Monday, May 11, 2009

17th Century Flemish Jesuit On Christendom And Islam

Suleyman

Cornelis Hazart, S.J. Kerckelycke historie van de gheheele werelt naemelyck van Turckyen, Palestynen, Syrien Griecken-lant, Moscovien Persien, Fez Marocco, ende Tartarien het iv deel. (Antwerp: 1682).

Drawing on a large number of sources in Latin, Spanish, French and Dutch, this Flemish Jesuit prepared a comprehensive history of Christianity and its missions throughout the world in four folio volumes. The present one is dedicated to the lands from Morocco to Tartary, most of them ruled by Muslims. Hazart writes at length on Islam, detailing the religious customs and facilities. Special attention is given to the state of various Christian groups in Islamic countries in the seventeenth century.

Continuing the expansion of his father, Selim I, Suleyman the Magnificent brought the Ottoman Empire to the pinnacle of its prestige and power. He defeated the Hungarians at Mohacs in 1526, took the city of Buda, and besieged Vienna in 1529. In 1536 he forged an alliance with King Francis I of France against the Holy Roman Empire, a pattern of foreign policy that endured for three centuries. Süleyman was a generous patron of the arts and literature. He died in 1566 during the siege of Szigetvár in western Hungary.

Link (here)

Painting is of the Siege of Vienna

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