Institute for Mediterranean Studies

JaNet

Janissaries in Ottoman Port-Cities: Muslim Financial and Political Networks in the Early Modern Mediterranean

European Research Council Starting Grant scheme (StGr2019 no. 849911, Funded under: H2020-EU.1.1.)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yannis Spyropoulos
Start date: 1 February 2020, End date: 31 January 2025
Overall budget: € 1,498,389
Hosted by: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece

The project “JaNet: Janissaries in Ottoman Port-Cities: Muslim Financial and Political Networks in the Early Modern Mediterranean,” funded by the European Research Council under the program Starting Grant 2019, aspires to create an innovative entanglement of military, social, political, and economic history which has the potential to change our current perception of the early modern Mediterranean and the role of Islam in it. JaNet investigates the economic and sociopolitical role of the Janissaries in the 18th and early 19th centuries through their examination as a complex of interconnected networks in the Mediterranean. By studying the Janissary corps, the project brings forward a radically new historical analysis concerning, on the one hand, the role of Muslims in the Ottoman and wider Mediterranean commercial economy – a role largely ignored by the bibliography – and, on the other, the processes that led to the creation of diasporas and the dissemination of people and ideas among various Muslim communities in the area.

JaNet’s research team consists of Yannis Spyropoulos (Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Rethymno, Greece), as Principal Investigator, Abdulmennan Mehmet Altıntaş (Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Rethymno, Greece), Yahya Araz (Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey), İrfan Kokdaş (Kâtip Çelebi University, Izmir, Turkey), Demetris Papastamatiou (Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece), Mehmet Mert Sunar (Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey), Anna Sydorenko, (Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Rethymno, Greece), Aysel Yıldız (Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Rethymno, Greece), as well as PhD candidates, MA students and technical staff. The project’s Advisory Committee consists of Antonis Anastasopoulos (University of Crete/FORTH, Rethymno, Greece), Virginia Aksan (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada), Linda Darling (University of Arizona, Tucson, United States), Jane Hathaway (Ohio State University, Columbus, United States), and Baki Tezcan (University of California, Davis, United States). JaNet is hosted at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation of Research and Technology – Hellas (IMS/FORTH), situated in Rethymno, Greece, with the collaboration of Istanbul Medeniyet University and Izmir Kâtip Çelebi University (Beneficiary Institutions).

Project Team

Matteo Barbano

Matteo Barbano

Postdoctoral researcher
Curriculum vitae
Sukru Ilicak

Sukru Ilicak

Postdoctoral researcher
Curriculum vitae
Demetris Papastamatiou

Demetris Papastamatiou

Assistant Professor
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Antonis Anastasopoulos

Antonis Anastasopoulos

Associate Professor
Department of History and Archaeology, University of Crete
Curriculum vitae
Abdulmennan M. Altıntaş

Abdulmennan M. Altıntaş

Postdoctoral researcher
Anna Sydorenko

Anna Sydorenko

Postdoctoral researcher
Curriculum vitae
Aysel Yıldız

Aysel Yıldız

Postdoctoral researcher
Maria Ernest Fragopoulou

Maria Ernest Fragopoulou

Research Assistant - Projects Coordination & Management
Maria Anastasiadi

Maria Anastasiadi

Postgraduate student
Department of History and Archaeology, University of Crete
Curriculum vitae
ERC
Funded by the European Union (ERC, JaNet, grant agreement No. 849911). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.