Our thesis, We and The Others: The Image of Muslims in European Consciousness in the
16 th Century, wants to be first and foremost an elaborated research of the way in which these two
cultures and civilizations, the Christian – European one, on the one hand, and the Islamic –
Ottoman one especially, on the other hand, interacted, rejected one another and influenced each
other in the period mentioned above. Thus, the study aims at following the ascension of the
Muslims, mainly the Ottomans, on the world scene, but the thesis intends to be more than a
simple record of historical events. By the large subject it targets, it wants to be a political,
diplomatic, sociological, cultural, linguistic, economic, philosophic study, trying to synthetize
the way in which these two worlds interacted, co-existed, attracted and/or rejected each other.
The period is not chosen randomly. The Europe of the 16th century is a new world as
well, knowing many transformations that will shape its later development. It is the end of the
Middle Ages; we have a growing Renaissance all over the continent, a profound religious rupture
of Christianity, a new empire in full ascension and expansion, thus a cluster of very different
events that will shape the new Europe. Europe – identified with “We” and the Muslim world –
with main reference to the Ottomans, are not homogenous entities, they are rather complex
worlds, with different laws, customs and traditions.