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Historical person
1485–1565
Turgut Reis, also known in European sources as Dragut, was an Ottoman corsair and admiral who became one of the most feared naval commanders in the sixteenth-century Mediterranean. He raided widely, served as governor of Tripoli and fought in campaigns against Habsburg and Christian forces. He was mortally wounded during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.
Turgut appears as Dragut in historical fiction about the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St John. Tim Willocks’s The Religion places him among the major commanders at the Great Siege of Malta, presenting his arrival and military experience as a serious threat to the defenders.
William Napier’s The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege places Turgut Reis within a narrative shaped by military command and battlefield decision-making, social change and the pressures of ordinary life, and religion, belief and institutional authority. Dorothy Dunnett’s The Disorderly Knights is set in 1551, Lymond travels to Malta as the Knights Hospitaller face an Ottoman attack and internal failures of command. Other novels featuring Turgut Reis include Simon Scarrow’s Sword and Scimitar.
Historical context
Series
The Lymond Chronicles follow Francis Crawford of Lymond through Scotland, France, Malta, the Ottoman world, Russia and the wars of mid-sixteenth-century Europe. The six novels combine espionage, court intrigue, military command and a long investigation into Lymond’s family history, loyalties and identity.
All books in this series
The Clash of Empires sequence, also republished under The Last Crusaders titles, follows English adventurers through the sixteenth-century struggle between Ottoman power and Christian Europe. The books move from the Great Siege of Malta to the naval war that culminates at Lepanto, and then into Tudor diplomacy and…
All books in this series
Standalone books
