Ebubekir bin Abdullah

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Ebubekir bin Abdullah (* between 1550 and 1600; † between 1600 and 1650) was an Ottoman chronicler and soldier.

Life

The place and time of Ebubekir bin Abdullah's birth are unknown. Since he served in the gate cavalry ( sipahi ), research suggests that his father Abdullah, whose name he mentions in his work, was also a soldier. During the war in 1578 against the Safavid Rulers Tahmasp I. Ebubekir bills itself as it participating cavalryman. He was captured near Gəncə in November 1579 and brought first to Tabriz , then to Qazvin . In his chronicle, he reports that he was interrogated about the situation in Istanbul , in the army of Grand Vizier Özdemiroglu Osman Pascha († 1585) and about the Tatars . After two years, a commander whom he calls Mollah Mehdi orders his release. However, he does not return home immediately, but travels to Persia with three companions . From Kars he returned to Istanbul in 1582 with the troops of Grand Vizier Koca Sinan Pascha († 1596). After that there is no more information about his further life.

The work

Ebubekir's insignificant military career is also evident in his simple style of writing with popular formulations. His only work is Tarih-i Oşman Paşa ("The Chronicle of Osman Pascha") or Şark seferlerinde surhser ile vâki'olan ahvâlleri ve Şirvân'da Oşmân Paşa ile surhserin mücâdelelerini beyân eder (“The events in connection with the Ostfeldbaschi and the fighting between Osman Pasha and the Kizilbash in Şirvan ”). This chronicle is a detailed account of the campaign in which Ebubekir took part. He also describes in detail the general situation in the Caucasus between 1579 and 1582, such as the problems of the Safavid princes with the rebellious and powerful Kizilbasch . A note in the Millet-Kütüphanesi manuscript indicates that the work was completed in 1582.

In the introduction Ebubekir asks the reader for indulgence because of his mistakes and errors and hopes for prayers for his salvation. He does not portray the main characters in his work as infallible generals, but his main focus is on the people of the Caucasus. He briefly describes the events during the campaign of Osman Pasha, beginning with the march from Istanbul to Erzurum . This is followed by the battles in Sirvan and Darband (Demirkapu), the arrival of the Tatar khan Mehmed II Giray (1577–84) and Osman Pasha's retreat. The greater part of the chronicle then deals with the country and the people he had studied on his three-year tour.

Manuscripts

  • Manuscript Tarih-i Oşman Paşa in Vienna, Austrian National Library , Gustav Flügel : The Arabic, Persian and Turkish Manuscripts, vol. 2 , Vienna 1865, 36 folios, copied after 1585.
  • Manuscript Şark seferleri in Istanbul, Millet Kütüphanesi, Ali Emiri Tarih Kitaplari 366, Tarih-Coğrafya Yazmaları Katalogları , Istanbul 1943, 31 folios, with the name of the author.

Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall believed Rahimizade Ibrahim Çavuş to be the author on the basis of a signed supplement to the Vienna manuscript. Franz Babinger was able to determine the actual authorship due to the identical text and the naming of the chronicler in the Istanbul manuscript.

literature

  • Mustafa Eravci: Ebūbekir b. 'Abdullāh , August 2005. In: C.Kafadar / H.Karateke / C.Fleischer: Historians of the Ottoman Empire. Harvard University. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, ISBN 9780-9762-7270-0 , pp. 97-99. [1]
  • Franz Babinger : The historians of the Ottomans and their works. Leipzig 1927.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manuscript Şark seferleri in Istanbul, Millet Kütüphanesi, Ali Emiri Tarih Kitaplari 366, p. 21a.
  2. ↑ Joseph von Hammer Purgstall: The Ottoman chroniclers. 1827-35, Turkish translation Osmanlı Devleti Tarihi Istanbul 1985.
  3. ^ Franz Babinger: The historians of the Ottomans and their works. Leipzig 1927, p. 131.
personal data
SURNAME Ebubekir bin Abdullah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soldier and chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH between 1550 and 1600
DATE OF DEATH between 1600 and 1650