Ottoman Turks 15th/16th cent.

[Sandinista]

Can anyone recomend any good reference books other than the Osprey books?

[Sandinista]

will take that as a no, then

[Leon]

I'll check with Dave and see what we used to design the range.

[Leon]

Right then, I emailed a friend of ours and got back the following:



There is a wealth of literature about the Ottoman Empire and some new stuff is gradually emerging based on material from the Ottoman Archives. This period is a proabably the high point of Ottoman influence and expansion.

If looking for quick fix then the Osprey Men at Arms book on the Ottoman Army to 1776 is probably the best starting point. Nicolle has also written a Osprey Elite about the Janissaries that goes into more detail about that particular corps.

There is a somewhat dated chapter on Ottoman Armies in George Gush Renaissance Armies(out of print and very expensive). Also useful but somewhat dated are Sir Charles Oman's 'The Art of War in the Sixteenth Century' that has specific chapters on the Ottoman armies.

For an overview a fairly recent book by Jason Goodwin "Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire " probably provides the most concise and the readily available account in English.

Guilmartin's 'Gunpowders & Galleys' deals with the technology etc of maritime warfare (mainly galleys!!) in the C16th. It is not without its critics but I find it useful. There is a book about Lepanto (1571) which deals with the background to the big naval battle, Hugh Bicheno The Cresecnet and the Cross.

Ther are a plethora of monographs on individual topics. The Wikilies article on Lepanto has/had a good overall bibliography including some obscure academic stuff of general significance.

For  some visual material there are a series of paintings in the NMM at Greenwich by Matteo Perez d'Aleccio of the siege of Malta 1565. These are similar to a series of frescoes in the grand Master Palace in Valletta painted in the 1570s so are worth a look for colouring and how the Ottomans looked (far from uniform). It is short of cavalry because Malta was an infantry show.


This is a listing of the paintings from the online gallery:


http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplore/BrowseByArtist.cfm?action=ArtistTitle&name=Matteo%20Perez%20d'Aleccio&lettera=A



There are a couple of Spanish and Portuguese publishing houses that do 'Ospreyoid' titles on subjects of interests to them. Unsurprisngly they are in Spanish or Portuguese. One which has the Title of 'Tunis 1535, Los Tercios en Africa' deal with the Spanish invasion by Charles V. The Escurial in Madrid has a series of tapestries dealing with this event but I do not know of an online source/access point.

Anyone with a deeper interest would do well to consider joing the Yahoo Ottoman Wars Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ottomanwars

It is not specifically C16th but with the empire until its fall at the end of the Great war.

More specific info could also be gained via either:

The Pike & Shor discussion group (if a member of the society)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PikeandShotSociety

or the general Renwars discussion board:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RenWars

[Sandinista]

Leon, you are a star 

[Leon]

Leon, you are a star 

Should keep you busy for a while!