The Second Shift in (Modern) Ruler Visibility: the Reign of Abdülhamid II (1876–1909)

Chapter 4 analyses the second shift in modern ruler visibility, along faith-based lines, during the reign of Abdülmecid’s son, Abdülhamid II (1876–1909). It demonstrates that the sultan strove to present himself as a pious Muslim to Muslims at home and abroad, and as a Western ruler to non-Muslims at home and abroad. Therefore, the sultan tended to deprive the former of his direct visibility (public appearances and public display or dissemination of royal portraits), while at the same time channelling and staging it selectively towards the latter. Split chronologically into early-, middle- and late-reign sections, this chapter places a special emphasis on the overall shift from direct to indirect sultanic visibility over time by way of resorting to material objects and abstract metaphors as ruler proxies. Chapter 4 traces the escalation of celebration in the second half of Abdülhamid II’s reign in an attempt to capture the deliberate personality cult, centred on the sultan. At the same time, it also analyses a range of alleged provocations and attempts at subversion (ceremonial or otherwise) of symbolic central power in order to shed new light on the later channels for group activation and increasingly ethnic group realisation.

The Trope of Love, its Variations and Manifestations: the Reign of Abdülmecid (1839–61)

Chapter 2 focuses on the reign of Mahmud II’s eldest son, Abdülmecid (1839–61). He and his successor brought Mahmud II’s policies of increased visibility regarding the royal image to an apex. The trope of love for the ruler, which flourished under Abdülmecid, broadened and intensified the terms of direct engagement between sultan and subject. It also provided early indications for a trajectory of abstraction in terms of glorification of the sultan, which would gradually lead to a personality cult by the end of the nineteenth century, under Abdülhamid II. Chapter 2 gradually shifts the focus of the inquiry away from elitist theoretical conceptions of power towards the popular practical celebrations thereof. It looks at some channels for the localisation of central policies regarding monarchic celebration and the transformative effects on the Ottoman (especially non-Muslim) populace in the period from 1839 to 1861. By examining the case of the Bulgars, this chapter demonstrates the subtle stages of transformation of the notion of a common Ottoman fatherland into a notion of a common Bulgar motherland, with its attendant images of personification, victimization, and unification vis-à-vis a negative ‘other.’ This transformation signals a paradigm shift, discussed in this chapter and the next.

Introduction

The introduction provides a brief overview of the book’s main questions and goals against the backdrop of recent scholarship on group identities and communal boundaries. This book proposes a more systematic and comprehensive approach to the topic in the context of the late Ottoman Empire, based on terminological innovation and a three-tiered theorization of average personal attachments. By adopting the meta concept of ruler (in)visibility, it connects the ruler to the ruled and suggests that the former had no viable competitor for popular loyalties over most of the nineteenth century. It then identifies the annual all-imperial ruler celebrations, a global mass-scale nineteenth-century phenomenon, as an under-researched and extremely promising area of focus in the study of the moorings of contemporary popular belonging. Finally, the introduction discusses methods and sources, and provides a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the book.

Epilogue

The Epilogue discusses the wider usability of the thirteen-point model of modern belonging. It briefly sketches avenues for comparative, inter- and trans-imperial studies across the nineteenth-century globe, starting with the Russian Empire and the case of the Finns. For example, as with the Bulgars, the field of education served as the backdrop, first, for the nurturing of vertical ties of loyalty to monarch and dynasty and, then, for their subtle transformation into horizontal (macro) communal-cum-ethnonational belonging. Institutional and other structural differences notwithstanding, there is a striking similarity of ceremonial channels and functional patterns whereby the cycles of ruler visibility and popular belonging unfolded in the Russian and the Ottoman Empires. Similar processes of mental centralisation, which paralleled other ongoing forms of centralisation – fiscal, administrative, infrastructural and so on, went on in many other state formations across the globe in the course of the nineteenth century.

Conclusion

The conclusion brings together various threads of the complex feedback loop between ruler visibility and group consciousness at the popular level. It compiles a thirteen-point list of the key constituent elements and open-ended processes of the modern worldview, derived from the case of the Bulgars of Rumelia and open to testing in other (Ottoman or not) contemporary communal cases. The conclusion emphasises the integral connection between imperial policies, their fostering of ‘minority’ and ‘majority’ mindsets, and the eventual modern ethnonational political outcomes. This connection is inalienable from a comprehensive and historically accurate understanding of the transition from imperial to national mind-frames, and, ultimately, of modernity itself.

Further Stimuli for and Patterns of Millet Accentuation and Differentiation: the Reign of Abdülaziz (1861–76)

Chapter 3 focuses on the reign of Mahmud II’s younger son, Abdülaziz (1861–76), who maintained a remarkable continuity with his father’s and elder brother’s policies of increased ruler visibility. This sultan standardised and expanded the annual all-imperial royal accession anniversary and birthday celebrations, which grew until 1908. The chapter then demonstrates the intricate interweaving of motifs of sultanic and Bulgar communal (self) celebration as well as the gradual intersection of the more established duties to the ruler with the newly arising duties to the group. This relationship, for a while mutually reinforcing, is illustrated via a cross-section of celebrations of May 11, a recently invented Bulgar communal holiday. The concept of group memory, the discourse of communal rights and their sanctification, not to mention the more visible and commanding presence of a reified ‘Bulgaria,’ were clear indications of a novel, macro-communal consciousness. Gradually, the stream of popular excitement for the ruler was diverted towards communal causes, at first slightly and subtly, then more substantially and assertively. The centrality of the ruler even in core ruler celebrations was at first dulled, then altogether displaced.

The First Shift in (Modern) Ruler Visibility: the Reign of Mahmud II (1808–39)

Chapter 1 introduces and briefly traces the concept of ruler visibility, the focal point of the entire book, from the inception of the Ottoman imperial project to the nineteenth century. This umbrella term facilitates two lines of subsequent analysis of the sultan’s public image – visibility at home vs. abroad, and visibility to Muslim vs. Christian target audiences. The chapter then focuses on the reign of Mahmud II (1808–39), who engineered the first shift in modern ruler visibility in the Ottoman Empire. On the basis of hitherto untapped Ottoman archival evidence, this chapter makes the claim that the reform process began much earlier than the standard narrative (the Rose Chamber Rescript (Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif) of 1839) still claims. It also introduces some principles of aggrandisement of the ruler in the eyes of the people, such as piety, devotion to duty and fatherly status (in a ‘father-children’ metaphor of society), which pertain to the entire book.