The perception of the Ottoman Turk in published Hospitaller historiography

Abstract

Perhaps nothing more than the Ottoman Turk symbolized the 'Other' in Hospitaller historiography, and this was mainly the result of centuries of antagonistic co-existence in the Mediterranean. The main objective of this dissertation was the study of the perception of the Ottoman Turk in the works of the official historians of the Hospitallers Iacomo Bosio and the Abbe de Vertot, together with that of the only continuator of Bosio's Istoria, Fra Bartolomeo dal Pozzo. Ultimately the main objective of this effort was not that of studying the history of the Hospitallers themselves, but obviously these occupy a fundamental, although indirect, role in this analysis since the study of their perception of what they considered as their enemy par excellence inevitably sheds light on their own perception of their past. Rather than concentrating on their historical style, which differed considerably in the three cases, or the military counter position between the two 'entities', which were simply commented upon en passant during the dissertation, the main aim was that of discerning their general notions on the Ottomans. Therefore the main fields of investigation were not the spectacular, which these historians emphasized considerably, but their thoughts, image projections, anachronisms and military appraisals of the Ottoman phenomenon over the centuries.