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 God and 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?
Defenders of the Faith
Foreword
Act One: The Die Is Cast
1. An Emperor Arrives in Europe
2. The Sword of Osman
3. Son of Satan
4. A Field of Fool's Gold
5. Let It Be Done!
6. The Sultan of Love and War
Act Two: Horsetails and Worms
7. A Diet of Worms
8. The Shadow of God Spreads Northward
9. Henry's Harangue
10. The Blood Sport of Kings and Popes
Act Three: Ancestral Aspirations
11. Holy Smoke
12. The Nest of Christian Vipers
13. In the Truest Sense
14. In the Extremity of His Affliction
Act Four: The Capture of a King
15. The Great Plan
16. The Last Battle in the Age of Chivalry
17. My Honor and My Life
18. I Am King Once Again!
Act Five: More Was Lost at Mohacs
19. The Golden-Grilled Window
20. The Highway of Holy Struggle
21. Squabbling at Spires
22. The Game Pack of Jihad
23. The Sow and Her Piglet
Act Six: The Sack of Rome
24. Alas, Poor Italy
25. Setting the Stage
26. Pay! Pay!
27. Rabble at Porta San Spirito
Act Seven: The End of the Renaissance
28. Single Combat
29. Showdown at Blackfriars
30. More Than Table Talk
31. His Mouth Rains Pearls
Act Eight: The Gates of Vienna
32. The Banks of the Rhine River
33. Coronation in Fat City
34. The Creed of Protest
35. Ceremony of Amnesia
Act Nine: Last Gasp in Europe
36. Two Wives
37. Futile Diplomacy
38. Stuck at Güns
39. The Pomposity of Ibrahim Pasha
Act Ten: The Natural Enemy
40. Two Iraqs
41. Charles and the Barbary Sea Dogs
42. Tunis: The Last Crusade
43. Baghdad, Abode of Peace
44. The Abrupt End of a Great Friendship
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Index
