The year 1453 marks the beginning of Ottoman rule in a conquered Byzantium, a period that commences with the sacking of Constantinople. In writings from the period, Christians described the “ravishment” and “horrifying details” of the sacking of the former Byzantine capital, at the same time that charges against the “barbarian” North African Muslims were made, a descriptor summarily attached to the Turks in that year. At this point, Turkish monsters emerged alongside Arab/Saracen and African Muslim monsters. As the Ottomans increased in power, the Turk became an icon of difference and a symbol of monstrosity.

Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imag…, loc. 233