The Lion House: Discover the life of Suleyman the Magnificent, the most feared man of the sixteenth century

Product Information

You also get a nice sense of the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean states, and Europe and Asia. For example Suleiman’s favourite slave, maybe lover and ultimately grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha started out in life a Christian Albanian peasant boy before being captured by slavers and transported to Anatolia. The Sultan’s unofficial foreign minister Alvise Gritti was the illegitimate son of the Venetian Doge. Downsides One of the most fascinating passages in The Lion House is de Bellaigue’s description of the process by which Venice chose its Doge, and I can't resist quoting it here: It’s all there in Jacopo de Barbari’s recent engraving of the metropolis, not so much a bird’s eye view as God’s view of each tower, each wharf, each retaining wall, beyond which may be distinguished the islands of Murano, Torcello and so on, while from eight different directions cherubs fill the sails of galleys with their cargoes of cotton, indigo, gold, nutmeg, saltpetre, silver, gems, silk, pepper and grain. And there in the middle, the tiny repetitious esplanade of St Mark’s, and next to that, the Ducal Palace to which we now swoop, like one of Jacopo’s small sea-fowl, and where on this day, the eighth of April 1522, there is to be a briefing on the Turk.

The Lion House by Christopher de Bellaigue is a unique book about the European powers vs. Suleiman the Magnificent. It covers a wide swath of material, from how Venetian politics worked, to how Suleiman rose to power, to the infamous pirate Barbarossa. There are books that enlarge the mind, there are books that enrich the soul, but rarely comes a book so beautifully-written and profound that it manages to do both.” Grimani’s eloquence and the justice of his defence saved him from execution. Exiled to Dalmatia, he absconded to Rome. From a villa on the Quirinale he agitated for his own rehabilitation while lobbying loyally on behalf of the Republic. After seven years of receiving aid from a man they had spurned, the patricians of Venice were embarrassed into bringing him home with restored honours. This is history, but not as we know it. It is non-fiction posing as a novel, rich in incident and cinematic detail ... it's tremendous Justin Marozzi, Sunday Times

The information included was just okay, seeming to oscillate at random between whether it wants to be a detailed biography on the life of Suleyman or a more micro examination of the land wars waged between he and Charles V. Christopher de Bellaigue has a magic talent for writing history. It is as if we are there as the era of Suleyman the Magnificent unfolds.” —Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature An urgent, immersive, present-tense gallop ... behind the bejewelled descriptive prose a thumping pulse of action tugs us through' Financial Times

If you know a fair amount about Suleyman as well as about Venetian politics in the 16th century, there isn’t much here that will be new to you, though it’s well told regardless, and the audiobook is narrated beautifully. I liked the style of this glimpse into Suleyman’s quest to gain territory in Europe. It’s well structured narrative nonfiction that reads beautifully and compellingly. While Minio is in Constantinople it pleases the Sultan to have one of his Pashas hanged. The Pasha in question is a person of means with many slaves. The Sultan sends a state messenger to his house, who tells him: the Sultan has decided that you will be hanged. And without any resistance, either on his part or that of his slaves, he is immediately taken away to his death. His household makes no resistance but accompanies him weeping. De Bellaigue writes with impecable scholarship, piecing together contemporary accounts to create a thrilling narrative Church Times De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of Suleyman's quest for power PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk RoadsThere are books that enlarge the mind, there are books that enrich the soul, but rarely comes a book so beautifully-written and profound that it manages to do both ELIF SHAFAK, author of The Island of Missing Trees Indeed it might be said that ceremonies in all their variety are Mr de Bellaigue’s favourite thing. Obsessively but infectiously, he relates the finer points of political, social and military rituals. Whether he is describing a lavish dinner for Italian merchants on the Bosporus, the stately progress of Suleiman’s armies through the Balkans or a mass circumcision, he has an eye for the colourful, absurd and ironic. Venice, 1522. Twenty-three men in robes of scarlet and blue assemble to hear the most sensitive intelligence from Istanbul: the Ottoman Sultan, the 'Grand Turk', has everything he needs to wage total war. By the end of the decade, a vast swathe of Europe will lie under Muslim rule.

Christopher de Bellaigue has a magic talent for writing history. It is as if we are there as the era of Suleyman the Magnificent unfolds.”—Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Daughters L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University Brigham Young’s ten oldest daughters were known affectionately as “The Big Ten.” They formed the original Retrenchment Society. In Suleyman’s case, it turns out, the laudatory label was richly deserved. Historians remember the Ottoman Empire’s tenth sultan for far more than the territorial gains he achieved, which were considerable. Because to his subjects he was known as Suleyman the Lawgiver. Like Napoleon three centuries later, he codified the laws of his empire into a single legal code that endured for more than three hundred years.I’m a bit suspicious of this poisoned robe story and didn’t find any supporting footnote in the text, but it is mentioned several times so presumably De Bellaigue thinks it is in some sense true! ↩︎