A closer look on the daily life and milieu of an Ottoman Sultan: Ahmed III

This thesis covers the life of an Ottoman Sultan, Ahmed III (1703-1730), who reigned more than twenty-seven years at the beginning of the 18th century, with a special focus on his private and daily life, his relations with the members of his family and Ottoman ruling elite as well as his favourites and courtiers. Examining Ahmed III's lifestyle and milieu also facilitates to question the great meanings attributed to the last twelve years of his long reign under the name of so-called "Tulip Age" which is the grand vezirate period of Nevsehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha. Because the study incorporates the entire reign of Ahmed III and his şehzadelik year, it gives a chance to pursue the sultan-centred daily life and the patronage relations in the Ottoman court roughly for the last thirty years of the 17th century and the first thirty years of the 18th centuries and to reveal the trends of change and continuity. Thus, the mainstream Ottoman historiography in which many issues regarded as unique to the "Tulip Age" might be questioned and whether are really like that or not revealed spontaneously.