The principal aim of this research project is to compare the predominant concepts of the Ottoman and Burgundian political discourse in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Even though reciprocal comparative analysis is gaining ground in the field of history (Austin, 2007; Crooks and Parsons ed., 2016), comparisons of the Burgundian and Ottoman political theories remain very rare. This project aims to conduct a comparison and to explore the commonalities and past connections between both spheres of political culture. Until now there has not been much interaction between the two historiographies. Conventionally, historians have rather emphasized geopolitical antagonism and conflicts and the differences between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Historians of Burgundy or medieval Europe in general have not shown much interest in the history of the Ottoman Empire and likewise Turkish historians also have not considered Burgundian history in much detail. This research, therefore, not only fills a gap in the field of history, but its results will also broaden and develop new knowledge of medieval Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the pre-modern period.
My hypothesis is that the paradigms of these two apparently separate political cultures - the Ottoman and Burgundian - derived from commonly shared intellectual sources. The commonalities in both political discourses can mainly be found in the advice literature often called Mirrors for Princes or fürstenspiegels in the European tradition or nasîhat-nâme in the Ottoman. This is the most important genre of historical texts, reflecting on pre-modern political theory and offering counsel to rulers and courtiers. The genre flourished in both the early Ottoman and Burgundian sphere