The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent

The Lion House

An immersive reconstruction of the life of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century. 
 
'Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping' Telegraph 
 
'A formidable book ... incredible' Rory Stewart 
 
Venice, 1522. Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on its throat. 
 
From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe and the scorched coasts of north Africa, The Lion House tells the true story of two civilisations in an existential duel and the rise of the most feared man of the sixteenth century. It is a tale of the timeless pull of power, dangerous to live with, deadly to live without. 
 
'The most daring history book of the year. Unforgettable' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 
 
'An urgent, immersive, present-tense gallop ... behind the bejewelled descriptive prose a thumping pulse of action tugs us through' Financial Times 
 
'Luminous ... gripping ... truly magnificent' Spectator

There are books that enlarge the mind, there are books that enrich the soul, but rarely comes a book so beautifully-written and profound that it manages to do both

ELIF SHAFAK, author of The Island of Missing Trees

The most daring history book of the year ... told in the present tense with all the dash and flair of a novel. The research is faultless: we are immersed ... it brilliantly conveys a sense of colour and momentum, placing the reader in the thick of the action. Unforgettable

The Times & Sunday Times Best Books of 2022

This is history, but not as we know it. It is non-fiction posing as a novel, rich in incident and cinematic detail ... it's tremendous

An urgent, immersive, present-tense gallop ... the book reads as a non-fiction novel ... cinematically vivid tableaux ... Each spangled scene ... rests on a solid foundation in the primary sources ... De Bellaigue enriches his storytelling with the colourful, meticulous dispatches of its traders, envoys and spies ... behind the bejewelled descriptive prose a thumping pulse of action tugs us through ... de Bellaigue's glittering, deft and often witty prose adds pleasure to each page

Luminous, erudite ... a gripping account that evokes an epic poem, saga or 'book of kings' ... It is as immersive as the blurb claims, conjuring the world of the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia and south-eastern Europe in the early 16th century with the limpid clarity of the many gems that stud its pages ... Even more than the detail, it is the characters that intrigue and often inspire ... The book leaves the reader with Suleiman truly magnificent

Mesmerising . . . steeped in the sensuous detail of banquet and ceremony, stratagem and conspiracy

A brilliantly written account of the Ottoman empire in all its opulence and brutality. Rich in colourful historical anecdotes, de Bellaigue brings 16th-century statecraft vividly alive, and offers a chilling insight into the ruthlessness and loneliness of one of the most powerful men of the age

A vivid, cinematic account of the rise of Suleyman the Magnificent ... de Bellaigue follows with exhilarating clarity and suspense the era's broader battles across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, and the individual trajectories - grand ambitions, rivalries, betrayals - of these outsiders in Suleyman's court, a place rife with intrigue and back-stabbing, rich with colourful characters

Those lucky readers who come to Christopher de Bellaigue's book in proximity to reading Mantel can suddenly have a new panel thrown open to them like an unfolding altarpiece ... all written in the present tense. This creates the obvious sense of liveliness and urgency ... Bellaigue sets about the task with such confidence and skill that it works ... a dazzling and dark work. Witty and often wise, it speaks to the frailties and the precarity of power

Vivid and compelling ... He presents his story like a novel, but it is not fiction; every detail has been diligently researched, for example by perusing diaries in difficult Venetian dialect ... Whether he is describing a lavish dinner for Italian merchants on the Bosporus, the stately progress of Suleiman's armies through the Balkans or a mass circumcision, he has an eye for the colourful, absurd and ironic ... As this book shows, living in the penumbra of such supreme power can be seductive and intoxicating. But the end of the story is often tragic

Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping

This account really grips... it does so by bringing out the fascinating individuals, the adventure, the lurid details, the barbarities, the opulence and squalor and near misses of the story

Poised effortlessly between two worlds and two ages, a book as pungent and mysterious as the age it depicts

A complex piece of history told with extraordinary clarity

Christopher de Bellaigue has a magic talent for writing history It is as if we are there as the era of Suleyman the Magnificent unfolds

ORHAN PAMUK, Nobel Laureate in Literature

Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand political ambition and the role of narcissistic leaders and scheming courtiers in any age

Gripping, novelistic ... brisk and muscular ... written in a sure-footed historical present, the book creates a simulacrum of the 16th century through the painstaking accumulation of attested details ... [giving] the book its vividness and energy ... [De Bellaigue] writes with supreme confidence about power, diplomacy, clothing, avarice, war, statecraft and the exceptional brutality of the era ... While The Lion House unfolds like a novel, through scenes rich with authenticating detail

De Bellaigue is a riveting and expert guide to the story of Suleyman's quest for power

PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads

Narrated with a verve and flair that make the characters burst from the pages. Outstanding history and an incredibly good read

EUGENE ROGAN, author of The Fall of the Ottomans

Exquisite ... So arresting is this book, so enveloping in the tensions of its narrative, that most readers will feel a pang of sorrow that the tale does not run on. The Lion House leaves us with a tease, or taunt: "Who, apart from God, can say what will come next?" A sequel, surely. Although it was the peak of the Ottoman Empire, Suleyman's reign also offers clear glimpses of a great decline to come. Who better to tell us about it than Mr de Bellaigue?

Non-fiction with the readability of a thriller. Unputdownable

Sensuous and scholarly, meticulously researched and deliciously irreverent, The Lion House is an intoxicating journey through the Ottomans' golden age

AMBERIN ZAMAN, correspondent, Al-Monitor, Turkey correspondent for the Economist (1999-2016) and Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Reads like the most gripping fiction ... could very well be Netflix's next epic

The Lion House presents a historical universe that captivates and astonishes and is near-impossible to put down. A superb example of historical literature and research

RICHARD WHATMORE, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews

Full of breath-taking events at the cross-roads of empires at a moment in history when notions such as Europe, Asia, Christianity and Islam were infinitely more fluid and permeable than they are today

KEREM OKTEM, Professor of International Relations at Ca' Foscari University, Venice

Original... de Bellaigue... offers a vivid presentation of events, re-imagined as scenes and episodes... a different, literary kind [of history]

De Bellaigue writes with impecable scholarship, piecing together contemporary accounts to create a thrilling narrative

De Bellaigue is an expert stylist, sensitive to rhythm and vocabulary, and passionate in his pursuit of the fugitive detail that gives meaning to a whole episode

An engrossing book... This is history turned into drama and poetry, awesomely spectacular yet also intensely intimate

The world of Suleyman the Magnificent...is brought to life in this history

The Times, *The Year’s Top 50 Non-Fiction Books*

Christopher de Bellaigue is the award-winning author of The Lion House: The Rise of Suleyman the Magnificent, which was chosen as a book of the year by The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator and New Yorker among others, as well as five previous books, including The Islamic Enlightenment, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017. 
 
As a reporter he has covered war, politics, society and the environment in five continents for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian and the BBC. He is the founder of the Lake District Book Festival in Cartmel, Cumbria, an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and in 2026 he will take up a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. 
 
 
www.christopherdebellaigue.com

Venice, 1522. Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on its throat. 
 
From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of central Europe and the scorched coasts of north Africa, The Lion House tells the true story of two civilisations in an existential duel and the rise of the most feared man of the sixteenth century. It is a tale of the timeless pull of power, dangerous to live with, deadly to live without.

The Modern Struggle Between Faith and Reason

The Islamic Enlightenment

A revelatory history that uncovers the modern foundations of the Islamic world.

An eye-opening, well-written and very timely book, which can help us understand better the complex relationship between the Muslim world and modernity. While both Islamic extremists and Western bigots find it convenient to stress the incompatibility of Islam and modernity, Christopher de Bellaigue shows that Islam is whatever Muslims make of it, and that at least some Muslims have made of it something very modern.

YUVAL NOAH HARARI author of SAPIENS and HOMO DEUS

This book is an enlightenment in itself, and a salient one in this age when everyone seems to feel entitled to a firm opinion about Islam and Muslims.

A highly original and informative survey of the clashes between Islam and modernity in Istanbul, Cairo and Tehran in the last two hundred years. Brilliant.

Christopher de Bellaigue has long been one of our most resourceful and stimulating interpreters of realities veiled by fear and prejudice. In The Islamic Enlightenment, he cuts through the complacent opposition of Islam-versus-modernity to reveal a fascinating world: one in which complex human beings constantly change, improvise and adjust under the pressures of history. It is the best sort of book for our disordered days: timely, urgent and illuminating.

This is a nuanced and empathetic view of the Islamic world at one of its most challenging and enthralling moments: its history-changing encounter with western modernity… At a time of profound suspicion and mistrust between the West and the Muslim world, this is an important, beautifully written book that offers a powerful corrective to the notion that Islam contains an inbuilt prejudice against modernity. It strikes a blow, as the most readable writers do, for common humanity.

It would be hard to imagine a more timely book than The Islamic Enlightenment.

Luminous... [De Bellaigue] is a wonderful narrator, and these chapters burst with colour and detail ... A dazzling feat of erudition and storytelling. It is also a necessary work, challenging many of the assumptions that animate contemporary narratives about Islam.

A vigorous and thoughtful book … De Bellaigue has written a (beautifully illustrated) book that prompts an important conversation, and is extremely useful for our times. As well as introducing neglected histories and characters about which and whom we need to care, the work itself incarnates the essence of enlightenment.

A tale of reform and reaction, innovation and betrayal ... His cast of characters — “the Muslim pioneers we never thought existed” — is presented with flair and an acute eye… This is a civilised and beautifully written story of the advances and reverses of a great civilisation that lost its own way, was shunted into cul-de-sacs by predatory European imperialists — and yet was and is constantly searching out ways to bounce back.

At a time when the gulf between Islamc and the West yawns distressingly wide, De Bellaigue’s book is a welcome and surprising corrective… An invigoratingly erudite read

Timely, thoughtful and provocative.

A radical rethinking of the way in which Islam is perceived in the west.

A brilliantly learned and entertaining study of a topic that is of far more than merely antiquarian interest: the encounter between the Islamic world and the post-Enlightenment West.

De Bellaigue has reported as a journalist from Iran and Turkey, and his telling of his renaissance as it manifested itself in Tehran, Istanbul and Cairo is as thorough in research as it is rich in detail.

[De Bellaigue] possesses a sure sense of place and of social and historical context… This is a rich and surprising history that fully justifies its provocative title

Bellaigue knows how to spin a yarn. The book is a great read, its story is far too little known, and he's certainly done his research ... Bellaigue throws up all sorts of fascinating historical facts and anecdotes, bringing to life the long, transformative nineteenth century ... His enormous cast of characters is colourful and varied each a hero in the struggle to usher in a truly modern Muslim world

A sweeping and hugely engaging book that throws much-needed light on modern Islam.

This fascinating book prompts us to question how we think about the world, and challenges those in West and East who peddle the dangerous myth of civilisational conflict

This is an interesting, well-written and thoughtful book… He deserves credit for engaging with a highly complex and equally pertinent subject at a time when Islam is always in the news especially in the Western world

Highly readable… The Islamic Enlightenment has a bone to pick with those who argue that Islam needs to become more civilised.

A refreshingly optimistic counterpoint to the idea that Muslim and Western world-views are doomed to clash.

A tremendous combination of deep learning, forceful argument and arresting prose, The Islamic Enlightenment is bold, bracing and important

That there has been an Islamic Enlightenment at all will come as news to many. De Bellaigue’s account of the “very broad church” of Islam in the modern world is splendid and timely.

Anthony Gottlieb, author of THE DREAM OF ENLIGHTENMENT

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2017 
 
'An eye-opening, well-written and very timely book' Yuval Noah Harari 
 
'The best sort of book for our disordered days: timely, urgent and illuminating' Pankaj Mishra 
 
'It strikes a blow…for common humanity' Sunday Times 
 
The Muslim world has often been accused of a failure to modernise and adapt. Yet in this sweeping narrative and provocative retelling of modern history, Christopher de Bellaigue charts the forgotten story of the Islamic Enlightenment – the social movements, reforms and revolutions that transfigured the Middle East from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Modern ideals and practices were embraced across the region, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from purdah and the development of democracy. 
 
The Islamic Enlightenment looks behind the sensationalist headlines in order to foster a genuine understanding of Islam and its relationship to the West. It is essential reading for anyone engaged in the state of the world today.

Muhammad Mossadegh and a Very British Coup

Patriot of Persia

A brilliant biography of one of the great political eccentrics of modern times - Muhammad Mossadegh

[It] is about a wildly popular figure who promised Iran's future would not be dependent on paying homage to the west: Mohammed Mossadegh, who was brutally removed from power in a coup orchestrated by the CIA in 1953. De Bellaigue is an outstanding journalist and you can tell why

De Bellaigue's book is unsurpassed as a rounded portrait of Mossadegh

De Bellaigue portrays some fascinating, and often farcical, stories of political life in Iran

The  author shows his intimate understanding and knowledge of of Middle  Eastern politics… A timely warning of the consequences of Western  intervention

A vivid, informed portrait of Iran’s liberal, nationalist,  eccentric prime minister… it illuminates a complex country and its  distrust in the West

On 19 August 1953 the British and American intelligence agencies launched a desperate coup against a cussed, bedridden 72-year-old. His name was Muhammad Mossadegh, the Iranian prime minister. To Winston Churchill he was a lunatic, determined to humiliate Britain. To President Eisenhower he was delivering Iran to the Soviets. Mossadegh must go. 
 
And so he did, in one of the most dramatic episodes in modern Middle Eastern history. But the countries that overthrew him would, in time, deeply regret it. Mossadegh was one of the first liberals of the Middle East, a man whose conception of liberty was as sophisticated as any in Europe or America. He wanted friendship with the West - not slavish dependence. 
 
Here, for the first time, is the political and personal life of a remarkable patriot, written by our foremost observer of Iran. Above all, the life of Muhammad Mossadegh is a warning to today's occupants of Downing Street and the White House, as they commit us all to intervention in a volatile and unpredictable region.

Christopher de Bellaigue

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the written records, he deploys the skills of the novelist to bring the archive thrillingly to life

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory

Epic Mediterranean naval conflicts . . . dangerous realpolitik that creates then murderously shatters alliances . . . At the centre of this web of global political intrigue sits the inscrutable Suleiman . . . [and] the sultan’s attempt to balance his geopolitical scheming with his complex family life akin to a Turkish version of Succession

Sparkling . . . saturated with vivid colour and detail . . . puts the reader directly onto battlefields, inside council chambers and often at the heart of Suleyman’s thought processes . . . the dramatic details have an uncanny power of sticking in one’s mind

Fascinating . . . glittering . . . de Bellaigue swoops through the three-dimensional chess game that was European geopolitics in the mid-16th century with airy confidence

Galloping, novelistic . . . This is not a book simply about dynastic succession . . . The Ottomans were the menacing other that occupied the thoughts of every monarch across the continent. The winner in this game of thrones mattered to them too

Narrative non-fiction with all the verve of an immersive novel . . . propulsive . . . pacy . . . the worrisome question of who should inherit his throne . . . unleash[es] murderous mayhem in the royal family

Absolutely spectacular. A book that brings the worlds of the Ottomans – and a lot more besides – to life. A triumph

De Bellaigue is at the top of his game. He has made the most captivating Ottoman sultan his own. A thunderously good read

Imagine the Shakespeare history plays mixed up with Suetonius and throw in the reports of sharp-eyed Muslim chroniclers and wily European ambassadors, and you will get a sense of what Christopher de Bellaigue’s The Golden Throne is like. Wonderful and highly enjoyable

Christopher de Bellaigue's second volume of his trilogy on Suleiman the Magnificent is as gripping as the first, which is saying something. The nature of the Ottoman autocracy was so grim and the character of Suleiman so terrifying that our author doesn't have to make anything up to produce a terrific story. He just makes the most of it

Reading The Golden Throne has been a joy . . . Written in the present tense, with novelistic flair, we get a ringside seat of diplomatic manoeuverings, sea battles against the Holy League and peek inside his harem. There are stranglings and political marriages galore . . . I’m in awe of de Bellaigue’s imagination and skill in distilling a huge amount of research into a witty, fleet-footed narrative

A wonderful book – entrancing, addictive, full of effortless erudition

What a delight! Mesmerizing in their compelling drama of the power, the opulence and the fear at the court of the Ottomans, superb in their history, vivid in their novelistic portrait of personalities, unique in their sweep from the Doge's palace to the Sublime Porte, Christopher de Bellaigue's two volumes, The Lion House and The Golden Throne, are impossible to put down and bring to life the rise and reign of Suleiman the Magnificent like nothing else

The pace, the language and the story-telling are simply magnificent

Christopher de Bellaigue creates thrilling entertainment out of meticulously researched history

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs … In The Golden Throne, Christopher de Bellaigue vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory … Gripping ... An enormously entertaining account of Suleyman the Magnificent’s middle years

Wolf Hall for the Ottoman Empire ... History at its most gripping

The most daring history book of the year. Unforgettable

There are books that enlarge the mind, there are books that enrich the soul, but rarely comes a book so beautifully-written and profound that it manages to do both

Christopher de Bellaigue has a magic talent for writing history It is as if we are there as the era of Suleyman the Magnificent unfolds

Christopher de Bellaigue’s writing is confident and playful. If only more historians wrote with such verve

The Curse of a King

Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinnacle of world power, while his family and future are at the mercy of their own dynastic law: whichever of his five sons succeeds him must eventually kill all the others, so why not get a head start? 
 
For the next fifteen years, as Suleyman the Magnificent and his terrifying pirate captain Barbarossa face down imperial enemies across two hemispheres, the self-fulfilling curse of the Ottomans gathers its own unstoppable momentum. 
 
From the burning pyres of Paris to the rain-lashed mountains of Transylvania, from Buda to Basra, from Crimea to the coast of India, The Golden Throne is a globe-spanning, ground-breaking reconstruction of the life and world of the most feared and powerful man of the sixteenth century. 
 
Intensely gripping yet entirely historical, it places us in the room with many of the key figures of the era – the conceited, wide-jawed Holy Roman Emperor; the untrustworthy, primping King of France; a leering, beer-soaked Martin Luther – showing them consumed with fury and hurt, venomous yet vulnerable. And it is here, behind closed doors, that we witness Suleyman’s beloved wife Hurrem waging pitiless war against his eldest son, born to her predecessor in the Sultan’s bed, culminating in a chilling act that will define Suleyman’s legacy. 
 
The Golden Throne shows us one of the greatest yet least understood figures in history as never before. It is an epic yet intimate drama of personal power wielded with world-shaping consequences, revealing both the price of succession and the terrible cost of success.

Christopher de Bellaigue

Praise for The Golden Throne

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the w ...

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the w ...

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory

Enormously entertaining . . . illuminating . . . vivid . . . action-packed

A meticulously sourced work of narrative history . . . thrilling . . . Like Mantel, De Bellaigue delivers his story in a mashup of contemporary colloquialism and gorgeous descriptions . . . Sticking closely to the w ...

Wolf Hall with sultans and eunuchs . . . vividly evokes the Ottoman emperor’s reign in all its gory glory

Books by Christopher de Bellaigue

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