Plural Pasts - Power, Identity and the Ottoman Sieges of Nagykanizsa Castle

Through a study of a variety of Ottoman and modern Turkish accounts of the Ottoman-Habsburg sieges of Nagykanizsa Castle (1600-01) including official documents, correspondence, histories, and more literary genres such as gazavatnames [campaign narratives], Plural Pasts explores Ottoman literacy practices. By considering the diverse roles that the various accounts served - construction of identities, forging of diplomatic alliances and legitimization of political ideologies and geo-political imaginations - it explores the cultural and socio-political significance the various accounts had for different audiences. In addition, it interweaves theoretical reflection with textual analysis. Using the sieges of Nagykanizsa as a case study, it offers a sophisticated contribution to ongoing historiographical arguments: namely, how historians construct hierarchies of primary sources and judge some to be more truthful, or more valuable, than others; how texts are assigned to particular genres based on perceived epistemological status - as story or history, fact or fiction; and the circular role that historians and their histories play in constructing, reflecting and reinforcing cultural and political imaginaries.

List of contents

Introduction

1. The Authority of Eyewitness Accounts Reconsidered

2. Fethnames: Not Just Literary Bombast

3. The Gazavatnames: Erasing Oral Residue and Correcting Scribal Error

4. The Gazavatnames: Re-Writing the Exemplar - Individual Scripta

5. Writers Reading: Reading the Gazavat-i Tiryaki Hasan Paşa with Katib Çelebi and Naima

6. Nationalism and the Re-Invention of Early Modern Identities

Conclusion: Making the Sieges of Nagykanizsa Morally Defensible

About the author

Claire Norton is Reader in History at St Mary’s University.

Summary

In this book, narratives of the Ottoman/Habsburg sieges of Nagykanizsa (1600/01) act as a fulcrum around which to explore Ottoman textualities and literacy practices and the diverse roles that the various accounts had, including constructing identities, forging diplomatic alliances and legitimising political ideologies and geo-political imagination

Product details

• Authors: Claire Norton, Norton Claire
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.12.2019
• EAN: 9780367882105
• ISBN: 978-0-367-88210-5
• No. of pages: 190
• Series: Routledge Research in Early Modern History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Ottoman Empire, HISTORY / General, Social & cultural history, HISTORY / Middle East / Turkey & Ottoman Empire, General & world history, Turkey, c 1500 onwards to present day, Hungary, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Social and cultural history, Literary studies: general, Middle Eastern history, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, General and world history, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, History and Archaeology, European history: Renaissance, HISTORY / Europe / Renaissance