO,
DEL SIG. qio. VOTELO.
Abbate di San Michele della
Chiufà » ffic.
AI Sereniffimo Prencipe^,
IL PRENCIPE MAVRITIO,
CARDINAL DI SAVOIA,
IN VITERBO,
Apprejfo Girolamo Difcepolo 1614%
Con licenza de' Superiori.
198
199
V I A G G I
Df~PIETRO DELLA VALLE
IL PELLEGRINO*'
C o n minuto raguaglio
Di tutte le coje notabili offeriate in ej]ì,
Defcritti da lui medefimo in 5 4 . Lettere familiari,

D a diuerfì luoghi della intrapreCi peregrinatone^
Mandate in Napoli ' »

* All'erudito» e fra'più cari j di molti anni iùo Amico
MARIO SCHIFANO.
Diuifì in tré parti, cioè,
LA TVRCHIA>, L A PERSIA, E L'INDIA,
Seconda impresone
Co», la Vita, dell'Autore, promettendojì in hreue
-~ l India non ancorai data in luce.
IN R O M A M D C L X i r . A fpefe di Biagio Dinerlìa

. All'In fogna della- Regina.
CON LICENZA DE' SVPEBJORIj E PRIVILEGIO."
Appreflo Iacomo Dragondelli.
200
LETTERATURA
• DE' T V R C H I .
0 SS E R V A r i o NT F A T T E •
' . DA
<jIO: BATTISTA
D O N A D O
• S E N A T O R V E N E T O ,
F ù Bailo in C o f t a n t i n o p o l i .
I N V E N E T I A , M D C LXXXVII£
Per Andrea Poletti.
Ali'Infcgna dell'Italia
, à San Marco.
Ce» Z i e e n M d t ' S u p t r m ì , e P r t m l t g i * .
201
X
^jfffcL-S,
rdxnun e cfutfjíí*^ tin u¡y /¿¿-tt,
¿¿fî/ttfitni in JìMm fcry?/'
» </2. J&tnctvu ehrt/An ni per furrs. erjur fflarc
JVtr£jUJ.treu Ct/lfrx'ZûrsjC^ nen ,ment in*
maifiii*/«- i /'¿«fx. A'rtfiriL fin^/Tefn ¡¿^¿fiutati
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kxtctin ' }nct-¿. wee ren^/t^ un ce-A
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(ns/mLÏHprU&f-ti. U-A7U. CA-ftr»' fr'fij •
asiïe,- m JC'PSt*i. et e-m /tie, c / t fftUCJl^j
¿ait»HtiL.. tûii* ,71 m? ñnrr. (VI if ton*. cAe
jt n'iti. 0 len.tx.ne~ ^ et no» / c fxceSv * etn.#v/
vu.- rnrk..- fa cutí**.' à/c '
t Á*»n* a-turfiñ •'>•*» n • »?,»*•<•.< A in ibttASrä
202
C €
' ; A
':T I tT'N E . ri
ETPBVROPA n i i PÀ 'I
t i ' á í n o í u i,
rabilifátre in q u e l l f o í '
ca,fecondo diueri' ¡crii e<
brcuità e diligenz ¡.
ConwUL'copioJtßin :
If, dt né idfigliente.!onn*
111
»Ä A
KJ-
•e.
« o s prìuilegio de Pllluftriflìmo Senaro

• y e N B T o, per anni dieci.
IN VINBQIA.
Vincenzo vaugrir ¡CI fegtio f Era/m,
H. D. X L 1111.
203
TVRCHESCHI ,
OVERO VITE DB PRINCIPI
DELLA CASA OTIiOMANA
Di Ad. Frarie e(co Sanjouwo.

N E QVALI SI D E S C R I V O N O D I TEMPO
IH T E M P O T V T T E I. E GVERR.E FATTE DALLA
natione de Turchi in diuerfe Prouincie del Mondo.
C O M M O L T I P A R T I C O L A R I DELLA MORIA,
cc delle cafc nob.li dell'Albania, & dell'imperio & Itato de Greci.
m :y :
IN V E N E T I A M D L X X111,
204
HISTORIA
VNIVERSALE
DELL'ORIGINE, GVERRE,
ET IMPERIO D E TVRCHI.
•RACCOLTA DA M. FRANCESCO SANSOriNOi
•Nella quale f i contengono le leggi, gl' offici, i cojlumt, & la mintia
di quella naltoni ; con tutti le cofe fatte da loro
per terra ,&per mare.
Accrefciuta in quefta vltrma impreffione di varie materie notabili, con
le vite di tutti gl'Imperatori Otromanni fino alli noflri t e m p i ,
D A L CONTE MAIOLINO BISACClONI.

All'Illuflriffimo Signore, Signor e Patron Colicndiftìnio,
IL S I G N O R
LODOVICO VIDMANO
ConcediOtretriburgpj Baronedi Paterniano
e Summerech, Nobile Veneto.'
I N V E ^ N E T I A , M. D C . L T V .
Preflo Sebaflìano Combi, & Gio: La N o i .

C O N LICENZA DE' Sf"PEi{lQHl, ET TI\IÎLEGI.
205
L'OTTOMANNO
D I L A Z A R O SORANZO,
Dottefi dà pieno ragguaglio nonfolamente della Potenza delpre fin-
te Signor de Turchi Mehemeto 111. de gt intereffi,.eh' egli ha con
diuerfi Prencipi, di quanto machina contra il Chriflianefmo,e di
quelle che ali incontro ft potrebbe à fuo danno oprar da noi ; ma,
Ancora di varij Popoli, Siti, Città, e viaggi, con altri particolari
di Stato necejjàrif à Japerfi nellapre/ènte guerra d'Ongheria->.
ALLA SANTITÀ DI N. SIGNORE

C L E M E N T E Vili.
IN F F R R A R A ,
iJcr V-'forioBaM-i.-i, Stampatore O.mcmle.
Con licenza de Superiori. M D XCV 111.
206
207
Index
A Bahir, 16
barbarian, 13, 32, 61, 82, 83, 97, 117,
Abdullah Efendi, 134
120,146, 149
Abu Qurra, 16
Barbarigo, Cardinal Gregorio, 142
Adrianople, 89,100
Barberino, 35, 36,46, 63, 85, 87, 90
Agaup, Giovanni, 137
Baron de Tott, 151
Agnolini, Timoteo, 139
Barozzi, Nicolò and Gulielmo
Albania, 2, 83, 100
Berchet, 115
Alberi, Eugenio, 115
Bassano, Luigi, 4, 121, 123, 124, 125
Alexander the Great, 13, 26,29,124
Bayezid II, 28, 61,121,124,125
Alexandria, 7, 96
Bellini, Gentile, 12,13
AH Ku§?u, 140
Bessarion, Cardinal, xiv, 21,24,25,
Ammirato, Scipione, xiv, 24, 27, 50,
27,29,48,49,50,51,52, 53,61,
51, 52, 61, 62, 65, 80, 82
122
Anatolia, 1, 3, 27,104, 112, 114, 125
Biblioteca Marciana, xi, 50
Anaxagoras, 26
Bisaccioni, Count Maiolino, 4
Angiolelli, 120, 123
Black Sea, 95,98,102
Antes, 41, 42,43
Bohayra or Bahira, 16
Antonio of Padova, 56
Bosnia, 48, 54, 55
Aquileia, 57
Botero, 86, 87
Arab, 1, 2, 3, 23, 44, 136
Bulgaria, 89,110
Arabia, 17,42
Busbequius (Busbeqio), 5, 131
Arabs, 1,2, 3, 8
Businello, 43,149, 150,152
Archipelago, 84, 89, 94
Byzantine, 3, 5,16, 18, 24, 25, 27,46,
Arianism, 7
53,105,113, 122
Arians, 6, 7
Armenians, 114
C
Asian Qelebi, 96
Athens, 26, 61 Gaffa (Kaffa), 86
Averroés (IbnRushd), 124, 125 Caffaluchi, 86
Avignon, 60 Çagatay Empire, 114
Calabria, 11
B Callistus III, 73
Calvinists, 111
Babinger, 4,12,13,14,120,121,138
208
Index
Candía, 11
Canisia, 68, 80
Cari V, 78 Da Cusa, Niccolò, 21
Carli, Gian Rinaldo, 129 Da Lagni, Fra Paolo, xiv, 31, 32, 33,
Caronte, 126 37, 80, 83,103
Carpaccio, Vittore, 12 Da Sonnino, Angelo Petricca, xiv,
Carretto, 24, 52, 123 xv, 33, 35, 36, 37,46, 62, 63, 67,
Cem Sultán, 61 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87,88,98,103
Charles Vili, 61 Dalmatia, 129
Chios, 95, 96 D'Ancona, Alessandro, xiii, 15, 16,
Christ, 5, 6, 7, 16,21, 28, 30, 34, 41, 17
64, 69,71,81, 89,91,98,99,113, Dandolo, Enrico, 113, 114
117, 126, 139 Danube, 63, 100
Cividale, 58 David (the prophet), 6
Clement VII, 63 Della Valle, Pietro, 9
Clement Vili, 64, 65 dev§irme, 9, 65
cometa (the game of), 70 Discritione de l'Asia et Europa, 116,
Congress of Mantova, 21 117
Constantine, 3, 7, 20, 25, 72, 122 Djinghis Khan, 13
Constantinople, xi, xiv, 1, 6, 9, 10, Dominican, 86
14,15,19,20,21,23,28,33,35, Don Basilio di Montona, 56
36,44,46,47,49, 53, 85, 86, 87, Don John of Austria, 62
88, 89,90,92,93,95, 96, 97,100, Dona (Donado, Giovanni Battista),
105,108,109,110,113,114,115, xv, 33,43,112,118,119,121,125,
116,117,118,127,128,129,132, 127,128,129,132, 137,139,140,
133,134,136,137,148,150 141,143,145,146,147,149
Constdtatio de bello Turàs irferendo, 39 Dona, Pietro, 129
Contarmi, 84, 85,102, 103, 107 Drava, 59
Corraro, Giovanni, 7 Dubois, 121
Crete, 95, 96, 117 Duino, 54
Cribratio A Icoram, 21 Duke of Ferrara, 65
Croia, 55 Duodo, Pietro, 139
Curia Romana, 29, 67
209
Index
Galata, 118
Gauls, 59
Edime, 89 Gedik Ahmed Pa§a, 60
Elisabeth I, 6 Genoa, 62
Enea Silvio Piccolomini ( Pius II), Genoese, 11, 118
18,21,22, 116, 117 Germany, 78, 131, 152, 153
England, 6 Giacomazzi, 115
Enlightenment, xv, 42, 111, 150, 153 Gigli, Giovanni Battista, 23, 31, 37,
Epistola adMahumetem, 19,20 41
Erasmus, 39, 40 Gorizia, 55, 59
Eubea (Negroponte), 50,120 Goths, 59
Eubel, 29,67, 68,119 Granada, 44
Eugene IV, 73 Greece, 8,61,100,117
Greek, 5,13, 16,19,25, 35, 36,49,
50, 53, 83, 84, 86, 89,90,96,98,
Ferdinand III, 68 102,118,124,125,126,139,141
Ferrara, xiv, 37, 53, 59, 65, 82, 99, Greeks, 8
100,118, 123 Gregory XV, 83
Ficino, 20
Fondaco dei Turchi, 11
Foroiulium (Friuli), 58 Habsburg, 68,109,128,153
Fourth Crus ade, 108 Hadija, 17
Fra Paolo da Lagni, 80 hadzth, 16,44
Fra Ricoldo da Montecroce, 16 Hannibal, 59
France, 6 Harborne, William, 6
Franciscans, 86, 87 Harran, 16
François I, 63 Heraclius, 21
Frazee, 53, 60, 61, 83, 84, 85, 118 Hermits of St. Augustine, 56
Friuli (Foroiulium), 2,27, 54, 55, 56, Herodotus, 19, 25
57,58,59, 110 Historia Tunhesca, 54,120
Fuzuli, 139 Historia uniiErsde dell'origine, guerre et
imperio de Timhi, 4
G Holy See, 46,47,49, 62, 63, 68, 79,
Galand, 150 83,99,106,117,118,119
210
Index
Housley, Norman, 39, 40, 41, 109, Kara Mustafa Pa§a, 128
110 Karlowitz, 128, 153
Hungary, 20,40, 64, 77, 78, 81, 82, Kavala (Neapolis, Napoli di
92, 123, 131 Romania), 141
Huns, 77, 81 Keresztes (Kerestis), 68
Hüseyin Efendi, 137, 140 Kizil Elma (Red Apple), 18
Hiiseyin Hezârfen, 137,140
La Disentíale de l'Asia et Europa di

IbnRushd (Averroes), 124,125 Papa Pio 11,21,22
Il Maomettano, 23, 37 Leipzig, 152
Innocent XI, 45, 67, 80, 83,103,107 Lemnos, 55
Iskender Beg, 54 Lepanto (Návpaktos=Inebahti), xiv,
Iskender Pa§a, 55 11,49,56, 62, 64,73,107,125,
Isonzo, 55, 56 126,127
Istanbul, 4, 13, 43, 55, 59, 84, 85, 86, Letteratura Turchesca, 43,44,118,150
101, 102, 103, 113, 114,115,129, Lettere infornatile, 150,152
130,137 Lettere irfornatile (Mie cose de Ttmhi
ritardo alla religione et al gmrno ckile,
I militale, politico, et eamorrim, 43,152
Lewis, xiii, xiv, 2, 3, 16
Jannissaiy, 9, 96, 100 Ljubliana, 59
Jesus, 6 Lopes, Giovanni, 101
Jesus Christ, 33,41 Ludolf, Hiob (GiobboLuddfdj, 131
Jew, 33, 101 Luther, 5,29, 36,40,41, 63,69,73,
Jewish, 23,101
74,81, 111, 119,148
Jews, 7,11, 17,20,33,36,90,100
Lüdeke, 152
Judeo-Christian, 2, 16
Lyons, 73,110
Justinian, 76, 81
M
K
Mahometto (Muhammad), 86
Kaffa (affa), 86
Maina, 55
Kakar, 121
Malazgirt (Manzikert), 3
Kanizsa, 68, 80
Malcometo (Muhammad), 114
211
Index
Malta, 5, 29,94 Negroponte (Eubea), 25, 50, 55,120

Mancini, 17 Nicaea (iznik), 7,24,122
Manzikert (Malazgirt), 1, 3 Nice, 61
Maracci, 111 Nicolaus, 17
Marchesi, Monsignor Marcello, xiv, Nicopolis (Nigbolu), 110
xv, 29,30,31,33,36,37,40,46,
62,63,67, 68,76, 80,81, 82,99,
103,105,106, 111, 119,148
Occhiali (Ulu? Ali Reis), 11
Matthias (Corvinus), 20
Orario dogrmtim pro Unione, 53
Maurus, 17
Ordine degli eremitani, 56
Mehmed II, 12, 13, 20, 25, 26, 60,
Orthodoxy, 36
61, 89, 121
Cxhormnm, 37, 59, 65, 82, 99, 100,
Mehmed the Conqueror (Mehmed
118,123
II), 123
Otranto, 2, 19, 27, 54, 59, 60, 61,
Mehmed IV, 137, 140
110,116
Miches, Giovanni, 100
Milione, 114, 115
Mitteleuropa, 113
Monfalcone, 54, 59 Padua, xi, 56, 59,132,142
Monte Minerva, 60 Palailogos, Constantine, 122
Moors, 8 Paleologos, Michael, 86
Morea, 49, 55, 153 Palermo, 1, 3
Morlacchi, 129 Paris, 28, 40,104,122,139,152
Moro (Doge), 54 Paruta, Paolo, 64, 65
Morosini, Gianfrancesco, 6 Pascal II, 72
Moses, 6,20 Passarowitz, 127,153
Motta, Giovanna, 83, 84 Paul III, 73
Muhammad, 7,12,15,16, 21,23, 33, Paul V, 23,31,46,48,68, 80,81
34,36, 37,38,41,42,44,150 Pavia, 67
Murad III, 6,39, 64,101 pax Christiana, 47,148
Pedani, Maria Pia, 115
N Pera, 86
Percichi, 27, 56
Naples, 61, 65
Persian, 19,23,25, 63, 64,124,135,
Návpaktos (Lepanto =Inebahti), 49
139,144,149,151
212
Index
Persians, 5, 8, 19, 21, 61, 63, 77, 151 Reformation, 42,47,48,49, 63, 81,
Pertusi, 27,28,116 108,110,148
Peyssionel, 151 Rdationi Universali, 86, 87
Pharaoh, 20 Renaissance, 5, 8, 12,19,24,25, 50,
Pisa, 17 61,122,125
Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), 18, Reviczky, 151
19,20,21,22,25,37,73,110,116, Rhodes, 61, 94
117,147 rinnegati, 8, 10,11, 15
Pius V, 73,127 Rudimento delb Lingua Ttmhesca, 136
Platania, Gaetano, xi, 32,49, 50, 53, Rüstern Pa§a, 124
54, 84,103
Podestä, 115
Poland, 92
Sabellicus, Marcus Antonius
Polo, Marco, 114, 115, 147
(Marc'Antonio Sabellico), 58
Preto, Paolo, xi, 11,12, 43, 58, 121,
Sacramentists, 111
127,129, 147,152
Sagredo, 118
PrimatuPapo, 91
Saint Sophia, 114
Propaganda Fide, 32, 83, 84, 88, 89
San Marco, 24, 122, 130
Prosecco, 55
Sansovino, 4, 118,123, 124, 125
Protestant, 5
Saracens, 8,77, 81
Protestantism, 36, 47
Satan, 42
prothonotary apostolic, 67, 68 Sava, 59
Ptolomeo, 13
Savaro, Francesco, 131
Puglia, 2
Scander Bassa, 54
Pyrenean Mountains, 117
Scanderio, 55
Scaraffia, 10,11
Scutari, 55
Qur'an, 16, 17, 21, 33, 34, 39, 41, 42, Scythians, 8, 117, 122, 125
43,135 SelimI, 124
Seljukide, 2, 3
Senj, 29, 67
Setton, Kenneth M., 15, 16, 18, 24,
Reconquista, 1
41,49,109,110,128
Red Apple (Kizil Elma, Pomo
Sicily, 1,2, 3
Rosso), 18
213
Index
Silivri Kapi (Porta di Silivrea), 134 Trojans, 8

Sixtus V, 65, 68, 82,101 Troy, 116
Sofiani, 35 turcology, 119, 147
Soranzo, Lazzaro, xiv, 33, 37, 38, 39, Turcomans, 112
59,62,65,66, 82,99,100,101, Turkomania (Anatolia), 114
102,118,123,131 turqueries, 111
Spain, 1, 2, 6, 62, 65, 68, 83,100, Türkistan, 115
106,110,126,127
Spandugino, Teodoro, 28,122,123
St. Benedict, 86
Udine, 54, 58
St. Bernard, 73
Ulm, 152
St. John, 94
Ulug Ali Reis (Occhiali), 11
St. Paul, 70
Urban II, 72
surat al- Tawhid (of the Qur'an), 16
Siileyman the Magnificent, 2, 63,124
T Valensi, 4
Varna, 20
Tartars, 114
Vecchia, Paolo, 36, 90
Tdbis ül-beßnfikawmriri at-i Qsrriin,
Vendramin, Bartolomeo, 11
137,140
Vendramin, Francesco, 115
terra ferma, 2, 27, 93, 109
Venice, xi, xii, 4, 5,10,11,22,24,28,
Teueres, 116
43,47,48, 50, 55, 59, 60, 62, 84,
Theoderic, 59
99,101,107,108,113,114,116,
Thirty Years War, 47, 103, 105, 106, 117,118,120,122,123,127,128,
107,108,110,148 129,130,132,137,144,146,152,
Thum und Taxis (Torre e Tasso), 55 153
Timars, 71
vicario patriarcale, 85
Tiziano, Vecellio, 12
Vienna, xi, xiv, 2,43,45,49, 56, 62,
Toderini, 33,43,44,118,150,151,
63, 74, 80, 86,103,118,127,128,
152
146,148
Torre e Tasso (Thum und Taxis), 55
Transylvanians, 100 W
Trebisond, 23, 24, 53,117,122
Trieste, 54 Wallachia, 35, 87, 89
214
Index
Waraqa, 16
World War I, 110, 111
World War II, 42
X
Xerxes, 13, 63
Zidvatoruk Muahedesi,1
215

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Mustafa Soykut

Image of the "Turk" in Italy

Image of the "Turk" in Italy

A History of the "Other"

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

Library of Congress control number available

All rights reserved.

© 2001, 2010 by Klaus Schwarz Verlag GmbH

I would like to thank the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for

It is impossible to do justice to all the people - as one says in Turkish -

The "Turk" as the Antithesis of the European 1

The Turk as representative of the "other" 3

The Fifteenth Century Crus ader Idea 48

An Account of the Ottoman Incursion in Friuli 56

The Seventeenth Century Until the Final War in 1683 67

Marcello Marchesi: A bellicose oration to Pope Paul V 69

Commentary on Marchesi's manuscript 80

Congregazione di Propaganda Fide 83

Angelo Petricca da Sonnino 84

Treatise on the easy wcy cf defeating the Turk 87

Commentary on Petricca's Manuscript 99

The "Turkish Question" and European Unity 107

A New Vision from Venice: Delia Letteratura de' Turchi 112

Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, "The war against the

Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, Trattato del modo facile

T he present book came into existence as a result of the research

4 Monsignor Marcello Marchesi, op. cit.

6 Angelo Petricca da Sonnino, op. cit.

7 Scipione Ammirato, Orazioni dd Sigiar Scipione Ammirato a diversi principi intorno ai

8 Lazaro Soranzo, L'Othormnno, (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini-Stampatore Camerale, 1598.)

Pope Paul V) and Angelo Petricca da Sonnino9, whose original transcriptions

Letteratura de' Tttnhi of Giambattista Dona", (Malta), Jamal cf Mediterranean Studies,

popular issue, through the methodology of classical historical research, which

The "Turk" as the Antithesis of the "European"

I slam represented for Italy and for Europe, a threat of military

It is within this historical perspective that the crucial role of the

This was a result of the concept of Europe transformed into a post-medieval

The Turk as representative of the "other"

1 Bernard Lewis, L'Eurcpa e I'lslam, (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1999), pp.5-6.

Venetian ambassadors, but also those reports of Italians written in the

The Turks really venerate the name of our lord Jesus

9 Ricoldi Ordiras PrcebcatorumCentra seaamMahmmtimmrimiridi^m scitu libellus. Parisiis, off.

The aforementioned citation from an anonymous ivlazione dated circa 1579,

11 Eugenio Alberi, ed, op. cit., p.438.

12 The GttbdicEnydqpedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01707c.htm

rooted oriental heresy, but - as it will be seen in the proceeding chapters -

Apresso Iacomo Dragoncelli, 1662), pp.44-45.

It is , however, true that this form of government has also

16 Eugenio Alberi, ed., op. cit., pp.327-328.

"adoration of Muhammad" was opposed.21 The Fondaoo dei Tunhi, the

22 Paolo Preto, op. cit., p.133.

All that mattered to Mehmed II was to know the means

24 Franz Babinger, op. cit., p.293.

transforming through time and space, deeds and creations

The following chapter is an overview of the birth of antagonism

26Franz Babinger, "Maometto il Conquistatore e gli umanisti d'Italia", in Aufiaetze und

Italian Images of Islam and the Turks as its Banner-

£ £ ""W Vom the later fourteenth centuiy to the beginning of the

American Philosophical Society, 1992), p.17.

6 See D'Ancona, op.cit.

Rosso", in Stodii BkartimeNeodlemd, vol.V, (1937).

To say little, since the disaster of Varna, Enea Silvio had

13 Francesco Tateo, op. cit., p. 160.

14 Francesco Tateo, op. cit., p. 160-1