Man Who Stopped the Sultan

Of Italian and Sri Lankan heritage but now based in the UK, Edoardo Albert is the author, with Paul Gething, of Warrior: A Life of War in Anglo Saxon Britain (Granta 2019), which published to rave reviews. He has for a number of years worked with the archaeologists who are redefining our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon era, bringing these findings to a wider public. Edoardo has written features for the Sunday Times, History Today and Country Walking, among many others.

• List of Illustrations and Maps Chronology 1 The War for the Heart of the World 2 A Boy’s Life 3 The Tadini of Martinengo 4 Short and Ugly 5 Bringing a Cannon to a Sword Fight 6 The New Ways of War 7 The Education of a Military Engineer 8 A Peach, Ripe for Plucking 9 A Life Without Women 10 The Italian Wars Kick into High Gear 11 Why Everyone was Fighting Everyone Else 12 The Warrior Pope 13 The Patron Pope 14 First Blood at Agnadello 15 The Siege of Padua 16 Whispers and Gossip 17 The Sack of Brescia 18 A Life like Lightning 119 A Not-So-Romantic Interlude 20 The Dregs of War 21 A Military Engineer Abroad 22 How Venice Became Rich 23 Venice and the Ottomans 24 The World Gets Bigger 25 Suleiman 26 The Other Emperor 27 The Last Knight of Christendom 28 A Short History of the Knights Hospitaller 29 How to Get into a Besieged City30 War Underground 31 War Overground 32 An Eye for an Arquebus 33 Facing General Winter 34 The Chancellor’s Downfall 35 ‘Nothing in the world was ever so well lost…’ 36 The Emperor’s New Man 37 Long Nose Versus Big Jaw, or ‘All is lost save life and honour’ 38 A Famous Victory and a Forgotten Siege 39 Two Emperors is One Too Many 40 When an Old Soldier Leaves the Field 41 The Last Knight of Christendom: The First Man of the Modern World Notes Bibliography Acknowledgements Index

There is so much here to enjoy: geopolitics at the dawn of the modern age; the advances in science and military engineering with tunnels, forts and gunpowder; the splendour of Constantinople in the years after its conquest by Mehmed II; the strategic island of Rhodes. This is a book full of glorious fighting spirit.