The role of Alvise Gritti within the Ottoman politics in the context of the "Hungarian Question" (1526-1534)
Author(s)
Advisor
Date
2009Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
Alvise Gritti is one of the most interesting and vivid characters appeared in
both Ottoman and European history of the sixteenth century. As an Istanbul-born
Venetian, Gritti was the son of Andrea Gritti, the Doge of Venice elected in 1523,
from a non-Muslim Ottoman woman. Since he was accepted as illegitimate
according to the Venetian law, he was deprived from the right of participation into
the Venetian politics. He found the opportunity of having a political carrier in
Istanbul, his birth place, where he had come to engage in commerce; mediated
between the Ottoman sultan and the European states; and undertook important tasks
in the “Hungarian Question”, which was considered as one of the most important
political problems of the period.
This thesis intends to peruse the life and the roles of Alvise Gritti within the
Ottoman politics. In this context, besides the political conjuncture of the period, the
family, the personality, and the extensive commercial and political networks of
Alvise Gritti and the tasks that he undertook as part of the “Hungarian Question”
mainly by light of the Venetian sources.
The thesis reaches the conclusion that Alvise Gritti is one of the “versatile
personalities” of his time; he advanced through the present political system and
deposed by the same system whenever he started to use it for his benefits. Thus, it
was deduced that the examination of the life of Gritti and his political roles is
important and necessary not only to reveal a figure rarely appeared in the Ottoman
history but also to understand the general political structure and the diplomatic
relations of the period more clearly.
Keywords
Alvise GrittiGritti Family
Beyoğlu
Suleyman I
Ibrahim Pasha
Charles V
Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry
“Hungarian Question” János Szápolyai
Italian Wars
Balance of Power
Universal Sovereignty