[PALMER, Roger, Earl of Castlemaine]. Das von den Türcken auffs äusserst bedrangte, Aber: Durch die Christliche Waffen der heroischen Republic Venedig auffs tapfferst beschützte Candia..., Frankfurt, Wilhelm Serlin, 1669.

Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine (1634-1705) was a British nobleman, politician and diplomat. He was born to a Catholic family, studied at Cambridge and was elected in the Parliament in 1660. He toured France and Italy, served in the Venetian fleet and was later entrusted with notifying Charles II of England of the events which took place in Crete during the prolonged Ottoman-Venetian war.

Aside from other works, Palmer wrote a numberof religious treatises. He continued his career as a diplomat; as a catholic was appointed ambassador to the Vatican and was later imprisoned in the Tower of London. His wife, Barbara Villiers, became known as the official mistress of Charles II of England.

Palmer's reports to Charles II describe the siege of Chandax and were published three years before the fall of the city to the Ottomans (1669). They were translated into Flemish and German, and republished in German in 1669. The gripping story of the longest siege in history was recorded by Christians in several testimonies. After the fall of Chandax, it was widely read in all European countries. Palmer's narrative begins in 1646. It describes the military operations of each year, and deals with 1667-1668 in greater detail, exposing events by month. The edition includes a letter from an eyewitness to the events, who describes living conditions in Crete at the time of the siege.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou