Blood Red Sea

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Since the Dark Ages it had been called the Mediterranean: the sea at the centre of the earth. The Romans had called it Mare Nostrum, Our Sea, and such arrogance was no more than the truth, for it was Rome alone that ruled her.

Now, in the sixteenth century of the Christian era, the Papacy still called her the Roman Sea, but it was wishful thinking. There was only one great power in the Mediterranean, and it was no Christian power. In its relentless conquests it carried the rayat al-sawda, the black war-banner of Islam. It was the Empire of the Ottoman Turks. .

Spring, 1571

A hush fell upon the gilded audience chamber of the Topkapi Palace in the heart of Constantinople. Every head bowed. There came a swish of silken robes over the polished floor, and then a herald declared, ‘Bow knee and head for the Sultan of the Ottomans, Padishah of the Black Sea, the Red Sea and the White, Guardian of the Holy Cities of Islam, Lord of the Lords of this World, son of Suleiman the Lawgiver: Selim.’

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