Scholars and Sultans in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire
Scholars and Sultans in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire
During the early Ottoman period (1300–1453), scholars in the empire carefully kept their distance from the ruling class. This changed with the capture of Constantinople. From 1453 onwards, the Ottoman government co-opted large groups of scholars, usually over a thousand at a time, and employed them in a hierarchical bureaucracy to fulfill educational, legal and administrative tasks. Abdurrahman Atçıl explores the factors that brought about this gradual transformation of scholars into scholar-bureaucrats, including the deliberate legal, bureaucratic and architectural actions of the Ottoman sultans and their representatives, scholars' own participation in shaping the rules governing their status and careers, and domestic and international events beyond the control of either group.
- Presents the first extensive analysis of the changes in the relationship of scholars with the Ottoman government from 1300 to 1600
- Offers a nuanced understanding of the variety in the status and attitudes of different groups of scholars under the Ottomans by introducing the term 'scholar-bureaucrats'
- Treats the history of scholars in connection with domestic and international changes
Product details
December 2018Paperback
9781316630341
272 pages
230 × 153 × 17 mm
0.6kg
10 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I. Scholars during the Early Ottoman Period (1300–1453):
- 1. Post-Mongol realities in Anatolia and the Ottomans
- 2. Madrasas and scholars in Ottoman lands
- Part II. The Formation of the Hierarchy (1453–1530):
- 3. Introducing the Ottoman empire
- 4. Scholars in Mehmed II's nascent imperial bureaucracy (1453–81)
- 5. Scholar-bureaucrats realise their power (1481–1530)
- Part III. The Consolidation of the Hierarchy (1530–1600):
- 6. The focus of attention changes
- 7. The ascendance of dignitary scholar-bureaucrats (mevali)
- 8. The growth and extension of the hierarchy
- 9. The rules and patterns of differentiation among scholar-bureaucrats
- 10. The integration of scholar-bureaucrats in multiple career tracks
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index.
