The sultanate of women
Find out more
Websites
The Ottomans
www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/OTTOMAN/OTTOMAN1.HTM
Detailed overview of the empire, from its origins to the 20th century.
Oddly enough, there is no mention of the women of the harem. Part of the
Washington State University 'World Civilizations' website.
Ottoman Sultans and Caliphs AD 1290-1924
www.friesian.com/turkia.htm
Although this site is not as user-friendly as it might be, it has
a great deal of good information, maps, links and so on.
The Topkapi Palace Museum
www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html
The English of this website might not be the best, but it is full of information
on the palace, including a separate section (with photographs) on the harem.
Books
The Imperial Harem: Women and sovereignty in the Ottoman empire
by Leslie Peirce (Oxford University Press, 1994) £22.99
The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the
16th and early 17th centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting.
This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the
reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed
opposition.
Morality Tales: Law and gender in the Ottoman court of Aintab
by Leslie Peirce (University of California Press, 2003) £19.95
Delves into the life of a 16th-century Middle Eastern community, bringing
to light the ways that women and men used their local law court to solve
personal, family and community problems.
The Ottoman Centuries: The rise and fall of the Turkish empire
by Patrick Balfour Kinross (William Morrow Inc., 1979). US edition only;
may be available from online bookshops.
An account of one of the greatest imperial powers in history – the
Ottoman Turks – from the beginnings of their sultanate in AD 1300
under Osman I, through the height of their civilisation under Süleyman
the Magnificent, to the empire's demise in the early 20th century.
Lords of the Horizons: A history of the Ottoman empire by Jason
Goodwin (Vintage, 1999) £7.99
An evocation of the power of the Ottoman empire, which swelled and declined
over six centuries. The book charts its history from the first campaigns
to the Charge of the Light Brigade, from the Crusades to the Dardanelles,
and aims to bring to life details of Ottoman life.
Inside the Seraglio: Private lives of the sultans in Istanbul
by John Freely (Penguin, 2000) £8.99
Scores of sumptuous illustrations, along with extensive selections from
contemporary sources, give a rich sense of the 'house of felicity' –
the Topkapi Sarayi – in which generations of emperors indulged themselves.
