Description
Book SynopsisDuring the early Ottoman period (13001453), scholars in the empire carefully kept their distance from the ruling class. This changed with the capture of Constantinople. From 1453 onwards, the Ottoman government co-opted large groups of scholars, usually over a thousand at a time, and employed them in a hierarchical bureaucracy to fulfill educational, legal and administrative tasks. Abdurrahman Atçil explores the factors that brought about this gradual transformation of scholars into scholar-bureaucrats, including the deliberate legal, bureaucratic and architectural actions of the Ottoman sultans and their representatives, scholars'' own participation in shaping the rules governing their status and careers, and domestic and international events beyond the control of either group.
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Scholars during the Early Ottoman Period (1300–1453): 1. Post-Mongol realities in Anatolia and the Ottomans; 2. Madrasas and scholars in Ottoman lands; Part II. The Formation of the Hierarchy (1453–1530): 3. Introducing the Ottoman empire; 4. Scholars in Mehmed II's nascent imperial bureaucracy (1453–81); 5. Scholar-bureaucrats realise their power (1481–1530); Part III. The Consolidation of the Hierarchy (1530–1600): 6. The focus of attention changes; 7. The ascendance of dignitary scholar-bureaucrats (mevali); 8. The growth and extension of the hierarchy; 9. The rules and patterns of differentiation among scholar-bureaucrats; 10. The integration of scholar-bureaucrats in multiple career tracks; Conclusion; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.
