The black eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire: networks of power in the court of the sultan

At the height of the Ottoman Empire, Black eunuchs - rare, castrated slaves imported from Africa - became a key part of court politics. Unlike White eunuchs, who were only permitted outside the palace, Black eunuchs had access to the Harem - the Sultan's inner court. The chief Black Eunuch, appointed personally by the Sultan, had both the ear of the leader of a vast Islamic Empire, and power over a network of spies and informers, including eunuchs and slaves throughout Constantinople and beyond. The story of these remarkable indivuduals, who rose from difficult beginnings to become amongst the most powerful people in the Ottoman Empire, is rarely told. The author places their stories in the context of the wider history of African slavery, and sets them at the centre of Ottoman history. This work marks a new direction in the study of courtly politics and power in Constantinople--Back cover.