16th century Italian to English

[dstokes]

I have some quotes in Italian from the 16th century which I would like to use in my history Masters thesis. Italian is not a language I speak. I thought I was doing German and Middle Eastern history, but those Italians were everywhere at that point in time.

Between Babelfish (which does not like the slight changes in the language), a poor dictionary, and guesswork, I THINK I have the basic idea. But I'd like to be able to quote it.

"el Signor Sophi, con lo suo exercito, sara piu potente de quello che si stimava, et be in hordine, e tanto pui quanto l andava per la fede contra questi eretici othumanni, di poca fede, usurpatori de molta signoria, et che, senza alcun dubbio, li teniva aver victoria."

"Signor Sophi" is the Shah of Iran. At this time he was also a religious leader, thought to be a descendent of the Prophet.
"othumanni" I think is Ottoman Turks.

What I get is: This Shah is more powerful than he believes himself; ...[his followers?]..have much faith, contrary to the heretical Ottomans, of little faith, which usurps their leadership; and thus they (Iranians), without doubt, will have victory.

Am I even close?

If anyone feels really inspired, I have a 7 page report from this same time that I would like to have translated. But I'm running out of time, so if you could take a look at it soon let me know and I'll send you the link.
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[tom]

Hello dstokes,

there are some points which I don't understand better than you, and some others which I understand differently. Here are my suggestions :
- First, the time : isn't it future ? I am NOT a specialist of this language, but "sara" seems closer to the future forms.
- exercito means very probably the army.
- the "che" before "senza" seems to mean "that" ; but then I miss a word somewhere atthe beginning (something like "I think that...").

So here is what I understand :
The Shah with his army will be more powerful than he thinks (...?), and even more since he goes (will go?) with faith against these heretic Ottomans, who have little faith, who usurp many (?) leaderships... and that they (Iranians), without doubt, will have victory.

Hope this helps, but I am sure that better specialists than me will have a look.

[michka]

I'm not a specialist, nevertheless I'll propose my own version:

The Shah with his army may be more powerful and prepared as we used to think, the more so as he fought for his faith against those heretical Ottomans, of little faith, who have usurped several leaderships; and, withal, because he was certainly longing for the victory.

Notes :
sara = future tense; but it seems to me that in this case future is meant to introduce a supposition.
si stimava = impersonal form (like verbs with "on" or "man" in French and German).
be in hordine = prepared, ready for something.
e tanto pui quanto = e a maggior ragione poiché.
et che = e perché.

[dstokes]

Thanks. I think I can put together something I can use with that.