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By Root 872 0

glue that holds the international rug and textile art market together” and “the benchmark against which all other art publications measure their quality.” It’s a gorgeous, expensive magazine, published quarterly in London and not widely available in North America. I’ve seen copies only in museum shops and a few bookstores. Readers who are seriously interested in textiles should consider a subscription, but otherwise the magazine’s Web site (hali.com) is extensive and is a resource on its own.

International Conference on Oriental Carpets (icoc-orientalrugs.org)

The International Hajji Baba Society (ihbs.org)

The New England Rug Society (ne-rugsociety.org)

Konak

Konak is a Turkish word referring to the house of a dignitary or an otherwise notable person.

Külliye

Külliye refers to a building complex that forms a pious foundation (vakıf) surrounding a mosque. The buildings typically include a medrese (or madrassa, a religious school), a türbe (monumental tomb), imaret (see page 537), and possibly a hospital.

L

Lepanto

The Battle of Lepanto, in 1571, is a hugely significant conflict in Turkish (and European) history. Readers who have visited Vatican City may remember that in the impressive Galleria delle Carte Geografiche, the covered peristyle that connects the old Vatican Palace to the Belvedere, there is an enormous wall painting of this battle. The site of this naval battle was outside the narrows in the Gulf of Patras, in Greece, overlooked by the castle of Lepanto (at the time, in fact, the gulf was known as the Gulf of Lepanto). The fleet that set out to fight the Turks was primarily Spanish and had strong papal and Venetian contingents. The Christians were victorious—the victory reasserted Spanish supremacy in the Mediterranean and was celebrated with much fanfare in Europe. However, Sir Charles Petrie, in his work Philip II of Spain (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1963), notes:

The battle of Lepanto did not break the back of Ottoman naval power, it did not recover Cyprus, and it did not lead to the policing of the Mediterranean by Spain. Though a tactical victory of the first order, because of the dissolution of the [Holy] League it strategically left the Sultan the victor. But morally it was decisive, for by lifting the pall of terror which had shrouded eastern and central Europe since 1453, it blazoned throughout Christendom the startling fact that the Turk was no longer invincible. Hence onward to the battle of Zenta, in 1697, when Eugene, Prince of Savoy, drove in rout the army of Sultan Mustafa II into the river Theiss, and thereby finally exorcised the Turkish threat to Europe. Though there were to be many ups and downs, never was the full prestige of Suleyman the Magnificent to be revived. His reign marks the summit of Turkish power, and it was the day of Lepanto which broke the charm upon which it rested.

More recently, historian Bernard Lewis, in A Middle East Mosaic (2000), notes that Lepanto made very little difference to the real balance of power in southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean. “The Turkish armies remained dominant on land; the Turkish fleets were swiftly rebuilt. When the sultan expressed concern about the cost, his grand vizier replied: ‘The might of our empire is such that if we wished to equip the entire fleet with silver anchors, silken rigging and satin sails, we could do it.’ ”

Petrie also notes that “both Philip and Don John have been subject to criticism, chiefly civilian, for not having followed up the victory of Lepanto by an immediate attack upon Constantinople, which, according to the critics, would inevitably have been followed by the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire. The blame is usually placed upon the shoulders of the king either on the grounds of his habitual procrastination or of his jealousy of his brother.” Godfrey Goodwin, in Life’s Episodes, reveals a forgotten footnote about the beautiful Italian city of Vicenza, which he says “has two footholds in Ottoman history. It was here after the capture of Constantinople that Fatih’s Akıncılar (mounted scouts)