Browsing by Subject "Ottoman Balkans"

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Beyond conquest: continuity and change on the Ottoman western frontier (from the late 15th to mid-16th century)
(2024-06) Baş, Göksel
This thesis examines the evolution and financial structure of the Ottoman frontier organisation from the late 15th to mid-16th centuries, focusing on its military and fiscal strategies. The research emphasises institutional continuity during this period, filling a scholarly gap between the extensively studied 16th and 17th century Ottoman military history and frontier studies. While the existing literature predominantly addresses military aspects post-Mohács, this study particularly examines the pre- Mohács Ottoman frontier structure and its network of fortresses spanning Bosnia, Croatia, Srem, and Hungary. It highlights numerous fortresses and their garrisons, revealing a substantial financial system established in the 1470s to sustain military outposts. Key findings reveal the Ottoman territorial expansion and development of frontier organization and financing mechanisms. This study traces the capture and utilisation of fortresses, elucidating their strategic importance, and the Ottoman Empire’s systematic reorganisation of conquered territories into a cohesive defensive hinterland. In contrast to previous studies overlooking financial pressures on Ottoman frontier administration, this thesis explores mechanisms such as the havale method, timar allocations, and subsidies from central treasury utilized to support frontier fortresses. Drawing on newly uncovered archival documents, this research analyses the emergence of frontier power holders and the growth of the sipahi cavalry in maintaining Ottoman military dominance in its western frontier. It examines how financial strategies evolved alongside military exigencies, enabling sustained expansion and defence.
Open Access
Mastering the conquered space : resurrection of urban life in Ottoman upper Thrace (14th - 17th c)
(2013) Boykov, Grigor
This dissertation examines several cases of urban development in the Ottoman Balkans aiming to demonstrate the existence of an established Ottoman model for urban modification and creation of new towns. Focusing on the morphology of four towns rebuilt or established from scratch the dissertation finds a normative pattern in the methods applied by the Ottomans in reclaiming urban space in the conquered territories. The Ottoman central power and the semi-autonomous border raider commanders in the Balkans applied a program for changing of the inherited spatial in order in the Byzantino-Slavic cities in the Balkans through a conscious attempt for shifting of the existing urban core away of the fortified parts. The concept for changing of the spatial order through architectural patronage has followed a long evolutionary path and certainly predates the Ottoman state. The T-shaped multifunctional imaret/zaviyes used in the Ottoman urban program as colonizers of urban space constitute the important novelty that came into being in Ottoman Bithynia and was subsequently transferred to the Balkans.
Open Access
The spread of Islam in the Ottoman Balkans: Revisiting Bulliet's method on religious conversion
(Oriental Institute (ASCR), 2010) Radushev, E.
The first chronologically comprehensive and conceptually sound view of conversion to Islam was that offered by R. W. Bulliet. His Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period, published in 1979, is of great importance to the study of the conversion process and its ethno-religious and social consequences. Qualifying R. W. Bulliet's method as "an original, bold and provocative work worthy of attention," it should be mentioned that his study has been criticized on many grounds. Some historians conceive it, above all, as "food for thought," its conclusions being reliable primarily with respect to medieval Iran only, due to the great limitations of the source base. I would maintain, however, that given the sufficient amounts of available empirical data, R. W. Bulliet's research technique is reliable and meaningful. In my paper I have attempted to show through the results of my research that his quantitative model and timetable of conversion to Islam are valid in relation to the investigation of the dynamics of ethno-religious processes in the Ottoman Balkans. The similar results revealed in both this researcher's theoretically drawn model and the curve of conversion that I obtained when using a sufficient quantity of numerical data from the Balkans, prove that Bulliet's method is applicable in investigating the diffusion of Islam in its broadest chronological and territorial scope.