Description
Book SynopsisExamines how ideological and administrative crises within Islamic lands in the late fifteenth century brought about a new conception of kingship for the early modern period. Through Idris Bidlisi, a major intellectual and statesman, this book paints a picture of a changing Ottoman Empire: shifting from regional dynastic kingdom to global empire.
Trade Review'This belongs among the best treatments that combine intellectual and sociopolitical history based on Islamic materials. Markiewicz's dense presentation of the life and work of Idris Bidlisi shows both how ideas matter for the conduct of politics and why they must be understood as responses to specific historical situations. The book is essential reading for scholars concerned with the Ottoman, Aqquyunlu, and Safavid empires as well as with Persian as a medium for historiography and the chancery.' Shahzad Bashir, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Humanities, Brown University, Rhode Island
'A masterly study, deeply researched, many-layered and carefully nuanced. Markiewicz offers keen insights into a little known scholarly and philosophical world, and widens the scope of debate about the Ottoman self-image in the crucial era after 1517. Approaching the topic through the thought and influence of Idris Bidlisi makes a potentially impenetrable mass of esoteric thought clearly accessible to modern researchers.' Christine Woodhead, Honorary Fellow of Ottoman History, University of Durham
'This is an old-school monograph in the of best ways; it is extremely focused and necessary reading for experts in the field.' R. A. Miller, Choice
'… an admirable biography of a major scholar and scribe as well as a rich study of intellectual activity in the 15th–century and 16th–century … makes important contributions to Islamic political thought, as well as to the nexus between patronage, literary culture, and intellectual output, especially in historical writing. It is also an excellent biography.' Ethan L. Menchinger, International Journal of Middle East Studies
'Markiewicz's reworking of his PhD thesis has produced a book that is complex in its ideas and argument, beautifully structured, written in clear and well-signposted prose, and cleanly produced in the Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization series.' Amy Singer, Speculum
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I: 1. The realm of generation and decay: Bidlisi in Iran, 1457–1502; 2. Patronage and place among the Ottomans: Bidlisi and the Court of Bayezid II, 1502–1511; 3. The return East (1511–1520); Part II: 4. The Timurid vocabulary of sovereignty; 5. The canons of conventional histories; 6. Ottoman sovereignty on the cusp of Universal Empire; Conclusion.
