An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play (Volume 50) (Studies on the History of Society and Culture)

In the space of six years early in the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire underwent such turmoil and trauma—the assassination of the young ruler Osman II, the re-enthronement and subsequent abdication of his mad uncle Mustafa I, for a start—that a scholar pronounced the period's three-day-long dramatic climax "an Ottoman Tragedy." Under Gabriel Piterberg's deft analysis, this period of crisis becomes a historical laboratory for the history of the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century—an opportunity to observe the dialectical play between history as an occurrence and experience and history as a recounting of that experience. Piterberg reconstructs the Ottoman narration of this fraught period from the foundational text, produced in the early 1620s, to the composition of the state narrative at the end of the seventeenth century. His work brings theories of historiography into dialogue with the actual interpretation of Ottoman historical texts, and forces a rethinking of both Ottoman historiography and the Ottoman state in the seventeenth century. A provocative reinterpretation of a major event in Ottoman history, this work reconceives the relation between historiography and history. "In the space of six years early in the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire underwent such turmoil and trauma - the assassination of the young ruler Osman II, the re-enthronement and subsequent abdication of his mad uncle Mustafa I, for a start - that a scholar pronounced the period's three-day-long dramatic climax "an Ottoman Tragedy." In Gabriel Pieterberg's analysis, this period of crisis becomes a historical laboratory for the history of the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century - an opportunity to observe the dialectical play between history as experience and history as a recounting of that experience." "Piterberg reconstructs the Ottoman narration of this fraught period from the foundational test, produced in the early 1620s, until the composition of the state narrative at the end of the seventeenth century. His work brings theories of historiography into dialogue with the interpretation of Ottoman historical texts, even as it forces a rethinking of both Ottoman historiography and the Ottoman state in the seventeenth century. Ultimately, Piterberg argues that the historiographical discourse was inextricably intertwined with the history - the actual development - of the Ottoman state in the seventeenth century. A reinterpretation of a major event in Ottoman history, his work reconceives the relation between historiography and history - with relevance well beyond the period in question."--Jacket. The month of May in the year 1622 was traumatic and turbulent for the Ottomans.