SPECIAL SUBJECT CLASS 4 THE CITY: THE CONVERSION OF ISTANBUL Things to Consider - What were the strategies by which Mehmed II went about securing and appropriating the city after 1453 conquest? - How did the ottomans treat the Christian and imperial heritage of Constantinople? Lecture - City not just as a backdrop but site for inscribing ti realising a certain vision (religionft politicalft culturalft economic) - Role of cities in inculcating certain power structures/ cultural values on a space ti people who occupy space - How are myths built on to communicate something to residents ti how does it occur practically/physically? - How to cities act on people ti actors involved in process- not just sultan but wider set of elite - Move away from top down perspective ti look at the social city; how was it experienced/shaped by residents - Hard to overstate ottoman conquest of cityft put end to eastern roman empireft seen as the 'fall' - Sends shockwaves across Mediterranean/ Europe - Consider if our own influence on 1453 as a turning point is influenced by Eurocentric perspectiveft but most scholars agree it's a turning point - Catalyst for propelling ottomans into imperial setting - Important strategic location o Allows you to control east/west trade between black sea ti Mediterranean o Incredible geographic ti geostrategic influence - Symbolic importance; centre of roman empire - Hight of renaissance = people taking interest in roman heritageft ottomans no exception - Part of the Islamic imaginary; already attempted sieges - All of this not without tension; was contested among ottoman elites. Frontier lords/ghazis opposed settlement of empire into urban ti morally compromised city. Not universally celebrated - Another tension was the christian heritage of the city which was intrinsically linked with imperial heritage - Hagia Sophia coexist for long time with traditional Christian trappings- gives sense of co-existence but certainly not without tension - Not just embrace of Christian heritage but appropriation/co-option - Timeline o 1453 population 10ft000 o 53 repair of city walls o 56 completion of his palace o 56-7 first known masjid Haci Halil o 63 completion of new mosque
SPECIAL SUBJECT CLASS 4 THE CITY: THE CONVERSION OF ISTANBUL o 78 population reaches 50ft000 o 79 ottoman state ti subjects come to dominate trade in Aegean ti black sea (from venetian city states) - Incredibly rapid takeover of city - Doukas o Writes 145tt-6tt o Grandfather political refugee from byzantine civil war o Serves in genoses colony in lesbos o Unionist- wants union of orthodox ti catholic churches o Sources varied; person eyewitness accountsft meetings with troops/captives o Knew Turkishft Italian ti Greek - Kritovoloulos o Member of nobility o Respected scholar ti appointed by Mehmed as governor of Imbros o Written 1453-67 o Presents work to sultan 1467 o Work not circulated in Europe. Presents interesting perspective Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turksft Doukas (contemporary historian) - tttt0 emperor makes reference to peace before Mehmed - Mehmed offers chance for surrender