the black death in early ottoman territories - Bilkent University

In 1464, plague would again arrive from Central Asia according to the
testimony of Hasan-ı Rumlu for the year 868 (1463-64) : "Yine bu yılda
Semerkand beldesinde çıkan taun yüzünden kalabalık bir topluluk hayatını
kaybetti." 269 Plague then followed the Ottoman army on the way to the siege of
Ragusa. According to Biraben, the Ottomans refused to enter the city at the end of
the siege, knowing it was infected by the disease. Maybe as the continuation of the
previous one, yet another outbreak took place in 1466. This outbreak coincided
with the campaign that Mehmed undertook against Kroues in today's Albania, and
which was reported upon by Kritovoulos. The chronicler described that after an
unsuccessful siege, Mehmed disbanded the troops and left for the capital.
However, upon receiving news that plague was rampant everywhere in Thrace and
Macedonia and that even Istanbul had not been spared, he changed his mind and
spent the autumn in the area around Nikopolis and Vidin. In order to remain
informed, messengers arrived almost every day with reports on the situation in the
capital. 270 In his article Pushing the Stone Uphill 271 , Lowry interprets this event
as a proof of the less pious and more pragmatic attitude of the Ottoman ruler,
which he contrasts to the "more traditional Islamic views on the subject that had
come to prevail in the Ottoman capital as well" under the rule of Süleyman.
However, it has to be considered that the example of Mehmed pitching camp in
Vidin is in observance with one of the major tenets of the traditional Islamic view
on plague : that Muslims should not enter any area infested with plague. Therefore,
Mehmed II's behaviour was hardly at odds with orthodox Islamic principles. As
Lowry observed, the ruler travelled to the highlands of the Balkans to escape from
269
Hasan-ı Rumlu, Ahsenü't-tevârîh, 418.
270
Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, 222, as quoted by Lowry, Pushing the Stone
Uphill, 110.
271
Lowry, Pushing the Stone Uphill, 130-131.
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