The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth 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. By examining political action in the context of household networks, Leslie Peirce demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures. Royal women were custodians of sovereign power, training their sons in its use and exercising it directly as regents when necessary. Furthermore, they played central roles in the public culture of sovereignty--royal ceremonial, monumental building, and patronage of artistic production. The Imperial Harem argues that the exercise of political power was tied to definitions of sexuality. Within the dynasty, the hierarchy of female power, like the hierarchy of male power, reflected the broadersociety's control for social control of the sexually active.
Leslie Peirce Libri
Leslie P. Peirce è una storica il cui lavoro approfondisce la storia moderna iniziale dell'Impero Ottomano, con un focus particolare su genere, diritto e società. La sua erudizione è caratterizzata da una profonda immersione nelle strutture sociali e nei sistemi legali dell'epoca. Peirce esplora le complessità della vita quotidiana e le dinamiche di potere attraverso un'analisi meticolosa delle fonti storiche. Il suo approccio offre una prospettiva unica sulla formazione della società e sulla posizione delle donne nel mondo ottomano dell'era moderna iniziale.
Empress of the East
- 384pagine
- 14 ore di lettura
The extraordinary story of a slave-girl who rose from concubine to become the Ottoman Empire's only queen.