Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of maps
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Who's who
- Map 1 Istanbul and its environs
- Map 2 Locations within the city
- Introduction
- 1 Conquest
- 2 The palace and the populace
- 3 Fear and death
- 4 Welfare
- 5 The consuming city
- 6 Outings and excursions
- 7 The hamam
- 8 The nineteenth century
- Beyond the city
- Select bibliography
- Index
2 - The palace and the populace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of maps
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Who's who
- Map 1 Istanbul and its environs
- Map 2 Locations within the city
- Introduction
- 1 Conquest
- 2 The palace and the populace
- 3 Fear and death
- 4 Welfare
- 5 The consuming city
- 6 Outings and excursions
- 7 The hamam
- 8 The nineteenth century
- Beyond the city
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
The acquisition of the great Byzantine capital spurred Mehmed II on to a great effort of revitalisation: encouragement of commerce, transfer of population to the city, and a major building programme. One of his first actions was to build a palace, later to be known as the Eski Saray, almost immediately superseded by the imposing palace of Topkapı, erected on rising ground in the centre of the city overlooking the sea and dominating the landscape. From here the sultans were to run the affairs of state until the mid nineteenth century, when they transferred to the palace of Dolmabahçe, which they considered at that time more suited to the modern age. The sultans who ruled from here were the focal point of power, their lives a reflection of the magnificence, wealth and power of the empire. They embodied the prestige of that empire and their imperial pomp sustained it. The populace approved of, admired or were dissatisfied with their sultans. Greatly respected, Süleyman I's death in 1566 provoked deep distress and the people were much moved by the elegy composed for him by the great poet Baki. The execution of his son Mustafa, much loved both by the common people and by the upper echelons of society, caused great grief and the production of many poems written in his memory; while the crowds for the funeral of Murad IV (1623–40) were so great that it was difficult to clear a pathway to the grave, and the day of his death was one of such grief that it was like doomsday.
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- Information
- A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul , pp. 28 - 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010