by Alan Mikhail
48 superb deal: Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık).
49 Cem learned of this bargain: Vatin, Sultan Djem, 19.
49 the twenty-three-year-old prince: On Cem’s age, see Freely, Jem Sultan, 80.
49 offered herself to the prince: These French sources are referenced in Freely, Jem Sultan, 94.
49 “charming well-made boys”: Quoted in Freely, Jem Sultan, 95. On Cem’s sex life in Nice, see Freely, Jem Sultan, 93–95; Vatin, Sultan Djem, 156.
49 “a man can stay there”: Quoted in Freely, Jem Sultan, 95.
50 “the general good of Christendom”: Quoted in Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık).
50 arrived in Rome: Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık).
50 “The humanists wrote”: James Hankins, “Renaissance Crusaders: Humanist Crusade Literature in the Age of Mehmed II,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 49 (1995): 112. I thank Francesca Trivellato for bringing this passage to my attention.
51 married a Christian woman: The suggestion is in Vatin, Sultan Djem, 156, n. 408.
51 tall, rotund pope: For an image of Pope Innocent, see “Pope Innocent VIII Died in a Rejuvenation Attempt in 1492,” Alamy, https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Pope-Innocent-VIII-died-in-a-rejuvenation-attempt-in-1492-Alamy_fig5_269710719 (accessed February 9, 2019).
51 vowed never to help Rome: Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık).
51 “even for the rule”: Quoted in Caroline Finkel, Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923 (New York: Basic Books, 2006), 87.
52 “Stocky and robust”: Letter from Matteo Bosso, cited in Freely, Jem Sultan, 172.
52 he forgave Bayezit: Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık).
54 He handed over to Rome: Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Djem” (İnalcık); Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, 3rd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 196; Freely, Jem Sultan, 162–63.
55 Pope Innocent VIII . . . died: Freely, Jem Sultan, 205–06.
57 reached Naples in February 1495: Vatin, Sultan Djem, 23.
57 a wilting weariness: Freely, Jem Sultan, 271–73.
58 “Be in good spirits”: All quotes in this paragraph are from Freely, Jem Sultan, 272.
58 dying in Naples: On Cem’s death, see Vatin, Sultan Djem, 65–69.
CHAPTER 4: LEARNING THE FAMILY BUSINESS
64 Black Sea dolphin: “Black Sea Dolphins,” Black Sea, http://blacksea-education.ru/dolphins.shtml (accessed February 11, 2019).
64 boasted ancient roots: On the Ottomanization of these and other cities, see Ronald C. Jennings, “Urban Population in Anatolia in the Sixteenth Century: A Study of Kayseri, Karaman, Amasya, Trabzon, and Erzurum,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 7 (1976): 21–57.
65 subdue Trabzon: Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, trans. Ralph Manheim, ed. William C. Hickman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), 190–97.
65 slow transition from a millennium of Christian rule: Jennings, “Urban Population in Anatolia,” 43–46.
65 tenuous ties to Ottoman hegemony: Heath W. Lowry, The Islamization and Turkification of the City of Trabzon (Trebizond), 1461–1583 (Istanbul: Isis Press, 2009), 5–37.
65 adhered to some form of Christianity: Lowry, Islamization and Turkification, 36; Jennings, “Urban Population in Anatolia,” 43.
67 Venetian and Genoese merchants: In this period, Venetians and Genoese made up around 4% of the city’s population. Lowry, Islamization and Turkification, 36.
68 When a Catholic Florentine merchant: Halil İnalcık, “The Ottoman State: Economy and Society, 1300–1600,” in An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, ed. Halil İnalcık with Donald Quataert, 2 vols. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 1:235–36.
69 the middlemen of Eurasian trade: İnalcık, “The Ottoman State,” 1:222–23.
69 Ottoman policy of “one mother, one son”: Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 42–45.
69 Circle of Justice: Linda T. Darling, A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization (New York: Routledge, 2013), 2.
70 cherries and hazelnuts: On Trabzon’s hazelnuts, see İnalcık, “The Ottoman State,” 1:187.
71 the world’s most prolific producer: Wikipedia, s.v. “Trabzon,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabzon (accessed February 8, 2019).
71 small farms were distributed as recompense for military service: On the Ottoman landholding system, see Colin Imber, The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power, 2nd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 164–203, 239–42, 253–61.
71 thoroughgoing program of Ottomanization: Lowry, Islamization and Turkification.
72 The Islamic institution of the pious foundation: Ronald C. Jennings, “Pious Foundations in the Society and Economy of Ottoman Trabzon, 1565–1640: A Study Based on the Judicial Registers (Şer‘i Mahkeme Sicilleri) of Trabzon,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 33 (1990): 271–336.
72 Gülbahar established the most opulent: Jennings, “Pious Foundations,” 289–90, n. 22; 330.
74 Her mosque and Qur’anic school played a key role: Jennings, “Pious Foundations,” 289–90, n. 22; Lowry, Islamization and Turkification.
75 Uncovering the full genealogical picture: Peirce, Imperial Harem, 84–85.
75 Suleyman the Magnificent: Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters, eds., Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire (New York: Facts on File, 2009), s.v. “Süleyman I (‘the Magnificent’; Kanuni, or ‘the Lawgiver’)” (Gábor Ágoston).
75 plumpish, with long auburn hair and a prominent forehead: Wikipedia, s.v. “Hafsa Sultan (wife of Selim I),” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafsa_Sultan_(wife_of_Selim_I)#/media/File:BustOfAyseHafsaSultan_ManisaTurkey.jpg (accessed February 9, 2019).
75 Sultanate of Women: Peirce, Imperial Harem, 57–112.
CHAPTER 5: POWER AT THE EDGE
78 “He was a sun”: Celia J. Kerslake, “A Critical Edition and Translation of the Introductory Sections and the First Thirteen Chapters of the ‘Selīmnāme’ of Celālzāde Muṣṭafā Çelebi” (D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1975), 39a.
78 the provincial governorships: On these appointments, see H. Erdem Çıpa, The Making of Selim: Succession, Legitimacy, and Memory in the Early Modern Ottoman World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017), 32–37.
79 The regular rotation of governors: On this practice in Trabzon, see Heath W. Lowry, The Islamization and Turkification of the City of Trabzon (Trebizond), 1461–1583 (Istanbul: Isis Press, 2009), 28–29.
80 cut deals with Kurdish chieftains: Çıpa, Making of Selim, 7–8.
81 alliances with the Karamanid tribal confederation: Hakkı Erdem Çipa, “The Centrality of the Periphery: The Rise to Power of Selīm I, 1487–1512” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 2007), 226–31.
82 One of Selim’s payroll registers: Çipa, “Centrality of the Periphery,” 220–31. See also Çıpa, Making of Selim, 78–106.
84 Ak Koyunlu Confederacy: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill Online, 2012), s.v. “Aḳ Ḳoyunlu” (V. Minorsky).
85 “The kingship . . . false person”: Kerslake, “ ‘Selīmnāme,’ ” 40a.
85 “The carpets of justice”: Kerslake, “ ‘Selīmnāme,’ ” 39b.
85–86 a teenager named Ismail: Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 20–26.
CHAPTER 6: COLUMBUS AND ISLAM
90 At the age of nine: Carol Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem: How Religion Drove the Voyages that Led to America (New York: Free Press, 2011), 25–26; Silvio A. Bedini, ed., The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Helen Nader).
91
“one of the maritime wonders,” “coastal highway”: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Nader).
94 “Today many Mongols”: Quoted in Abbas Hamdani, “Columbus and the Recovery of Jerusalem,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 99 (1979): 42.
94 Several of these envoys: Hamdani, “Columbus and the Recovery of Jerusalem,” 42–43.
95 Seven Cities of Cibola: Peter Manseau, One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History (New York: Little, Brown, 2015), 32–33. Delaney expresses doubt about Columbus’s belief in the Seven Cities: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 77–78.
95 The 1325 map of Dalorto: William H. Babcock, “The Island of the Seven Cities,” Geographical Review 17 (1919): 98.
96 became an apprentice sailor: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Nader).
96 Columbus directly experienced the Muslim world: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 33.
97 a letter he wrote from Hispaniola: Charles Elton, The Career of Columbus (New York: Cassell, 1892), 55–56.
97 sent him to Chios: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 33–34; Stuart B. Schwartz, The Iberian Mediterranean and Atlantic Traditions in the Formation of Columbus as a Colonizer (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library, 1986), 2.
97 the Italian city-state’s easternmost territory: Schwartz, Iberian Mediterranean and Atlantic Traditions, 4.
100 fire broke out on Columbus’s vessel: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Nader).
100 “garbled story”: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Nader).
100 London in these years: This and the following paragraph are adapted from Roy Porter, London: A Social History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), 11–33.
102 “Men of Cathay”: Quoted in David B. Quinn, “Columbus and the North: England, Iceland, and Ireland,” William and Mary Quarterly 49 (1992): 284.
102 Native Americans rode Atlantic currents eastward: Jack D. Forbes, Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 6–25.
CHAPTER 7: COLUMBUS’S CRUSADE
103 indubitably one of Crusade: Abbas Hamdani, “Ottoman Response to the Discovery of America and the New Route to India,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 101 (1981): 323–24.
104 Filipa Moniz: Silvio A. Bedini, ed., The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Columbus in Portugal” (Rebecca Catz). No information about Filipa’s appearance survives.
105 navigational instruments and maps: Kirstin Downey, Isabella: The Warrior Queen (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2014), 234–35.
105 Prince Henry: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Henry the Navigator” (Glenn J. Ames).
105 Columbus took advantage of his new connections: Carol Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem: How Religion Drove the Voyages that Led to America (New York: Free Press, 2011), 43–44.
105 “was actuated by the zeal”: Quoted in Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 324.
106 Mali Empire: Michael A. Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018), 61–165.
108 The papal conjoining of Muslim and non-Muslim: Peter Manseau, One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History (New York: Little, Brown, 2015), 29–56.
109 São Jorge da Mina: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 45–47; Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Early Maritime Experience” (Helen Nader); Wikipedia, s.v. “Elmina Castle,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmina_Castle (accessed February 9, 2019).
109 João’s fort immediately proved its worth: Wikipedia, s.v. “Elmina,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmina (accessed February 9, 2019).
111 “fit and athletic . . . gay”: On Ferdinand’s looks, see Downey, Isabella, 78. On Isabella’s, 71. On their familial relations, 41.
111 “Every day”: Quoted in Downey, Isabella, 178.
112 Ottoman ships continued west: Wikipedia, s.v. “List of Ottoman conquests, sieges and landings,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ottoman_conquests,_sieges_and_landings (accessed February 9, 2019).
114 in the port of Bougie: Andrew C. Hess, The Forgotten Frontier: A History of the Sixteenth-Century Ibero-African Frontier (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 60.
114 several successful raids against Spanish positions: Hess, Forgotten Frontier, 60.
116 Isabella had little time: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 56–58.
116 Prince Henry the Navigator, was her great-uncle: Downey, Isabella, 234.
116 in some ways kindred spirits: Downey, Isabella, 238–39.
117 Columbus’s appearance and personality: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Iconography: Early European Portraits” (Carla Rahn Phillips); s.v. “Columbus, Christopher: Columbus in Portugal” (Catz).
117 nose aquiline, and his light eyes “lively”: Robert Hume, Christopher Columbus and the European Discovery of America (Leominster, UK: Gracewing, 1992), 10–11.
117 “was clearly a charismatic figure”: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 59.
117 “devoted to the Holy Christian Faith”: Quoted in Karine V. Walther, Sacred Interests: The United States and the Islamic World, 1821–1921 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015), 10.
118 joining the Spanish fight against the Moors: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 62–63.
118 Vera, Vélez-Blanco, and Vélez-Rubio: Downey, Isabella, 198.
118 played a decisive role: Washington Irving, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (New York: James B. Millar, 1884), 137–38.
118 two Franciscan friars: Irving, Life and Voyages, 69–70.
119 elaborate regal encampment: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 65.
119 stretched its resources: Delaney, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem, 65.
119 Granada: Felipe Fernández-Armesto, 1492: The Year the World Began (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 29.
119 Alhambra complex: Wikipedia, s.v. “Alhambra,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra (accessed February 9, 2019).
120 “darker-complexioned . . . fair”: On Ferdinand, see Downey, Isabella, 78. On Isabella, 71.
120 Boabdil left the palace: Downey, Isabella, 201–02.
120 “the extinction . . . all of Europe”: All quotes come from Downey, Isabella, 38.
120 Celebratory bullfights . . . reenactments: Downey, Isabella, 38.
121 “was famed and celebrated”: Quoted in Downey, Isabella, 203–04.
121 Not until the twentieth-century formation of Albania and Bosnia: Fernández-Armesto, 1492, 44.
122 “project of discovering . . . bounds of desire”: Quoted in Irving, Life and Voyages, 77.
CHAPTER 8: NEW WORLD ISLAM
123 Sultan Bayezit marched his armies: On Bayezit’s moves that summer, see Colin Imber, The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power, 2nd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 35.
124 “On 2 January . . . conversion”: Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus: Being his own Log-Book, Letters, and Dispatches with Connecting Narrative drawn from the Life of the Admiral by his Son Hernando Colon and Other Contemporary Historians, ed. and trans. J. M. Cohen (London: Penguin, 1969), 37.
124 the three ships: Jerald F. Dirks writes that the brothers Martín Alonso Pinzón and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, who accompanied Columbus in 1492 as the captains of La Pinta and La Niña respectively, were from a Muslim family descended from the Marinid sultanate of Morocco. A third brother, Francisco Martín Pinzón, was the pi
lot of La Pinta. Jerald F. Dirks, Muslims in American History: A Forgotten Legacy (Beltsville, MD: Amana, 2006), 62–63.
125 borrowing a technology from their Muslim rivals: J. H. Parry, The Establishment of the European Hegemony, 1415–1715: Trade and Exploration in the Age of the Renaissance, 3rd ed. (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 19–24; Abbas Hamdani, “Ottoman Response to the Discovery of America and the New Route to India,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 101 (1981): 324–25, n. 8.
125 “combined rig made possible”: Parry, Establishment of European Hegemony, 23.
125 “the Arabs were their teachers”: Parry, Establishment of European Hegemony, 21.
125 the Pinta’s rudder broke loose: Silvio A. Bedini, ed., The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), s.v. “Voyages of Columbus” (William Lemos). This source also describes the behavior of the crew on the voyage.
126 “many people of the island”: Columbus, Four Voyages, 53.
126 the Taino people: On Taino history and culture, see Sven Lovén, Origins of the Tainan Culture, West Indies (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2010); Antonio M. Stevens-Arroyo, Cave of the Jagua: The Mythological World of the Taínos (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988); Samuel M. Wilson, Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990); Lesley-Gail Atkinson, ed., The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taíno (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2006); Irving Rouse, The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).
126 “the colour of Canary Islanders”: Columbus, Four Voyages, 55.
126 As “naked”: Quoted in Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Voyages of Columbus” (Lemos).
126 “fine limbs”: Columbus, Four Voyages, 55.
126 balls of cotton thread, and parrots: Columbus, Four Voyages, 56.
126 beads, baubles, and bits of colored glass: Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, s.v. “Voyages of Columbus” (Lemos).