Crafting History: Essays on the Ottoman World and Beyond in Honor of Cemal Kafadar, edited by Rachel Goshgarian, Ilham Khuri-Makdisi, and Ali Yaycioglu, pp. 104-116. Brookline, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2023
The Mamluk-Ottoman Transition: Continuity and Change in Egypt and Bilad al-Sham in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 2, edited by Stephan Conermann and Gul Sen, pp. 201-218. Gottingen: Bonn University Press, 2022
This study investigates the spectacular communal murder of a leading Ottoman official in the nort... more This study investigates the spectacular communal murder of a leading Ottoman official in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. This murder, and Istanbul’s vigorous response, erupted over a decade after Sultan Selim’s defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1516–17, suggesting Aleppo’s incorporation into the Ottoman Empire was not as seamless as is often assumed. Indeed, close examination, using sources that reflect a mix of perspectives, reveals an extended and difficult period of transition—this despite well-rehearsed methods of conquest and a clear intent to hold the city tightly, given its strategic military and commercial importance. Interlocking concerns were at issue, from flux in state practices of property inspection and revenue collection to changes in the hierarchy of sanctioned Islamic legal identities (madhhabs) and alleged abuse of the urban economy. Aleppines and imperial agents both clashed and collaborated in areas linked to the application of state law (ḳānūn), an evolving discourse of justice, and an effort to rework and freshly legitimate inherited legal pluralism. To grapple with this complex and understudied scene in sixteenth-century Aleppo, the article combines a focused murder inquiry with a full thematic consideration of Ottoman justice and a close look at the city’s Mamluk background.
This article offers an assessment of the value of literacy (and literacy studies) for the study o... more This article offers an assessment of the value of literacy (and literacy studies) for the study of law and state formation in the classical Ottoman Empire. It is especially concerned with how questions of literacy might help historians better understand popular or mass engagement with law and politics. It begins by closely surveying existing scholarship related to literacy in the Ottoman context. It then focuses on the Mamluk-Ottoman transition in the Arabic-speaking world, arguing that this deep-rooted period witnessed both expansion and qualitative transformation in the interconnection among law, legitimacy, and textuality. The world the Ottomans inherited in the sixteenth century was soaked in scribal media, and it came bearing new subjects with high degrees of "legal literacy" in particular. Istanbul sought to reconfigure this world via legal reform and rituals of inscription, realities that both implied and extended access to written texts. Such change was slow, messy, and often resisted. And the written did not come to preclude the oral. But trends toward mass document production, the appearance of law courts as "public archives," and the growth and diversification of literacy in an effort to harness the written word for one's own ends are evident. The article concludes by briefly examining how small pieces of evidence, here from Aleppo, might be studied for their literacy implications.
The essays in this volume discuss continuity and change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām during the six... more The essays in this volume discuss continuity and change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām during the sixteenth century, examining to what extent Egypt and Greater Syria were affected by the transition from Mamluk to Ottoman rule. The topic is explored in a variety of areas: diplomatic relations, histories and historiography, fiscal and agricultural administration, symbolic orders, urban developments, local perspectives, and material culture. To rethink the sixteent century from a transitional perspective und thus overcome the conventional dynasty centrism in research Mamlukists and Ottomanists are brought together to shed light on the remarkable sixteenth century, so decisive for the formation of early modern Muslim empires.
Link to the publisher:
http://www.v-r.de/de/the_mamluk_ottoman_transition/t-0/1087084/
Crafting History: Essays on the Ottoman World and Beyond in Honor of Cemal Kafadar, edited by Rachel Goshgarian, Ilham Khuri-Makdisi, and Ali Yaycioglu, pp. 104-116. Brookline, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2023
The Mamluk-Ottoman Transition: Continuity and Change in Egypt and Bilad al-Sham in the Sixteenth Century, Vol. 2, edited by Stephan Conermann and Gul Sen, pp. 201-218. Gottingen: Bonn University Press, 2022
This study investigates the spectacular communal murder of a leading Ottoman official in the nort... more This study investigates the spectacular communal murder of a leading Ottoman official in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. This murder, and Istanbul’s vigorous response, erupted over a decade after Sultan Selim’s defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1516–17, suggesting Aleppo’s incorporation into the Ottoman Empire was not as seamless as is often assumed. Indeed, close examination, using sources that reflect a mix of perspectives, reveals an extended and difficult period of transition—this despite well-rehearsed methods of conquest and a clear intent to hold the city tightly, given its strategic military and commercial importance. Interlocking concerns were at issue, from flux in state practices of property inspection and revenue collection to changes in the hierarchy of sanctioned Islamic legal identities (madhhabs) and alleged abuse of the urban economy. Aleppines and imperial agents both clashed and collaborated in areas linked to the application of state law (ḳānūn), an evolving discourse of justice, and an effort to rework and freshly legitimate inherited legal pluralism. To grapple with this complex and understudied scene in sixteenth-century Aleppo, the article combines a focused murder inquiry with a full thematic consideration of Ottoman justice and a close look at the city’s Mamluk background.
This article offers an assessment of the value of literacy (and literacy studies) for the study o... more This article offers an assessment of the value of literacy (and literacy studies) for the study of law and state formation in the classical Ottoman Empire. It is especially concerned with how questions of literacy might help historians better understand popular or mass engagement with law and politics. It begins by closely surveying existing scholarship related to literacy in the Ottoman context. It then focuses on the Mamluk-Ottoman transition in the Arabic-speaking world, arguing that this deep-rooted period witnessed both expansion and qualitative transformation in the interconnection among law, legitimacy, and textuality. The world the Ottomans inherited in the sixteenth century was soaked in scribal media, and it came bearing new subjects with high degrees of "legal literacy" in particular. Istanbul sought to reconfigure this world via legal reform and rituals of inscription, realities that both implied and extended access to written texts. Such change was slow, messy, and often resisted. And the written did not come to preclude the oral. But trends toward mass document production, the appearance of law courts as "public archives," and the growth and diversification of literacy in an effort to harness the written word for one's own ends are evident. The article concludes by briefly examining how small pieces of evidence, here from Aleppo, might be studied for their literacy implications.
The essays in this volume discuss continuity and change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām during the six... more The essays in this volume discuss continuity and change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām during the sixteenth century, examining to what extent Egypt and Greater Syria were affected by the transition from Mamluk to Ottoman rule. The topic is explored in a variety of areas: diplomatic relations, histories and historiography, fiscal and agricultural administration, symbolic orders, urban developments, local perspectives, and material culture. To rethink the sixteent century from a transitional perspective und thus overcome the conventional dynasty centrism in research Mamlukists and Ottomanists are brought together to shed light on the remarkable sixteenth century, so decisive for the formation of early modern Muslim empires.
Link to the publisher:
http://www.v-r.de/de/the_mamluk_ottoman_transition/t-0/1087084/
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incorporation into the Ottoman Empire was not as seamless as is often assumed. Indeed, close examination, using sources that reflect a mix of perspectives, reveals an extended and difficult period of transition—this despite well-rehearsed methods of conquest and a clear intent to hold
the city tightly, given its strategic military and commercial importance. Interlocking concerns were at issue, from flux in state practices of property inspection and revenue collection to changes in the hierarchy of sanctioned Islamic legal identities (madhhabs) and alleged abuse of
the urban economy. Aleppines and imperial agents both clashed and collaborated in areas linked to the application of state law (ḳānūn), an evolving discourse of justice, and an effort to rework and freshly legitimate inherited legal pluralism. To grapple with this complex and understudied scene in sixteenth-century Aleppo, the article combines a focused murder inquiry with a full thematic consideration of Ottoman justice and a close look at the city’s Mamluk background.
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Link to the publisher:
http://www.v-r.de/de/the_mamluk_ottoman_transition/t-0/1087084/
incorporation into the Ottoman Empire was not as seamless as is often assumed. Indeed, close examination, using sources that reflect a mix of perspectives, reveals an extended and difficult period of transition—this despite well-rehearsed methods of conquest and a clear intent to hold
the city tightly, given its strategic military and commercial importance. Interlocking concerns were at issue, from flux in state practices of property inspection and revenue collection to changes in the hierarchy of sanctioned Islamic legal identities (madhhabs) and alleged abuse of
the urban economy. Aleppines and imperial agents both clashed and collaborated in areas linked to the application of state law (ḳānūn), an evolving discourse of justice, and an effort to rework and freshly legitimate inherited legal pluralism. To grapple with this complex and understudied scene in sixteenth-century Aleppo, the article combines a focused murder inquiry with a full thematic consideration of Ottoman justice and a close look at the city’s Mamluk background.
Link to the publisher:
http://www.v-r.de/de/the_mamluk_ottoman_transition/t-0/1087084/