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Life after the Harem

Life after the Harem

Life after the Harem

Female Palace Slaves, Patronage and the Imperial Ottoman Court
Betül İpşirli Argit , Marmara University, Istanbul
October 2020
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Adobe eBook Reader
9781108807609

    The first study to explore the lives of female slaves of the Ottoman imperial court, including the period following their manumission and transfer from the imperial palace. Through an analysis of a wide range of hitherto unexplored primary sources, Betül İpşirli Argıt demonstrates that the manumission of female palace slaves and their departure from the palace did not mean the severing of their ties with the imperial court; rather, it signaled the beginning of a new kind of relationship that would continue until their death. Demonstrating the diversity of experiences in non-dynastic female-agency in the early-modern Ottoman world, Life After the Harem shows how these evolving relationships had widespread implications for multiple parties, from the manumitted female palace slaves, to the imperial court, and broader urban society. In so doing, İpşirli Argıt offers not just a new way of understanding the internal politics and dynamics of the Ottoman imperial court, but also a new way of understanding the lives of the actors within it.

    • The first study to explore the lives of female slaves of the Ottoman imperial court, including the period following their manumission and transfer from the imperial palace.
    • Demonstrates the diversity of experiences and agency of non-dynastic female members of the imperial courts
    • Opens new horizons for those interested in the roles of palace women, the nature of patronage relationships, and personal and political dynamics in the Ottoman imperial court

    Reviews & endorsements

    ‘Betül İpşirli Argıt’s monograph, based on her groundbreaking PhD research and expanded here with additional material, is a masterful work that asks entirely new questions. This elegantly written book lays bare the richness and complexity of the experiences of non-dynastic women in positions of servitude in the Ottoman palace and interrogates the histories of actors whose stories have been heretofore neglected by historians … Dr. Argıt’s study provides new and profound insights into the social history of the non-dynastic women of the Ottoman harem. It breaks new ground in tracing their lives and roles in society post-manumission, thus widening the scope and nuancing the scholarship on free and unfree lives in the Ottoman era.’ Nur Sobers-Khan, Journal of Early Modern History

    ’… a masterful work that asks entirely new questions. … Dr Argıt’s study provides new and profound insights into the social history of the non-dynastic women of the Ottoman harem. It breaks new ground in tracing their lives and roles in society post-manumission, thus widening the scope and nuancing the scholarship on free and unfree lives in the Ottoman era.’ Nur Sobers-Khan, Journal of Early Modern History

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    Product details

    October 2020
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781108807609
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction
    • 1. The Imperial Harem and Its Residents
    • 2. Departure from the Imperial Palace and Changing Relationships with the Imperial Court
    • 3. Marriage Patterns
    • 4. Residential Districts and Relations with Society
    • 5. Material World: Fortunes and Possessions
    • 6. Charitable Activities: Architectural Patronage and Endowments.
      Author
    • Betül İpşirli Argit , Marmara University, Istanbul

      Betül İpşirli Argıt is Associate Professor of Ottoman History at Marmara University where her research focuses on the history of women in the Ottoman Empire, material culture and the history of the Ottoman imperial court. In addition to a number of articles, she is the author of Rabia Gülnuş Emetullah Valide Sultan (1640-1715) (2014) and “Hayatlarının Çeşitli Safhalarında Harem-i Hümayun Cariyeleri, 18.yüzyıl” (2017). She is the recipient of the TUBİTAK Post-Doctoral fellowship in Turkey.

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