The Other Side of Empire by Andrew W. Devereux

Author:Andrew W. Devereux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Concerning the Christians who lived under Mamluk rule in Palestine, Palacios Rubios asked rhetorically, “Is there nothing more glorious than to liberate those Christians who live subjugated to the miserable yoke of the barbarians and, in the process, to extend the name and faith of Christ?”53

The notion of a crusade against the Ottoman Empire being justified on the grounds of there being a sizeable Christian population living there is clearly not particular to Navarro’s reasoning in his memorial. On the contrary, the military commander likely articulated his proposal along lines that he had heard in a variety of contexts and settings. While there is no surviving documentary response from Ferdinand, it seems Navarro’s memorial met with royal approval, as he continued to occupy important positions in Ferdinand’s service for six years following his composition of the text, leading Spanish military engagements in North Africa and Italy until his capture by the French at the Battle of Ravenna in 1512.

Pedro Navarro’s memorial, while remarkable for its detail, is no outlier. His Iberian contemporaries shared his sanguine conviction that the Ottomans might be easily defeated. King Manoel I of Portugal, in the previously cited letter to Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros of March 2, 1506, voiced his belief that Turkey and Greece might be conquered with ease due to the great number of Christians who inhabited those lands:

We have learned that within the Turk’s lands, in Greece as well as in Turkey, there exists the best set of circumstances that will allow for its conquest, as many Christians live there. For this reason, the Turks have a great fear of their Christian subjects, as was evident in the siege of Mytilene [Lesbos] and when King Charles [VIII, of France] invaded Naples.54

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