Christopher de Bellaigue: Suleyman the Magnificent (1534)

This week we travel back to the Islamic year 941 which straddles 1534/5 of our own calendar, a particularly deadly year in the reign of the Ottoman Emperor, Suleyman the Magnificent. 

There was no shortage of extraordinary rulers in the sixteenth century: Ivan the Terrible towered over Russia, England had its own Gloriana, Elizabeth I, Charles V governed the vast Holy Roman Empire, while in India, the Emperor Akbar transformed Mughal culture. But every one of these mighty potentates cowered in the shadow of the man who ruled the Ottoman Empire between 1520 and 1566 - Suleyman the Magnificent.

In his compelling new book, The Lion House, the award-winning writer and expert on the Islamic world, Christopher de Ballaigue takes us deep inside the Ottoman corridors of power in this dramatic period of their history.

Show Notes

Scene One: Transylvania. The death of Alvise Gritti, son of the Venetian Doge, merchant, millionaire and chief procurer of everything from guns to parmesan at the Ottoman Court, at the hands of the Hungarians.

Scene Two: Baghdad. Having recently taken the city, Suleyman awakes from a nightmare in which his treasurer Iskender Celebi, who has recently been hung on the Sultan’s order, tries to strangle him. 

Scene Three: Baghdad. Suleyman receives a letter from his beloved wife Hurrem, back in Istanbul, reminding him of the delights of home.

Memento: the extraordinary solid gold quadruple crown made in Venice for the Sultan, valued at 144,000 ducats and dripping with unimaginable jewels. 

People/Social

Presenter: Violet Moller

Guest: Christopher de Ballaigue

Production: Maria Nolan

Podcast partner: Unseen Histories

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