The Anglo-Turkish Society presents an online lecture by Dr Philip Mansel.
Using the unpublished correspondence of Louis XIV with his ambassadors in Constantinople, Dr Philip Mansel shows the strength of the alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire.
Louis XIV put saving the Ottoman Empire from Austrian attacks before preventing William III’s invasion of England. Marseilles boomed, and coffee became a fashionable drink, thanks to trade with the Levant. Wheat from the Ottoman Empire helped save France from starvation in 1709. Cultural links were as close as trade links: the royal library acquired Ottoman and Arabic manuscripts and the 1001 Nights were translated into French. French engineers were sent to survey Ottoman ports in case the Ottoman Empire collapsed and a selection of their drawings will be shown during the talk.
Dr Philip Mansel is a historian of courts and cities, and of France and the Ottoman Empire. His most recent book King of World: The Life of Louis XIV was published in July 2019. Dr Mansel co-founded the Society for Court Studies with David Starkey, Robert Oresko and Simon Thurley in 1995. He is also a Trustee of the Levantine Heritage Foundation.
