Ahmed Pacha et les juifs du Caire (1523-1524)

-- This book has won the Prix Saintour by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres! -- Prix Saintour On sait depuis longtemps que les juifs furent, parmi bien d'autres au Caire, victimes de violences pendant la revolte du gouverneur ottoman Ahmed Pacha (1523-1524), et qu'ils commemorerent chaque annee leurs epreuves au cours d'une fete locale de Pourim. Ce livre mobilise pour la premiere fois une riche documentation en turc, italien et arabe sur ces violences et leur contexte. Il souligne l'apport de Capsali (m. 1550), dont la chronique de la revolte en hebreu, negligee par les chercheurs, est traduite ici ; il invite a reconsiderer l'histoire de la chronique liturgique (megillah) anonyme, donc aussi celle de la fete. Dernier avatar d'une tradition historiographique vieille de cinq siecles, il renouvelle en profondeur l'expose des faits et l'analyse des dynamiques sociales a l' uvre dans la revolte, en les inscrivant dans l'histoire de la transition des Mamelouks aux Ottomans en Egypte et en Syrie. It has been long known that Jews, among many others in Cairo, were victims of violence during the revolt of the Ottoman governor Ahmed Pasha (1523-1524), and that they would commemorate their sufferings each year, during a local Purim festival. For the first time, this book draws on a wealth of documentation in Turkish, Italian and Arabic on these acts of violence and their context. It highlights the contribution of Capsali (d. 1550), whose chronicle of the revolt in Hebrew - neglected by scholars - has been translated here; it also prompts readers to reconsider the history of the anonymous liturgical chronicle (megillah), and therefore that of the festival as well. As the last avatar of a five-century-old historiographical tradition, it thoroughly recasts the presentation of facts along with an analysis of the social dynamics at work in the revolt, contextualizing them within the history of the transition from the Mamluks to the Ottomans in Egypt and Syria.