Ebook – Inventory of the ‘Lettere e Scritture Turchesche’ in the Venetian State Archives 1st Ediition Edition (PDF Instant Download)

Pedani (history of Islamic countries, U. Ca’ Foscari, Venice) worked for many years in the Venetian State Archives, and in 1994 edited this inventory of documents relating to the Ottoman Empire, drawing on summaries made during the 1940s by Alessio Bombaci. The miscellaneous series was assembled in the second half of the 19th century by combining the Ottoman imperial documents formerly held in the secret chancellery of the Ducal Palace with other Ottoman papers and documents written in other Oriental languages that the Venetian archivists of the time could not read. Though Venice had maintained extensive diplomatic and trade contacts with Byzantium through the centuries, and dealt freely with other Muslim entities, she says, the city leaders did not realize the need to open dealings with the Ottoman invaders until they took Gallipoli in 1354. When Byzantium became Istanbul in 1453, there was barely a ripple in relations. She cites the 821 documents and provides summaries in Italian. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)