The Lion House: Discover the life of Suleyman the Magnificent, the most feared man of the sixteenth century

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The Lion House: the Coming of a King’ is non-fiction so well done that you might just think you’re reading a deeply intriguing historical drama. While dense and thorough, Christopher de Bellaigue’s account of Suleiman the Magnificent’s incredible vie to become Sovereign of the World versus the Holy Roman Empire of the 16th century, it is so much more than that.

Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand political ambition and the role of narcissistic leaders and scheming courtiers in any age ROBERT PESTON, Political Editor ITV News Alvise Gritti “the Beyoglu” or “Son of a Bey” (1480-1534), son of the Doge of Venice and the wealthiest and most powerful merchant of Istanbul, viewed as #3 in the Empire to the Sultan and Ibrahim Pasha Accuracy has made Venice the world’s information gatherer. Accuracy and speed. After King Charles of France died at Amboise on the eve of Palm Sunday, 1498, the news reached Venice before the bells of St Mark’s chimed for Eastertide, thirteen horses having been ridden to death in the bringing of it. A galloping, vivid present-tense narrative that brings stunningly to life the scale of Suleyman’s quest for world domination. Non-fiction with the readability of a thriller. Unputdownable.” Mesmerising...steeped in the sensusous detail of banquet and ceremony, strategem and conspiracy Colin ThubronIn fact, because the prose treads so delicately around the story I had the strange sensation that I was reading the scene setting bits of a historical fiction novel, one that never quite gets to the action. At times it felt like re-reading a Dorothy Dunnett book from her excellent “The House of Niccolo” series but with all the emotion and most of the action scenes deleted. Europeans feared Suleyman, as they feared rule by the “heathen” Muslims, and he was after all the leader of Islam. At one time or another, many European states entered into coalitions to hold him off. But for decades one man stood above all the others as Suleyman’s nemesis: the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Suleyman possessed a single ally in Europe: his trading partner, the city-state of Venice. But Venice was forever vulnerable to pressure from Charles and the French king and was, at best, an indifferent ally. From a distance of five hundred years, it seems as though the sultan was destined to fail. One of the most fascinating passages in The Lion House is de Bellaigue’s description of the process by which Venice chose its Doge, and I can't resist quoting it here: Bellaigue pulls out two characters in the Sublime Porte of Suleyman the Magnificent to describe the Ottoman Empire's efforts to subjugate Hungary and Transylvania in the late 16th Century. His election took Venice’s love of age to an absurd excess. The electors certainly thought so. Immediately regretting their decision, they offered him money to step down. But Grimani dug in, and now they have no choice but to wait for mortality to succeed where bribery failed.

It is a very narrow focus, to be sure, but his insights into the era -- the waning power of Venice and the rise of the Spanish Empire in tandem with the Ottomans -- are really fascinating. Once you open The Lion House a historical universe is presented to the reader that captivates and astonishes. Christopher de Bellaigue writes with brilliance and The Lion House is near-impossible to put down. It is a superb example of historical literature and research, opening a vista upon Suleyman’s ascent, one of the most significant in world history.” I am not sure how to describe this book. It is about Suleyman the Magnificent and it is written in the present tense. This gives a sense of living through history because people living their lives do not generally know what is coming next There may be things that they have planned that they are able to bring to fruition, but no-one knows that a plan has worked until it has done so. From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe and the scorched coasts of north Africa, The Lion House tells the true story of two civilisations in an existential duel and the rise of the most feared man of the sixteenth century. It is a tale of the timeless pull of power, dangerous to live with, deadly to live without. De Bellaigue’s book revels in this contrast: the refined, luxurious courtly life and the brutality that lurked just under the surface - and was to some extent the critical underpinning of this regal lifestyle.As the European power with the oldest and most extensive exposure to the Muslim states, Venice reacted calmly to the fall of Constantinople. The Doge of the day signed a treaty with the Conqueror and sent one of his best artists, Gentile Bellini, to paint sexy ladies on his bedroom wall. And Venice’s patricians made an optimistic assessment of the trading opportunities that might come their way as a result of the change of ownership in Constantinople. Did the Turks not need to buy and sell, like anyone else? An immersive reconstruction of the life of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century. De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of Suleyman's quest for power PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads

The Sultan’s access to human capital, on the other hand, is the result of his immense territorial wealth. He needs only scrape a little fat off the land, and presto, a vast fighting machine materialises. His huge realm, Minio explains, ‘is parcelled out among diverse people, who are like feudatories, and all these are obliged to bring a certain number of cavalry to campaign without the Sultan paying them anything. Bearing in mind the vast lands he controls, it can be easily believed that he is capable of making armies composed of innumerable people.’

Customer reviews

This is a weird book and, to be honest, probably one I wouldn't have finished reading if I weren't reviewing it. While it tells the story of Suleyman, the focus is really more on the rise and fall of his right hand man and the relationship between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, as I think as much space is given to the Gritti (the older one the Doge, the younger his illegitimate son) as the emperor himself. This meant that I felt as though I came away from this book knowing much more about the personality of those three than I did about Suleyman. Not that it's an overly romanticised history - there is a lot of counting and describing of jewels and fabrics, a lot of walking through huge buildings that honestly, I couldn't really conceive of the size, and a lot of disposing of people - but you do find yourself lulled into something like an Arabian Night's tale, with the grand characters like the Doge of Venice, Suleyman of Turkey, Charles V and Francis, "The Most Christian King", and then later, Barbarossa the Pirate. Having finished it, what I have brought away more than anything else is the sweep of it all. It is the first time I have really understood what kings meant when they believed they were divinely appointed - you really feel that in Suleyman, who, for the time, really comes across as a pretty decent guy, all told. What I loved most, though, is the interweaving of the bits and pieces of history that I've read over the years. It's not French History, Spanish History, Turkish History, or Venetian History - it's History, writ very large indeed, across a vast section of the world. Bellaigue is an arresting writer, presenting a challenging chapter in present-tense, novelistic fashion. This is like no history book that I've read before, but it kept my attention and brought out details of characters like Suleyman, the pirate king, Barbarosa, Charles the V, and lesser events of the age.

In carrying him to success and then laying him low, Fortune has shown what stupefying jokes she is capable of.’ This is how Paulo Giovio, ecclesiastic, historian and student of events, has summarised the actions of fate on Antonio Grimani. And Fortune’s punchline came in 1521, when, after being awarded the procuratorship of St Mark’s, Grimani was elected Doge.

A republic on a lagoon, a front without a store, Venice can only look out. On Ascension Day the Doge’s barge pushes off from the Lido amid a flotilla of lesser craft, their passengers straining to see His Serenity cast a ring overboard in symbolic marriage with the sea. St Mark himself was the gift of these waves, his bones smuggled out of Alexandria almost seven centuries ago and installed in the supersized chapel here that carries his name. In Venice a man’s wealth is measured not in vines or acres but in bales, bolts and barrels aboard ship. Venice’s patricians avoid land warfare if they can help it. Admiralship brings honour, generalship merely a wage. An eloquent historical investigation of a legendary ruler . . . A vivid, you-are-there re-creation of time and place."