Història de Jacob Xalabín / History of Yakub Çelebi

Book excerpt: The Història de Jacob Xalabín, an anonymous novel written in Catalan c.1400, focuses on the figure of the Ottoman prince Yakub Çelebi, son of Murad I and half-brother of Bayezid I. It ends with the first detailed account of the battle of Kosovo of 1389, which left a lasting mark on the history of the Balkans. This text, mixing historical and fictional elements, is one of the earliest depictions in Western Literature of the rising Ottoman empire. Because of this, it is most relevant for Mediterranean studies and debates about orientalism. Juan Carlos Bayo has prepared a new critical edition of this novel, with an introduction and notes, and Barry Taylor offers its first translation ever into the English language. The volume is completed with an appendix of texts and documents on the Turkish connections of the Crown of Aragon.