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The Resource Useful enemies : Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750, Noel Malcolm

Useful enemies : Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750, Noel Malcolm

Creator
Summary
From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the eighteenth century, many Western European writers viewed the Ottoman Empire with almost obsessive interest. Typically they reacted to it with fear and distrust; and such feelings were reinforced by the deep hostility of Western Christendom towards Islam. Yet there was also much curiosity about the social and political system on which the huge power of the sultans was based. In the sixteenth century, especially, when Ottoman territorial expansion was rapid and Ottoman institutions seemed particularly robust, there was even open admiration. In this path-breaking book Noel Malcolm ranges through these vital centuries of East-West interaction, studying all the ways in which thinkers in the West interpreted the Ottoman Empire as a political phenomenon - and Islam as a political religion. Useful Enemies shows how the concept of 'oriental despotism' began as an attempt to turn the tables on a very positive analysis of Ottoman state power, and how, as it developed, it interacted with Western debates about monarchy and government. Noel Malcolm also shows how a negative portrayal of Islam as a religion devised for political purposes was assimilated by radical writers, who extended the criticism to all religions, including Christianity itself. Examining the works of many famous thinkers (including Machiavelli, Bodin, and Montesquieu) and many less well-known ones, Useful Enemies illuminates the long-term development of Western ideas about the Ottomans, and about Islam. Noel Malcolm shows how these ideas became intertwined with internal Western debates about power, religion, society, and war. Discussions of Islam and the Ottoman Empire were thus bound up with mainstream thinking in the West on a wide range of important topics. These Eastern enemies were not just there to be denounced. They were there to be made use of, in arguments which contributed significantly to the development of Western political thought. --
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 487 pages
Contents
  • 1: The Fall of Constantinople, the Turks, and the Humanists. 2: Views of Islam: standard assumptions. 3: Habsburgs and Ottomans: 'Europe' and the conflict of empires. 4: Protestantism, Calvinoturcism, and Turcopapalism. 5: Alliances with the infidel. 6: The new paradigm. 7: Machiavelli and Reason of State. 8: Campanella. 9: Despotism I: the origins. 10: Analyses of Ottoman strength and weakness. 11: Justifications of warfare, and plans for war and peace. 12: Islam as a political religion. 13: Critical and radical uses of Islam I: Vanini to Toland. 14: Critical and radical uses of Islam II: Bayle to Voltaire. 15: Despotism II: seventeenth-century theories. 16: Despotism III: Montesquieu. Conclusion. List of manuscripts. Bibliography. Index
Isbn
9780198830139
Instance
Label
Useful enemies : Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750
Title
Useful enemies
Title remainder
Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750
Statement of responsibility
Noel Malcolm
Title variation
Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the eighteenth century, many Western European writers viewed the Ottoman Empire with almost obsessive interest. Typically they reacted to it with fear and distrust; and such feelings were reinforced by the deep hostility of Western Christendom towards Islam. Yet there was also much curiosity about the social and political system on which the huge power of the sultans was based. In the sixteenth century, especially, when Ottoman territorial expansion was rapid and Ottoman institutions seemed particularly robust, there was even open admiration. In this path-breaking book Noel Malcolm ranges through these vital centuries of East-West interaction, studying all the ways in which thinkers in the West interpreted the Ottoman Empire as a political phenomenon - and Islam as a political religion. Useful Enemies shows how the concept of 'oriental despotism' began as an attempt to turn the tables on a very positive analysis of Ottoman state power, and how, as it developed, it interacted with Western debates about monarchy and government. Noel Malcolm also shows how a negative portrayal of Islam as a religion devised for political purposes was assimilated by radical writers, who extended the criticism to all religions, including Christianity itself. Examining the works of many famous thinkers (including Machiavelli, Bodin, and Montesquieu) and many less well-known ones, Useful Enemies illuminates the long-term development of Western ideas about the Ottomans, and about Islam. Noel Malcolm shows how these ideas became intertwined with internal Western debates about power, religion, society, and war. Discussions of Islam and the Ottoman Empire were thus bound up with mainstream thinking in the West on a wide range of important topics. These Eastern enemies were not just there to be denounced. They were there to be made use of, in arguments which contributed significantly to the development of Western political thought. --
Assigning source
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Malcolm, Noel
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
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Label
Useful enemies : Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750, Noel Malcolm
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-463) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1: The Fall of Constantinople, the Turks, and the Humanists. 2: Views of Islam: standard assumptions. 3: Habsburgs and Ottomans: 'Europe' and the conflict of empires. 4: Protestantism, Calvinoturcism, and Turcopapalism. 5: Alliances with the infidel. 6: The new paradigm. 7: Machiavelli and Reason of State. 8: Campanella. 9: Despotism I: the origins. 10: Analyses of Ottoman strength and weakness. 11: Justifications of warfare, and plans for war and peace. 12: Islam as a political religion. 13: Critical and radical uses of Islam I: Vanini to Toland. 14: Critical and radical uses of Islam II: Bayle to Voltaire. 15: Despotism II: seventeenth-century theories. 16: Despotism III: Montesquieu. Conclusion. List of manuscripts. Bibliography. Index
Control code
on1049248251
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 487 pages
Isbn
9780198830139
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(OCoLC)1049248251
Label
Useful enemies : Islam and the Ottoman empire in western political thought, 1450-1750, Noel Malcolm
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-463) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1: The Fall of Constantinople, the Turks, and the Humanists. 2: Views of Islam: standard assumptions. 3: Habsburgs and Ottomans: 'Europe' and the conflict of empires. 4: Protestantism, Calvinoturcism, and Turcopapalism. 5: Alliances with the infidel. 6: The new paradigm. 7: Machiavelli and Reason of State. 8: Campanella. 9: Despotism I: the origins. 10: Analyses of Ottoman strength and weakness. 11: Justifications of warfare, and plans for war and peace. 12: Islam as a political religion. 13: Critical and radical uses of Islam I: Vanini to Toland. 14: Critical and radical uses of Islam II: Bayle to Voltaire. 15: Despotism II: seventeenth-century theories. 16: Despotism III: Montesquieu. Conclusion. List of manuscripts. Bibliography. Index
Control code
on1049248251
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 487 pages
Isbn
9780198830139
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(OCoLC)1049248251

Subject

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