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 Libros
Leslie P. Peirce es una historiadora cuyo trabajo profundiza en la historia temprana moderna del Imperio Otomano, con un enfoque particular en género, derecho y sociedad. Su erudición se caracteriza por una profunda inmersión en las estructuras sociales y los sistemas legales de la época. Peirce explora las complejidades de la vida cotidiana y las dinámicas de poder a través de un análisis meticuloso de las fuentes históricas. Su enfoque ofrece una perspectiva única sobre la formación de la sociedad y la posición de las mujeres en el mundo otomano temprano moderno.
Empress of the East
- 384 páginas
- 14 horas de lectura
The extraordinary story of a slave-girl who rose from concubine to become the Ottoman Empire's only queen.