The Nature of the Early Ottoman State (Suny Series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East)
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: February 2003
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 275
ISBN-13: 9780791456361
Subjects: Asian / Middle Eastern history; World history; Social conditions; History: World; History; History - General History; ASIA; Turkey; Middle East - General; Political Ideologies - Nationalism; Civilization
Description: "Drawing on surviving documents from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The Nature of the Early Ottoman State provides a revisionist approach to the study of the formative years of the Ottoman Empire. Challenging the predominant view that a desire to spread Islam accounted for Ottoman success during the fourteenth-century advance into Southeastern Europe, Lowry argues that the primary motivation was a desire for booty and slaves.

The early Ottomans were a plundering confederacy, open to anyone (Muslim or Christian) who could meaningfully contribute to this goal. It was this lack of a strict religious orthodoxy, and a willingness to preserve local customs and practices, that allowed the Ottomans to gain and maintain support. Later accounts were written to buttress what had become the self-image of the dynasty following its incorporation of the heartland of the Islamic world in the sixteenth century."--BOOK JACKET.