Between Two Worlds. Cemal Kafadar

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      Between Two Worlds

      The Construction of the

      Ottoman State

      Cemal Kafadar

      UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

       Berkeley / Los Angeles / London

      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      University of California Press, Ltd.

      London, England

      First Paperback Printing 1996

      © 1995 by

      The Regents of the University of California

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Kafadar, Cemal, 1954-

      Between two worlds : the construction of the Ottoman state /

      Cemal Kafadar.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-520-20600-7

      I. Turkey—History—Ottoman Empire, 1288–1918. 2. Turkey—

      History—Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918—Historiography. I. Title.

      DR486.K34 1995

      956.1'0072—dc20

      94-21024

      Printed in the United States of America

      08 07

      10 9 8 7

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

      ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

       bana okumayi sevdiren, sonra bu iiabarttiimi araya giren gurbete ramenhibir zaman yüzüme vurmayan

       Annemeve Bahama / To My Parents

      Calabim bir

rin ken

resinde

      N

ü toprak

resinde

      Haci Bayram Vel

(d. 1429–30)

      My Lord has created a city

      In between two worlds.

      One sees the beloved if one looks

      At the edge of that city.

      I came upon that city

      And saw it being built.

      I too was built with it

      Amidst stone and earth.

      Contents

       PREFACE

       CHRONOLOGY

       Introduction

       Background and Overview

       Identity and Influence in the History of Nations

       1: The Moderns

       The Rise of the Ottoman State in Modern Historiography

       The Wittek Thesis and Its Critics

       2: The Sources

       Gaza and Gazis in the Frontier Narratives of Medieval Anatolia

       The Chronicles of the House of Osman and Their Flavor: Onion or Garlic?

       3: The Ottomans: The Construction of the Ottoman State

       Strategizing for Alliances and Conflicts: The Early Beglik

       Into the Limelight and the Rise of Tensions

       Epilogue: The Creation of an Imperial Political Technology and Ideology

       LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

       NOTES

       SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

       INDEX

       Preface

      After decades of relative consensus and silence on the issue, the rise of the Ottomans, who established one of the longest-lived (ca. 1300-1922), yet least studied or understood, dynastic states in world history, is back on the agenda of historians as an open question. Until the twentieth century, no attempt was made to delineate the underlying factors or causes (in the postpositivist sense of the term) behind the fascinating development of the political enterprise headed by a certain O

m

m

n in a few generations. The former occupied a tiny frontier outpost between the worlds of Islam and Byzantium, not only physically but also politically and culturally beyond the pale of established orders in either world; the latter, upon conquering