Mehmet Sait Şener

With the conversion of the house of Osman into a great empire between the 14th and 15th centuries, the Ottoman Turks became one of the principal preoccupations of the Spanish, whose rival empire meant conflict between the two superpowers of their time was inevitable. The Ottomans were a subject of utmost interest in all parts of society from the king’s courtyard to the local marketplace. As the ‘Turkish problem’ manifested itself in historical treatises, autobiographical accounts of captivity, exhortations and travel writing, the Turkish theme’s popularity in literary fiction became more and more apparent, above all in chivalric romances. As Spanish drama developed in the 16th century, it was inevitable that the Turks would figure in an art that frequently drew upon recent or past historical events. From the first known appearance of a Turk in a play performed in 1519 that dealt with the election of the next Habsburg emperor, there were many dramas in which the Ottoman theme played an important part. The present research studies the Turkish theme in Spanish drama of the 16th and 17th centuries when the majority of «Turk plays» were produced. Researchers of the early modern English drama use this term to designate a specific genre. Its boundaries are not always well-defined, yet it helps situate the Turk better within a broader frame such as Orientalism. In a similar vein, this dissertation proposes the denomination «obras turquescas» for the plays it analyses in order to differentiate them from other works such as «obras moriscas», in which these works are often included. This separation aims to consolidate further the place of the Turk in Spanish drama and facilitate a detailed and far reaching critical study of this genre.
In order to further focus our definition, the genre needs to be understood in the context of the turquerie movement studied by Albert Mas studies in his seminal work Les Turcs dans la littérature espagnole du Siècle d'Or, which only considers those comedias, in which Turks play a central role and the Turkish identity of characters is more or less clear, are taken into consideration. Through a comparison with the Moor and Morisco plays, it is shown that Turk plays in Spanish drama demonstrate a clearly definable set of tendencies from the representation of historical events of the 16th century to the calamities of Christian captives in Ottoman territories. The study of these themes and motifs, as well as the image of the Turk, through the analysis of each play constitute the central methodology of this project. Its aim is to show the prominence of the Turkish theme within the Spanish drama of the 16th and 17th centuries and analyse the principal themes and motifs found in Turk plays and so contribute to advancing the study of this fascinating question. After making concrete how to define Turk plays in Spanish drama, the individual dramas are analysed one by one, some grouped together thematically, to facilitate their comparative historical understanding.
The background of each work is taken into consideration, their connection to historical fact and sources, since often they reflect on events from the past rather than recent news. Surprisingly, only two of the plays, the Prodigioso príncipe transilvano (1596) and La nueva victoria del marqués de Santa Cruz (1604), take contemporary events as their subject matter. This is related to the attenuation of the conflict between the Spanish and Ottoman empires after the truce of 1578. Paradoxically, interest in the Turkish theme began in earnest only after this date. There are a number of possible explanations for this; one is the state of development of the Spanish stage itself which was undergoing rapid development at just this time. Turk plays in Spain treating battles or sieges would have been difficult to stage before the establishment of the permanent theatres. Secondly, the time for the emergence of a playwright who would immerse himself in Turkish themes and help it become popular among the companies and theatregoers alike, was propitious, producing none other than Miguel de Cervantes, touched so closely and personally by the theme, and followed by other eminent figures such as Lope de Vega and Luis Vélez de Guevara. Thirdly, the popularity of the Turkish theme might have been related to its usefulness as a tool of propaganda. Despite the truce of 1578, the Turks continued their advance into Christian territories, especially in the Balkans. The Turkish threat, although diminished, didn’t cease until the second siege of Vienna in 1683. The Spanish Empire had lost its lustre as a superpower by the turn of the 16th century, owing to constant bankruptcies and the insoluble and exhausting wars in the Low Countries. The playwrights looked back on the great victories of the past century, when the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, and his son Philip II had ruled Spain and they cherished the splendour of their country and sought to remind the public of its past greatness. Although Spain was in reality no longer the Antemurale Christianitatis, that is, the bulwark of Christianity, against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, its legacy as such lived on in the field of drama.
The major Turk plays of Spanish drama were performed between 1595 and 1610. The posterior works are mostly adaptations, except for a few like El tirano castigado (1671). It is possible to divide these plays in three major categories: captivity narratives, conflicts between the Spanish and Ottoman empires, and conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and other Christian states. Aside from these themes, there are a number of plays that revolve around infamous Turk and anti-Turk figures such as Barbarossa, Skënderbeu, and Timur. Captivity plays can be divided into two subcategories: the representation of Christian captives at the hands of the Ottomans and the rise to power of a Christian at the Ottoman court. Works based upon a conflict between the two empires, restaging specific battles and sieges such as Vienna in 1529 or the naval battle of Lepanto of 1571, are less common, along with the third type dealing with the conflicts between the Turks and other Christian states. The Spanish presence, through a central or subsidiary character, is a common feature of all these plays. Although some of the plays fall into more than one category, this method helps us see the major movements within the genre of Turk plays and tease out the common features in similar subgenres. Within the category of captivity plays there are a number of plays that are set in the Ottoman-Safavid war where a Christian subject of the Ottomans goes to fight against the Persians.
The body of analysis offers a number of conclusions. Firstly, the common features of the image of the Turk. The Great Turk, the archetypal figure presented as a mirror of Ottoman society, develops across the corpus of plays and although the evolution is at times erratic, common elements can be identified, a common image made up of a series of elements adding up to a figure who is arrogant, lustful, dastardly, and effeminate. This image derives from four major sources available to the playwrights; treatises on the history of the Ottoman Empire, exhortations, travel books and captivity accounts. A second element of great importance is the presence of Christians in almost all of the Turk plays in Spain. They are introduced in three distinct ways, as adversaries, captives or subjects of the Great Turk. As enemies of the Ottoman Empire, they fight against the Turks on various fronts ranging from the Western Mediterranean to the Balkans. When they appear as captives, their adversities and misfortunes are the centre of attention, either physical or spiritual. Christian subjects of the house of Osman are not safe from these calamities and the focus of their representation is the ill treatment they receive from the Turks in return for their loyalty. All in all, Turkish society is shown as a perilous and treacherous place where Christians must hold firm to their faith in order to survive. Thus, even though the mocking of the Great Turk and through him his subjects is a recurrent theme in these plays, the real fear and threat that the Ottoman Empire posed for Christians is also always present. The analysis also lets us see the general characteristics of a Muslim of Turkish nationality – absolute loyalty to his tyrannical monarch and obstinacy in following a vicious sect, that is, Islam. All of these aspects of Ottoman Turkish society are contrasted at every opportunity with the Christian world. Therefore, although there are a few works that are exceptional, Turk plays serve as antithetical pieces that act like a seesaw, with the Turk sitting on one side and the Christian on the other.
The study of the Turk plays as a standalone genre within this dissertation helps to pinpoint the place of the Turk within Spanish drama and Spain’s imaginary parcelling off the broader theme of Moors and Moriscos. Moreover, with this approach it is possible to see how these major plays and their themes and motives affected one another and other minor works of the turquerie movement. This method, as well as the data gathered from the analyses, are expected to help future studies tackle the issue of the Turk play and on a broader scale, the image of the Turk in European literature.

http://www.archivodelafrontera.com/archivos/michele-membre-la-copia-de-la-carta-que-scriuio-el-veneciano-que-vino-del-sophi-al-emperador-a-ultimo-de-agosto-1541/
El veneciano Michele Membre llega a Persia en el otoño de 1539 con una embajada veneciana para el Shah Tahmasp y a su regreso, en Lisboa, escribe una carta relación al emperador Carlos V sobre ella.

El tirano castigado de Juan Bautista Diamante es una obra teatral que teatraliza un momento clave en la historia otomana, el asesinato del sultán Osmán II por sus súbditos. Partiendo de la fuente primaria que inspiró al dramaturgo, este estudio discute los temas de regicidio y tiranicidio en esta pieza a través del análisis de sus personajes principales.

El tirano castigado by Juan Bautista Diamante is a theatrical play that stages a key moment in Ottoman history, the assassination of sultan Osman II by his subjects. Taking the primary source that inspired the playwright as a basis, this study discusses the themes of regicide and tyrannicide in this play through the analysis of its principal characters.

tiranicidio, El tirano castigado, obras turquescas, Juan Bautista Diamante, teatro áureo español

tyrannicide, El tirano castigado, Turk plays, Juan Bautista Diamante, Spanish Golden Age theatre

After a brief overview of the political situation between the Spanish and Ottoman empires in 16th century, this paper examines the Tragedia de la destrucción de Constantinopla of Gabriel Lobo Lasso de la Vega, the first Spanish tragedy that represents Turkish characters. The possibility of an indirect criticism towards the so-called ‘viraje filipino’ is discussed through a series of comparisons between the two sides depicted in this piece.

Entre las obras de la narrativa catalana medieval, Història de Jacob
Xalabín destaca no sólo por su tratamiento de tierras ajenas a la Corona de Aragón –rasgo que se halla también en otras obras de aquella época como La filla del rei d’Hongria, La filla de l’emperador Contaste o Curial i Güelfa–, sino también por la precisión de sus datos históricos y culturales acerca de aquellas tierras, en este caso, Turquía. Esta veracidad se refleja en parte en el léxico que se utiliza a lo largo de la obra. Este artículo analiza estas soluciones léxicas catalanas para el vocabulario principalmente turco, árabe y persa, que aquí es dividido en tres categorías: antropónimos y títulos, topónimos y léxico general. Se atiende también al aspecto histórico de la obra en relación con estos tópicos.

Charting Image and Self Image of Islam in Europe, Collège d'Espagne, Paris, 10 May 2022

Turk plays came to prominence in Early Modern Spain during the last quarter of the 16th century and with the rise of the comedia nueva its popularity flourished, only to wane in a few decades. What was it that turned the Ottoman Empire into a literary convention during that time? What literary, social and political purposes did it serve? Was the Turk a figure of public entertainment or was he there for sheer propaganda? In what ways did the Turkish theme differ from the Morisco theme that preceded it? With these questions in mind, this paper will analyze the evolution of the Muslim ‘Turk’ in Early Modern Spanish theatre within the literary and political context to illustrate its use as a source of self-imagery in the mirror of the other that aided the representation of the Spanish monarchy and the identity formation of its Catholic subjects.

A la hora de escribir obras de tema histórico, los dramaturgos del Siglo de Oro tenían a su alcance una gran variedad de fuentes: crónicas, tratados, compendios, relaciones de sucesos, libros de viajes, etc. Sin embargo, historias universales como la Historia pontifical y la Monarquía eclesiástica les eran de mayor utilidad por su accesibilidad y por disponer de un abanico de información sobre temas muy diversos. Estos trabajos no solo compilaban datos históricos de todas partes del mundo, sino también episodios de «materia gustosa» a la manera de la novelliere de Bandello o la silva de Pedro Mexía. Algunos dramaturgos del Siglo de Oro como Lope de Vega se valieron de estas fuentes para construir sus piezas. Esta ponencia se centrará en ejemplos concretos del uso de estos materiales para recalcar la importancia de consultarlos en primer lugar a la hora de buscar las fuentes de las representaciones históricas del Siglo de Oro.

“Ben, kendim ile çevremden müteşekkilim ve eğer çevremi kurtaramazsam kendimi de kurtaramam.”
Ortega y Gasset’in 1914’te, 31 yaşındayken yayımladığı kitabı Quijote Üzerine Düşün­celer, felsefecinin daha sonra vereceği eserlerin çıkış noktasını oluşturur. Denemeler­den oluşan bu kitabında özellikle sanat ve edebiyat alanlarındaki temel düşüncelerini ortaya koyduğu söylenebilir. Gerçekten de 1930’lardan sonra bu eserine göndermeler­de bulunacak ve Quijote Üzerine Düşünceler, Ortega y Gasset’in düşüncesinin anlaşıl­masında elzem bir eser niteliği kazanacaktır.

Quid ad aeternitatem? Unamuno felsefesi bu temel soruyla yola çıkar: İnsan kendi canına karşılık ne verebilir? Ebediyetin yanında ne ehemmiyet taşır? Bu sorunun cevabı, Unamuno için gün gibi aşikârdır, zira onun için ebediyet karşısında her şey teferruattır. Ölümsüzlüğü hayatının tam ortasına yerleştiren Unamuno’nun trajedisi, bu en hayati sorun üzerine zıt görüşler sunan aklının ve duygularının çelişmesinden doğar ve bu trajedi İspanyol filozofun bilinçsiz bir ölümsüzlükle yetinmemesinden, bu ölümsüzlüğe kimin kavuşabileceğine kadar birçok farklı alt sorun hâlinde budaklanır.
Varoluşçu felsefenin öncülerinden kabul edilen Unamuno, somut insanın tüm felsefenin aynı anda hem özne hem de en üstün nesnesi olduğunu söyler. Bu bakımdan Unamuno felsefesi kişiseldir, zira kişi için en öznel ve somut olan en başta kendisidir. Bu bağlamda insanlarda ve toplumlarda hayatın trajik duygusunu izah ederken önce kendisini masaya yatırmış, felsefesinin hem özne hem de nesnesi olmuştur; bunu da kendi üzerinde ameliyat yaptığını söyleyerek dile getirmiştir. Somut insanın tek gerçek ve hayati önem taşıyan sorunu ise kişisel ve bireysel ölümsüzlüğüdür. Unamuno hayat ve ölüm kavramlarını olabildiğince somut açıdan ele almaktadır ve arzuladığı ölümsüzlük ise mümtaz bir kesim talihlinin Tanrı’ya gark olmakla erişeceği soyut ölümsüzlük —“ölümsüzlüğün gölgesi”— değil; evrenin, Tanrı’nın kişiselleştirilmesiyle, bireyin bilincini muhafaza etmesiyle varılan somut ölümsüzlüktür. İşte bu yüzden de felsefenin temelinde etten kemikten insanın olması ve felsefenin bu somut insanın kendisi kadar somut olan varlık sorununu irdelemesi gerektiğini savunmuştur.

"Müslümanlar İspanya’ya ilk defa 711 yılında vardılar ve yarımadadan tamamıyla sürülene kadar (1609-14) dokuz asır boyunca İspanyol kültürüne büyük katkı sağladılar. Endülüs ve İspanya tarihi çalışanların malumudur ki İspanyol kimliğinin ne ihtiva ettiği tartışmasında öne çıkan iki isim vardır: Américo Castro ve Claudio Sánchez Albornoz. Castro İspanyol kimliğinin İslami, İbrani ve İsevi kültürlerinin yoğrulmasıyla ortaya çıktığını ve aynı zamanda hem Batılı hem de Doğulu olmasıyla Avrupa’da kendine özgü bir yere sahip olduğunu öne sürer. Sánchez ise bunun aksini söyler ve Hristiyan İspanya’nın İslami bir geçmişi olsa bile asıl kimliğinin 711’den önceye, yani Gotlara dayandığını savunur. Bu iki zıt fikir hâlâ tartışılagelse bile İspanyol akademisinde Arabi ve İslami Çalışmalar (Estudios Árabes e Islámicos) bölümlerinin ve Arabistlerin çoğalması ile Endülüs ve İslam kültürünün İspanya’ya etkilerine yönelik çalışmalar artmış, Müslümanların İber Yarımadası’na katkıları daha belirgin hâle gelmiştir."