Roger Crowley

Last updated
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 page-turning 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. His latest book, Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land (Yale, 2019) chronicles the end of the crusades and the fall of Akko in 1291. 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

Constantinople Capital city of the Eastern Roman, and later Ottoman Empires

Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire (1204–1261) and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Officially renamed as Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city and financial centre of the Republic of Turkey (1923–present).

Mehmed the Conqueror 15th century Ottoman sultan

Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was an Ottoman sultan who ruled from August 1444 to September 1446, and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, he defeated the crusade led by John Hunyadi after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged. When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451 he strengthened the Ottoman navy and made preparations to attack Constantinople. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire.

1453 Calendar year

Year 1453 (MCDLIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1453rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 453rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 53rd year of the 15th century, and the 4th year of the 1450s decade. It is sometimes cited as the notional end of the Middle Ages by historians who define the medieval period as the time between the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Fall of Constantinople 1453 capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire

The fall of Constantinople was the capture of the Byzantine Empire's capital by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453, the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun on 6 April 1453.

Fourth Crusade 1204 Crusade that captured Constantinople rather than Jerusalem

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate, the strongest Muslim state of the time. However, a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army's 1204 sack of Constantinople, the capital of the Greek Christian-controlled Byzantine Empire, rather than Egypt as originally planned. This led to the partitioning of the Byzantine Empire.

Enrico Dandolo Doge of Venice (1107-1205)

Enrico Dandolo was the doge of Venice from 1192 until his death. He is remembered for his avowed piety, longevity, and shrewdness, and is known for his role in the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople.

Republic of Venice Former country in northeastern Italy (697-1797)

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic, traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and maritime republic in parts of present-day Italy which existed for 1100 years from 697 AD until 1797 AD. Centered on the lagoon communities of the prosperous city of Venice, it incorporated numerous overseas possessions in modern Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Albania and Cyprus. The republic grew into a trading power during the Middle Ages and strengthened this position in the Renaissance. Citizens spoke the still-surviving Venetian language, although publishing in (Florentine) Italian became the norm during the Renaissance.

Zagan Pasha Ottoman military commander and Grand Vizier

Zaganos or Zagan Pasha was an Ottoman Albanian 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.

Siege of Acre (1291) Siege in 1291

The siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders losing control of Acre to the Mamluks. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant. When Acre fell, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. They still maintained a fortress at the northern city of Tartus, engaged in some coastal raids, and attempted an incursion from the tiny island of Ruad, but when they lost that as well in 1302 in the siege of Ruad, the Crusaders no longer controlled any part of the Holy Land.

Maritime republics Sea-based city-states on the Italian peninsula during the Middle Ages

The maritime republics, also called merchant republics, of the Mediterranean Basin were thalassocratic city-states in Italy and Dalmatia during the Middle Ages. The best known among them were Venice, Genoa, Pisa and Amalfi; less known, but not always less important, are Ragusa, Gaeta, Ancona, and the little Republic of Noli.

Conquest of Tunis (1535) 1535 invasion of Ottoman-held Tunis by the Habsburg Empire and its allies

The Conquest of Tunis in 1535 was a successful capture of Tunis, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire, by the Habsburg Empire of Charles V and its allies.

Byzantine army (Palaiologan era)

The Palaiologan army refers to the military forces of the Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty, from the late 13th century to its final collapse in the mid-15th century. The army was a direct continuation of the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, which itself was a fractured component of the formidable Komnenian army of the 12th century. Under the first Palaiologan emperor, Michael VIII, the army's role took an increasingly offensive role whilst the naval forces of the empire, weakened since the days of Andronikos I Komnenos, were boosted to include thousands of skilled sailors and some 80 ships. Due to the lack of land to support the army, the empire required the use of large numbers of mercenaries.

Sack of Constantinople 1204 siege and plunder of Constantinople

The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire was established and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in the Hagia Sophia.

Antoine Escalin des Aimars

Antoine Escalin des Aimars, 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.

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 Kingdom of Bijapur December 29, 1508, 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.

Siege of Aden

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.

Holy League (1535)

The Holy League of 1535 was as ad hoc coalition of catholic states arranged by Pope Paul III at the urging of Charles V.

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire 2015 book by Roger Crowley

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

British rule in Portuguese India

Goa, Damaon& Diu were one of Portugal's oldest colonies, being established in 1510. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Portuguese were concerned at being unable to defend their empire from 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 Naval 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. "Roger Crowley, Accursed Tower".