Mavi Boncuk | Richard Knolles[1]
The Turkish History, Comprehending the Origin of that Nation, and the Growth of the Othoman Empire, with the Lives and Conquests of Their Several Kings and Emperors Vol. 2 (London: I. Cleave, A. Roper, A. Bosvile, and R. Basset, 1701)
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In 1603, Knolles published his Generall Historie of the Turkes, of which several editions subsequently appeared, among them Sir Paul Rycaut's edition[2] (1700). Rycaut’s edition includes his account of his time in Constantinople as secretary to the English ambassador.
While the topic of the Turks was very popular during the period in which Knolles wrote, with an estimated 1,000 works about the Turks published in Europe between 1501 and 1550, Knolles’ history was the first chronicle of the military and political aspects of the Ottoman Empire to be written in English. Previous histories had been available only in Latin and were thus not widely circulated.
[1] Richard Knolles (c. 1545 – July 1610) was an English historian, famous for his account of the Ottoman Empire, the first major description in the English language. His work had considerable merits of style and of arrangement. Samuel Johnson praised Knolles as the best of English historians, saying that "in his history of the Turks [Knolles] has displayed all the excellencies that narration can admit." Johnson explained Knolles' limited reputation by pointing out that his history recounted "enterprizes and revolutions, of which none desire to be informed".
[2] Sir Paul Rycaut FRS (23 December 1629 London – 16 November 1700 Hamburg) was a British diplomat and historian, and authority on the Ottoman Empire.
SEE: "Ottoman Politics Through British Eyes: Paul Rycaut's the Present State of the Ottoman Empire", Journal of World History, Linda T. Darling, Vol. 5, 1994