Almut Höfert. Den Feind beschreiben: "Türkengefahr" und europäisches
Wissen über
das Osmanische Reich 1450-1600. Campus Historische Studien Series.
Frankfurt:
Campus Verlag, 2003. 265 pp. Appendix, bibliography, index. EUR 45.00
(paper),
ISBN 3-593-37482-X.
Reviewed by: Kersten Horn, Department of Germanic Studies, University of
Texas
at Austin.
Published by: H-German (January, 2005)
That New-time Religion: The Evolution of Religion as an
EthnographicCategory in
the Sixteenth Century
While a glance at the title of Almut Höfert's book may suggest that her
monograph, based on her dissertation, deals with descriptions of the
Ottomans,
this is only true in part. Her main interest lies in the way in which these
descriptions were organized. It is her hypothesis that the angst-ridden
motif of
the Türkengefahr ("Turkish menace") led Europeans to study their enemies
more
closely, engendering a more empirical look at the Ottomans, their
government,
culture, and religious practices. This evolving ethnographic approach,
Höfert
claims, ultimately led to the creation of "religion" as a category in which
non-Christian belief systems and practices could be compared to
Christianity on
an equal footing.
The motif of the "Turkish menace" gained currency in Europe with the Ottoman
conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The fall of Constantinople
symbolized the
end of the Byzantine Empire and was reinterpreted as one of the last
stages in
Christian soteriological history: the appearance of the Antichrist
before the
second coming of the Christ. The "Turkish menace" also gave impetus to a
redefinition of the term "Europe" and "elevated Europe from the status of a
neutral geographical unit to the theological rank of the last refuge of
Christianity" (p. 67; my translation). The fall of Constantinople
coincided with
the spread of the movable-type printing press, which was instrumental in
disseminating the notion of a "Turkish menace" throughout Europe. News
accounts
that reported the latest Ottoman victories in Europe were filled with
depictions
of Turkish cruelty, violence, and sexual voracity. Höfert is careful to
regard
the phenomenon of the "Turkish menace" as related to, but separate from,
actual
Ottoman military expansion in the region. The discourse of the "Turkish
menace"
occupied parts of the European public independently of their proximity to
Ottoman forces. Höfert emphasizes this point especially in light of the fact
that even recent scholarship on the Habsburg-Ottoman rivalry in the
region falls
into the trap of an "us (Europeans) versus them (invaders)"-dichotomy that
attributes greater legitimacy to Habsburg attempts to expand their rule to
Hungary than to Ottoman ones.
European knowledge of the Ottoman Empire and its inhabitants stemmed in
large
part from diplomatic relations between European powers and the Sublime Porte
that were conducted "principally according to the same rules under which the
European powers also negotiated their claims for expansion and economic
interests among each other" (p. 115; my translation). Höfert analyzes
exemplarily the diplomatic relations between Venice, France, and the
Habsburgs
with the Ottoman Empire and observes that elements of the "Turkish
menace" were
adapted by each to their individual political circumstances. Ottoman
operations
in Europe spurred interest in the Ottomans as an object of study, and
European
diplomats and chancelleries undertook extensive research to counsel their
governments in their dealings with the Ottoman rulers. The observations
gathered
and recorded were then organized into categories designed to make
information
comparable among territories of interest. Höfert shows that the gathering of
ethnographic information by European diplomats was therefore instrumental in
establishing a system of categorization for ethnographic knowledge.
Knowledge about the Ottoman Empire and its inhabitants was not collected
exclusively by diplomats. Höfert is concerned with the information
gathered by
travelers and shared via their travelogues. Travelogues were already used as
conduits for the transmission of empirical knowledge in the middle ages.
However, the quantity of accessible material increased dramatically
after 1453,
due to the use of the printing press and to the discourse of the "Turkish
menace." The twelve travelogues selected by Höfert represent those in widest
circulation in the sixteenth century.[1] While early modern
historiography dealt
with the Ottomans much more strongly in the context of the "Turkish menace,"
these ethnographic texts, Höfert argues, developed "dynamics that
imperceptibly
initiated a paradigm shift beyond the 'Turkish menace'" (p. 197; my
translation).
Höfert's method of analysis is certainly unusual. For what she calls a
"building
block analysis" (Bausteinanalyse), she dissects each of the travelogues into
snippets of ethnographic information (she literally cuts the texts into
a total
of 2043 pieces). Each of these pieces is then organized into ethnographic
categories, to make it possible to discern which (and how many) of the
authors
cover the same information. Through her analysis, Höfert identifies three
super-categories (Hauptfelder): (1) court, government, and military; (2)
manners
and customs; and (3) religion. Two thirds of the ethnographic information,
Höfert argues, can be assigned to one of these super-categories.
A look at the tables provided in the appendix suggests the question of
whether
Höfert's conclusion would not have been possible without tabulating each
of the
"building blocks." It is unclear what insight is gained from the
knowledge that
Giovanantonio Menavino dealt with the topic of messengers at the Ottoman
court
in 150 words, whereas Bartolomej Georgijevic completely ignored the
subject in
his De Turcarum ritu, especially if one considers that Menavino's text was
almost seven times longer than Georgijevic's. Höfert seems somewhat too
concerned with categorizing and cataloging, becoming overly absorbed in the
details. While cross-author comparisons may seldom seem fruitful in the
minutiae
of word counts at the "building block" level, the value of Höfert's
tabulations
becomes more obvious once she moves to the more general sub-categories
(Unterfelder), into which she groups the "building blocks." Höfert's
findings
could hardly have been any different if she had skipped the "building block"
level altogether and had started off right at the sub-category level. It
is here
that we learn which topoi were featured in the travelogues, and by which
author.
Since Höfert, at this point, has moved away from counting words and
presents us
with the percentages that each topos constituted of a given text, we can now
actually gain useful insights into what these early modern authors thought
worthy of mention or discussion.
Höfert's main interest with regard to the data she has so diligently
compiled
lies in the topoi that fall within the super-category of religion.
Höfert argues
that it is the fact that information concerned with the Ottomans' faith and
religious practice was becoming conventionalized that led to "religion"
being
established as a category of ethnographic observation and comparison: "The
ethnographic system of categorization thus imperceptibly opened up a
space in
the sixteenth century in which the semantics of ethnographic terminology
were
redefined in opposition to contemporary theological discourse; a space
in which
Islam was described in a terminology that had theretofore been the exclusive
domain of Christianity" (p. 306; my translation).
I found Höfert's book clearly argued and her account of the evolution of
"religion" as an ethnographic category convincing. In addition to
scholars of
the area, the book may also find favor with advanced students and
non-specialists. Her chapter on the "Turkish menace" motif provides a good
general introduction into early modern European depictions of the
Ottomans, and
her chapter on the European diplomats offers a comprehensive overview of
relations between the Ottoman Empire and European powers. Readers
familiar with
the worst excesses of German academic prose need not be worried by the
fact that
this book is also the author's doctoral dissertation. Höfert's language is
accessible, lucid, and concise, making this not only an informative
read, but
also a pleasurable one.
Note
[1]. The eleven different authors of the travelogues are: Hans Schiltberger,
George of Hungary, Benedetto Ramberti, Antoine Geuffroy, Bartolomej
Georgijevic,
Luigi Bassano, Giovanantonio Menavino, Theodoros Spanduginos, Pierre Belon,
Nicols de Nicolay, and Jacques de Villamont.
Subjects:
* Europe -- Relations -- Turkey
* Turkey -- Relations -- Europe
* Turks -- Public opinion
* Public opinion -- Europe
* Turkey -- History -- 1453-1683 -- Historiography
Citation: Kersten Horn. "Review of Almut Höfert, Den Feind beschreiben:
"Türkengefahr" und europäisches Wissen über das Osmanische Reich 1450-1600,"
H-German, H-Net Reviews, January, 2005. URL:
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=175791119644744.