The Crisis of Kingship in Late Medieval Islam: Persian Emigres and the Making of Ottoman Sovereignty by Christopher Markiewicz

Abstract

Christopher Markiewicz’s The Crisis of Kingship in Late Medieval Islam is an impressive contribution to the history of the late medieval world. At its core, this study is about Persian scholar and chancellor Idrīs-i Bidlisī, his life story, experiences in the Aqqoyunlu and Ottoman courts, and his multiple works, particularly of his history Hesht Behisht. However, this book is a lot more than Bidlisī’s life and times. Markiewicz brilliantly weaves together various political notions and ideas that occupied the 15-century statesmen and intellectuals, and how these notions came to be adopted by all the Muslim polities of the period.