This is the story of the House of Osman, the imperial dynasty that ruled the Ottoman Empire for more than seven centuries, an empire that once stretched from ce

Title on cover: The sultan's organ: the diary of Thomas Dallam, 1599: London to Constantinople and adverntures on the way.

The subject of this vast, astonishing and brilliantly readable work of history is the bizarre story of the Ottoman Empire, seen through the lives and actions of