Schmitt O.J. (ed.) The Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans: Interpretations and Research Debates

Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. 289 p. 2016.The Ottoman conquest of the Balkans constitutes a major change in European history. Scholarship on the topic is extensive, yet the evidence produced by decades of research is very scattered and lacking comprehensive synthesis, not to mention consensual interpretation. Although major political and military milestones seem to have been investigated thoroughly, there is a notable absence of more theoretical and interpretative approaches that overarch the entire phenomenon rather than merely individual aspects. Scholars have hitherto addressed the topic from various perspectives and employing a wide range of methods, but Byzantine studies, Ottoman studies, Eastern Mediterranean studies and national historiographies in the Balkan countries have yet to establish either a coherent collaboration or a consistent model of interpretation. This volume therefore rather aims at opening and structuring a new heuristic approach and at coordinating a field of studies that is of crucial importance for understanding change in European history.- Front Matter (pp. 1-4)
- Table of Contents (pp. 5-6)
- Oliver Jens Schmitt. Introduction: The Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans. Research Questions and Interpretations (pp. 7-46)
- Maurus Reinkowski. Conquests Compared. The Ottoman Expansion in the Balkans and the Mashreq in an Islamicate context (pp. 47-64)
- Toni Filiposki. Before and After the Battle of Maritsa (1371): The Significance of the Non-Ottoman Factors in the Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans (pp. 65-78)
- Mariya Kiprovska. Ferocious Invasion or Smooth Incorporation? Integrating the Established Balkan Military System into the Ottoman Army (pp. 79-102)
- Grigor Boykov. The Human Cost of Warfare: Population Loss During the Ottoman Conquest and the Demographic History of Bulgaria in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era (pp. 103-166)
- Tijana Krstić. New Directions in the Study of Conversion to Islam in Ottoman Rumeli Between the Fourteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries: Reconsidering Methods, Theories and Terminology (pp. 167-188)
- Andrei Pippidi. Taking Possession of Wallachia: Facts and Interpretations (pp. 189-208)
- Ştefan S. Gorovei and Maria Magdalena Székely. Old Questions, Old Clichés. New Approaches, New Results? The Case of Moldavia (pp. 209-242)
- Dubravko Lovrenović. The Ottoman Conquest of Bosnia in 1463 as Interpreted by Bosnian Franciscan Chroniclers and Historiographers (A Historic(Al) Event With Political and Psychological Ramifications That Are Still Present Today) (pp. 243-264)
- Ovidiu Cristea. Venice Confronting the Ottoman Empire: A Struggle for Survival (Fourteenth–Sixteenth Centuries) (pp. 265-280)
- Index (pp. 281-289)