Vous consultezDes esclaves pour époux... Stratégies matrimoniales dans la dynastie ottomane (mi-xive - début xvie siècle)

The model of marriages between sovereign families that characterizes early modern European history was not universal. Within the Ottoman Empire western travelers were surprised to discover another model of royal matrimonial unions : Ottoman sultans did not marry women of noble lineage and progressively they stopped marrying altogether, preferring to live with slave women concubines. They even gave their daughters as “slaves” rather than marrying them “according to their rank.” Political pragmatism among the Ottoman, as well as their constant desire to display their superior lineage, explains the emergence of this model at the end of the 15^th century. This article seeks to explain the political stakes behind this transformation of dynastic matrimonial rules and to describe its consequences.

Keywords


marriage, sultans, Ottoman Empire, concubines, slaves