Book Synopsis

Histories of the Turks were a central means through which English authors engaged in intellectual and cultural terms with the Ottoman Empire, its advance into Europe following the capture of Constantinople (1454), and its continuing central European power up to the treaty of Karlowitz (1699). Writing the Ottomans examines historical writing on the Turks in England from 1480-1700. It explores the evolution of this discourse from its continental roots, and its development in response to moments of military crisis such as the Long War of 1593-1606 and the War of the Holy League 1683-1699, as well as Anglo-Ottoman trade and diplomacy throughout the seventeenth century. From the writing of central authors such as Richard Knolles and Paul Rycaut, to lesser known names, it reads English histories of the Turks in their intellectual, religious, political, economic and print contexts, and analyses their influence on English perceptions of the Ottoman world.

Review Quotes

"Ingram has written a disciplined intellectual history of English history writing about Turks ... . Ingram's careful tracing of Knolles's sources will be much appreciated by scholars, who might have been more careless in their reading. With his book he invites other scholars to tap more fully into this material to explore what kinds of imagery and aims they contained." (Eva Johanna Holmberg, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 70 (1), 2017)

About the Author

Anders Ingram is Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has previously published on English writing on the Ottomans and Islam, travel writing, book history, digital methodologies, and popular politics, including a recent article in the Historical Journal.