The way Cecilia Venier-Baffo was captured was shown differently in every novel or TV series about Nurbanu Sultan, often shown in an implausible way: Mapmaker’s Daughter made her being taken by Turks at age 12 following the capture of Paros, Magnificent Century showed her being captured in a random raid while the Veniers, Baffos and Signor Enzo were having a party at Corfu, Venetian Contract showed her running away with a Turkish captain who impregnated her and then presented her to the Sultan. Secondly, while it’s generally believed that Nurbanu Sultan was born Cecilia Venier-Baffo in Paros as the daughter of Niccolo Venier, Lord of Paros, and his mistress from Corfu, Violante Baffo, the way Cecilia was captured by Turks in the series is unrealistic and historically implausible. The appropriate title would be “Archduchess _ of Austria” in Austrian territories or “Infanta _” in Spanish-Neapolitan territories. The title a female member of House of Habsburg would use at the time was also wrong here: While the replacement of the title “Princess” by “Archduchess” as the proper title of a female Habsburg dynast wasn’t complete until 1710, the title “Princess of Castile” or “Princess of HRE” were both wrong. The depiction of Princess Isabella Fortuna’s fate in the series(implied by many as she escaped back to Austria, but also implied by some as being killed by Hurrem) without a noise from either Charles V or Archduke Ferdinand was especially wrong, as the sudden return of their sister from Turkish custody would be a great event for Charles V or Archduke Ferdinand, and death of an Archduchess on Turkish hands would cause an open war to be imminent. Furthermore, none of the daughters born of Philip the Fair and Joanna of Castile, aside from Mary, wife and later widow of Louis II of Hungary, would need to cross dangerous waters in close proximity to Ottoman Empire in order to travel from Austrian Netherlands to the place of their husband, and all Habsburg archduchesses born of Philip the Fair and Joanna of Castile(include the youngest one, Catherine) had been married off before the Battle of Mohacs. Instructions and advice on how to best do an AMA.Īs I watched several clips from the Turkish TV series Magnificent Century(or Mera Sultan if you watch it in Urdu) about Ottomans and the Europeans they interacted with, I found some gross historical inaccuracies about the Ottomans and the Europeans(both European powers and kidnapped harem slaves) in the series, for which I want to share with by re-posting my Quora answer article about the same issue:įirst of all, it’s not plausible for Ottoman-based pirates to outright kidnap an Austrian Archduchess without being attacked by a Catholic fleet in the open sea, and Austrian/Spanish ships sailing across dangerous waters would be heavily armed, instead of lacking defense as indicated in the series. Want to do an AMA or know someone who does? Message the mods!
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