Post by todhrimencuri on Apr 23, 2009 11:32:46 GMT -5
Pretty interesting stuff.
In: Bureaucrat and intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: the historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600)
Fleischer, Cornell H., 1950-. Princeton University Press, c1986. Princeton studies on the Near East
In general, Ali frequently expresses a profound dislike for Albanians. For example, in the MEVA'ID (pp. 65-68), in the course of a discussion of the insults suffered by the learned at the hands of the ignorant, Ali identifies Lutfi Pasa, who at least had pretensions to learning, and Sinan Pasa as particular offenders, and remarks pointedly on their common Albanian origin. For other examples of this ethnic bias see KA, Suleyman/Sadrazamlar, "Ayas Pa~a," "Lutfi Pasa," Faith 4225, 318b. On the Ottoman view of Albanians, see Bedriye Atsiz, "Das
Albanerbild der Turken nach osmanischen Chroniken des 15.-16. Jahrhunderts," Munchner Zeitschriftfiir Balkankunde I (1978): 15-25.
In discussing Sinan Pasa, Ali constantly refers to his ethnic identity, saying, for example, that only Albanians mourned his death. He also cites several instances of an Albanian group solidarity operative within the Ottoman military establishment and exploited by Sinan Pasa
(KA, Murad/Third Vezirate of Sinan Pasa, Nur 3409, 399b; Mehmed/Fourth Vezirate of Sinan Pasa, Halet Efendi 598, 430b). Ali also says that during his third term in office Sinan brought about the dismissal of the yeniceri agasi Mehmed Aga because the latter was a Bosnian, and then replaced him with a fellow Albanian, Yemisci Hasan Aga (KA, Nur 3409, 408b). While these statements may be somewhat exaggerated, an extension of Ali's hatred for Sinan Pasa, they provide some evidence to support the general thesis propounded by Metin Kunt in "Ethnic-Regional (Cins) Solidarity in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Establishment," IJMES 5
(1974): 233-39. Kunt suggests that ethnic solidarity amongst devsirme recruits who reached positions of power within the Ottoman establishment led, in the seventeenth century, to a rivalry between "western" Albanians and Bosnians on the one hand, and "eastern" Georgians and Circassians on the other, from which the former emerged as the dominant faction. The evidence that Ali provides, and his general tendency to praise Bosnians (see, for example, his praise of Damad Ibrahim Pasa, KA, Halet Efendi 598, 439b-440a), while execrating Albanians, indicates that in the sixteenth century at least the two major "western" factions were pitted against each other, and that Sinan Pasa utilized Albanian solidarity to dismantle the Bosnian ascendancy established by Sokollu Mehmed Pasa and his family. Such ethnic considerations, of course, should not be viewed as constituting more than one of many factors (kinship, education and training, intisab, etc.) determining relationships within the Ottoman power elite. 73 Ali gives the text of this letter in KA, Mehmed/ Grand vezirate of Damad Ibrahim Pa~a, Halet Efendi 598, 438b-439b.Ali says that the ship of state is piloted by five officers: the sultan, the grand vezir, the treasurer, the secretary-in-chief, and the head of the Janissary Corps. He then asks to be taken on as the sixth, without specifying the office but probably meaning the chancellorship.
In: Bureaucrat and intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: the historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600)
Fleischer, Cornell H., 1950-. Princeton University Press, c1986. Princeton studies on the Near East
In general, Ali frequently expresses a profound dislike for Albanians. For example, in the MEVA'ID (pp. 65-68), in the course of a discussion of the insults suffered by the learned at the hands of the ignorant, Ali identifies Lutfi Pasa, who at least had pretensions to learning, and Sinan Pasa as particular offenders, and remarks pointedly on their common Albanian origin. For other examples of this ethnic bias see KA, Suleyman/Sadrazamlar, "Ayas Pa~a," "Lutfi Pasa," Faith 4225, 318b. On the Ottoman view of Albanians, see Bedriye Atsiz, "Das
Albanerbild der Turken nach osmanischen Chroniken des 15.-16. Jahrhunderts," Munchner Zeitschriftfiir Balkankunde I (1978): 15-25.
In discussing Sinan Pasa, Ali constantly refers to his ethnic identity, saying, for example, that only Albanians mourned his death. He also cites several instances of an Albanian group solidarity operative within the Ottoman military establishment and exploited by Sinan Pasa
(KA, Murad/Third Vezirate of Sinan Pasa, Nur 3409, 399b; Mehmed/Fourth Vezirate of Sinan Pasa, Halet Efendi 598, 430b). Ali also says that during his third term in office Sinan brought about the dismissal of the yeniceri agasi Mehmed Aga because the latter was a Bosnian, and then replaced him with a fellow Albanian, Yemisci Hasan Aga (KA, Nur 3409, 408b). While these statements may be somewhat exaggerated, an extension of Ali's hatred for Sinan Pasa, they provide some evidence to support the general thesis propounded by Metin Kunt in "Ethnic-Regional (Cins) Solidarity in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Establishment," IJMES 5
(1974): 233-39. Kunt suggests that ethnic solidarity amongst devsirme recruits who reached positions of power within the Ottoman establishment led, in the seventeenth century, to a rivalry between "western" Albanians and Bosnians on the one hand, and "eastern" Georgians and Circassians on the other, from which the former emerged as the dominant faction. The evidence that Ali provides, and his general tendency to praise Bosnians (see, for example, his praise of Damad Ibrahim Pasa, KA, Halet Efendi 598, 439b-440a), while execrating Albanians, indicates that in the sixteenth century at least the two major "western" factions were pitted against each other, and that Sinan Pasa utilized Albanian solidarity to dismantle the Bosnian ascendancy established by Sokollu Mehmed Pasa and his family. Such ethnic considerations, of course, should not be viewed as constituting more than one of many factors (kinship, education and training, intisab, etc.) determining relationships within the Ottoman power elite. 73 Ali gives the text of this letter in KA, Mehmed/ Grand vezirate of Damad Ibrahim Pa~a, Halet Efendi 598, 438b-439b.Ali says that the ship of state is piloted by five officers: the sultan, the grand vezir, the treasurer, the secretary-in-chief, and the head of the Janissary Corps. He then asks to be taken on as the sixth, without specifying the office but probably meaning the chancellorship.