Early Modern Royal Court as Contact Zone

Abstract

Royal courts take a central place in the study of early modern political culture. The court defines a wider network of relationships than just a royal palace, and it extended into every segment of early modern society. This study suggests examining the early modern royal courts through the contact zone perspective. Contact zone conventionally refers to the colonial encounters of the disparate cultural groups and is mostly used in Cultural and Postcolonial Studies. Different from using the contact zone perspective to examine transcultural entanglements in colonial encounters, this study suggests applying contact zones to the early modern royal court as a political space. It specifically puts emphasis on the relational construction of the political space, as well as the power hierarchies and asymmetries in this construction. Also, in a case study, this article highlights the Grand Vizierate of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha, and argues how Sokullu Mehmed’s death made the Ottoman Court a contact zone for various political actors.