Study Questions for Rudi Lindner, "The Tent of Osman, The House
of Osman"
Lindner, a professor of Ottoman history at the University of Michigan,
provides a view of the origins of the Ottoman state which is novel, sophisticated,
and controversial. It is masked by an informal writing style often in narrative
form.
- 1. What is Lindner's main thesis?
- 2. How does he distinguish his views from those of others, such as
Wittek [whose views were discussed in class]?
- 3. What distinguishes the Ottoman "tribe" from the traditional
definition of a tribe, according to Lindner? How does his view differ from
that offered by Golden?
- 4. After considering Lindner's views, those of Wittek and Inalcik,
and the brief account by Lapidus, what is your view of the relationship
between the "Holy War" and the emergence of the Ottomans?
- 5. Terms/places - for geography, use the maps handed out in class.
The various authors' names and titles of books are not important for your
purposes, except as below:
- Holy War/ghaza/ghazi
- predation
- Osman
- Wittek
- Orkhan
- Bursa
- Nicaea/Iznik
- Byzantium
- Anatolia
- Bithynia
- genealogy
- Oguz
- Seljuk
- Sakarya River
- Eskisehir
- nomad
- pastoralism