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IMC 2011: Sessions

Session 1606: Imagining the Other: The Ottomans and the West, 14th-16th Centuries

Thursday 14 July 2011, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies & Centre for Turkish Studies, Universiteit Gent
Organiser:Jo Van Steenbergen, Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies / Department of Languages & Cultures: The Near East & the Islamic World, Universiteit Gent
Moderator/Chair:Jan Dumolyn, Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies / Vakgroep Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
Paper 1606-aThe Battle of Nicopolis (1396): Contrasting Perspectives in Ottoman and Burgundian Sources
(Language: English)
Hılmı Kaçar, Centrum voor Turkse studies / Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Mentalities, Military History
Paper 1606-bPerforming Islam at the Court of Burgundy
(Language: English)
David Joseph Wrisley, Department of English, American University of Beirut
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Mentalities
Paper 1606-cImagining Difference as a Tool of Diplomacy in Ottoman Fethnames (Victory Letters)
(Language: English)
Claire Norton, School of Theology, Philosophy & History, St Mary's University College, London
Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Mentalities, Military History, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

This comparative session focuses on portraying 'the Other' in late medieval and early modern historiography and diplomacy.

Paper -a:
Focuses on the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, the first clash between the emerging Ottoman regime and allied forces from Western Europa. In European historiography it is often referred to as the Crusade of Nicopolis, one of the last large scale crusades of the Middle Ages, which resulted in an Ottoman victory over a coalition army of European crusaders. In this paper we will survey how this dramatic event is presented in Burgundian and in Ottoman sources like chronicles, eyewitness accounts and other contemporary texts relating to the events of this battle and its aftermath.

Paper -b:
Will examine the multilayered image of Islam as found in literary sources, historical compilations and debate texts from the era of Philip the Good. It will examine the inherent tensions and gaps between the historical availability of information about Islam and the need to portray it in realms of political language.

Paper -c:
It is tempting to hypothesise that the Islamic Ottoman Empire would express difference solely in religious terms particularly in official imperial rhetoric or propaganda. However, the often complex diplomatic relations between the Ottomans and Christian European states militated against the sole reliance on such an approach. Ottoman awareness of the differences and hostility between Catholic and Protestant states permitted the imagination of more complex and nuanced notions of otherness that were diplomatically useful. This paper will explore how the Ottomans used official fethnames (victory letters) sent to Queen Elizabeth as a tool of diplomacy to foster closer Anglo-Ottoman relations in the context of their shared antipathy towards the Catholic Habsburgs.