Europske predodžbe o „turskoj“ prijetnji (14.-16. stoljeće)
European perceptions of the Ottoman ‘threat’ between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries

Summary/Abstract: This essay analyses the ways in which the Europeans formed their perceptions of ‘Turks’ between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. It focuses on three sets of perceptions that emerged in response to the ‘Turkish’ inroads into the European continent. The first section examines the set of perceptions according to which ‘Turks’ were regarded as a real threat to Christianity. At the same time, it points out that perceptions of ‘Turks’ as a real threat had different points of origin: for some authors, such as Bartol Đurđević, ‘Turks’ were punishment for Christians’ sins, while others, such as Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, saw ‘Turks’ through the prism of their power, rather than a consequence for the sins of Christians. The essay furthermore analyses a set of perceptions according to which ‘Turks’ were a symbolic threat. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that the statements of Christian solidarity hid another layer of perceptions that revealed far more than the formal Christian expressions of solidarity. The ways in which the space of south-eastern Europe before the arrival of the Turks was seen in medieval France strongly influenced the perception of the same space following the arrival of the ‘Turks’. This reveals the multiple layers of the perception of the Turkish ‘symbolic threat’. The final section uses the experiences of runaways to the ‘Turkish’ side to explore another set of perceptions, in which ‘Turks’ were perceived not as a threat but as an opportunity for advancement. Experiences of such individuals and groups are useful for the understanding of the broader problem of perception formation, as well as of reality. It is evident that elites failed in their attempt to impose the religious set of perceptions upon the subject population, yet the inability to penetrate the perceptions of the ‘silent group’ hinders a clearer understanding of the process of the formation of reality, in other words perceptions, as an important foundation of human activity.

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