Power to kill: a discourse of the royal hunt during the reigns of Süleyman the magnificent and Ahmed I

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1295909 (Table of Contents)

This thesis is an exercise in looking at narrative sources with the particular topic of the royal hunt, with a very particular point of view: the royal hunt during the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent in relation to that of Ahmed I. The thesis takes a three-fold approach to the issue of the royal hunt, following from the physical hunt itself, the animals used in the hunt, and the geography of the hunt, as well as the ceremonial surrounding the royal hunt, to the portrayal of power by means of the example of the royal hunt in text and image. The approach has been to view narrative sources as constructs, and to contruct then a sense of the practice of the royal hunt as evinced in the narrative sources. The royal hunt hinged on the idea of the ruler's power to kill, as well as power to spare and this was further emphasized by the ceremonial, by the hierarchy, by the geography of the hunting grounds, whether the hunt was a large battue, seen by many, or whether it was conducted in the privacy of royal gardens. This very element was further taken to portray the power to kill and the power to spare in narrative and visual sources.