Ottoman Ulema in a Digital World

This project aims to unfold intellectual, social and political networks of Ottoman ulema in the early modern period by the help of a software program which is specially designed for this project considering the relevant purposes.

Ottoman ulema was an integral part of the decision-making process and the essential actor of the contemporary local and imperial politics in the Ottoman empire. Thus, the intellectual and social profiles of Ottoman ulema, their networks and their mobilization are the key to understand Ottoman governmentality. In order to reveal these networks, the project group will carry out a prosopografic approach by addressing the biographies of Ulema members. This project is framed with the biographies which are found in the work of Nevizade Atai. The work of Atai, which is titled Hadaiku’l-Hakaik, was completed in 1634 and it contains 1135 biographies on Ottoman ulema for the period between 1558 and 1634. These biographical entries would provide us detailed information on the relevant members of Ulema. Their origins, their family ties, the training institutions and appointments would be traced through these biographical entries. The information which is derived from these biographies, will be uploaded into a software programme; in this way, their spatial and temporal networks will be explored for the framed period.