Papers by Samet Budak
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 2024
This article introduces and examines an understudied corpus of Greek language handbooks commissio... more This article introduces and examines an understudied corpus of Greek language handbooks commissioned by the Ottoman court during the reign of Mehmed II (r. 1451–1481). As a result of the multicultural and multilingual nature of the Ottoman court of the era, these primers include teaching material in a number of languages, but the most comprehensive portions of the primers are devoted to the domains of Greek grammar and vocabulary. Drawing from untouched and neglected sources, this article argues that these introductory textbooks can be aptly situated within the context of the Greek scriptorium and court library of the Ottomans in Constantinople. This article’s core argument is that Greek primers used at the Ottoman court were intended to help students learn not only the skills necessary for diplomatic correspondence and chancery but also the skills necessary for exploring ancient knowledge, particularly in the fields of philosophy and science. This engagement with Greek scholarship emanated from an antiquarian-like fascination prevailing within the Ottoman court, which in turn was indicative of a broader interconnected discourse permeating the Mediterranean world during this period.
Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists , 2024
Shortly after the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottoman court of Meḥmed II (r. 1444-46, 1451-81... more Shortly after the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottoman court of Meḥmed II (r. 1444-46, 1451-81) began to produce language-learning primers that would teach significant languages of statecraft and knowledge production from around the Mediterranean world. This article sheds light on the court's pedagogical and ideological engagement with multilingualism through one primer in particular, which bears the shelf mark Ahmet III 2698 in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. We name this primer Meḥmed II's Hexaglot Grammar, as it was produced for his court and contains an array of languages within it: Persian, Ottoman Turkish, Ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek, Latin, and, finally, the vernacular tongue of Middle Armenian. The presence of many of these languages may seem more readily apparent, but what was Middle Armenian doing at the Ottoman court? As we show, Middle Armenian had a presence at court in more ways than one. Alongside the Hexaglot Grammar, the court also produced an extensive primer for learning the Armenian alphabet (MS Ayasofya 4767, Süleymaniye Library). So, too, did producers of knowledge in Middle Armenian find a home at court, such as Amirdovlat' Amasiac'i, a physician whose extensive corpus of pharmacopeia in Middle Armenian likely made use of the palace library. By exploring the circulation of diverse manuscripts, translators, and intellectuals in Constantinople alongside primers such as the Hexaglot Grammar, this article offers a portrait of the Ottoman court never before seen: a place where the premodern Armenian vernacular not only survived, but, for a time, even thrived.
Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, 2024
This article discusses a poorly acknowledged autograph copy of the Khiṭāynāma by Ali Akbar Khitaʾ... more This article discusses a poorly acknowledged autograph copy of the Khiṭāynāma by Ali Akbar Khitaʾi in Persian. Unlike most studies on the work, it argues that ms Istanbul, Aşir Efendi 249 (henceforth ae 249) in the Süleymaniye library is an autograph copy completed in 1516 and presented to Süleyman i (r. 1520-1566) when he was still a prince. It also argues that the author prepared two recensions for two patrons, Selim i (r. 1512-1520) and Süleyman i, around the same time. The article further demonstrates that the appellations sultan and shah were commonly used for Ottoman princes and appeared in various manuscripts. Hence ae 249's usage of the term sultan for Süleyman is not an inconsistency casting doubt on the date of the manuscript and its character. The article additionally provides the most comprehensive list and information on Persian manuscripts of the original work and its two different Ottoman Turkish translations. In this way, it clarifies various confusing references to the manuscripts of the work in modern scholarship. Moreover, it provides a more secure foundation for future research on the Khiṭāynāma as well as on how to discuss the titles of Ottoman patrons and how to conceptualize them in manuscript studies. Ultimately, it hopes to demonstrate that the political context may provide insights to better deal with similar works from the era.
Der Islam, 2022
This article is an attempt to construct a new approach to and narrative of early Ottoman conquest... more This article is an attempt to construct a new approach to and narrative of early Ottoman conquests in Thrace in the 1360s and 1370s. It argues that the so-called second capital of the Ottomans, Adrianople (Edirne), was conquered three times through a detailed evaluation of known, neglected, or unknow sources. The second conquest was almost certainly by frontier lords who conquered the city for their own interests. At the same time, the article challenges the unilinear rise paradigm within the Ottoman studies. It showcases that, in the given period, the political arena between Ottomans, Byzantines, and other Turkish lords was open to various contingencies and dominated through constant negotiations among various parties. The practices of conquest, loss, and reconquest by those various parties determined the color of struggles not only in the case of Adrianople but also various other Thracian towns. The article finally sheds light on the role of a suppressed group of frontier lords who had their own political claims and agenda, betimes contrary to the Ottoman center. In the final analysis, this is an attempt to understand how new historical reconstructions may open up ways to conceptualize the political and social nature of the region in this period.
Journal of Turkish Studies = Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları, 2019
Abstract in Turkish, text in English.
Muqarnas, 2019
This article traces the history of an Ottoman legal custom related to the construction of sultani... more This article traces the history of an Ottoman legal custom related to the construction of sultanic (imperial) mosques. According to conventional narratives, the victory over non-Muslims was the essential requisite for constructing a sultanic mosque. Only after having emerged victorious should a sultan use the funds resulting from holy war to build his own mosque. This article argues that this custom emerged only after the late sixteenth century in tandem with rising complaints about the Ottoman decline and with the ḳānūn-consciousness of the Ottoman elite, although historical accounts present it as if it existed from the beginning of Ottoman rule. It rapidly gained importance, so much so that the Sultan Ahmed Mosque was dubbed “the unbeliever’s mosque” by contemporary ulema. After having examined details of the custom’s canonization, the article deals with how it left its imprint in construction activities (struggles and workarounds), historical sources, literature, and cultural memory, up to the nineteenth century.
erkes n b ld ğ klas k h kâye, Beethoven'ın yen senfon s n , Avrupa'ya özgürlük get rd ğ (!) ç n B... more erkes n b ld ğ klas k h kâye, Beethoven'ın yen senfon s n , Avrupa'ya özgürlük get rd ğ (!) ç n Bonaparte'a thaf ett ğ fakat kend s n mparator lan etmes üzer ne bundan vazgeçt ğ yönünded r. Aslında Ero ca'nın bugün elde bulunan lk baskılarında, Bonaparte le uzaktan yakından lg s olan herhang b r fade yoktur. Senfon n n başlangıçta Napoleon'a thaf ed ld ğ le lg l r vayet b ze Beethoven'ın öğrenc s ve eser n yazıldığı dönemde b r nev sekreter olan Ferd nand R es'tan gelmekted r. R es, o dönemde hem Beethoven'ın notalarını temze çekmekte hem de b r takım yazışmalarını yürütmekted r. Aslında asıl ş bu kopyacılık vaz fes d r fakat Beethoven'dan bazı dersler de almıştır. Hatta hayatının lerleyen dönem nde besteled ğ eserlerle, hatırı sayılır b r bestec olduğunu söylemek de yanlış olmaz. R es, Beethoven'ın ölümünden sonra yazmış olduğu Beethoven b yograf s nde (B ograph sche Not zen Über Ludw g Van Beethoven, 1838) 3. Senfon n n elyazmasını 1804 baharında tamamlanmış halde Beethoven'ın masasında gördüğünü ve üzer ndek Napoleon Bonaparte fades n de okuduğunu anlatır. Ayrıca R es, b rkaç ay sonra Napoleon'un kend kend n mparator lan etmes haber n de Beethoven'a lk leten k ş olduğunu anlatır. Bu had se üzer ne Beethoven h ddetlen r ve elyazmasındak Napoleon Bonaparte fades n hışımla yok eder. Bugün el m zde bu h kâyey doğrulayan elyazması kopyanın kapağı mevcuttur. Or j nal kopyada;
Dissertation by Samet Budak
This dissertation presents a fresh perspective on the intertwined intellectual histories of the b... more This dissertation presents a fresh perspective on the intertwined intellectual histories of the broader Mediterranean, particularly its eastern half, during the transition from the late Middle Ages to early modernity. Shedding light on the scholarly traditions of often overlooked subregions like the Ottoman, Byzantine, and Mamluk domains, as well as Renaissance Italy, it reconstructs an epistemic unity of intellectual life in the Mediterranean. Employing a novel methodology, the dissertation explores the complex systems of mobility, interconnectedness, convergences, and divergences within the region's intellectual history. Using new data unearthed from neglected or unknown manuscripts in a plethora of languages, the dissertation investigates two types of networks: those of thinkers and those of ideas. These networks, traversing the same paths, underscore the entangled webs of knowledge production in the region.
In doing so, the spotlight is projected onto three thinkers from the aforementioned understudied regions, selected for their apt representation of the Mediterranean-wide phenomena of interconnectedness as well as the richness and elasticity of their intellectual endeavors: Gemistos Pletho (d. 1454), a Byzantine philosopher, political reformist and the champion of Platonism in the fifteenth century; Bedreddin of Simavna (d. 1417), a prominent theoretician of philosophical Sufism, and the leader of a significant popular uprising against the Ottoman state; and Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. ca. 1455), one of the foremost encyclopedists and occultists of the fifteenth century, originating from Mamluk Antioch.
The first half of the dissertation reconstructs the intersecting personal networks of this trio, revealing the Mediterranean-wide connectivity of the nuts and bolts of knowledge production. The networks’ extension additionally brings to light the globalizing connections reaching as far as the Timurid cities in Persia and Central Asia. The second half focuses on specific themes of interconnected ideas and abstract entanglements, especially the proliferation of Platonic and Platonizing movements in the period under examination, from the discussions of multiple representations of truth to the attempts to reform political life with utopian visions.
In the final analysis, this dissertation offers fresh data to nuance and enrich the intellectual histories of the broader Mediterranean. With its new findings, it demonstrates the unnoticed span and depth of the networks under exploration, the role of the courts, and patronage. It emphasizes that the ideas of Renaissance thinkers, Ottoman scholars, or Byzantine philosophers are better understood within the context of an interconnected world, with new material concerning the interplay between Platonism, Illuminationism, Sufism, the occult, and the ideas about the ancients. Based on this material, the dissertation offers new methodological strategies, challenging both Eurocentric approaches and the insularities of fields such as the Ottoman and Byzantine Studies in order to go beyond the false dichotomies of conflict and contact or unity and fragmentation. It not only situates the Mediterranean and its aforementioned understudied parts into a global perspective but also demonstrates that these parts allow us to better conceptualize the intellectual and cultural histories of the globe in a transformative period. Ultimately, A Mediterranean Episteme offers a novel approach to understanding a complex system.
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Papers by Samet Budak
Dissertation by Samet Budak
In doing so, the spotlight is projected onto three thinkers from the aforementioned understudied regions, selected for their apt representation of the Mediterranean-wide phenomena of interconnectedness as well as the richness and elasticity of their intellectual endeavors: Gemistos Pletho (d. 1454), a Byzantine philosopher, political reformist and the champion of Platonism in the fifteenth century; Bedreddin of Simavna (d. 1417), a prominent theoretician of philosophical Sufism, and the leader of a significant popular uprising against the Ottoman state; and Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. ca. 1455), one of the foremost encyclopedists and occultists of the fifteenth century, originating from Mamluk Antioch.
The first half of the dissertation reconstructs the intersecting personal networks of this trio, revealing the Mediterranean-wide connectivity of the nuts and bolts of knowledge production. The networks’ extension additionally brings to light the globalizing connections reaching as far as the Timurid cities in Persia and Central Asia. The second half focuses on specific themes of interconnected ideas and abstract entanglements, especially the proliferation of Platonic and Platonizing movements in the period under examination, from the discussions of multiple representations of truth to the attempts to reform political life with utopian visions.
In the final analysis, this dissertation offers fresh data to nuance and enrich the intellectual histories of the broader Mediterranean. With its new findings, it demonstrates the unnoticed span and depth of the networks under exploration, the role of the courts, and patronage. It emphasizes that the ideas of Renaissance thinkers, Ottoman scholars, or Byzantine philosophers are better understood within the context of an interconnected world, with new material concerning the interplay between Platonism, Illuminationism, Sufism, the occult, and the ideas about the ancients. Based on this material, the dissertation offers new methodological strategies, challenging both Eurocentric approaches and the insularities of fields such as the Ottoman and Byzantine Studies in order to go beyond the false dichotomies of conflict and contact or unity and fragmentation. It not only situates the Mediterranean and its aforementioned understudied parts into a global perspective but also demonstrates that these parts allow us to better conceptualize the intellectual and cultural histories of the globe in a transformative period. Ultimately, A Mediterranean Episteme offers a novel approach to understanding a complex system.
In doing so, the spotlight is projected onto three thinkers from the aforementioned understudied regions, selected for their apt representation of the Mediterranean-wide phenomena of interconnectedness as well as the richness and elasticity of their intellectual endeavors: Gemistos Pletho (d. 1454), a Byzantine philosopher, political reformist and the champion of Platonism in the fifteenth century; Bedreddin of Simavna (d. 1417), a prominent theoretician of philosophical Sufism, and the leader of a significant popular uprising against the Ottoman state; and Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. ca. 1455), one of the foremost encyclopedists and occultists of the fifteenth century, originating from Mamluk Antioch.
The first half of the dissertation reconstructs the intersecting personal networks of this trio, revealing the Mediterranean-wide connectivity of the nuts and bolts of knowledge production. The networks’ extension additionally brings to light the globalizing connections reaching as far as the Timurid cities in Persia and Central Asia. The second half focuses on specific themes of interconnected ideas and abstract entanglements, especially the proliferation of Platonic and Platonizing movements in the period under examination, from the discussions of multiple representations of truth to the attempts to reform political life with utopian visions.
In the final analysis, this dissertation offers fresh data to nuance and enrich the intellectual histories of the broader Mediterranean. With its new findings, it demonstrates the unnoticed span and depth of the networks under exploration, the role of the courts, and patronage. It emphasizes that the ideas of Renaissance thinkers, Ottoman scholars, or Byzantine philosophers are better understood within the context of an interconnected world, with new material concerning the interplay between Platonism, Illuminationism, Sufism, the occult, and the ideas about the ancients. Based on this material, the dissertation offers new methodological strategies, challenging both Eurocentric approaches and the insularities of fields such as the Ottoman and Byzantine Studies in order to go beyond the false dichotomies of conflict and contact or unity and fragmentation. It not only situates the Mediterranean and its aforementioned understudied parts into a global perspective but also demonstrates that these parts allow us to better conceptualize the intellectual and cultural histories of the globe in a transformative period. Ultimately, A Mediterranean Episteme offers a novel approach to understanding a complex system.