Now that we're talking about Turks, I do have a question - exactly how Romanized were the Turks? I've heard some claim the Ottomans were basically just Muslim Byzantines - how true would that be? Were the Turks and the ERE already extremely similar in culture, military, politics, etc. by the time of the conquest of Constantinople, or did the Turks assimilate more so afterwards?
I don't want to be some sort of taker in this forum, just getting my question answer without answering, r16 already talk some detail about Muslim history from Rashidin Caliphate to Ottoman caliphate. I might also answer this question as far as I know.
There are huge different between ERE and Ottoman for sure from the unique social system of the Ottoman, the politics and law toward to its own muslim citizen and non muslim citizen, majority race or minority race, etc. we are talking about early Ottoman not in the time of Selim the Third or later on at the time when Ottoman becoming more nation state than a caliphate (after the appearances of the Genc Turk also).
The base of Ottoman jurisprudence and law is Islamic. It still reference to the time of Muhammad (saw) and the Guided caliph (Rashidin) also the living sunnah (tabiin etc). So you may see eventhough the main core law in the Caliphate was shariah law, but like any other Caliphate it still accommodate the minority law system to manage its own citizen, for example Christian have Christian court that been govern according to the bible, while the Jewish have Jews court that regulated in Torah-Talmudic tradition.
On the taxation also they not imposing high tax to the peoples unlike the Byzantium that they can lower or increase as they like, while the Ottoman employ zakat to the Muslim and jizyah or per-head tax that by quantity similar to zakat (zakat is like 2,5 percent of your income per year) and land tax or like poll tax it depending on how huge amount land you have (more varied can be more or less depend on quantity). By culture and tradition because they have a different economy, social and politic nature they also somehow result different nature than Byzantium. Which if I describe it, it will be a long description.
However, not all your point is wrong, there also Byzantium element that effect or been acculturated by the Ottoman, while the tradition or custom of the ruler in Rashidin time is more like a leader of NGO than a Monarch or Emperor in medieval time, take for example Umar Ibn Khatab he doesn't have palace or castle, he love to sleep under the tree like commoner or poor peoples.
Commoner or bureaucrats easily reach him for complain or discussion, in short he don't have distant to the peoples, some old lady stop him to give him a long
nasihah or advice what he must do as a caliphate, while he just stand and listen. Some peoples say this is the very reason why the Rashidin caliph easily expose to assassination as 3 from 4 of them were assassinate, but I think these leader doesn't see death and been killed as a problem at all if you know their biography/
shirah. They really don't care about that what they care is to make sure they don't been hold accountable for making injustice or we say it
zulm to the peoples as they regard it as a big sin. If they been revive again, I think they will still doing the same things.
While in contras the custom of the noble in Abbassid caliphate been effected so much by the Persian custom, while the Ottoman been affected by the Byzantium they have this "untouchable" and "distant" between ruler and subject, unlike the culture of the early Caliphate . And after Rashidin caliphate, there element that been changed like the election of the new caliph who suppose to be elected by discussion or Shura, not by lineage, but the Ummayah (except Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz), Abbasiyah and Ottoman all of their Caliph were not elected by the ummah (peoples) unlike the Rashidin caliphate. But because of the bay'at of other muslim, which in Ottoman case they even get the bay'at even from Atjeh Sultanate, and the use of the shariah as the core of their law, all of the leader of the Ummayah, Abbasiyah and Ottoman are consider to be Amirul Mukminin (leader of the pious) or Caliph.
While the early Turkish peoples not really care about one must assimilate to Turkish culture or Turkish must assimilate to the land that their visit. They easily blend with the society, and they mix take and give with the culture that they visit, just look at Mughal or Ottoman for example.
Before the popularity of nation state Turks by nature are open base by my own observation that might be totally totally wrong, they seem not imposing their culture and custom like Manchu to China, or Japan to Korea (Hideyoshi period) nor their religion and believe. What happen to the Armenian or Kurdish, even the non Turkish muslim, it is happen after the birth of nationalism in Islamic world, that not been start by the Turkish but by the Arabs and Egyptian.
