Article analyze - Assignment Example

It was during this same year that he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Sultan Suleiman the magnificent to iron out the tension and creases that were erupting between the Sultan and Ferdinand of Habsburg. Busbecq served as the ambassador the court of the Sultan from the year 1555 to 1562. In these years, Busbecq wrote four letters in Latin to his fellow diplomat at Habsburg in which wrote complete details of his travels and his stay at the Ottoman Empire. His letter was highly important because he highlighted the Janissaries.

The letters of Busbecq are important because it highlights the goodness and strength of the Ottoman Empire and the sturdiness of the Janissaries in comparison to the Christian soldiers. During his stay at the Sultan’s court, Busbecq fist met the Janissaries at Buda. The Janissaries were essentially the infantry portion of the royal guard of Sultan. These guards were stationed everywhere according to Busbecq to maintain peace and order throughout the cities. Further, he listed in his chronicles that this infantry also provided protection to the Christians and the Jews from the attacks of other races at all points of time.

In his letters, Busbecq first described the attires of the Janissaries. He described those wearing robes that reached down to their ankles. Further, their heads were covered by cowl like headgears that flapped along their necks. On Busbecq’s first encounter with them in Paris, he was filled with awe. This was because he had never met soldiers so well disciplined and such courteous like them. He even described their incident of courteousness in his letter in which he recounts that in Paris the infantry had come up to him.

He remembers their sense of etiquette in which the soldiers had given him flowers in his hand and had receded back quickly without showing their backs to him. Busbecq was highly amused with such gesture because he