Proposal for the 3rd MMHN Conference
Özlem Kumrular
The Aid That Never Came: Rhodes as the Last Stronghold of the Christianity in
the Eartern Mediterranean
Despite the long distance seperating the two capitals on the other sides of the
Mediterranean, the two empires -The Ottoman and the Habsburg- were somehow tightly
connected with each other: through a strong sense of rivalry, a natural feeling of hatred
and jeolousy, a noteworthy ambition to extend their terrotories and other common
desires. This rivalry reached at its peak during the reigns of Charles V and Suleiman
the Magnificent, obviously because of the undeniable ambitions of the Ottoman Sultan.
After the successful siege of Belgrade, the second step that Suleiman took was the
attack to the Rhodes Island in 1522. His first two targets were those that his great-grand
father Mehmet the Conqueror could not bring to an end: Belgrade and Rhodes.
As far as the Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry was concerned, the timing was almost perfect
for the Ottomans whose rivals were in a long-lasting war with the French in Western
Europe. Charles’ lack of means to defend an island in the Eastern Mediterranean was
interpreted as disinterest in Europe. This paper aims to analyze the correspondence
between the Emperor, the Gran Maestro, viceroys, ambassadors, consuls and other
avisos that circulated in the Europe regarding the aid that the Knights asked for.
Spanish, Italian, French and Ottoman sources, as well as archival data will be referred to
analyze the case.
CV
Özlem Kumrular (İstanbul, 1974)
1974 yılında İstanbul’da doğdu. Lisansını Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Batı Dilleri ve
Edebiyatları bölümünde, yüksek lisansını aynı üniversitenin tarih bölümünde,
doktarasını ise İspanya’da Salamanca Üniversitesi’nde yaptı. 16. yüzyıl AvrupaOsmanlı ve Akdeniz tarihi, İspanyol ve İtalyan paleografisi, imgebilim, dini ve sosyal
çatışmalar, marjinal sosyal gruplar, Türk korkusu, İslam korkusu, pikaresk roman ve
toplum üzerine çalıştı. “Türk İmgesi”, “Türkler ve Deniz” ve “Muhteşem Kanuni”
kitaplarının editörlüğünü yaptı. Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi’nde çeşitli tarih ve kültür tarihi
sempozyumları düzenledi. Tarih, edebiyat, mizah ve müzik dallarında on dört kitap
yayınladı, farklı dillerden on iki kitap çevirdi. Halen Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi FenEdebiyat fakültesinde öğretim üyesi olarak görev yapmaktadır.
Özlem Kumrular (Istanbul, 1974)
B.A. in Western Languages and Literatures (Bosphorus University), M.A. in History
(Bosphorus University), PhD in Fundaciones de la investigación histórica (Universidad
de Salamanca, Spain). Areas of interest: 16th century European-Ottoman &
Mediterranean History, Spanish and Italian paleography, imagology, religious and
social conflicts, marginal social classes, Turcophobia, Islamophobia, picaresque novel
and picaresque society. She published 14 books on history, literature, music and black
humor; translated 12 books from different languages, and edited “The Turkish Image”,
“The Turks and the Sea”, “Suleiman the Magnificent”. She has been teaching at
Bahçeşehir University since 2003 (Faculty of Arts and Sciences).