The Ottoman Origins of English Modernity on the Hoof

8/13/2019 The Ottoman Origins of English Modernity on the Hoof

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The Ottoman Origins of English Modernity, on the Hoof

Professor Donna Landry, FRAS

University of ent

These days it is becoming fashionable to ask, What did Islam, or the

Ottomans, do for us? A better question, given the vagaries of ritish

history, might be, What did their horses do? et!een "#$% and "&$%, more

than '%% stallions and mares !ere im(orted into the ritish Isles from the

)iddle *ast and +orth Africa, most of them from (orts in the Ottoman

*m(ire or its regency s(heres of influence on the +orth African coast They

came from Ale((o via Iskenderun, from Istanbul, and from Tunis and

Algiers These horses !ere usually described by their (oints of embarkation-

Arabians, from the .yrian and Arabian deserts/ Turks, from Anatolia or

further *ast in Asia/ and arbs, from the arbary states of +orth Africa.ometimes observers !ere able to distinguish a horses breeding from its

ty(e, sometimes only from its (lace of (urchase or shi((ing 0et all these

horses !ere so remarkably different from the northern *uro(ean ty(es !ith

!hich ritish (eo(le !ere familiar, that a cultural shift occurred, beginning

!ith horsemanshi( and equestrian culture and ri((ling through the culture at

large

With the arrival of these *astern im(orts, a ne! breed, the

Thoroughbred, !as develo(ed by cross1breeding on *nglish soil these

formerly se(arate strains or races In addition, the horse (ortrait !asinvented, s(orting art changed dramatically, ne! ideas about horses mental

ca(acities entered *nglish literature, and riding styles altered as the 2ockey

seat !ith short stirru( leathers became all the rage

What ha((ened to make these changes come about? et!een "$3%,

!hen the first ca(itulations or trading agreements !ere dra!n u( bet!een

*ngland and the Ottomans, and "#'%, *ngland became the chief trading

(artner of the Ottoman *m(ire 4uring these years the rustic, un(olished

*nglish nation began to cut a more dashing figure on the high seas and in the

s(lendid courts of foreign (otentates The merchants of 5ondon became

!ealthy and (o!erful and began to assert their im(ortance (olitically andculturally at home This shift in the balance of class (o!er eventually led to

conflict bet!een the 6ro!n and 7arliament The (rotracted consequences of

this struggle !ere the civil !ars of the "#8%s, the e9ecution of 6harles I in

"#8:, the Interregnum rule of Oliver 6rom!ell during the "#$%s, the

;estoration of 6harles II in "##%, and the abdication of his brother


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monarchy in "#33 y the "&3%s, a united =reat ritain had founded and

lost many of its +orth American colonies, embarked u(on a second ritish

em(ire in India, and !as engaged in .outh .eas e9(loration

.o far, the story is a !ell1kno!n and entirely *urocentric tale of the

ine9orable gro!th of the (ink bits on the global ma( ut there is another

story here as !ell As !e !ill see, the (o!erful Ottoman *m(ire ruled by

the .ultans of Istanbul had a much greater influence on events in =reat

ritain than sim(ly enabling merchants to acquire large fortunes that hel(ed

to ti( the traditional (olitical balance of (o!er during the revolution of the

seventeenth century Along !ith ne! !ealth and !orldliness, along !ith the

5evant 6om(anys economic trium(hs, came crucial social changes at

home >oreign customs and institutions see(ed into *nglish society from the

land of the =rand Turk, forever changing the cultural landsca(e of !hat it

meant to be *nglish

As trading (artners, yet also im(erial rivals in !hose !ars the other!as sometimes im(licated, the long1established Ottoman and emergent

ritish em(ires !ere sometimes emulative, sometimes admiring, sometimes

dismissive of one another What =erald )ac5ean has characteried as

im(erial envy succinctly describes relations obtaining bet!een *uro(e and

the Ottoman *m(ire before the fully fledged discursive system of

Orientalism, described by *d!ard .aid, emerged during the later eighteenth

century@" In (revious centuries Western commercial and cultural

e9changes !ith the *ast !ere on a less unequal basis than develo(ed

subsequently What is all too often forgotten is that, bet!een the si9teenth

and eighteenth centuries, the Ottomans remained in a (osition of relative

su(eriority in !ealth, the arts, and military strength

The (urebred *astern horse native to the Ottoman domains embodied

in the flesh this cultural su(eriority oth in the flesh and in artistic

re(resentation, *astern blood horses belonged to that common currency of

ob2ects and (ractices held in common bet!een the *astern and Western

em(ires, that re(ertoire of images recogniable to both 6hristendom and

the Islamic !orld, as 5isa


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so that such a (ast relation has receded into ghostly obscurity What is most

ironic is that uchans character .andy Arbuthnot, a .cotsman good at

getting inside the skin of remote (eo(les and so a most effective s(y, comes

riding into *rurum !ith his firm *nglish hunting seat Deven the .cots ride

like the *nglish !hen they ride !ellE, !earing not (ro(er clothes, but the

green mantle of the (ro(het of Islam he had been sent to find and had

ended u( (retending to be-

Fe !as turbaned and rode like one (ossessed, and against the sno! I

caught the dark sheen of emerald As he rode it seemed that the

fleeing Turks !ere stricken still, and sank by the roadside !ith eyes

strained after his unheeding figure

Then I kne! that the (ro(hecy had been true, and that their

(ro(het had not failed them The long1looked for revelation had come

=reenmantle had a((eared at last to an a!aiting (eo(le@8

eneath the turban and flying robes of the for!ard1going Islamic horsemanlurks a .cotsman G himself an e(itome of *nglish cultural im(erialism The

e9quisiteness of this Orientalist fantasy lies in its reversal of a history in

!hich the hunting field could be said to have been haunted by the s(ectres of

*astern horsemen, as if inside every to( hat or hunt ca( and (ink coat there

lurked an Arab or a Turk

The ne! horses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a((eared

to have ideas of their o!n, about going freely for!ard !ith a minimum of

collection and about being kindly treated, something else that !as unusual in

*uro(e


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years, usbecq re(orted that, !hile our 6hristian grooms never think their

horses rightly curried till they thunder at them !ith their voice, and let their

club or horse1!hi( d!ell, as it !ere, on their sides, the Turks love to have

their horses so very gentle that, at a !ord of command, they may fall do!n

on their knees, and in this (osture receive their riders@3 .uch a

(artnershi(, and such loyalty, bet!een man and beast had been among the

determining factors in the trium(hs of the Ottoman cavalry over *uro(ean

forces

And as a result the ne! Oriental horses both demanded to be treated

differently from other horses and ins(ired ne! forms of horse1kee(ing

(hiloso(hy, ne! riding styles that allo!ed horses more freedom of

movement, !ith riders taking u( their stirru(s a notch or t!o to lighten their

seats, and (referring a for!ard going snaffle1mouthed horse to the curb1

bitted e9treme collection of the riding school In the "$3%s, riding short !as

kno!n as riding in the Turkey fashion, according to Thomas lundeville

and others@: y the mid1eighteenth century, turning the to(s of the boots

do!n in order to bend the knees, making standing in the stirru(s, rising to

the trot, and 2um(ing obstacles at s(eed much easier, all im(orted (ractices,

had become standard *nglish (ractice

+o!, in (aintings by


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sires, the yerley Turk, the 4arley Arabian, and the =odol(hin arb Dor

ArabianE, the Farley 4un and the loody .houldered Arabian made their

mark on Thoroughbred (edigrees

The loody .houldered Arabian, (ainted more than nine times by

aults !hich I could !ish !ere

mended, 0et if he has the good fortune to come to you safe I believe

fe! such Forses have ever come to *ngland, T!ould be too tedious at

this time to give you the !hole Fistory of him and his ;ace, !hich I

shall reserve till I am so ha((y as to .ee you@"%>aults or no, the 4un !as a smash1hit in *ngland +athaniels ne(he! 5ord

Farley re(orted gleefully that the horse !as thought by all that have seen

him to be the finest Forse that ever came over@""

The !hole Fistory of him and his ;aceK is never related in the

Farley corres(ondence 5ike other im(orts from Ale((o, he is often referred

to by contem(oraries and, later, by historians of the Thoroughbred as the


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Farley 4un Arabian Fo!ever, dun or cream is an unusual color among

(urebred Arabians The artist ridget Tem(est, !ho s(ecialies in

(ortraying Akhal1Tekes, todays chief Turkmen breed, s(eculates that, based

on the evidence of


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de(endencies also in (rinci(le had no influence 5a!s of the market

!ere sus(ended as !ere la!s of the state +ot that this idea of the

(ublic !as actually realied in earnest in the coffee houses, the salons,

and the societies/ but as an idea it had become institutionalied and

thereby stated as an ob2ective claim If not realied, it !as at least

consequential@"8

As Fabermas !ould have it, the coffee house became the site of an

e9(erience of common humanity The celebration of rank, !ith its dis(lays

of (o!er and codes of deference, !as re(laced, Fabermas insists, by a tact

befitting equals The (o!er of the better argument, rather than the social

or economic (o!er of the gentleman !ho e9(ressed it, became

institutionalied and thereby stated as an ob2ective claim If not actually

realied in the coffee houses, es(ecially not al!ays in earnest, the idea of

a rational debate, based u(on a (arity of o(inions rather than (artici(ants,

became, according to Fabermas, at least consequential It !ill not be longbefore the all1male and u((er1ranks ethos of the coffee house !ill be

challenged because of that very consequential idea of a contest of arguments

not hemmed round by the social characteristics of their makers

The levelling mi9ing of the coffee house !as not natively *nglish,

!hatever Fabermas might think As the historian of science .teven .ha(in

has recently suggested, along !ith coffee and the coffee house, *uro(eans

im(orted ne! forms of sociability from the Ottoman *ast-

5ate "&th1century 5ondoners bought a dark, hot, bitter bre! called

coffee !hen they s(ent their (enny at a coffee house, but they also

bought forms of sociability that !ere e9(licitly, if eclectically,

modelled on those of the coffee houses of .myrna, Ale((o, 6airo and

6onstantino(le The Ottoman Origins of )odernity might make

Fabermas s!allo! hard, but, follo! his arguments about the 5ondon

coffee house, and thats one (lace they lead@"$

What these Ottoman forms of sociability !ere like is !ell described by

)arkman *llis in his book on the coffee house, based u(on *nglish

travellers accounts T!o of those travellers, William iddul(h and Fenry

lount, feature in =erald )ac5eans The Rise of Oriental Traveland

Looking East@"# Indeed, it !as the fear of the mi9ing of ranks, and thetransgressing of boundaries of (oliteness, that caused coffee houses

sometimes to be shut do!n in the name of (reventing sedition, as ha((ened

in ritain during 6harless IIs reign, or during moments of (ious reform in

the Ottoman *m(ire 6harles II tried briefly in 4ecember "#&$ to shut do!n

the coffee houses because they had become (laces in !hich the kings

scandalous se9 life and his failure to (roduce a legitimate heir !ere too


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freely discussed As


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@& Ogier =hiselin de usbecq, Travels into Turke- )ontaining the most

accurate 'ccount of the Turks, and 5eighbouring 5ations, Their Manners,

)ustoms, Religion,

'ccount of the Turks, and 5eighbouring 5ations, Their Manners, )ustoms,

Religion, +u"erstition, Polic-, Riches, )oins, 6c7 The (hole being a series

of remarkable observations and events, inters"ersd (ith great variet- of

entertaining incidents, never before "rinted, Translated from the Original

Latin of the Learned '7 G7 8usbe9uius, !ith Memoirs of the Life of the

&llustrious 'uthorD5ondon- 7rinted for ebruary "&"8N"$, 5 Add )ss

&%"8B, ''$r1''$v

@"" *d!ard, 5ord Farley, 5etter to +athaniel Farley, 8 4ecember "&"#,

quoted in 6 ) 7rior, Earl- Records of the Thoroughbred *orse

)ontaining Re"roductions of +ome Original +tud2books, and Other Pa"ers,

of the Eighteenth )entur-D5ondon- The .(ortsman Office, ":'8E, "8'

@"' ridget Tem(est, Turkmen 't !im"ole 'rtists from Turkmenistan

DAshgabat- Hisiting Artists, nd @'%%"E, '%

@"B 7rior, Earl- Records, "8"

@"8


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!ith the assistance of >rederick 5a!rence D":#'/ 6ambridge- 7olity, ":3:/

r(t '%%$E, B#

@"$ .teven .ha(in, At the Amsterdam,London Revie( of 8ooksD'3-3E, '%

A(ril '%%#, "'1"8/ this (assage "8

@"# )arkman *llis, The )offee *ouse ' )ultural *istor-D5ondon-

Weidenfeld +icolson, '%%8E/ )ac5ean,Rise of Oriental Travel/ rian

6o!an, The +ocial Life of )offee The Emergence of the 8ritish

)offeehouseD+e! Faven and 5ondon- 0ale Cniversity 7ress, '%%$E/ ;al(h

. Fatto9, )offee and )offeehouses The Origins of a +ocial 8everage in the

Medieval 5ear East, Brd(rinting D":3$/ .eattle and 5ondon- Cniversity of

Washington 7ress, "::#E/ *d!ard ;obinson, The Earl- English )offee

*ouseD"3:B/ 6hristchurch, Fants- The 4ol(hin 7ress, ":&'E/ 6aroline

>inkel, Osmans ream The +tor- of the Ottoman Em"ireD5ondon-

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The Ottoman Origins of English Modernity on the Hoof