The Nature of the Early Ottoman State (Suny Series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East) - Softcover

Heath W. Lowry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791456366 ISBN 13: 9780791456361

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2003

Synopsis

A revisionist interpretation of the early origins of the Ottoman Empire.

Drawing on surviving documents from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The Nature of the Early Ottoman State provides a revisionist approach to the study of the formative years of the Ottoman Empire. Challenging the predominant view that a desire to spread Islam accounted for Ottoman success during the fourteenth-century advance into Southeastern Europe, Lowry argues that the primary motivation was a desire for booty and slaves. The early Ottomans were a plundering confederacy, open to anyone (Muslim or Christian) who could meaningfully contribute to this goal. It was this lack of a strict religious orthodoxy, and a willingness to preserve local customs and practices, that allowed the Ottomans to gain and maintain support. Later accounts were written to buttress what had become the self-image of the dynasty following its incorporation of the heartland of the Islamic world in the sixteenth century.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Drawing on surviving documents from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The Nature of the Early Ottoman State provides a revisionist approach to the study of the formative years of the Ottoman Empire. Challenging the predominant view that a desire to spread Islam accounted for Ottoman success during the fourteenth-century advance into Southeastern Europe, Lowry argues that the primary motivation was a desire for booty and slaves. The early Ottomans were a plundering confederacy, open to anyone (Muslim or Christian) who could meaningfully contribute to this goal. It was this lack of a strict religious orthodoxy, and a willingness to preserve local customs and practices, that allowed the Ottomans to gain and maintain support. Later accounts were written to buttress what had become the self-image of the dynasty following its incorporation of the heartland of the Islamic world in the sixteenth century."

About the Author:

Heath W. Lowry is Atatürk Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies at Princeton University and the author of Studies in Defterology: Ottoman Society in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0791456366
• ISBN 13: 9780791456361
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 212