janissaries
The Byzantine empire ends in an orgy of rape and slaughter
Massively outnumbered and abandoned by Christian Europe, Constantinople’s inhabitants finally succumbed to the Ottomans after a devastating 53-day siege
What the Quran has to say about slavery
While it attaches high moral value to emancipation, it acknowledges the legitimacy of slavery and the sexual exploitation of woman – justifying forced concubinage by certain Islamic regimes
Survival of the cruellest in 16th-century Constantinople
It was kill or be killed for the Ottoman sultan’s heirs in a bizarre succession ritual involving the ruthless culling of close relatives
From nomads to emperors
This is the best of times to be writing history, since so much of what has been taken for granted,…
