Roger Crowley

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Roger Crowley
Born1951
OccupationHistorian
Alma mater Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Period2005–present
GenreMaritime and Mediterranean history

Roger Crowley (born 1951 [1] ) is a British historian and author known for his books on maritime and Mediterranean history. [2]

Contents

Life and career

Roger Crowley was educated at Sherborne School and read English at Emmanuel College Cambridge. As the child of a naval family, early experiences of life in Malta gave him a deep interest in the history and culture of the Mediterranean world, which has remained the major subject of his work. He has travelled widely in the Greek-speaking world, taught English in Istanbul and walked across Western Turkey. He worked for many years as a publisher before pursuing a full-time writing career. He is married and lives in England in the Gloucestershire countryside. [3]

He has a reputation for writing compelling narrative history based on original sources and eyewitness accounts combined with careful scholarship. He is the author of a loose trilogy of books on the history of the Mediterranean: Constantinople: The Last Great Siege/1453 (2005), drawing on his interest in Istanbul, Empires of the Sea (2008) about the contest for the Mediterranean between the Ottomans and Christian Europe, which was a Sunday Times (UK) History Book of the Year in 2009 and a New York Times Bestseller – and City of Fortune on Venice’s maritime empire (2011). [4] These were followed by Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire (2015), an account of early Portuguese activities in the Indian Ocean, and Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land (Yale, 2019), which chronicles the end of the crusades and the fall of Akko in 1291. His latest book, Spice: The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World (Yale, 2024), explores the various expeditions led by European powers to reach and extend control over the Spice Islands. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. [5]

Roger has talked to audiences as diverse as Melvyn Bragg’s BBC programme In Our Time , the Center Analyses in Washington, NATO, the Hay Festival, and the National Maritime Museum, appeared on TV programmes, written articles and reviews, and lectured to tour groups. [6]

Bibliography

Books

Related Research Articles

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Constantinople was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman empires between its consecration in 330 AD to 1930, when it was renamed to Istanbul. Constantinople was founded in 324 AD during the reign of Constantine the Great on the site of the existing settlement of Byzantium, and shortly thereafter in 330 became the capital of the Roman Empire. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence, the Turkish capital then moved to Ankara. Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe, straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia, and the financial center of Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmed II</span> Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481)

Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">15th century</span> One hundred years, from 1401 to 1500

The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 to 31 December 1500 (MD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall of Constantinople</span> 1453 Ottoman capture of the Byzantine capital

The fall of Constantinople, also known as the conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which had begun on 6 April.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pêro da Covilhã</span> 15th/16th-century Portuguese explorer and diplomat

Pêro da Covilhã, sometimes written Pero de Covilhã, was a Portuguese diplomat and explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zagan Pasha</span> Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1456

Zaganos or Zagan Pasha was an Albanian Ottoman military commander, with the titles and ranks of kapudan pasha and the highest military rank, grand vizier, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror". Originally a Christian, who was conscripted and converted through the devşirme system, he became a Muslim and rose through the ranks of the janissaries. He became one of the prominent military commanders of Mehmed II and a lala – the sultan's advisor, mentor, tutor, councillor, protector, all at once. He removed his rival, the previous Grand Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, amid the fall of Constantinople. He later served as the governor of Thessaly of Macedonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical Age of the Ottoman Empire</span> Ottoman Empire from circa 1450 to 1570

The Classical Age of the Ottoman Empire concerns the history of the Ottoman Empire from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 until the second half of the sixteenth century, roughly the end of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During this period a system of patrimonial rule based on the absolute authority of the sultan reached its apex, and the empire developed the institutional foundations which it would maintain, in modified form, for several centuries. The territory of the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded, and led to what some historians have called the Pax Ottomana. The process of centralization undergone by the empire prior to 1453 was brought to completion in the reign of Mehmed II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padrão</span> Stone pillars erected by Portuguese mariners

A padrão is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. They were often placed on promontories and capes or at the mouths of major rivers. Early markers were simple wooden pillars or crosses but they deteriorated quickly in the tropical climate where they were often erected. Later, padrões were carved from stone in the form of a pillar surmounted by a cross and the royal coat of arms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conquest of Tunis (1535)</span> Invasion of Ottoman-held Tunis by the Habsburg Empire and its allies

The conquest of Tunis occurred in 1535 when the Habsburg Emperor Charles V and his allies wrestled the city away from the control of the Ottoman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco-Ottoman alliance</span> 16th-century alliance of Francis I and Suleiman I

The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also known as the Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between Francis I, King of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire. The strategic and sometimes tactical alliance was one of the longest-lasting and most important foreign alliances of France, and was particularly influential during the Italian Wars. The Franco-Ottoman military alliance reached its peak with the Invasion of Corsica of 1553 during the reign of Henry II of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoine Escalin des Aimars</span> French ambassador

Antoine Escalin des Aimars (1516–1578), also known as Captain Polin or Captain Paulin, later Baron de La Garde, was French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1541 to 1547, and "Général des Galères" from 1544.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conquest of Tunis (1534)</span>

The conquest of Tunis occurred on 16 August 1534 when Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the city from the Hafsid ruler Muley Hasan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Chaul</span> Naval battle between the Mamluks and the Portuguese

The Battle of Chaul was a naval battle between the Portuguese and an Egyptian Mamluk fleet in 1508 in the harbour of Chaul in India. The battle ended in a Mamluk victory. It followed the Siege of Cannanore in which a Portuguese garrison successfully resisted an attack by Southern Indian rulers. This was the first Portuguese defeat at sea in the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517)</span> Imperial Ottoman conquest of Egypt and the Levant

The Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517 was the second major conflict between the Egypt-based Mamluk Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire, which led to the fall of the Mamluk Sultanate and the incorporation of the Levant, Egypt, and the Hejaz as provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The war transformed the Ottoman Empire from a realm at the margins of the Islamic world, mainly located in Anatolia and the Balkans, to a huge empire encompassing much of the traditional lands of Islam, including the cities of Mecca, Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo. Despite this expansion, the seat of the empire's political power remained in Constantinople.

The Battle of Dabul was a retaliatory attack by the forces of the Viceroy of Portuguese India, Francisco de Almeida, upon the port city of Dabul in the Sultanate of Bijapur. It occurred on 29 December 1508, in retaliation for attacking the Portuguese armada en route to the Battle of Diu. Despite the presence of a double wooden wall and a ditch, the Portuguese using both an artillery bombardment and a pincer movement of armed soldiers, "slammed into the town. What followed was a black day in the history of European conquest that would leave the Portuguese cursed on Indian soil." The conquerors were merciless--all living creatures were slaughtered then the city set on fire to burn alive those who had managed to hide in secret. The Portuguese departed on January 5, 1509. "This massacre stood beside [Vasco de] Gama's destruction of [the Hajj pilgrim ship] the Miri as an unforgiven act that lingered long in the memory".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Aden</span> 1513 Portuguese siege in India

The siege of Aden occurred when the Portuguese Governor of India, Afonso de Albuquerque, launched an unsuccessful expedition to capture Aden on 26 March 1513.

Mustafa Bayram was from Yemen and Selman Reis' nephew. After Selman Reis fell into a dispute with Hayreddin al-Rumi in 1528, he was murdered later on by al-Rumi. The two had fights because Selman Reis was relieved of the duty to lead the Ottoman Navy in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. However he refused to step down and continued to lead the navy. Nonetheless, the post had been given to al-Rumi. Before Selman Reis was killed, he had given an order to Mustafa Bayram and Hoca Sefer. Under Mustafa Bayram's supervision, they would go to Diu and help Bahadur Shah of Gujarat to fight against the Portuguese Empire.

<i>Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire</i> 2015 book by Roger Crowley

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire is a 2015 history book by historian Roger Crowley.

Marios Philippides was an American historian who was Emeritus Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British rule in Portuguese India</span>

Goa, Daman and Diu were one of Portugal's oldest colonies, acquired in 1510 AD or the next few years. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Portuguese were concerned at being unable to defend their empire from the predatory French or her allied navies. Due to the historic Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, British India was keen to assist in Goa's security. Britain dispatched a Royal Navy squadron as well as an army of 10,000 soldiers. The British soldiers were posted at strategic locations like Aguada, Miramar, Caranzalem, Palacio do Cabo and Morumugão. The soldiers built huge fortifications in these areas to help defend them. This amicable agreement ended in 1813, thanks largely to the massive defeat of the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805. There are two distinct phases of the period, from 1797 to 1798 and from 1802 to 1813. For the next century, no country was capable of challenging the power of the Royal Navy. Goa could benefit from Pax Britannica.

References

  1. "Roger Crowley". www.rogercrowley.co.uk.
  2. "Roger Crowley | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com.
  3. "Roger Crowley, Andrew Lownie".
  4. "Roger Crowley, Andrew Lownie".
  5. "Roger Crowley, author website".
  6. "Constantinople Siege and Fall, In Our Time".
  7. Staniszewski, Michał (7 April 2013). "Roger Crowley – "1453. Upadek Konstantynopola" – recenzja" [Roger Crowley – "1453. The fall of Constantinople" – review]. Histmag (in Polish).
  8. "Roger Crowley, Great Constantinople: The Last Siege".
  9. Bennetts, M. M. (14 July 2008). "'Empires of the Sea'". The Christian Science Monitor.
  10. "Roger Crowley, Empires of the Sea".
  11. Cliff, Nigel (27 January 2012). "The Reign of Venice". The New York Times.
  12. "Roger Crowley, City of Fortune".
  13. Walton, David (December 2015). "History: 'Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire,' by Roger Crowley". Dallas News. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  14. Prodger, Michael (September 2015). "History: 'Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire,' by Roger Crowley". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  15. Morris, Ian (15 January 2016). "'Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire,' by Roger Crowley". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  16. "Roger Crowley, Conquerors".
  17. "Roger Crowley, Accursed Tower".
  18. Crowley, Roger (5 February 2019). Roger Crowley, Accursed Tower. Basic Books. ISBN   978-1-5416-9972-4.
  19. Crowley, Roger (14 May 2024). Roger Crowley, Spice: The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World.