Editing Mehmed II (section)

==== Collection of Christian art and relics ====
[[File:Apse mosaic Hagia Sophia Virgin and Child.jpg|thumb|Mosaic of the Virgin and Child in the apse of the Hagia Sophia, preserved by Mehmed II after the fall of Constantinople.]]
A significant part of Mehmed II's foray into Western culture was his collection of Christian artwork and relics. The sultan obtained the relics after his conquest of Constantinople, when he ordered that all the relics in the local churches be brought to him.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |title=Architecture, ceremonial, and power: the Topkapi Palace in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries |date=1991 |publisher=Architectural History Foundation ; MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-14050-8 |location=New York, N.Y. : Cambridge, Mass |page=136}}</ref> Among these relics were the putative skull and arm bone of [[John the Baptist|St. John the Baptist]] and a stone on which, purportedly, [[Jesus]] was born.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |title=Architecture, ceremonial, and power: the Topkapi Palace in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries |date=1991 |publisher=Architectural History Foundation ; MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-14050-8 |location=New York, N.Y. : Cambridge, Mass |pages=135}}</ref>  The relics were indeed very dear to him, as evidenced in a few anecdotes. For example, the sultan became "greatly distressed" when the royal librarian stepped on the aforementioned stone to reach a book high on a shelf. Again, after the Venetians had offered to purchase the same stone for 30,000 ducats, Mehmed replied that he would not sell it for even 100,000 ducats. This is confirmed by [[Guillaume Caoursin]], a contemporary of the sultan, who writes that he would not sell any of his relics, for they were "more precious than money." Sources even indicate that Mehmed lit candles in front of the relics of St. John the Baptist "as a sign of [[veneration]]."<ref name=":12" /> In addition to Christian relics, Mehmed also maintained an interest in Christian artwork. The Hagia Sophia is a significant example, for, upon conquering Constantinople, Mehmed preserved the mosaics that it contained, which can still be seen today.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |date=2012 |title=Visual Cosmopolitanism and Creative Translation: Artistic Conversations with Renaissance Italy in Mehmed II's Constantinople |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23350362 |journal=Muqarnas |volume=29 |pages=15 |jstor=23350362}}</ref> Mehmed also himself commissioned a painting of the [[Virgin and Child|Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus]], as two independent Italian sources report.

===== Purpose of the collection =====
[[Franz Babinger]], a German orientalist, writes that Mehmed used these relics "for purposes of bargaining with Christians."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Babinger |first=Franz |title=Mehmed the Conqueror and his time |date=1978 |publisher=Princeton University Press |others=Bollingen Foundation Collection (Library of Congress) |isbn=978-0-691-09900-2 |series=Bollingen series |location=Princeton, N.J |pages=411 |language=en, de}}</ref> However, Julian Raby, [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] lecturer on Islamic art and director emeritus of the [[Freer Gallery of Art]] and the [[Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]], argues the purpose of the collection is more unclear, mentioning that [[Niccolò Sagundino]], a contemporary, writes of two conflicting opinions, the first being Babinger's and the second being that it expressed Mehmed's "sincere devotion."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=RABY |first=JULIAN |date=1982-01-01 |title=A Sultan of Paradox: Mehmed the Conqueror as a Patron of the Arts |url=https://academic.oup.com/oaj/article-abstract/5/1/3/1579372?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=5 |doi=10.1093/oxartj/5.1.3 |issn=0142-6540}}</ref>

===== Reaction to the collection =====
Mehmed's collection of Christian art and relics brought about various reactions from his contemporaries. Along with his general openness to Christianity, Mehmed's collection was a cause of an unfulfilled hope of some in the West that he would convert to Christianity. His son and successor, Bayezid II, suspected similarly, accusing Mehmed of "not believing in Muhammad." Although Mehmed's interest in Christianity and Christian culture caused concern among traditionalist factions, [[Gülru Necipoğlu]] writes, the sources written in Islamic languages do not support "such a perception of Mehmed's irreligiosity."<ref name=":13" /> Upon his accession to the sultanate, Bayezid, who hated "figural images of any sort," sold his father's art collection and also offered the relics to the rulers of Rhodes, France, and Italy as ransom for his brother, [[Cem Sultan|Cem]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |title=Architecture, ceremonial, and power: the Topkapi Palace in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries |date=1991 |publisher=Architectural History Foundation ; MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-14050-8 |location=New York, N.Y. : Cambridge, Mass |pages=138}}</ref>