Ted Gorton taught Arabic at St Andrews University in Scotland and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and elsewhere, besides spending twenty-five years in the Middle East. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals, mostly about Hispano-Arabic poetry, and two volumes of Arabic poetry in translation. His last book was Lebanon: Through Writers' Eyes. He lives in London and Gascony.
"Fakhr ad-Din's story is unique" an interesting character condemned
to live in interesting times, a period Renaissance Emir does an
excellent job of evoking" Now, thanks to original research by T. G.
Gorton, and his extensive use of contemporary Arabic and European
sources, Fakhr ad-Din's story can be more fully appreciated...
Renaissance Emir is an original and informative book which will go
a long way to redressing its subject's undeserved obscurity."
"In this brief and lively biography, Gorton demystifies Fakhr
ad-Din ibn Ma'n, an enigmatic 17th-century leader of his equally
enigmatic sect, the Druze. An emir in the Shouf region of what is
now Lebanon, Fakhr ad-Din presented himself to his Ottoman
overlords as a devout Muslim but harbored a lifelong dream of
capturing Jerusalem at the head of a Crusader army, even having the
temerity to write to the Pope requesting that he require all
Christians 'on penalty of excommunication' to assist him in his
quest. Whenever Fakhr found himself out of the Sultan's favor, he
would drop hints with his European allies that he was prepared to
be baptized (though Gorton remains unconvinced by his assertions).
Seeking political asylum in Tuscany, the emir and his retinue
became 'among the very first non-Christian Levantines to
voluntarily visit the Land of the Christians for an extended
period, and unique in having left us an extensive and entirely
credible written record of their experiences.' Fakhr ad-Din is
shown to have been an admirable, if indecisive, leader, who was
remarkably tolerant towards other ethnic and religious groups.
Gorton also reveals that some Lebanese consider this somewhat
obscure dynastic prince to be a founding father of the
nation."-Publishers Weekly
"Renaissance Emir reads like a gripping, enjoyable and vivid novel.
A must for anyone who looks at the history of Lebanon in order to
understand the present."--Hanan al-Shaykh, author of The Story of
Zahra and The Locust and the Bird
T.J. Gorton's main aim is to tell an extraordinary story, and he
does so with great enthusiasm and sympathy... lively and readable
book"
For a few decades in the early seventeenth century, the Druze
warlord Fakhr ad-Din (1572-1635) ruled a sizable portion of today's
Lebanon and Syria, forging his own trade agreements with the West
under the nose of the Ottoman Empire. In 1613, threatened by the
sultan, he used his agreements with the Grand Duke of Tuscany as a
pretext to set sail for Livorno, where he began an exile that
eventually lasted five years, split between the courts of the
Medici in Florence and of the Spanish viceroy in Naples. In 1618 he
returned home, with unprecedented knowledge of Western ways, as one
of the more remarkable figures to bridge the gap between Islamic
East and Christian West. Praising Italy as a model of efficiency,
he then challenged the sultan's self-image as a beneficent ruler. A
remarkable story, well told, but the moral is disheartening. For
his independence of mind, Fakhr ad-Din was assassinated in
1635.
A fascinating story, bolder than any historical fiction, rescued
from the hidden pages of Levantine history. Gorton takes us to the
secret world of the mysterious Druze and the epic, ultimately
tragic tale of their extraordinary prince who dared to defy the
mighty Ottoman Empire.--Barnaby Rogerson, author of The Last
Crusaders
Fakhr ad-Din Ma'n, one of the most flamboyant figures of the
seventeenth century, bestrode two worlds. Ted Gorton's vivid and
well-researched account of Fakhr ad-Din's ultimately tragic career
guides us into the labyrinths of politics in both the Ottoman
Empire and Medici Tuscany.--Robert Irwin, author of The Penguin
Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature
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