E. S. Piccolomini et les Turcs : l’Europe face à son ennemi

International audienceIn the fifteenth century, the Ottoman advance is a reality that threatens the European continent. From the fall of Constantinople and the ByzantineEmpire in 1453, correspondence and several written of Enea Silvio Piccolomini analyze this expansionist policy as a threat to cultural and spiritual foundations of Europe. Turks become the “enemy” of civilization. They are portrayed by Piccolomini, following other humanists, as the new barbarians: this otherness can better define European identity, heir of Rome and Christianity