Writing History at the Ottoman Court Editing the Past, Fashioning the Future [Paperback]

Ottoman historical writing of the 15th and 16th centuries played a significant role in fashioning Ottoman identity and institutionalizing the dynastic state structure during this period of rapid imperial expansion. This volume shows how the writing of history achieved these effects by examining the implicit messages conveyed by the texts and illustrations of key manuscripts. It answers such questions as how the Ottomans understood themselves within their court and in relation to non-Ottoman others; how they visualized the ideal ruler; how they defined their culture and place in the world; and what the significance of Islam was in their self-definition.

H. Erdem ?ipa is Assistant Professor of Ottoman History in the Departments of History and Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Emine Fetvac is Assistant Professor of Islamic Art at Boston University and author of Picturing History at the Ottoman Court (IUP, 2012).

Preface
Note on Transliteration
Acknowledgments

1. The Historical Epic Ahvl-i Sultn Mehemmed (The Tales of Sultan Mehmed) in the Context of Early Ottoman Historiography \ Dimitris Kastritsis
2. The Memory of the Mongols in Early Ottoman Historiography \ Baki Tezcan
3. Imperialism, Bureaucratic Consciousness, and the Historian's Craft: A Reading of Cellzde Mustaf's Tabakt?'l-Memlik ve Derect?'l-Meslik \ Kaya ahin
4. Conversion and Converts to Islam in Ottoman Historiography of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries \ Tijana Krsti
5. Seeing the Past: Maps and Ottoman Historical Consciousness \ Giancarlo Casale
6. From Adam to S?leyman: Visual Representations of Authority in 'rif's Shhnma-yi l-i 'Osmn \ Fatma Sinem Erylmaz
7. The Challenge of Periodization: New Patterns in Nineteenth-ló9