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The figure of the renegade - a European Christian or Jew who had converted to Islam and was now serving the Ottoman sultan - is omnipresent in all genres produced by those early modern Christian Europeans who wrote about the Ottoman Empire.0"The sultan's renegades" inserts these 'foreign' converts into the context of Ottoman elite life to reorient the discussion of these individuals away from the present focus on their exceptionality, towards a qualified appreciation of their place in the Ottoman imperial enterprise and the Empire's relations with its neighbours in Christian Europe. Drawing heavily on Central European sources, this study highlights the deep political, religious, and cultural entanglements between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe beyond the Mediterranean Basin as the 'shared world' par excellence Examines why the figure of the renegade-a European Christian or Jew who had converted to Islam and was now serving the Ottoman sultan-is omnipresent in writings on the fifteenth to seventeenth century Ottoman Empire, when the Ottoman sultans posed a major political, military, and ideological challenge to Christian princes in Europe Cover; The Sultanś Renegades: Christian-European Converts to Islam and the Making of the Ottoman Elite, 1575-1610; Copyright; Dedication; Preface; Contents; List of Figures and Maps; Figures; Maps; List of Tables; List of Abbreviations; Note to the Reader; TRANSLITERATION; PLACE NAMES; DATES; Introduction; Of conversion, shared worlds and imperial rivalries; Trans-imperial subjects, 'identity', and loyalty; Sources; Methodology; Chapter outline; 1: An Elite of Converts; Turks, Ottomans, Rumis, and renegades; The make-up of the Ottoman military-administrative elite; Meritocracy, households, and the importance of connectionsTransformations; 2: `Turning Turk,́ Becoming anOttoman Muslim; Conversion, religious and cultural; Captivity and conversion; Voluntary migration; Legal implications and social dimensions; Conclusion; 3: A Change of Heart or a Change of Hat?; Ladislaus Mörthś life before conversion; Confessionalizing rhetoric; Religious indifferentism; Orthodoxy, orthopraxy, and the issue of sincerity; Conclusion; 4: In the Sultanś Service; Recruitment and integration; Useful skills and useful knowledge; Intelligence and (dis)information; Embeddedness in trans-imperial networksMaking sense of renegade networks; Conclusion; 5: Mobilizing Trans-Imperial Ties; Staying in touch; Protection, patronage, and prestige; The Cigala family as trans-imperial nobility; An `Italian ́phenomenon?; (Un)likely allies; Renegades and Austrian-Habsburgintelligence; Conclusion; Conclusion; Bibliography; ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS CITED; PUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES; SECONDARY LITERATURE; Index
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