The Ottoman "wild west" : the Balkan frontier in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries / Nikolay Antov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Antov, Nikolay, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muslims--Balkan Peninsula--History--To 1500.

Muslims.

Muslims--Balkan Peninsula--History--16th century.

Balkan Peninsula--History--To 1500.

Balkan Peninsula.

Balkan Peninsula--History--16th century.

Turkey--History--1453-1683.

Turkey.

Ludogorie (Bulgaria)--History--To 1500.

Ludogorie (Bulgaria).

Ludogorie (Bulgaria)--History--16th century.

Gerlovo Region (Bulgaria)--History--To 1500.

Gerlovo Region (Bulgaria).

Gerlovo Region (Bulgaria)--History--16th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (v, 324 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In the late fifteenth century, the north-eastern Balkans were under-populated and under-institutionalized. Yet, by the end of the following century, the regions of Deliorman and Gerlovo were home to one of the largest Muslim populations in southeast Europe. Nikolay Antov sheds fresh light on the mechanics of Islamization along the Ottoman frontier, and presents an instructive case study of the 'indigenization' of Islam - the process through which Islam, in its diverse doctrinal and socio-cultural manifestations, became part of a distinct regional landscape. Simultaneously, Antov uses a wide array of administrative, narrative-literary, and legal sources, exploring the perspectives of both the imperial center and regional actors in urban, rural, and nomadic settings, to trace the transformation of the Ottoman polity from a frontier principality into a centralized empire. Contributing to the further understanding of Balkan Islam, state formation and empire building, this unique text will appeal to those studying Ottoman, Balkan, and Islamic world history.

Contents:

The broad historical context : the rise of the Ottoman empire and the formation of Muslim communities in the Balkans as an integral part of the ottomanization of the region

The rise of the Ottomans, ca. 1300-ca. 1550 : an overview

The Ottoman transformation from a frontier principality to an imperial bureaucratic regime

The formation of Muslim communities in the Ottoman Balkans in historiography and memory

1.3.1 Major theories of the formation and development of Muslim communities in the Ottoman Balkans

1.3.2 Assessment of the theories of the formation of Muslim communities in the Ottoman Balkans

Colonization, settlement, and faith in the Balkans in the early Ottoman period (ca. 1352 to early 16th century)

Colonization and settlement in the early Ottoman Balkans : historical and historiographic overview

The abdals of Rum(eli) and their allies : "heterodox" Islam, Turcoman colonization, and legitimacy (late 14th-early 16th centuries)

Conquest, colonization, and authority in the early Ottoman Balkans in the light of heterodox hagiographic works : the velayetnames of Seyyid ali Sultan (kızıl deli) and Otman baba

2.3.1 Kızıl deli, Rüstem gazi, and the conquest of the Balkans

2.3.2. Otman baba

The northeastern Balkans from the late medieval period to the late fifteenth century : pre-Ottoman Turcoman invasions and migrations, the Ottoman conquest, and the "turbulent" fifteenth century. Deliorman and Gerlovo as a "special case"

Introduction

Turcoman involvement in the northeastern Balkans prior to the Ottoman conquest

3.2.1. Pontic Turcoman incursions into the Balkans in the pre-Ottoman period

3.2.2 The migration of Seljuk Turks to Dobrudja and the role of Sarı Saltık

The northeastern Ottoman Balkans in the "turbulent" fifteenth century

3.3.1 The battle of Ankara and the Ottoman interregnum

3.3.2 The revolt of Sheykh Bedreddin

3.3.3 The crusade of Varna (1444) and the invasion of Vlad III Tepes south of the Danube (1461-1462)

Patterns of demographic and socio-economic development in Deliorman and Gerlovo in the late fifteenth century. Deliorman and Gerlovo as a "special case"

The repopulation of Deliorman and Gerlovo's countryside in the sixteenth century

The re-population of Deliorman and Gerlovo in the sixteenth century : sürgün and göç, the role of the state and its limits

Major aspects of rural Deliorman and Gerlovo's demographic transformation in the sixteenth century : Turcoman re-population, conversion to Islam, the rise of Derbend villages, and Christian-Muslim co-existence in the light of Ottoman tax registers

4.2.1 The development of the settlement network

4.2.2. demographic analysis by settlement size

4.2.3 demographic analysis by overall population size and status of taxpayers

4.2.4 major agents of Turcoman colonization in the countryside : yürüks and other nomadic or semi-nomadic groups, dervishes, and descendants of the prophet

4.2.5 Waqf (pious endowment) villages

4.2.6 Derbend villages

The development of the urban network in sixteenth-century Deliorman. the emergence of Hezargrad and Eski Cuma, the transformation of Shumnu into an Islamic city, and the decline of Chernovi

Introduction : the Islamic city, the Ottoman city, and the Ottoman Balkan city

The emergence of Ottoman Hezargrad (mod. Razgrad)

5.2.1 Ancient and medieval background

5.2.2 The emergence of a new Ottoman town

5.2.3 The socio-economic development of Hezargrad

The growth and transformation of Shumnu (Shumen) into an Ottoman town

5.3.1 The socio-economic development of Shumnu

The decline of Chernovi (Cherven)

The rise of Eski Cuma (Cuma-i atik, mod. Targovishte)

Concluding remarks

Religion, culture, and authority : two case studies

Demir baba and the abdals of Rum of Otman baba's branch in Deliorman and Gerlovo

6.2.1 the abdals of Rum of Otman baba's branch from the death of Otman baba to Demir baba's emergence as "pole of poles"

6.2.2 The life of Demir baba as "pole" in the light of his velayetname

6.2.2.1 Debate and contest marvels and recognition : Demir baba's image as an axial saint and communal leader

6.2.2.2 Demir baba and the community : the saint as an epitome of power, justice, and generosity

6.2.2.3 Demir baba as a gazi

6.2.2.4 Demir baba and the Ottoman dynasty, state, and political order

6.2.2.5 Demir baba and his spiritual and sectarian rivals

6.2.2.6 positioning the abdals of Rum (of Otman baba's branch) in the Ottoman sectarian and socio-cultural spectrum

The foundation of Hezargrad as an assertion of the Ottoman imperial order

Issues in religion, culture, and authority : conversion to Islam and confessionalization

Conversion to Islam in Deliorman and Gerlovo

7.1.1. conversion to Islam in the countryside : general remarks

7.1.2 "Colonizing heterodox dervishes" and conversion to Islam

7.1.3 Conversion and converts to Islam in the urban centers : the cases of Hezargrad and Shumnu

7.1.3.1 conversion and converts in sixteenth-century Hezargrad

7.1.3.2. conversion and converts in Shumnu

Confessionalization and confession building : insights from Deliorman and Gerlovo.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Jan 2018).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-86378-6

1-316-86308-5

1-316-86553-3