Defenders of the Faith : Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536

by Reston, Jr., James (Author)

• ISBN13: 9781594202254
• ISBN10: 1594202257
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-14
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The

Summary

A bestselling historian recounts sixteen years that shook the world— the epic clash between Europe and the Ottoman Turks that ended the Renaissance and brought Islam to the gates of Vienna In the bestselling Warriors of Godand Dogs of God, James Reston, Jr., limned two epochal conflicts between Islam and Christendom. Here he examines the ultimate battle in that centuries-long war, which found Europe at its most vulnerable and Islam on the attack. This drama was propelled by two astonishing young sovereigns: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Turkish sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Though they represented two colliding worlds, they were remarkably similar. Each was a poet and cultured cosmopolitan; each was the most powerful man on his continent; each was called Defender of the Faith”; and each faced strident religious rebellion in his domain. Charles was beset by the heresy” of Martin Luther and his fervid adherents, even while tensions between him and the pope threatened to boil over, and the upstart French king Francis I harried Charles’s realm by land and sea. Suleyman was hardly more comfortable on his throne. He had earned his crown by avoiding the grim Ottoman tradition of royal fratricide. Shiites in the East were fighting off the Sunni Turks’ cruel repression of their heresy.” The ferocity and skill of Suleyman’s Janissaries had expanded the Ottoman Empire to its greatest extent ever, but these slave soldiers became rebellious when foreign wars did not engage them. With Europe newly hobbled and the Turks suffused with restless vigor, the stage was set for a drama that unfolded from Hungary to Rhodes and ultimately to Vienna itself, which both sides thought the Turks could win. If that happened, it was generally agreed that Europe would become Muslim as far west as the Rhine. During these same years, Europe was roiled by constant internal tumult that saw, among other spectacles, the Diet of Worms, the Sack of Rome, and an actual wrestling match between the English and French monarchs in which Henry VIII’s pride was badly hurt. Would—could—this fractious continent be united to repulse a fearsome enemy?

Author Biography

James Reston, Jr., is the author of fourteen previous books, including Warriors of God, Dogs of God, Galileo: A Life, and The Conviction of Richard Nixon. Winner of the Prix Italia and the Dupont-Columbia Award for his 1983 documentary, -ôFather Cares: The Last of Jonestown,-ö his books have been translated into thirteen languages.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xix
The Die is Cast
An Emperor Arrives in Europe	p. 3
The Sword of Osman	p. 9
Son of Satan	p. 18
A Field of Fool's Gold	p. 29
Let it Be Done!	p. 39
The Sultan of Love and War	p. 43
Horsetails and Worms
A Diet of Worms	p. 53
The Shadow of God Spreads Northward	p. 69
Henry's Harangue	p. 76
The Blood Sport of Kings and Popes	p. 81
Ancestral Aspirations
Holy Smoke	p. 91
The Nest of Christian Vipers	p. 97
In the Truest Sense	p. 106
In the Extremity of His Affliction	p. 117
The Capture of a King
The Great Plan	p. 123
The Last Battle in the Age of Chivalry	p. 132
My Honor and My Life	p. 141
I Am King Once Again!	p. 152
More Was Lost at Mohacs
The Golden-Grilled Window	p. 165
The Highway of Holy Struggle	p. 173
Squabbling at Spires	p. 178
The Game Pack of Jihad	p. 186
The Sow and Her Piglet	p. 195
The Sack of Rome
Alas, Poor Italy	p. 203
Setting the Stage	p. 212
Pay! Pay!	p. 221
Rabble at Porta San Spirito	p. 229
The End of the Renaissance
Single Combat	p. 243
Showdown at Blackfriars	p. 249
More Than Table Talk	p. 258
His Mouth Rains Pearls	p. 269
The Gates of Vienna
The Banks of the Rhine River	p. 279
Coronation in Fat City	p. 290
The Creed of Protest	p. 299
Ceremony of Amnesia	p. 308
Last Gasp in Europe
Two Wives	p. 317
Futile Diplomacy	p. 323
Stuck at Guns	p. 328
The Pomposity of Ibrahim Pasha	p. 340
The Natural Enemy
Two Iraqs	p. 353
Charles and the Barbary Sea Dogs	p. 359
Tunis: The Last Crusade	p. 364
Baghdad, Abode of Peace	p. 372
The Abrupt End of a Great Friendship	p. 378
Epilogue	p. 382
Acknowledgments	p. 390
Selected Bibliography	p. 393
Index	p. 398
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