1) What does Busbecq’s first meeting with Suleiman reveal about the sultan’s attitudes toward Europeans? What other insights into his attitudes are provided later in the excerpt?
2) What does Busbecq see as the main difference between Otttoman and European views of social privilege and inherited status? How, in his view, do these views affect Ottoman government?
3) What insights does Busbecq provide about the Ottoman military?
4) What does the episode of Mustafa’s assassination reveal about the power and influence of Roxelana?About Ottoman attitudes toward the imperial succession? About Suleiman’s character?
5) What advantages and disadvantages were there in the Ottoman practice of not making the eldest son the automatic heir of the reigning sultan?
6) Shortly after Suleiman’s reign, some observers sensed that the Ottoman Empire was begining to decline. What in Busbecq’s account points to future problems?
(The Human record Sources of Global History by Andrea and oVerfield, eighth edition Volume II)
