'Visions of the Ottoman World in Renaissance Europe'

William Armstrong - william.armstrong@hdn.com.tr

'Visions of the Ottoman World in Renaissance Europe' by Andrei Pippidi (Oxford University Press, $50, 288 pages)


During the Renaissance, Europe regained self-confidence and underwent rapid social changes, despite of course being wracked with division and discord. It was also during the 16th century that the Ottoman Empire was at the pinnacle of its power, and lurked as a constant hostile presence on Europe’s eastern frontiers. Andrei Pippidi’s “Visions of the Ottoman World in Renaissance Europe” isn’t a political history of relations between the Ottomans and Western European states, but rather a history of the image of “the Turk” in Europe during the first stages of its evolution. Nevertheless, the vicissitudes of political fortune naturally had a big impact on the ideas that gained currency at the time. With the Ottoman expansion, the moral and religious challenge that Islam has presented to European culture since the 9th century became a serious menace, and the effects were felt both intellectually and emotionally.

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