Sara Nur Yildiz
Middle East Technical University, History, Faculty Member
- PhD, University of Chicagoedit
This collection of thirteen essays addresses the intellectual, religious and literary culture of medieval Anatolia and the early Ottoman realm of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, focusing on texts written in Arabic, Persian and Old... more
This collection of thirteen essays addresses the intellectual, religious and literary culture of medieval Anatolia and the early Ottoman realm of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, focusing on texts written in Arabic, Persian and Old Anatolian Turkish as case studies. The introductory chapter surveys the beylik (Turkish principalities) period and the emergence of Anatolian Turkish as a vernacular literary language in the fourteenth century. The subsequent chapters present a wide range of topics, ranging from proto-Bektashi poetry and the Vefa'iyye to the emergence of the Ottoman scholarly system. These scholarly essays aim not only to move beyond Köprülü’s nationalist paradigm of Anatolian cultural life with new approaches, but also to provide background for further research and point to new avenues of inquiry in this relatively neglected field of study.
The volume may be purchased through the Ergon Publisher's website: http://www.ergon-verlag.de/en/orientalistik/istanbuler-texte-und-studien/band-34.php
The volume may be purchased through the Ergon Publisher's website: http://www.ergon-verlag.de/en/orientalistik/istanbuler-texte-und-studien/band-34.php
Research Interests: Ottoman Literature, Old Anatolian Turkish, Medieval vernacular translations (volgarizzamenti), Islamic Manuscripts, Medieval Anatolia (Seljuk, Mongol), and 18 moreLate Medieval Anatolia, 15th and 16th Century Ottoman Intellectual History, Kütahya, Ayasuluk, Kaygusuz Abdal, Alevism and Bektashism Literature, Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500) Comparative empire, Aqquyunlu, Anadolu Beylikleri, Ottoman Intellectual History, Vefaiye Tarikatı, Islamic Written Sources (Manuscripts, Ottoman Ulema, Early Ottoman Literature and Language, Anatolian Sufism, Beylikler devri, Social History of Medieval Anatolia (under Byzantine, Seljuq, Mongol, early Ottoman domination), and Medieval Anatolian Intellectual History
I examine Devletoğlu Yūsuf Balıḳesrī’s Hanafi law manual, a paraphrase of the Arabic Wiqāya composed in rhymed couplets in Anatolian Turkish and dedicated to the Ottoman sultan Murad II (d. 855/1451). I discuss how the author shapes his... more
I examine Devletoğlu Yūsuf Balıḳesrī’s Hanafi law manual, a paraphrase of the Arabic Wiqāya composed in rhymed couplets in Anatolian Turkish and dedicated to the Ottoman sultan Murad II (d. 855/1451). I discuss how the author shapes his text for an Ottoman audience and justifies the use of verse as well as the newly emerging literary language of Anatolian Turkish for the composition of a religious text. Not only does the author refer to the benefits of transmitting religious knowledge in the vernacular, but he also justifies its use for Islamic learning by citing Hanafi-approved Persian practices of religious devotion as well as the rhetorical theories of the Arabic grammarian, ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (d. ca. 471-474/1078-1081)
This article surveys the Anatolian physician and scholar Hacı Paşa’s (d. ca. 1425) career and written corpus of twelve works (ten in Arabic and the remaining two in Old Anatolian Turkish), contextualizing this textual production in its... more
This article surveys the Anatolian physician and scholar Hacı Paşa’s (d. ca. 1425) career and written corpus of twelve works (ten in Arabic and the remaining two in Old Anatolian Turkish), contextualizing this textual production in its broader intellectual trends and the intraregional scholarly networks. After completing his religious and medical studies in Cairo and working as physician at the Cairene Manṣūriyya hospital, Hacı Paşa resettled in western Anatolia in 1370 where he served the Aydınid ruler, Fakhr al-Dīn ʿİsā Bey (r. ca. 1360-ca. 1389-1391) as qadi, madrasa teacher, and court physician. The primary form of Hacı Paşa’s textual production was commentary writing: although the majority of his works were medical, Hacı Paşa also composed commentaries on kalām and logic. This article demonstrates how, by participation in textual communities clustering around certain authoritative texts through commentary writing, Hacı Paşa was linked to a vast interregional network of scholars, and in particular, to Cairene-centered textual communities promoting the combination of rational and religious sciences as it reached its culminating point in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth-century in Ilkhanate Iran. Hacı Paşa subsequently disseminated these intellectual trends in western Anatolia through teaching and writing while in the service of the Aydınid ruler.
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Baiju’s career encapsulates the tensions arising between the military and the administration during the rapid expansion of the Mongol imperial domains. The ad hoc predatory behavior of military commanders often clashed with the aims of... more
Baiju’s career encapsulates the tensions arising between the military and the administration during the rapid expansion of the Mongol imperial domains. The ad hoc predatory behavior of military commanders often clashed with the aims of Mongol civilian administrators in charge of implementing bureaucratic rule over subjugated sedentary populations and restoring sedentary agricultural lands and cities following the initial trauma of conquest often through violent means. Baiju was the rapacious and implacable Mongol commander par excellence, hated and feared by local populations, Christian or Muslim, implementing the Mongol military strategy of terror as an effective way to subjugate sedentary populations. Baiju is primarily known as the conqueror of Anatolia. In 1243 he rendered the Seljuks of Anatolia, the Cilician kingdom of Armenia, and Mosul under the rule of Sultan Badr al-Dīn Luʾluʾ (r. 1233-59) as tributary states, and in 1256 he placed Seljuk Anatolia under Hülegü’s direct authority with a second military campaign. In addition to being the twice-conqueror of Anatolia, Baiju likewise conducted raids and campaigns throughout neighboring regions, going as far as Baghdad. Together with his superior, the first Mongol commander-in-chief of the western territories, Chormaqan, Baiju was largely responsible for imposing Mongol rule in the western regions of the empire.
Research Interests: Mongolian Studies, History of the Mongol Empire, Seljuks (Islamic History), Medieval Islamic History, Mongols, and 9 moreMedieval Anatolia (Seljuk, Mongol), Ilkhanate, Late Antique and Medieval Anatolia, Mongols and Mamluks, Mongol world empire Seljuk, Ilkhanids, Ilkhanid Period, Rum Seljuks of Anatolia, and Medieval Anatolia
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Research Interests: Ottoman History, Ottoman Studies, Ottoman Empire, Medieval Islamic History, Medieval Islamic Numismatics, and 11 moreMedieval Anatolia (Seljuk, Mongol), Islamic intellectual history, medieval political thought,Islamic philosophy and mysticism, Medieval Islamic and Turco-Iranian world, Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500) Comparative empire, Eski Anadolu Türkçesi, Anadolu Beylikleri, Ottoman Intellectual History, Medieval Islamic and Turco-Iranian world, Mongol world empire, Seljuk, Mongol, post-Mongol, and Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500), Comparative empire, frontier, and political culture, and Persian and Ottoman Turkish historical writing
Research Interests: Anatolian Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies, History of the Mongol Empire, Seljuks (Islamic History), and 6 moreOrthodox Christianity, Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500) Comparative empire, Medieval Islamic and Turco-Iranian world, Mongol world empire, Seljuk, Mongol, post-Mongol, and Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500), Comparative empire, frontier, and political culture, and Persian and Ottoman Turkish historical writing
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Islam and Christianity in Medieval Anatolia offers a comparative approach to understanding the spread of Islam and Muslim culture in medieval Anatolia. It aims to reassess work in the field since the 1971 classic by Speros Vryonis, The... more
Islam and Christianity in Medieval Anatolia offers a comparative approach to understanding the spread of Islam and Muslim culture in medieval Anatolia. It aims to reassess work in the field since the 1971 classic by Speros Vryonis, The Decline of Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization which treats the process of transformation from a Byzantinist perspective. Since then, research has offered insights into individual aspects of Christian-Muslim relations, but no overview has appeared. Moreover, very few scholars of Islamic studies have examined the problem, meaning evidence in Arabic, Persian and Turkish has been somewhat neglected at the expense of Christian sources, and too little attention has been given to material culture.
The essays in this volume examine the interaction between Christianity and Islam in medieval Anatolia through three distinct angles, opening with a substantial introduction by the editors to explain both the research background and the historical problem, making the work accessible to scholars from other fields. The first group of essays examines the Christian experience of living under Muslim rule, comparing their experiences in several of the major Islamic states of Anatolia between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, especially the Seljuks and the Ottomans. The second set of essays examines encounters between Christianity and Islam in art and intellectual life. They highlight the ways in which some traditions were shared across confessional divides, suggesting the existence of a common artistic and hence cultural vocabulary. The final section focusses on the process of Islamisation, above all as seen from the Arabic, Persian and Turkish textual evidence with special attention to the role of Sufism.
The essays in this volume examine the interaction between Christianity and Islam in medieval Anatolia through three distinct angles, opening with a substantial introduction by the editors to explain both the research background and the historical problem, making the work accessible to scholars from other fields. The first group of essays examines the Christian experience of living under Muslim rule, comparing their experiences in several of the major Islamic states of Anatolia between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, especially the Seljuks and the Ottomans. The second set of essays examines encounters between Christianity and Islam in art and intellectual life. They highlight the ways in which some traditions were shared across confessional divides, suggesting the existence of a common artistic and hence cultural vocabulary. The final section focusses on the process of Islamisation, above all as seen from the Arabic, Persian and Turkish textual evidence with special attention to the role of Sufism.
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Mongol Zoominar Presents: Ilkhanid Peripheries, Provinces and Dependencies Zara Pogossian (University of Florence), Sara Nur Yildiz (Berlin), and Edith Chen (Princeton and HU). Moderator: Jonathan Brack (BGU) Friday, March 12th,... more
Mongol Zoominar Presents:
Ilkhanid Peripheries, Provinces and Dependencies
Zara Pogossian (University of Florence), Sara Nur Yildiz (Berlin), and Edith Chen (Princeton and HU).
Moderator: Jonathan Brack (BGU)
Friday, March 12th, 14:30 (Israel time).
For details and link, please contact Jonathan Brack( brackjon@bgu.ac.il) or Wonhee Cho (wonheecho@gmail.com)
The Mongol Zoominar, organized by Michal Biran (HUJI), Jonathan Brack (BGU) and Wonhee Cho (Academy of Korean Studies) and operating since April 2020 aims to bring together scholars from around the world who are interested in the Mongol Empire in an informal, informative, and friendly setting. We discuss work-in-progress, topics of common interest, and new directions in the field. Hosted and supported by the Louis Frieberg Center for East Asia Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Zoominar meets on zoom once a month, on Fridays afternoon (Israeli time)
The Zoominar welcomes new participants and presenters. If you would like to join our meeting (and future ones) and/or present a paper, please email wonheecho@gmail.com or ybrack@umich.edu.
Your email should include a brief introduction and the reasons for your interest in joining.
Ilkhanid Peripheries, Provinces and Dependencies
Zara Pogossian (University of Florence), Sara Nur Yildiz (Berlin), and Edith Chen (Princeton and HU).
Moderator: Jonathan Brack (BGU)
Friday, March 12th, 14:30 (Israel time).
For details and link, please contact Jonathan Brack( brackjon@bgu.ac.il) or Wonhee Cho (wonheecho@gmail.com)
The Mongol Zoominar, organized by Michal Biran (HUJI), Jonathan Brack (BGU) and Wonhee Cho (Academy of Korean Studies) and operating since April 2020 aims to bring together scholars from around the world who are interested in the Mongol Empire in an informal, informative, and friendly setting. We discuss work-in-progress, topics of common interest, and new directions in the field. Hosted and supported by the Louis Frieberg Center for East Asia Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Zoominar meets on zoom once a month, on Fridays afternoon (Israeli time)
The Zoominar welcomes new participants and presenters. If you would like to join our meeting (and future ones) and/or present a paper, please email wonheecho@gmail.com or ybrack@umich.edu.
Your email should include a brief introduction and the reasons for your interest in joining.
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Research Interests: Islamic Studies and Islam
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Empires of Faith is the first volume of a new 'oxford History of Medieval Europe' series. Unlike most recent surveys of the post-Roman period it is the work of a scholar who is primarily a Byzantinist, and one who has contributed notably... more
Empires of Faith is the first volume of a new 'oxford History of Medieval Europe' series. Unlike most recent surveys of the post-Roman period it is the work of a scholar who is primarily a Byzantinist, and one who has contributed notably to our understanding of the economy of the Age of Justinian — an aspect of the period which is richly emphasized in the current book. The importance of the economy, and of the related structures of society, in both the eastern and western Mediterranean, is finely underlined. It would be difficult to find a clearer or more persuasive account of the aristocracy, its wealth and malign influence (especially on Byzantine policy), on the one hand, or of the peasantry and its travails on the other. As a guide to such issues, Sarris is expert (though it is surprising to find here the idea that the precaria may originally have been ecclesiastical (p. 330): they are well established in Roman law). Given Sarris's distinction as a Byzantinist, it is not surprising that Empires of Faith is especially strong on the history of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond. In particular, there is a keen sense of the contemporary importance of Persia and of the nomadic peoples of the Steppes, as well as the Arabs. on these topics Sarris not only draws on his own work, but also on the work of James Howard-Johnston, which has been appearing since the 1970s, but most significantly in the last decade. The title of the book also points to one of its other great strengths: it places firm emphasis on the Church, particularly on the problems caused by doctrinal division. It does an excellent job in explaining the significance of the Church councils, not just their doctrine, but also their social and political importance. Nor are religions other than Christianity neglected: the significance of both Zoroastrianism and Islam is well established. From all these various perspectives, Empires of Faith is a distinctive and welcome addition to recent surveys of Late Antiquity. It is distinctive not just for what it emphasizes, but also for what it downplays. Some of the big debates that have consumed Western early medievalists are passed over with little comment: one would scarcely guess that a great deal of ink has been spilt over the nature of the barbarian settlement, or indeed over the formation of the Germanic peoples (their 'ethnogenesis'). Sarris takes a clear and reasonable stance over both issues, without signalling how contentious they have