Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (r.1520-1566) dominated the eastern Mediterranean and Ottoman worlds - and the imagination of his contemporaries - very much as his fellow sovereigns Charles V, Francis I and Henry VIII in the west. He greatly expanded the Ottoman empire, capturing Rhodes, Belgrade, Hungary, the Red Sea coast of Arabia, and even besieging Vienna. Patron and legislator as well as conqueror, he stamped his name on an age. These specially-commissioned essays by leading experts examine Suleyman's reign in its wider political and diplomatic context, both Ottoman and European.

The contributors are: Peter Burke; Geza David; Suraiaya Faroqhi; Peter Holt; Colin Imber; Salih Uzbaran; Metin Kunt; Christine Woodhead; and Ann Williams.