Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition

133 Pages·1980·2.922 MB·English

by  Norman Itzkowitz

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1972 by Norman Itzkowitz
All rights reserved. Published 1972
Phoenix edition 1980 ss
Printed in the United States of America
83 82 81 5 4 3 2 •'V
ISBN: 0-226-38806-9 G)
LCN: 79-23386 W
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IN LOVING MEMORY OF
M innie Kossin Krauss
and Jack Itzkowitz
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KUTUPHANESI 0912560

Contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1 From Emirate to Empire 3
Turkish Migration 4
Seljuks 5
Seljuks of Rum 8
The Emirate of Osman 10
Orhon 11
Ottoman Methods of Conquest 13
Bajazet the Thunderbolt 16
Bajazet’s Legacy 20
Recovery and Renewed Conquest 21
Mohammed the Conqueror 24
Istanbul 27
Bajazet II 29
Selim the Grim 32
Suleiman the Magnificent 34
Chapter 2 Ottoman Society and Institutions 37
Steppe, Ghazi, and Class 38
Askeris and Reaya 40
Timars and Timar-holders 40
Provincial Structure 41
Provincial Administration 47
The Ghulam System 49
The Grand Vizier and the Divan 54
The Bureaucracy 55
Justice 57
The True Ottomans 59
Vll
Contents
Social Mobility 60
Chapter 3 The Post-Suleimanic Age 63
The Muscovy Menace 63
Conflict in North Africa 65
Conflict in the East 68
Conflict in the West 71
Back to the East 72
Ottoman Succession 74
Sultanate of the Women 75
The Kuprili Era 77
Second Siege of Vienna 81
Aftermath of 1683 82
Chapter 4 Ottoman Consciousness 87
The Circle of Equity 88
Disruption in the Timar System 89
Expansion of the Janissary Corps 90
Sekbans and Celdlis 92
Causes 93
The Kuprili Era in Perspective 99
The Historian Naima 100
The Medical Analogy 101
Eighteenth-Century Success 103
Ottoman Knowledge of Europe 104
Success Breeds Failure 107
The Ottoman-Russian War 108
Selim III 108
Bibliography 111
Chronology 115
Glossary 117
Index follows page 118
viii
Preface
This book provides the student with an introduction to the
historical development of the Ottoman Empire and an
appreciation of its institutions, social structure, and intel­
lectual foundations. The narrative carries the Ottomans
from their beginning on the Byzantine frontier as an Islamic
warrior principality, through the development of their
empire, down to the late eighteenth century when they
found it necessary to embark upon the process of moderni­
zation. I have delineated the fundamental institutions of
the Ottoman state, the major dividing lines within the
society, and the basic ideas on government and social struc­
ture that helped the Ottomans found their empire, fostered
its growth, and then sustained it through periods of inter­
nal dissension and external threat.
Patterning the fabric of Ottoman existence in all its
manifestations was the High Islamic tradition in govern­
ment and society. That tradition had been mediated to the
Ottomans through the Seljuks of Rum who had preceded
them in Anatolia. Entailing orthodoxy in religious matters,
fiscal policies characterized by their differential treatment
of Muslims and non-Muslims, a military establishment
supported largely by feudal grants, an administrative-
military elite of slaves trained in the service of the sultan,
and a class structure that divided society into legally
privileged and non-privileged, the High Islamic tradition
provided the modality through which the Ottomans expe­
rienced the world and interacted with it.
Latecomers as the Ottomans were in the chronology of
Islam, there was still room for them to contribute to the
inherited tradition and mold it with their own particular
genius for administration and government. Their innova­
tions and refinements include the levy of young male
Christian subjects for the slave household and military
establishment, the palace school with its system of promo­
IX
Preface
tions and interlocking relationship with the administration
of the external real world through the graduation process,
and the elaboration of the social structure along functional
lines.
The emphasis in this work is on how the Ottomans
viewed their historical experience, what they thought about
their society, how they conceptualized their problems, and
their own attempts at problem-solving. I have sought to
let the Ottomans speak for themselves. In this way we can
penetrate beyond the surface view provided by the insights
of Western observers of the Ottoman world to the core of
Ottoman existence.
I have had to be selective in the events described and
topics treated, for it is manifestly impossible to cover five
hundred years of history fully within the confines of so
short a book. The stress is on the sweep and grandeur of
Ottoman history just to the point when the impact of the
West would begin to be felt in the Near East. I hope this
work will provide insights into how another culture dealt
with the problems of government and society, as well as
with those of greatness and decline.
In the course of writing this book, I have drawn upon
the research of many of my colleagues in the field. I wish
to thank them all, and to acknowledge a special debt to
the work of Claude Cahen, Halil Inalcik, Bernard Lewis,
Geoffrey L. Lewis, Victor Menage, Lewis V. Thomas,
Dorothy Vaughan, and Paul Wittek. I am indebted to
them for the insights they provided and for the inspiration
of their example. The act of synthesizing my own views
with the body of accumulated wisdom proved to be a
most enjoyable experience. I am most grateful to Geoffrey
L. Lewis who read the manuscript and made valuable sug­
gestions, and to John W. Shy for his encouragement.
N. I.
Princeton, New Jersey
March, 1972
Ottoman Empire
and Islamic
Tradition