CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Sunnetcioglu, Halil Evren |
|---|---|
| Title | Audi Alteram Partem (Hear the Other Side Too): The Meaning of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) among Late Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Historians |
| Summary | This thesis investigates Ottoman perceptions of the first major maritime defeat of the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto (7 October 1571), as they are reflected in four late sixteenth-century chronicles, by Mustafa of Thessaloniki (Selaniki), Mustafa of Gallipoli ('Ali), Mehmed Za'im, and Mehmed Çelebi (Vusuli). Consequence of a clash between the Holy League (Papal, Spanish, and Venetian forces) and the Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Lepanto has been studied by Ottomanists with exclusive reference to Ottoman administrative records (defters), without inquiring into what this battle meant for the Ottoman Empire at that time. Only two studies have posed the question of Ottoman perceptions of the battle but did so without delving into the social, political, and narrative context of the chronicles. In contrast, I address the question of how the meaning of defeat at the Battle of Lepanto was negotiated in the contemporary narratives of select Ottoman authors. I consider the chronicles as products of their authors’ navigation through power configurations of the late sixteenth-century Ottoman Empire. I argue that the chroniclers’ interpretation of the Battle of Lepanto constitutes a literary investment in their precarious standing within the state apparatus during the tumultuous era of transformation in the “classical” institutions of the Ottoman Empire. The significance they attached to the battle ranged from the utmost calamity to an event unworthy of mention, depending on their place in the contemporary intellectual milieu, patronage ties, and factional politics. As I argue, the battle provided contemporary Ottoman chroniclers with opportunities to interpret the state of the empire in relation to the power matrix in which they operated, or hoped to access, against the background of a developing intellectual discourse of decline. |
| Supervisor | Krstić, Tijana |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/sunnetcioglu_halil.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University