The Ottomans and Sultan Selim I: Alan Mikhail (1517)
Professor Alan Mikhail
Who were the Ottomans? Why have they been so neglected in the traditional Western approach to history? What precisely was their influence on the fabled events of the sixteenth century? In this episode of Travels Through Time, the historian Alan Mikhail takes us back to the monumental events of the year 1517 to find out.
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The second decade of the sixteenth century was a turbulent one when religious reform was starting to drive deep divisions across the continent of Europe. As Martin Luther set the Reformation in progress, on the other side of the world, new continents were being revealed for the first time.
“Dozens of familiar figures, such as Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Montezuma, the reformer Luther, the warlord Tamerlane and generations of popes, as well as millions of other greater and lesser historical personages, calibrated their actions and defined their very existence in reaction to the reach and grasp of Ottoman power.”
All this drama unfolded against the backdrop of huge gains in Ottoman power under the Sultan, Selim I, who ruled for eight short yet unforgettable years. During this time, he succeeded in defeating two rival Empires – the Safavids in modern day Iran, and the Mamluks - whose vast territories included Egypt and much of the Middle East, making him master of the Islamic world.
In his wonderfully erudite and entertaining book, Mikhail shows how profoundly Ottoman power, and fear of Muslim domination, coloured the lives, decisions and fates of most Europeans. In doing so, he redresses the imbalance caused by centuries of history writing which often left the ‘Turk’ (as the Ottomans were known by their detractors) out of the narrative, minimising their importance and influence to the detriment of our understanding.
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Alan Mikhail is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Yale University. He is the author of four books and over thirty scholarly articles that have received multiple awards, including the Fuat Köprülü Book Prize from the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association for Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Environmental History and the Roger Owen Book Award of the Middle East Studies Association for Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental History.
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Click here to order Alan Mikhail’s book from John Sandoe’s who, we are delighted to say, are supplying books for the podcast.
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Show notes
Scene One: February 1517, Ottoman Sultan Selim captures Cairo
Scene Two: 31 October 1517, Wittenberg, Germany. Disaffected Professor of Theology Martin Luther writes the 95 Theses
Scene Three: Early 1517, The first Europeans land on the coast of Mexico
Memento: The Map of Piri Reis
People
Presenter: Peter Moore
Interview: Violet Moller
Guest: Professor Alan Mikhail
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Colorgraph
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Images
Alan Mikhail’s Memento: The Piri Reis Map (the Atlantic part shown here)
More about the scenes:
Scene One
The Ottoman Sultan Selim rides triumphantly into Cairo having defeated the Mamluk Empire and seized the caliphate. This is a pivotal moment, Selim is now officially Defender of the Faith and the foremost Muslim leader on earth, presiding over a vast empire that has tripled in size during his campaign against the Mamluks, bringing the cities of Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Aleppo and Jerusalem under his control. This momentous event sends shockwaves across the world, striking terror into the hearts of Christian Europeans and dramatically influencing future events.
Scene Two
Wittenberg, Germany. Disaffected Professor of Theology Martin Luther writes the 95 Theses, kick starting the Reformation. Many aspects of his religious reform have been developed in the context of the perceived Islamic threat to Christian culture. Luther believes that Islam has been sent by God to punish the sins of Catholicism, and that if Christianity could only return to the path of righteousness, the all-pervading Muslim threat would melt away. As far as he is concerned, sinful Christians, led by the Pope, are a far greater danger than any Ottoman who can only harm the body, not the soul. Luther’s direct challenge to the Catholic establishment shook European society but the physical response was delayed thanks to the Ottomans, who were themselves the focus of Papal military aggression at that time.
Scene Three
The coast of Mexico. Within weeks of Selim's conquest of Cairo, the first Europeans land in Mexico. As they approach the coast, near Cancún, they spot a grand Mayan city in the distance, larger than anything any of them have ever seen. They christen it El Gran Cairo, the Great Cairo – the spectre of Islamic power has travelled with them across the Atlantic, haunting their imagination. Egypt’s most famous city proved a touchstone: even on the other side of the world, it conjured up for the Spanish the image of a gargantuan metropolis of grandeur, threatening mystery, and bloodthirsty fantasy.
Featured images
Sultan Selim I
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Click here to order God’s Shadow by Alan Mikhail from our friends at John Sandoe’s Books.
Scholarly and readable account of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520), who made the Ottoman Empire a major global player. (John Sandoe’s)
