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Article: Art and diplomacy in Ottoman Constantinople.
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- August 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In The Muslim Discovery of Europe (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982) Bernard Lewis states that, for Ottomans, 'the idea of an alliance with Christian powers, even against other Christian powers, was strange and, to some, abhorrent'. In reality, alliances with Christian powers were a natural and inevitable aspect of Ottoman policy from its earliest days.
Ottoman soldiers first crossed into Europe, after 1350, as allies of either the Byzantine emperor, John Cantacuzenos or the city of Genoa. Thereafter the Ottoman empire rarely lacked Christian allies. Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople in 1453, was an ally and trading partner of Florence. Far from alliances ...