Talbot, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7198-1422 (2025) Cultures of Power: mediating Ottoman-British relations in the eighteenth century. Göttinger Händel-Beiträge, 27. ISSN 0177-7319 (Print), 2197-330X (Online) (In Press)

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Abstract

The performance of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Tamerlano in London in 1724 took place in the context of a profound shift in the relationship between Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire. Using British and Ottoman archival and manuscript sources alongside printed publications, this paper will explore the political, economic, and cultural connections between the two states from the 1680s to the 1720s to better understand how real-world interactions might have informed Händel’s production and its reception in London. First, this paper will introduce the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-1730) and the period of his rule known as Lâle Devri (the Tulip Era), including a discussion of Ottoman intellectual and artistic culture as well as increased diplomatic interactions with European states. Second, I will look at the diplomatic role Great Britain played as a mediator between the Ottoman Empire and its European enemies in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including a close reading of some Ottoman texts that give an insight into both Ottoman self-conception and their views on Britain as a political entity. Finally, this paper will consider the intensifying commercial links between the two states within the notion of turquerie to consider how this political relationship impacted British and especially London culture of the period.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ottoman-British relations, Handel, cultural diplomacy
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D890 Eastern Hemisphere J Political Science > JZ International relations
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Last Modified:	21 Nov 2025 09:48
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51564

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