Becoming Ottoman: Converts, Renegades and Identity in Early Modern and Modern Context

＂This book examines the role of Europeans who settled in the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries and assumed an ＂Ottoman identity＂, be it by way of conversion to Islam and assimilating to the host society or by becoming loyal servants or subjects of the Ottoman state, identifying themselves as Ottomans, but retaining their faith. Bringing together a variety of case studies that reflect a broad range of individual experiences in changing historical circumstances, the book provides a detailed study of the process of Ottomanization. The book draws upon a variety of archival and other sources such as juridical documents, travelogues, diaries and chronicles, including lesser-known examples, from early-modern Czech, Hungarian and Moldavian or Italian views of converts and conversion cases, to case studies of 19th century Germans, Hungarians and Austrians who switched loyalty. They show that this process depended on a range of factors, from conversion, to integration into the culture of the ruling elites, fluency in the language, affiliation through family ties or marriage, and, most importantly, social status and professional rank＂--

Yavuz Köse is Professor of Turkish Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His recent titles include Osmanen in Hamburg - eine Beziehungsgeschichte zur Zeit des Ersten Weltkrieges (2016), and Junge Perspektiven der Türkeiforschung in Deutschland Bd. II (with B. Dogramaci, K. Öktem and T. Völker; 2014).

Petr Kucera is Junior Professor of Turkish Studies at the Asia-Africa-Institute, University of Hamburg, Germany. He is the co-author with J. Malecková of FromIstanbul to the End of the World: Ottoman Travel Writings from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Academia, Prague 2019, in Czech).

Tobias Völker is Research Assistant at the Department of Turcology at University of Hamburg, Germany.