Cem Sultan: Rönesans Avrupası'nda Tutsak Bir Şehzade

by John Freely, Püren Özgören (Translator)

Fatih Sultan Mehmet'in oğlu Cem Sultan, 1459'da "erguvan zamanı77 doğdu. Kardeşi Bayezid ile tutuştuğu taht kavgasını kaybedince, iktidar iddiasını sürdürmek amacıyla Batı'ya sığınmaya ve sürgüne razı oldu. Fakat bir gün dönme umuduyla çıkılan bu yolculuk onu yurdundan giderek uzaklaştıracak, başrollerinde şövalyelerin, kralların ve papalığın olduğu bir oyunun piyonuna dönüştürecekti, John Freely, Cem Sultan'ın yaşam öyküsünü, Osmanlı ve Rönesans'ın eşiğinde tarihini de fona alarak, renkli ve akıcı bir anlatımla sunuyor okurlarına. Yıllardır hüznü ve etkileyiciliği eksilmeyen Cem Sultan7m şiiri/dilden dile dolaşıyor:

"(Ruhumun kuşu, kafesinde sabırlı ol, Bu beden, eyvah! nasıl da hızlı yaşlanıyor. Şimdiden duyduğum çıngırak seslen, Kervan yola çıkmaya hazır; diyor. Yakında hiçlik diyarına ulaşacak Ve sen, nihayet etin boyunduruğundan kurtulacaksın, hamdolsun."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, European History, Medieval History

317 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2004

About the author

John Freely was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents, and spent half of his early childhood in Ireland. He dropped out of high school when he was 17 to join the U. S. Navy, serving for two years, including combat duty with a commando unit in the Pacific, India, Burma and China during the last year of World War II. After the war, he went to college on the G. I. Bill and eventually received a Ph.D. in physics from New York University, followed by a year of post-doctoral study at Oxford in the history of science. He worked as a research physicist for nine years, including five years at Princeton University. In 1960 he went to İstanbul to teach physics at the Robert College, now the Boğaziçi University, and taught there until 1976. He then went on to teach and write in Athens (1976-79), Boston (1979-87), London (1987-88), İstanbul (1988-91) and Venice (1991-93). In 1993 he returned to Boğaziçi University, where he taught a course on the history of science. His first book, co-authored by the late Hilary Sumner-Boyd, was Strolling Through İstanbul (1972). Since then he has published more than forty books.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent but flawed biography and I would recommend the following review:

https://literaryreview.co.uk/escapade...

which says much I would say but much better.

[Sincerae Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bird of my soul, be patient of thy cage,
This body, lo! how fast it wastes with age.
~ from a poem by Cem Sultan

I really wanted to leave this book at 4 stars or more, but my complaint is though it reads somewhat like a novel and is good for the historical layperson, the problem is there is very little of Jem (spelled "Cem" in Turkish) Sultan in this biography. There are glimpses, a few delicious morsels of the tragic captive prince throughout the book, but the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John on the island of Rhodes, Pierre d'Aubusson, Jem's first European jailer whom the author says was genuinely fond of the Ottoman prince, the Borgia pope Alexander VI, and the French king Charles VIII figure here more than Jem. Just occasionally there are a few intriguing sightings of Jem Sultan, but most of the time he's kept mostly in the background.

The subtitle of the book is also misleading. After the war of succession against his half brother Beyazit and his flight into Egypt, there isn't much of what I'd call "adventure" in Jem's life. Once he's on Rhodes, he is kept in a gilded cage on up to his imprisonment in France and then in Italy his final place of captivity. Adventure is supposed to be exciting and fun, and perhaps the only adventure Jem had was during a few dalliances he had with European women. Otherwise Jem Sultan was used as a political pawn to keep his brother Beyazit II and his army as far out of the environs of Western Europe as possible. There is a lot of interesting history here about the politics of the time between the European powers and the Ottomans, but just not enough Jem.

Where's Jem Sultan? This book is supposed to be able him.

[Tc Ayça · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally good book, providing a panoramic view of the Ottoman Empire and Europe in the second half of 15th century.

[Kabaal van Napels · Rating 3 out of 5]

International politics during the Renaissance

"Jem Sultan" by John Freely tells the story of the pretender to the Ottoman throne, his subsequent loss of rule and how he ultimately ended up hostage in Renaissance Europe. International politics of the time are also expounded; illustrating how each party used him for their own wider plans and aspirations, from the prevention of an Ottoman invasion of Italy to a new Crusade.

The book follows a chronological and factual structure and undoubtedly the author has researched his topic well, but has perhaps focused too much on the international powerplays and intrigue instead of Jem himself. The picture that emerges is what a prize Jem must have been for the European powers and what a considerable threat the Ottoman Empire was to Europe during the Renaissance.

The book is written with pace and is a lucid easy read despite the complicated relationships between the main antagonists; Venice, the Ottoman Empire, Mamluk Egypt, the Knights Hospitaller, the Papal states, France and Hungary.

Overall a good read; Jem Sultan is informative for those looking for insight to the international political landscape during the Renaissance or for those seeking an intriguing story of a little known and unfortunate Ottoman prince.

[Peter Tillman]

Jo Walton read & liked it, back in April. Here is her short review:
"Jem, or Cem as he is usually spelled in modern Turkish, was the son of Mehmet II; he started a civil war in the Ottoman empire when his father died and then spent the rest of his life in France and Italy. I was reading this as papal election research, and it’s great—he’s a fascinating larger than life person who stepped between cultures in a very interesting way. He’s reputed to have had a white parrot that could recite verses from the Koran, he did have romantic liaisons across France, and when he and his brother weren’t trying to kill each other they were having poetry competitions. Terrific."
https://www.tor.com/2022/05/06/jo-wal...

I can't imagine actually reading this, except that the bolded bit is so cool!

[Eren Somcag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bogucu olmadan sakin ve etraflica anmatilmis bir hikaye. Bazi noktalari fazla detay icermesine karsin, oldukca akici, tanidik kahramanlarla yazilmis bir romani andiriyor.

[Zachary Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read while also being informative, although I'd recommend it more to those who already know some of the history. I am not prepared to agree with the author's thesis that Cem's captivity in Europe prevented the Ottoman Empire under Bayazit from following a more aggressive policy vis-a-vis Europe, although I am now more interested in locating a biorgaphy of Bayazit. I also found that all of the lurid accounts of the legends that came to surround Cem while he may or may not have been womanizing in France to be unecessary detail

[Erdem Karaadam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives a short background to the events he is about to tell at the very beginning... which is not very accurate, he even does not know that Bayezid died in captivity at Timurid hands, not on the battle ground... I will continue reading, but will accept this more like a gossipy thing, a rumor, rather than history, and will mark in my head whatever I will read as "to be verified later"

[Pinar G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cem sultan hikayesi romantik bir kaybeden hikayesi. Freely muhtesem bir tarihci ve hikaye tarafina degil arsiv ve belge tarafina yoneliyor. Arsiv de Osmanli'da Cem sultan'i yok saydiklari icin mevcut degil. O yuzden fransiz, venedeik, roma ve italyan arsivlerine giriyoruz. Guzel ilginc bir tarih kitabi

[Danyal Effendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story depicting that Non-Muslim and Muslim can never be a true friend. Furthermore, greed for throne and power can even make you enemy of blood relations including brothers. This book also tells that how the cross generation of French and Turkish started and are still existing.