 | The Deeds of Commander Pietro Mocenigo Subjects: Venice (Italy) -- History -- Turkish Wars 1453-1571; Turkey -- History -- 1288-1453; Austria -- History -- 1273-1519; Sigmund Archduke of Austria 1427-1496; Composed in 1474/75 in an elegant humanist Latin, The Deeds provides a sophisticated eyewitness account of the Christian-Muslim confrontation in Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean. Coriolano Cippico's classicizing style and tone reflect the interests of a cultivated and avid antiquarian mind, but The Deeds also offers astute observations on the entangled relationship between Venice and the Ottomans. Its description of Venice's bloody and profitable campaigns against civilian and military centers -- and the destruction of many ancient monuments -- undercuts the crusading rhetoric of the conflict and offers new insight into the military and political workings of the Venetian maritime empire. Kiril Petkov offers the first English translation of The Deeds and brings back to light one of the finest pieces of Renaissance historiography, widely reprinted and much appreciated in its time but undeservedly forgotten until recently. Introduction, notes, bibliography, index, illustrations. |
