37 - Georgeviz B.: De Turcarum Moribus libellus in quo de corum Templis, Quadragesima,…. Monachis, Scholis, Militia, Oeconomia... Helmestad, 1671

Georgeviz B.: De Turcarum Moribus libellus in quo de corum Templis, Quadragesima,…. Monachis, Scholis, Militia, Oeconomia... Helmestad, 1671 First edition in 4to. Previous editions were in very small format.Contemporary hard paper covers trimmed,80p.,complete,text clean and bright,in very good condition. Bartolomeus Georgievitz (1506-1560) had been captured in the battle of Mohatz by the Ottomans. He had stayed, as slave, in the Levant almost 13 years and learned very well the structure of the Ottoman society, the administration, the economy and the military. Unlike the diplomats or scholars, Georgieviz wrote from the bottom up. He escaped slavery seven times before finally reaching Europe, in 1537 visited Jerusalem and there he escaped one more time, he travelled across Anatolia and arrived in Europe the following year. A harrowing description of the life of Christian captives, including the physical labor, the Devshirme, the blood tax, and the psychological pressure to convert to Islam. The book famously includes the Prophecy of the Red Apple (the Kizil Elma), a Turkish legend suggesting that the Ottoman Empire would eventually be conquered by a Christian Sword. This was a very early Turkish legend. His account is one of the best sources for the 16th century Levant. He described very accurately the Levant, but the book is also libelous against the Turks. Rare. Atabey 488 (for a small format earlier edition), not in Blackmer