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Five Osmans: The Ottoman crisis of 1622 in early seventeenth-century literature

Ajdinović, I.

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Citation for published version (APA):Ajdinović, I. (2014). Five Osmans: The Ottoman crisis of 1622 in early seventeenth-century literature.

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Download date: 07 Dec 2020

Five Osm

ans The Ottom

an Crisis of 1622 in Early Seventeenth-C

entury Literature

Five OsmansThe Ottoman Crisis of 1622

in Early Seventeenth-Century Literature

Five Osmans

The Ottoman Crisis of 1622

in Early Seventeenth-Century Literature

Irena Ajdinović

Printing: Ridderprint BV, www.ridderprint.nl

Cover: Ridderprint BV, www.ridderprint.nl

Five Osmans

The Ottoman Crisis of 1622

in Early Seventeenth-Century Literature

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor

aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam

op gezag van de Rector Magnificus

prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom

ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde

commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel

op dinsdag 9 december 2014, te 12:00 uur

door Irena Ajdinović

geboren te Belgrado, Servië

Promotores: Prof. dr. E.M.P. van Gemert

Prof. dr. H.F.K. van Nierop

Overige leden:

Prof. dr. S.Z. Berger

Prof. dr. G.H. Janssen

Prof. dr. J. Novaković - Lopušina

Dr. J. Schmidt

Dr. R. D'Amora

Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen

Acknowledgments

When I boarded, in 2008, the airplane that was to carry me from Belgrade to Amsterdam to

start working on my PhD research, I could not imagine the magnitude of the changes I was to

face in the years to come. This was in many ways a period of immense growth. My interest in

the topic of my research has kept growing over the years, and the knowledge I have acquired

of the early modern world has increased immeasurably. My infatuation with Netherlandish

culture has become a solid marriage, while my flings with the Slavic and Ottoman studies

developed into a genuine fascination. On the personal front, the number of friends and dear

colleagues has multiplied. Finally, my family has grown as well. All of this was only possible

due to the support of numerous people around me.

This research has its roots in the period I spent as a student and a teaching assistant at

the Dutch Studies Department of the University of Belgrade. I would therefore like to start by

acknowledging my mentor there, Jelica Novaković, whose dedication to Dutch culture has

been a great source of inspiration. Jelica was the first to recognize and support my

enthousiasm for early modern literature, enthousiasm that was a starting point of my doctoral

research at the University of Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam, I would first and foremost like to thank my promotores Lia van

Gemert and Henk van Nierop for putting their trust in me in undertaking this project. I was

lucky and privileged to have them as my supervisors. Lia and Henk have joined their

expertise in the precious feedback that helped me to conceive answers to the complex

questions that cultural history can ask. I am thankful for their steady and warm guidance, and

for all the knowledge they have shared with me over the past years.

Jan Schmidt has been a knowledgeable and inspiring guide directing my first steps

into the world of the Ottomans. It was with him that I had the privilege of organizing a

conference in Istanbul in 2012 entitled Ha’ilat-i Osmaniye (Ottoman Tragedies): Ottoman

Upheavals through Ottoman and Foreign Eyes. This conference was made possible by the

Dutch Institute in Turkey (NIT), to whom I am greatly indebted for this wonderful

opportunity. Apart from Jan Schmidt, I would like to thank all participants in this conference

for their valuable contributions that helped me orient myself in the world of Ottoman studies:

Baki Tezcan, Bahadır Sürelli, Ivana Brković, Tülün Değirmenci and Aysel Yildız.

For the part of my research that I conducted in Zagreb, I met a warm welcome from

the colleagues at the University of Zagreb: Ivana Brković, Davor Dukić and Zrinka Blažević.

They more than generously helped me with all my questions and provided me with access to

materials before I even knew I needed them. I am particularly grateful to Ivana, whose

insights were instrumental for my work, and who was kind enough to provide comments on

the part of my dissertation that deals with the two Dalmatian poets.

I would also like to thank my colleagues from the UvA: my roommates Coen Wilders,

Lodewijk Petram, Femke Deen, Josje Damsma, Vera Sykora, Suze Zijlstra, Marrigje

Paijmans and Sabine Muller, who have made working on this dissertation such a pleasant

journey. Also thanks to all the colleagues from the Department of Historical Dutch Literature

and the Department of History for their input and support. I am particularly grateful to

Maartje van Gelder for a number of precious tips, Jelle Koopmans for thinking with me in the

early days of my dissertation, Carla Dauven- van Knippenberg for helping me decipher a

German pamphlet, Frans Blom for his constructive feedback in the shakiest moments of my

research, and all the members of the AIO club for their valuable comments. Marrigje and

Niamh have been great friends all these years and wonderful paranimfen too.

I am indebted to Bruno Demoulin for his guidance regarding the history of Liège.

Special gratitude goes to Zlata Muradbegović, Carolyn Arena and Niamh O’Sullivan for their

help with the various languages. Zlata pondered over my translations from French. Carolyn

and Niamh kindly edited and revised my English.

Further, I want to acknowledge people who may not have directly contributed to this

dissertation, but who certainly contributed to the wellbeing of its author. Many thanks to my

friends from Belgrade for their support. I am also immensely grateful to my family in law,

especially to Engeline and Jaap, and the friends and family in Holland who warmly

welcomed me.

Finally, I want to express my endless gratitude and love to those who are a vital

support in my life, both in the years I spent working on this dissertation and beyond. Two of

them are my parents. Had they not accepted the burden of missing my presence, this

dissertation would never have been written. The third one is Stefan, who infallibly has been

there for me. Life with him, and with our daughters, is a privilege and a joy.

Contents

Introduction

History 1

Research objectives 4

The texts 4

The image of the Turk 6

Approach and method 10

Contemporaneity 10

Commonplaces 13

Structure 16

Note on terminology, transcription and translation 17

Chapter One – The news of Osman’s fall

Introduction 21

The sources 21

The commonplaces 30

The Enemy 30

The Barbarian 34

Divine intervention 37

Disorder 41

Conclusion 45

Chapter Two – The poets

Introduction 47

Denis Coppée 47

Abraham Kemp 51

Ivan Tomko Mrnavić 57

Ivan Gundulić 60

Dede Ağa 66

Conclusion 73

Chapter Three - Osman in the Low Countries: history plays by Kemp and Coppée

Introduction 75

The plays 77

Coppée’s Deplorable Assassination 78

Kemp’s Tragedy 79

Far from the Turks 82

Coppée and the Ottomans 84

A poor little prince 84

A contrast 89

Kemp and the Ottomans 94

Better loved than feared 94

A future 97

Conclusion 101

Chapter Four - Better the devil you know? Gundulić and Mrnavić on the fall of Osman II

Introduction 103

The texts 104

Ivan Tomko Mrnavić’s Osmanschica 104

Ivan Gundulić’s Osman 107

Close to the Turk 110

A tyrant, or an incapable prince 113

Mrnavić and Osman 116

Gundulić and Osman 118

Battle of the opposites 121

Conclusion 129

Chapter Five – Dede Ağa and the two sultans

Introduction 131

The padishah is dead… 133

…long live the padishah! 142

The old elite 146

Conclusion 155

Conclusion 157

Bibliography 163

Summary 177

Samenvatting 181

Index 185