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