Perceived Ottoman power positioned moriscos between inferiority and superiority
Evidence
To Busbecq and his contemporaries it may well have seemed that Europe was doomed. Yet how wrong they were. Though the Ottoman power was still to survive for some time, it had already passed its peak. The Turks did not in fact settle with Persia but continued to fight wars against them until the eighteenth century, after which both Turkey and Persia ceased to pose a serious threat. The great age of the Eastern empires was past; the great age of Christian Europe was just beginning. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 721 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Association with Ottoman power gave moriscos grudging respect in Europe — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 122; Muslims’ perceived inferiority in Spain tracked the geopolitical power of Muslim states; Perceived association with Ottoman power tempered European contempt for moriscos — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 122 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Powerful Muslim empires prevented Europeans from fully racializing moriscos as inferior
#corroborates(0.85) - Moriscos’ liminal status shows Ottoman power blocked full European racism
#corroborates(0.85) - Contemporaries overestimated Ottoman strength even as the empire was declining
#complicates(0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 721 - Perceived instability plus illegitimacy spurs subordinate groups to reject inferiority
#expands(0.70)