Writing Biography with Limited Sources and Few Models: The Case of Hurrem Sultan

Tür:

Kitap Bölümü

Yazar:

Leslie Peirce

Yayın yılı:

2019

Yayıncı:

BRILL

This article takes up some of the issues encountered in composing a biography in the field of early modern Ottoman history. The subject of the biography I am finishing – Hurrem, concubine and then wife of the 16th-century sultan Suleyman i “the magnificent” – has entered the historical record as a notorious seductress, a portrait that is repeated even in 20th-century scholarship. In some ways, this tenacious image is a good foil against which to write, but the lack of sources for a life of Hurrem on the one hand and lack of models on the other create challenges. The writings of European envoys and travelers are our best source, but they cast little light on her everyday life, while archival materials, although valuable, are limited mainly to documents relating to her philanthropic foundations and a handful of letters she wrote to Suleyman. As for models of biographical writing, there are few examples, all of well known men with well-documented lives (Mehmet ii “the Conqueror,” historian and bureaucrat Mustafa `Ali, the grand vezir Mahmud Pasha). Beginning with the question of Hurrem’s unknown origins, this paper will describe problems and solutions in the attempt to write a comprehensive account of her life and accomplishments.

Künye/erişim: kaynak bağlantısı