Vocabulary
A female companion of a king/emperor/shah that was not his wife and therefore of lower status.
What was a concubine?
The Ottoman Turks were originally pastoral people from this region.
What is Anatolia?
Istanbul is located to the west of this sea.
What is the Black Sea?
False (but widely held) belief by some European Christians in the medieval period that Jews sacrificed Christian babies and used their blood in their rituals.
What is blood libel?
Similar to cosmopolitan; sophisticated; not affiliated with religion.
What is worldly?
True or False - Potential heirs to the sultan, even if they were children, were sometimes still strangled and removed to prevent succession issues in the Ottoman Empire.
What is true?
Massacres of Jewish populations that occurred periodically when Jews were scapegoated between the 11th and 19th centuries in Europe.
The Ottoman Empire would fully conquer this empire by the end of the 13th century ce.
What was the Byzantine Empire (aka Eastern Roman Empire)?
Geographic region where present Turkey exists and is also where the Ottoman Turks originated.
What was Anatolia?
The first record of Jews in England was circa this time period, the king was William the Conqueror.
What is circa 1000 ce?
A tall, slender tower attached to a mosque, featuring one or more balconies from which the muezzin (crier) calls Muslims to prayer.
What is a minaret?
They used their role as Istanbul's firefighters to destroy and loot, instead of rescue those who were victims of fire.
Who were the Janissaries?
A trade city located on important waterways/ports.
What is an entrepôt?
An Ottoman king/emperor was called this title.
What was a sultan?
This region where present day Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon was under the control of the Ottoman Empire until its end in 1922.
What was the Levant?
These holy wars, called for first by Pope Urban II in 1095 unfortunately led to the slaughter of Jewish communities by European Christians who blamed them for the death of Jesus.
What were the Crusades?
The reduction of a population by slaughter. In the Ottoman Empire, this sometimes happened to male heirs of the Sultan after he died and a specific son was chosen to succeed him.
What was culling?
In 1821 Sultan Mahmud II responded to a rebellion of Greek Christians on the mainland by doing this to the Patriarch, on the holiest day of Christianity, Easter Sunday.
What was executing him by hanging him, for hours to be tortured and die because he believed he was responsible for the revolt?
The murder of ones brothers or sisters.
What is fratricide?
This maritime republic located in the northern portion of the Adriatic Sea was a sometimes enemy, sometimes ally and trade partner of the Ottoman Empire.
What was the Republic of Venice?
Peninsula where Spain and Portugal are located.
What is the Iberian Peninsula?
Jews was this kingdom that united at the end of the 15th century were expelled and welcomed into the Ottoman Empire. Their synagogue still remains in Istanbul.
What was Spain?
Building of worship for Jews.
What is a synagogue?
Future sultans (heirs to the Ottoman throne), when they were no longer afraid of being assassinated were kept in "the cage" - where they lived lives of totally luxury...this was a problem because.
What was because they were not fit or trained in ruling, governance and conquering, they only knew how to enjoy themselves and were without skills?
The leader of the Eastern Christian Church.
Who is the Patriarch?
Prior to the establishment of the Ottoman Empire and renaming the capital Istanbul, it was known by these two prior names.
What were Byzantium and Constantinople?
The Ottoman Empire spanned a wide range of people and geographic areas, including land on these three different continents.
What are Europe, Africa and Asia?
One of the worst examples of medieval pogroms occurred in this English city, where Jews followed their rabbi for protection. Many killed themselves and those that didn't were slaughtered afterward by mobs.
What was York?
The murder of one's brothers or sisters.
What is fratricide?
By 1922 the Ottoman Empire was finished and divided up, what major global event had ended 4 years prior that led to this.
What was World War I?
Elite infantry soldiers of the Ototman EMpire from the 14th-19th centuries, originally Christian boys conscripted (forced/chosen), converted to Islam, and trained as loyal, disciplined soldiers for the sultan. Later, they became very powerful and largely corrupt.
Who were the Janissaries?
The separate part of a Muslim household reserved for wives, concubines and female servants.
What was the harem?
This type of natural disaster was/is somewhat common in Istanbul and Turkey. The Ottomans created infrastructure to have their architecture withstand them and have the floodwaters from them diverted back to Bosporus Straight.
What were/are earthquakes?
One of Sultan Selim II (he loved wine) closest advisors that he made a prince in the Ottoman Empire was one of the wealthiest men besides the Sultan. He was Portuguese and he was a follower of this religion. Demonstrating tolerance of this Sultan.
What is Judaism?
Marriage to more than one person. This was common among Muslim rulers.
What was polygamy?
True or False - Present day Turkey is an officially secular nation.
What is true?