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Turkey has inherited the lion’s share of the legacy of the Ottoman Empire’s archives and chanceries. The Ottomans were influenced by ancient Persian, Middle Eastern (Islamicate), and Byzantine administrative traditions, and they generated a tremendous number of documents between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries in addition to the surviving pre-Ottoman documents. After the empire’s demise, the Turkish Republic continued to produce considerable archival material, which is vital for students of Turkey’s rece…

[ Muḥammad ibn Khalīl ʾAbū Ḥāmid al-Bilbaysī al-Ramlī al-Maqdisī / al-Qudsī al-Shāfiʿī] 819-88 ah (1416-83 ad). Egypt. Arabic-speaking Syro-Egyptian religious scholar of the Circassian Mamluk period. Abū Ḥāmid was born in 1414 or 1416 in the Palestinian town of Ramla, where his father was working as a mosque astronomer ( muwaqqit). After studying in Palestine and Egypt, he spent the rest of his life in Cairo. Not being a gifted scholar, he not only faced difficulty in obtaining a position, but also had to cope with his colleagues' scorn. This i…

[ʾAbū al-Maḥāsin Jamāl al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Taghrībirdī] 812/13-75 ah (1409/10-70 ad). Egypt. Arabic-language scholar, courtier and historian of mixed Arabic and Turkish descent.Ibn Taghrībirdī, son of the powerful Mamlūk emir Taghrībirdī, was well-connected with elite circles and the royal court. After his father's early death, he grew up in the households of a Ḥanafī and, later on, a Shāfiʿī chief qādī, who were both related to his family by marriage. Because of his parentage, Ibn Taghrībirdī had a good knowledge of Arabic and Turkish as well as access to mamlūk and ʿulamāʾ circles. Bei…

1. Dynastie – Reich – StaatSeit dem 14. Jh. entwickelte sich das turkmenische Emirat unter dem »Haus Osman« (osman. Āl-i ʿOs̠mān) von einem Kleinfürstentum in der Nachfolge der Seldschuken zu einem expandierenden Reich, das von Nordwestanatolien aus verschiedene Staaten und Regionen Kleinasiens und Südosteuropas unter seine Herrschaft brachte. Mit der Eroberung Konstantinopels 1453 trat dieses Sultanat endgültig das imperiale Erbe der Byzantiner im Bereich des nordöstl. Mittelmeeres an und wurde zu einem bleibenden Faktor in der Politik der europ. …

1. AllgemeinDer arab. Herrschaftstitel sulṭān (ursprgl. »Macht, Autorität«) kam im Abbasiden-Kalifat seit dem 10. Jh. für die Militärherrscher in Gebrauch, die zunehmend die effektive Macht ausübten und dabei vom Kalifen als relig.-rechtlichem Oberhaupt des islam. Reiches formell bestätigt wurden [5. 849–851]; [6]. Unter den Seldschuken (1038–1194) und Ghaznawiden (977–1186) setzte sich dieser Titel um die Mitte des 11. Jh.s in offizieller Titulatur und in Münzprägungen durch. Als Titel für das souveräne Staatsoberhaupt erfuhr er einen glanzvollen Prestige-Z…

1. IntroductionThe Arabic royal title  sulṭān (originally “power, authority”) came into use from the 10th century onwards in the Abbasid Caliphate for military rulers, who were increasingly exercising effective power, formally endorsed by the Caliph acting as the supreme religious and legal head of the Islamic realm [5. 849–851]; [6]. The title became officially established, and began appearing on coins around the middle of the 11th century under the Seljuks (1038–1194) and Ghaznavids (977–1186).As the title given to the sovereign head of state, the term “sultan”…

1. Dynasty, empire, stateBeginning in the 14th century, the Turkmen emirate of the “House of Osman” (Ottoman Turkish  Āl-i ʿOs̠mān) developed from a small Seljuk successor princedom into an expanding realm that brought various countries and regions of Asia Minor and southeastern Europe under its sway from northwestern Anatolia. With its conquest of Constantinople in 1453, this sultanate fell heir to the Byzantine imperial legacy of the northeastern Mediterranean, and became an enduring factor in the politics of th…

1. EinleitungDas Verständnis von Geschichte und die daraus abgeleitete Historiographie beruhen im Wesentlichen auf einem europ. Selbstverständnis, das bemüht war, eine bestimmte Deutung und Ordnung der Vergangenheit nach der Maßgabe europ. Normen und Kategorien festzuschreiben (Eurozentrismus). Außerhalb Europas spielten diese Bemühungen in weiten Phasen der Nz. jedoch keine bestimmende Rolle. Hier bestanden vielfältige Geschichtsverständnisse, die sich nicht nur von den europ., sondern auch untereinander unterschieden. Wenngleich…

1. Introduction The understanding of history and the resultant historiography depend for the most part on a European self-image that was concerned to impose a certain interpretation and order on the past in accordance with European norms and categories (Eurocentrism).Outside Europe, however, such concerns had no part to play for much of the early modern period. Rather, many different views of history held sway, distinct not only from the European, but also from each other. Although European techniques and conventions were certainly a…