Political Pragmatism, Humanist Ideals, and Early Modern Orientalism in Busbecq’s Turkish Letters

Abstract

This article revisits Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq’s (1520/21–1591) Turkish Letters in the light of recent debates on early modern Orientalism. The Letters, widely circulated in the original Latin and several European vernaculars, constitute a significant pro-Habsburg contribution to contemporary debates about the Ottomans, as well as the divisions among European Christians and various European political entities. Busbecq’s Letters are among the most eloquent representatives of early modern Orientalism, through their imbrication of fantasy and fear with factual observation and political pragmatism, and their mixture of self-congratulation and self-scrutiny. Rather than functioning as the cultural instrument of Western European superiority, early modern Orientalist discourse, as exemplified by Busbecq’s Letters, denotes a state of cultural ambiguity that defies teleological interpretations, and nudges us towards a more nuanced reading of early modern history.