Leisure, pleasure – and duty

Reindl-Kiel’s study offers glimpses into Ottoman courtly life and its music scene in the second quarter of the 17th century. Several archival registers and the relevant chronicles form the basis of her paper on Tüccarzade Silahdar Mustafa Pasha, the favourite and intimate friend of Murad IV in his final five years. Two of the treasury inventories under study record not only objects purchased or received as gifts but also cash coming in and the details of how this money was spent. It is a peculiarity that allows us to trace aspects of the pasha’s everyday life. Viewed from the perspective of the records, these years – interrupted by the Baghdad campaign – seem to have been an endless garland of leisure, pleasure, parties, music and joy; only a closer look reveals the pasha’s duties. Through these sources we can follow not only the pastimes of Silahdar Mustafa but, to a certain extent, those of the sultan himself.