Ottoman court historians frankly chronicled their own defeats

Evidence

What is striking about the Ottoman court chroniclers is their extraordinary frankness. Major defeats, like the battle of Lepanto and the failures to take Vienna, are described with devastating candor. I remember a phrase of Silihdar, a contemporary Ottoman historian of the second defeat of Vienna. He tells the story in picturesque detail and ends by saying: “This is the most crushing defeat suffered by the house of Osman since the foundation of our state.” It is difficult to imagine a modern historian in most countries of the Middle East using that kind of language about a contemporary defeat. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1955 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Official Ottoman court chroniclers wrote candidly about major defeats — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1955

Broader Connections

• Official Ottoman court chroniclers wrote candidly about major defeats #corroborates (1.00) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1955