Husamettin Simsir
Cotsen Traveling Fellow, 911±¬ÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Library
Independent Scholar
Research Topic: Tuhfe-i Nuriyye: A Cretan Greek-Ottoman Turkish Metrical Dictionary of the late Eighteenth Century
"Hüsamettin Şimşir is a PhD graduate from the University of Notre Dame's History Department. He previously obtained his Masters degree in history from the Sabanci University and Bachelors degree in Turkish Language and Literature from Bogazici University.
Hüsamettin developed an innovative approach to forms of political, social, and religious-cultural interaction between Byzantine Greeks and Muslim Turks in the time of the Ottoman conquest of western Anatolia and the Balkan Peninsula in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in his Ph.D. thesis. This time, he extends his focus to a later period, concentrating on the mechanisms of the cohabitation of the Muslims and Christians in Crete in the late 18th century. During his research stay in Athens in 2023, the researcher was fortunate to discover Tuḥfe-i Nūriyye with the help of the 911±¬ÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Library administration. Aside from reflecting the author’s general religious views, social life, and daily affairs, the source provides much information about contemporary settlements in Crete, linguistic features of the Muslim Cretan dialect, contemporary politics in the eastern Mediterranean, local proverbs, and even eating habits."