Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time

"Fascinating... From the Western viewpoint, Mehmed was seen as the man who gave the death blow to Byzantium, destroying the last vestige of the Eastern Roman Empire. Not surprisingly, the Turks regard him as the greatest of all sultans, a figure unparalleled in the history of the world for military prowess, statecraft, patronage of the arts and sciences."--Robert Kirsch, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

• List of IllustrationsEditor's PrefaceNote on Spelling and TransliterationAbbreviationsBk. 1The Ottoman Empire at Murad's accession3Birth of a prince9Balkan campaigns - Hungarian counteroffensive16The crusade of Varna27A child sultan41The campaign in Greece44Murad's last years56Bk. 2Mehmed's final return to the throne64The fortress on the Bosporus75The fall of Constantinople87Creation of an Ottoman imperial capital101Repercussions in the West117Ottoman expansion into the Aegean129The siege of Belgrade137Bk. 3Ottoman campaigns - Albania, Serbia, and Greece151Papal efforts at Western unification167The last of the Palaeologi173Eastern adventurers and the fall of Trebizond183The pope and the sultan197Vlad the impaler203Bk. 4The subjection of Bosnia215Outbreak of war with Venice225Papal efforts at Crusade233The Ottomans on the Adriatic251Anatolian undertakings269The fall of Negropont279The Mosque of the Conqueror293Bk. 5Uzun Hasan in league with the West302War in the East with Uzun Hasan309The fall of Mahmud Pasha329Deathblow to Genoa's Levantine trade341Ottoman raiders at the gates of Venice and Austria347Mehmed in Walachia and Moldavia351The sieges of Kruje and Shkoder359Bk. 6Peace at last with Venice369Ottoman landing in southeastern Italy389Unsuccessful attack on Rhodes397Mehmed's last campaigns and death401Bk. 7The personality and empire of Mehmed the Conqueror409IThe ruler and the man409IIState and society432IIIArt literature and science462IVMehmed the Conqueror and the West494App. 1. Lists of Rulers and Popes511App. 2. Glossary513Index515