Fatih Sultan Mehmed üzerine yaptığı çalışmalarını 1950’lerde yayımlamaya başlayan Halil İnalcık’ın yaklaşık altmış yıllık birikiminin yer aldığı bu kitap, Fatih ve devri hakkında monografik bir eser. Fatih Sultan Mehemmed Han, İnalcık’ın daha önce muhtelif dillerde yayımlanmış makalelerinin yanı sıra yeni yazılarını da içeriyor. Kitabın birinci bölümünde, Osmanlı ve Bizans (1302-1453) ilişkileri ve İstanbul’un fethi ele alınırken, fetih sonrası idare ve kurumlara dair yeni düzenlemeler, dönemin arşiv belgeleri ve kanunnameler ışığında inceleniyor. Ayrıca Fatih dönemi mâliye idaresi ve imparatorlukta rayiç olan meskukat üzerinde durulurken, birinci elden kaynaklar detaylı bir şekilde tahlil ediliyor. İkinci bölümde ise, İnalcık’ın ilk defa bu eserde yayımlanacak olan yazıları da yer alıyor. Halil İnalcık’ın “Fatih Sultan Mehmed” hakkında kaleme aldığı bu kapsamlı çalışma, zengin bibliyografyasıyla da araştırmacılar için eşsiz bir kaynak niteliğindedir.
Author
He was born in Istanbul to a Crimean Tatar family, which left Crimea for Constantinople in 1905. His birthday is unknown but İnalcık chose 26 May 1916 for his birthday. He attended Balıkesir Teacher Training School, and then Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of History where he graduated from in 1940. He completed his PhD in 1943 in the same department. His PhD thesis was on the Bulgarian question in the late Ottoman Empire. He entered the same school as an assistant, then he became assistant professor in 1946 and after his return from lecturing in the University of London for a while, he became a professor in the same department in 1952. He lectured in various universities in the United States as a guest professor. In 1972, he was invited by the University of Chicago. Between 1972 and 1993 he taught Ottoman history at the University of Chicago. In 1994, he returned to Turkey and founded history department at Bilkent University where he is still teaching. In 1993, he donated his valuable collection of books, journals and off-prints on the history of Ottoman Empire to the library of Bilkent University. He has been member president of many international foundations. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Historical Sciences. He is also a member of the Institute of Turkish Studies.
