The Ottoman 'Wild West' : The Balkan Frontier in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Hardcover)

Introduction; 1. The broad historical context ? the rise of the Ottoman empire and the formation of Muslim communities in the Balkans as an integral part of the Ottomanization of the region; 2. Colonization, settlement, and faith in the Balkans in the Early Ottoman period (ca. 1352 to early sixteenth century); 3. The northeastern Balkans from the late Medieval period to the late fifteenth century: pre-Ottoman Turcoman invasions and migrations, the Ottoman conquest, and the 'turbulent' fifteenth century. Deliorman and Gerlovo as a 'special case'; 4. The repopulation of Deliorman and Gerlovo's countryside in the sixteenth century; 5. The development of the urban network in sixteenth-century Deliorman. The emergence of Hezargrad and Eski Cuma, the transformation of Shumnu into an Islamic city, and the decline of Chernovi; 6. Religion, culture, and authority: two case studies; 7. Issues in religion, culture, and authority: conversion to Islam and confessionalization.