Zayni Barakat

Zayni Barakat by Al-Ghitani is a fictional account of the last year of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt, right before it is taken over by the Ottomans. The premise of the novel is based around Zayni Barakat who is the Markets Inspector of Cairo and the Land of Egypt who keeps rising in rank and status as the novel progresses and eventually gains the addition of more titles to his name which lead to an increase of power. He holds one of the highest position in Egypt at the time, however he has no blood relation to the Sultan and basically does his bidding for him. One of the most interesting things about the novel, in my opinion was the issue regarding the lamps. Zayni, as Markets Inspector is responsible for protecting the people of Egypt. He establishes laws and rules and makes public announcements which apparently was a rare thing to see in a man of his power. These public announcements account for his actions and this reasoning behind them throughout the book. The issue with these lamps was concerning God and privacy. I thought it was interesting how Zayni Barakat made the announcement to place lamps around the city to fill it with light during the night so that the people would be safe from whatever mischief the Mamluks would cause, that the people had objections. This ties into political affairs and and to me seemed to show signs of a democracy. Zayni wanted these lamps to help protect the people and administer justice but the people objected claiming that God wanted the light in the day and the darkness in the night. The claimed the darkness was a shield that God intended to place over them and protect them and provide them privacy. After the objections from the people the Emirs or nobles got together to discuss this issue with scholars. The two parties had different ideas on the matter. The Scholars were in favor of the light because they felt the people needed protection even if it meant taking away some of their privacy. The Emirs however didn't want the lamps at all and the scholars thought this had to do with them wanting their Mamluks to be able to cause any mischief they would like. The decision was made to get rid of the lamps. I thought this was one of the most interesting episodes in the novel. It shows a strong example of how politics worked during the last year of the Mamluk dynasty and it showed and example of religion and culture.
In my honest opinion, although there were some interesting points, this book was difficult to follow. I understand that since it is historical fiction that names and language and every day activities must be true to fact but I think that is what made the novel hard to follow. The names were long and hard to pronounce and therefore as a reader I had difficulty keeping tract of who was who and therefore did not grasp the full historical context behind it. From a literary standing point i thought the novel was compelling. It used great imagery and diction to convey a the feeling behind the setting. The novel is set in a time of great suspicion in Egypt and through literary elements it is definitely successful in conveying those issues. As for an historical analysis, I found that since i knew little about this era before reading the book, that I was unable to comprehend the full historical significance behind many of the events.

Propaganda in the 15th c

While flipping through my notes, brain storming an idea for my next blog, I remembered class discussion about the fall of Constantinople to the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. As part of the discussion we looked at three written works that served as accounts for this event. There was one account that I found to be particuarly interesting, and I wanted to comment on it. It was the first account which was written by a Byzantine man who was paid by Mehmed to write it around 12 years after the event. In this account the writer glorifies Mehmed useing supposed insirational quotations from him in which he referes to his people as friends. This literary account speaks of the death and distruction that occured in effort to take the city on behalf of the Sultan's orders, but at the end glorifies Mehmed by depicting him as compassionate towards the distruction. It describes his repentance and how his eyes were filled with tears. It is hard to be determine the truth of these accounts and this on inparticular caught my attention once i discovered that is was wirtten by a man paid to write it for the sultan, so the likelihood of it being completely truthfull is doubtfull. This account is nothing more than propaganda in favor of the sultan. It is a PR stunt. I found it really interesting that there are actual accounts of the propaganda used durring the 15th century in much the same way it is used today. This account stood out against the others, because it is not a factual historical document, but rather an historical example of a publucity.

Women in the Ottoman Empire

While reading The Imperial Harem by Leslie Peirce, I have found the role of women in the Ottoman empire interesting and unexpected. The idea of a sultan having multiple concubines did not come as a surprise to me, but the influence they had in the over all political system was unlike anything I have encountered so far in my historical studies.
The role women played in the system was extraordinary and seems to fit in like a puzzle when evaluating the success of the Ottoman Empire. Concubines who birthed a surviving son of the sultan were sent to live outside of the palace in the various different provinces, where they would govern it and receive training. Since they were sent to these provinces and given princely duties at the age of four or five, the mother would play a huge role in the governing of this province until the prince was older, and even then her influence and presences was extremely crucial. When a prince became sultan the mother would then assume the role of "The Queen Mother" which meant an great amount of power with in the palace. I never thought an empire would depend so much on the role of women. It was amazing to read about how a woman could rise from something like a concubine, who shares wifely like duties with multiple other women, to becoming something so prestigious as the Queen mother.
The key to the success of the empire in regards to woman's roles was the absence of legal marriage. My favorite part of the book so far is the chapter on "the favorite". The idea of a favorite concubine threatened the system because it placed too much power in one woman, and there for would create competition among the offspring and possible heir to the throne. I found the story of Suleyman and Hurrem to be the most captivating story I have yet come across in the course. Not only is it a love story but it is an example of how love can violate the sturdy, standard system that the Ottoman put so much faith into and it was threatened by something so simple as a legal marriage. I have yet to read on in the book but according to Pierce "the position of haseki did not disappear with Hurrem". This engages my curiosity. I am curious to read on and relate this story to other instances in the political system of the Ottoman Empire.