Coping with “the Riff-Raff and Mob”: Representations of Order and Disorder in the Patrona Halil Rebellion (1730)
In 1730, the so-called ‘Patrona Halil rebellion’ resulted in the abdication of Sultan Aḥmed III (r. 1703–1730) and in the execution of his long-serving Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Dāmād İbrāhīm Paşa (r. 1718–1730). This article addresses the question of how contemporary Ottoman chroniclers came to terms...
| Published in: | Die Welt des Islams |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Published: |
Brill
2014
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| In: |
Die Welt des Islams
Year: 2014, Volume: 54, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 363-398 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ottoman Empire
18th century
rebellion
historiographical representations
Ottoman elite
urban lower strata
social order
political negotiation
violation of norms
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | In 1730, the so-called ‘Patrona Halil rebellion’ resulted in the abdication of Sultan Aḥmed III (r. 1703–1730) and in the execution of his long-serving Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Dāmād İbrāhīm Paşa (r. 1718–1730). This article addresses the question of how contemporary Ottoman chroniclers came to terms with this unusual situation of political and social tension and, in particular, how they coped with lower-strata individuals and groups involved in the rebellion. It is argued that the chroniclers had considerable problems in explaining that lower-strata people whom they perceived as “the riff-raff and mob” possessed an agency of their own, even if they might be a useful instrument in intra-elite quarrels. Despite nuances of judgement, the chroniclers represent the lower strata in a highly negative fashion by rendering their political activities as unruly violations of norms. The chroniclers employed discoursive strategies based on the elite concepts of morality, purity, honour and order, which they used both, for delegitimising the social and political behaviour of the urban lower strata, and for criticising İbrāhīm Paşa and his government. When the new regime of Maḥmūd I (r. 1730–1754) resorted to violence in order suppress the rebels, this was unanimously welcomed by the chroniclers as the re-establishment of order. Thus, their representations of the rebellion clearly reaffirm elite notions of social and political order.
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| ISSN: | 1570-0607 |
| Contains: | In: Die Welt des Islams
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700607-05434P04 |