The Ottoman and the Spanish Empires in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

...THERE was a time when the power and in a great measure the civilization of Europe seemed to havetheir chief seat in the South; a time when the Ottoman empire and the Spanish monarchy had grownup face to face to an overtopping greatness dangerous to neighbouring and remote nations and whenno literature in the world could compare with that of Italy... --Leopold von Ranke Preface 1843The Ottoman and Spanish Empires in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries by German historian Leopold von Ranke was first published in German in 1830 and translated into English in 1843. Von Ranke described the rivalry between the two leading powers in the Mediterranean the Ottomans and the Spaniards. Just as in his other books von Rankes writing was based on eye-witness accounts in this case the well-documented reporting of the Venetian ambassadors who had been emissaries to both empires.