After Knolles: William Seaman’s the Reign of Sultan Orchan

Abstract

Richard Knolles’ Generall Historie, while relying on eastern histories and acknowledging the Turks’ accomplishments, remained deeply critical of what he understood to be the Ottoman political and social system. Early seventeenth-century English travelers, such as Fynes Moryson and George Sandys, likewise revealed a deep ambivalence about the east, spending time and treasure to visit Ottoman lands but also alleging that the empire was declining from the virtues (and vices) which westerners had attributed to it. As travel to the east became more common for English people and as English scholars learned Turkish and Arabic, it was only a matter of time until readers might hold in their hands a direct translation of a Turkish historical text. As an epilogue to this study, I will glance briefly at the first such work to be published in London, William Seaman’s The Reign of Sultan Orchan (London, 1652). In this extract from the Sadeddin’s Tac üt Tevarih, Seaman’s translation and apparatus use both dialogue and commentary to enhance the image of the Ottoman Sultanate.KeywordsSecret MessageEnglish ScholarEnglish ReaderLatin TranslatorImaginative DialogueThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.