Ottoman Empire

[BCLG100]

So im studying the Ottoman Empire for my dissertation, specifically The Siege of Constantinople and its aftermath, whether the Empire could be considered more than just a conquest empire.

Anyway im searching for primary sources, preferrably sources which have been translated into English. Was wondering if anyone knew any? I know of Doukas's narrative of the events of Constaninople but really could do with quite a few more.

I'll be doing my own research of course but may as well pursue all avenues

 

[Tee Kay]

This looks like a good website: http://www.ottomanhistorians.com/index.htm

 

[Yoda Power]

I once wrote a big paper on the Ottoman Empire, which relied heavely on primary sources.

It's very hard to find Ottoman sources, but there are plenty of European ones. Look for these names:

Silihdar (Ottoman historian)
Gianfrancesco Morosini (Venetian diplomat)
Kemalpashazade (Ottoman historian and poet)
Lucas Notarus (Byzantine bureaucrat)
Evliya Celebi (Ottoman traveler)
Carsten Niebuhr (Danish explorer)
Orgier Ghiselin de Busbecq (Flemmish nobleman)
Giacomo Tebaldi (Italian merchant, for what I understand)

 

[BCLG100]

This looks like a good website: http://www.ottomanhistorians.com/index.htm

I found a similar but slightly smaller database website so cheers

I once wrote a big paper on the Ottoman Empire, which relied heavely on primary sources.

It's very hard to find Ottoman sources, but there are plenty of European ones. Look for these names:

Yeah thats what i expected to happen, or from my only very basic research so far there are still quite a lot of ottoman sources but they haven't been either translated/sorted out/ published.

I had heard of Notarus but more in a narrative capacity, i didnt realise he also left a footprint, seeing as he was killed shortly after the siege i'll definatly look into him.

Thanks again guys, anymore would of course be appreciated

edit- might even post the dissertation here when im done, whether anyone will want to read it or not though is questionable!

 

[Yoda Power]

Well after looknig at my old notes I can see that the only stuff I was able to get from Lucas Notarus are quotes, which I guess was written down by others and then passed on.

The others should have left real accounts though, as far as I can tell.

 

[BCLG100]

Well after looknig at my old notes I can see that the only stuff I was able to get from Lucas Notarus are quotes, which I guess was written down by others and then passed on.

The others should have left real accounts though, as far as I can tell.

Doing a quick wiki search, apparantly he has had some letters by him published however only in Greece, whether or not i'll be able to get hold of them/read them im not sure.

Will definatly look up the others though.

 

[BCLG100]

Yoda, don't suppose you have any idea on how i can get hold of any of them peoples work do you?

I've searched a few uni sites and im getting very little back.

 

[Yoda Power]

Sorry but all my sources were Danish translations, which I presume you can't use?

 

[BCLG100]

Sorry but all my sources were Danish translations, which I presume you can't use?

No that'd definatly make things more difficult.

 

[BCLG100]

For anyone who is interested/may be interested in the future.

I've found 3 sources so far.

George Sphrantzes (Grand Chmberlain and close friend of emperor Constantine XI). Been translated by Margaret Carroll in 'A Contemporary Greek Source for the Siege of Constantinople 1453: The Sphrantzes Chronicle'

Nicolo Barbaro (Surgeon, present in the city during the Siege, Venetian i think) Translated by J.R. Jones in 'Diary of the Siege of Constantinople'

Tursun Beg (Seems to be an Ottoman Historian of sorts, within Mehmed inner circle apparantly) Translated by H. Inalcik and R. Murphey in 'The History of Mehmed the Conqueror' Also has the original source photocopied into the book.

 

[The Yankee]

I don't have anything to add (since it is so far out of my element), but I will voice that I'd love to see the end result, whenever that's ready.

 

[BCLG100]

I doubt the average reader would find it that interesting tbh, theres none of my witty posting involved i reserve for cfc and about a third of it is just me talking about what other people think on the question.

 

[Sharwood]

That's fine by me, I read a tonne of stuff that wouldn't be interesting to the average reader. As I said once at uni, average students shouldn't be allowed to read.

 

[Romanfe]

My focus was on the other end of the Ottoman Empires lifespan for my dis, Kemalism and all that. Im surprised you don't have access to jstor which is basically my first stop for any history info I needed.

 

[BCLG100]

I do have access for jstor but navigating through that is attempting to find a needle through a haystack. Why so many people feel the need to publish articles about other articles i have no idea!

 

[OttoManD]

Not quite primary sources, but a few sources closer to the period in question to get you started, and give you some leads to get closer to primary sources.

Dimitrie Cantemir, The History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire

W. Eton, Survey of the Turkish Empire

Richard Knolles, A General Historie of the Ottoman Empire

Paul Rycaut, History of the Turkes to 1699.

Sounds like a really interesting paper! Love to see it when you're done. Good luck!

 

[The Yankee]

I doubt the average reader would find it that interesting tbh, theres none of my witty posting involved i reserve for cfc and about a third of it is just me talking about what other people think on the question.

I'm never the average reader. Just skim through the reading thread on OT to see that.

 

[BCLG100]

For those keeping up i've finished compiling my initial bibliography.

Spoiler :

Bibliography

Secondary Sources

Alexander. J.C, Toward a History of post-Byzantine Greeze: the Ottoman Kanunnames for the Greek Lands circa 1500-circa 1600 (Athens: J.C. Alexander, 1985)- Cambridge University Libraries

Barnes. J. R, An introduction to religious foundations in the Ottoman Empire (New York: E.J. Brill, 1987)- John Rylands

Bayerle. G, Ottoman tributes in Hungary: According to sixteenth century Tapu registers of Novigrad (The Hague: Mouton, 1973)- John Rylands

Bernard. L, Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.)- John Rylands

Black. J, A military revolution?: military change and European society 1550-1800 (Basingstoke : Macmillan Education, 1991)- MMU library

Cantemir.D, The history of the growth and decay of the Othman Empire trans. Tindal. N, (London: printed for A. Millar, 1756)- John Rylands

Chayanov, A, the theory of peasant economy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986)- John Rylands

Crowley. R, Constantinople: The Last Great Siege 1453 (London: Faber and faber, 2005)- My Own

Duffy. C, Siege warfare: the fortress in the early modern world, 1494-1660 (London: Routledge, 1996)- John Rylands

Duran. T, The Ottoman Empire in the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (Istanbul: Historical Research Foundation, Istanbul Research Center, 1988)- John Rylands

Fisher. S. N, Sultan Bayezit II and the Foreign Relations of Turkey (Urbana, 1948)- John Rylands

Fleischer, C, ‘Preliminaries to the study of the Ottoman bureaucracy’ in Journal of Turkish Studies, 10 (1986) pp.135-141- John Rylands

Goffman. D, The Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)- John Rylands

Goldschmidt. A, A concise history of the Middle East (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 2002)- http://www.netlibrary.com

Har-El. S, Struggle for domination in the Middle East: the Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485-91 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995)- John Rylands

Imber. C, The Ottoman Empire 1300-1481 (Istanbul: Isis, 1990)- John Rylands

Imber.C, The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: the structure of power (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002)- MMU library

Inalcik. H, The Ottoman Empire: conquest, organization and economy (London: Variorum, 1978)- John Rylands

Inalcik. H. & Kafadar.C, Suleyman the Second and his time (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1993)- John Rylands

Inalcik. H. & Quartaert. D, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire: 1300-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)- MMU library

Inalcik. H, The Ottoman empire: the classical age, 1300-1600 translated by Itzkowitz. N. & Imber .C. (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973)- MMU library

Merriman. R. B, Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520-1566 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1944)- John Rylands

McNeill. J.R, The human web: a bird's-eye view of world history (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003)- My Own

Murphey.R. & Imber. C. & Kiyotaki. K, Frontiers of Ottoman studies: state, province, and the west (London: I. B. Tauris, 2004)- John Rylands

Murphey. R, Ottoman warfare, 1500-1700 (London: UCL Press, 1999)- MMU library

Schimmer. K.A, The sieges of Vienna by the Turks trans Earl of Ellesmere (London: J. Murray, 1879)- John Rylands

Shirley. J, The history of the Turks (London: Ralph Holt and John Richardson, 1684)- http://eebo.chadwyck.com/search/full_rec?SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=V29629

Sugar. P, ‘A Near-Perfect Military Society: The Ottoman Empire’ in Farrar. L. L, War: A historical, political and social study (Oxford: ABC-Clio, 1978)- John Rylands

Tignor. R. L, Worlds together, worlds apart: a history of the modern world from the Mongol Empire to the present (London: W.W. Norton & Co, 2002)- My Own

Urquhart. D, The military strength of Turkey (London: Diplomatic Review Office, 1868)- John Rylands

Primary Sources

Barbaro. N, Diary of the Siege of Constantinople, 1453 translated Jones.J. R. (New York: Exposition Press, 1969)- St Andrews University Library (SAULCAT)

Beg. T, The History of Mehmed the Conqueror circa. 1490 trans; Inalcik. H. & Murphey. R. (Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1978)- St Andrews University Library

Doukas, Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, trans. Harry. J, (Detroit: Magoulias, 1975)- John Rylands

Ibn Iyas Account of the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt Circa 1516 trans. W. H. Salmon (London: 1921)- John Rylands

Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror translated Riggs. C. T. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1970)- St Andrews University Library

Rycaut. P, The history of the present state of the Ottoman Empire1682- http://eebo.chadwyck.com/search/ful...AY=param(DISPLAY)&HIGHLIGHT_KEYWORD=undefined

Sphrantzes. G, A contemporary Greek source for the Siege of Constantinople 1453: the Sphrantzes Chronicle circa 1460 translated Carroll. M. (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1985)- St Andrews University Library

Bibliographies

http://130.88.109.188/TalisPrism/index.jsp?interface=Webpage [John Rylands Online Catalogue]

http://149.170.166.2/TalisPrism/ [MMU Library Online Catalogue]

http://library.st-andrews.ac.uk/ [St Andrews University Library Online Catalogue]

Murphey. R, Ottoman warfare, 1500-1700 (London: UCL Press, 1999)

I've read about 10 of them so far but not in any exceptional detail, the words listed after are where i can obtain them, as im based in Manchester i can get most of them from somewhere in the city.