Captive Books, Captive Teachers. Spoils of the Long Turkish Wars in 17th-century Vienna

This article follows the journey of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian manuscripts – seized as spoils of war during the Long Turkish Wars – from the battlefields to the library collections of a Protestant baron and a Catholic librarian in Vienna. It examines ownership records and marginalia, shedding light on how these ‘oriental’ texts were decoded and sometimes misinterpreted by a diverse group of non-Ottoman actors, including soldiers, bibliophiles, and scholars. It contributes to understanding the reading habits of Ottoman soldiers, enabling comparisons with those of their Christian counterparts. In addition, this article follows the story of Dervīş İbrāhīm, a Muslim prisoner of war, who worked for Sebastian Tengnagel. Interweaving objects, books, and people, it underscores the entangled threads of violence and knowledge in a period marked by profound religious and social change.