Talikizâde

Talikizâde (left) in the painting studio of Sultan Mehmed III. together with a calligrapher and Nakkaş Hasan (right), the master of the studio. Miniature from Eğri Fethi Ta'rihi (scene from 1597)

Talikizâde Mehmed ibn Mehmed el-Fenâri (transkr. Taʿlīqīzāde Meḥmed b. Meḥmed el-Fenārī ) (* around 1540; † around 1600) was an Ottoman chronicler and official. He was a member of the famous Fenâri family.

Life

About the life of Mehmed ibn Mehmed el-Fenâri, called Talikizâde, there are mainly notes in his own works, exact dates of birth and death or the places are unknown. Around or just after 1562, he is called Katib ( "Secretary") of the royal household of Prince Murad (later Sultan Murad III. , Called 1574-1595), than this as Sandzak -Gouverneur ( sancak beg ) to Manisa goes. Mehmed must therefore have been born around 1540. The fact that a maternal uncle of him (Karakaşzâde Piri Beg) at the time of Sultan Selim I (1512-1520) in Aydın lived, and Mehmed later fief ( ze'amet ) in the provinces Hamid, Aydin, Saruhan and Kütahya leave draw close family connections to Western Anatolia . Since he comes from a branch of the well-known Fenâri family, nothing is known about his father or grandfather.

Mehmed is after the inauguration of Sultan Murad III. Secretary at Dīwān ( divan katibi ), the court council in Istanbul . From August 1591 to around 1600 he also held the post of official historiographer ( şehnameci ) and that of a “reporter on events at the divan” ( veqayi'nüvis-i divan-i hümayun ). With his office as divan katibi , the appointment to müteferrika ( courier ) was connected. At times he also functions as a census recorder ( tahrir katibi ) in various provinces. Around 1580 Talikizâde used the poet's pseudonym Subhî , which, however, no longer appears in his later works. In the Revan ( Yerevan ) campaign of 1583–1584 by Grand Vizier Serdar Ferhad Pasha († 1595) and in the Tabriz campaign of 1585 by Grand Vizier Özdemiroglu 'Osman Pascha († 1585) he is the official diary writer ( sefer katibi ). Then he returned to his post as katib in Istanbul. He is again the war diary keeper during the Long War in Hungary , namely 1593–1594 in the Yanıq ( Győr ) campaign and in the war of Mehmed III. against Eger (1595-1603).

By 1590, Mehmed's income from his fiefdom had risen sharply, which suggests success as a writer and military. From 1591 to 1598 the floor area of ​​his fiefs more than doubled. In a list of the most important secretaries of the court he was listed as number seven in the autumn of 1597. Talikizâde dies according to a not undisputed dating in the chronicle of Riza during a campaign in 1599–1600.

Works

Of the five historical works written by Talikizâde Mehmed ibn Mehmed el-Fenâri, the first three are Sultan Murad III. and the next two Sultan Mehmed III. dedicated. The sixth work on physiognomy is his oldest known and Murad III. appropriated. The war reports are based on personal experiences. Mehmed writes in prose, although he includes his own poems in the works. The fifth chronicle of Egri Fethi Ta'rihi is only written in verse, but no collection of poems under his name has been found. He is well-read, uses Arabic and Persian expressions and likes to quote verses from the Koran. Autobiographical details can be found in the respective preface and scattered throughout the text. The four war diaries show knowledge of siege techniques , maneuvers and the mood of an army in war, the Şema'ilname-i Al-i 'Osman portrays the Ottoman dynasty up to the end of the 16th century.

• Gürcistan Seferi ("The Georgia Campaign"), also Revaniyye (Yerevan Report)

The first diary of the Ottoman-Persian War (1578–1590) does not deal in detail with the conquest of Revan (Yerevan), despite the second title, but in the first six chapters extensively with Serdar Ferhad Pasha's campaign in Georgia. The occupation of Tbilisi and the battle with Imam Qulı Han († 1632), who commanded a force made up of Georgians and Kizilbasch , are the second focus of the work. The titles are not by Mehmed, but have been added later.

• Tebriziyye ("Tabriz Report"), also Muradname ("Book of Murad")

The second war diary of the Iran campaign describes in detail the Tabriz campaign of Özdemiroglu 'Osman Pascha (1585). It includes the approach of the Ottoman army, the conquest of the city, the razing of the fortifications, conversations between the author and residents after the surrender, another battle against the Kizilbasch under Hamza Mirza († 1586), and the death of 'Osman Pascha, whereby Mehmed laments the loss of an influential patron.

• Şema'ilname-i Al-i 'Osman (book about the good qualities of the Ottomans), also Şahname ("Book of Kings ")

Talikizâde's first book as an official historiographer was written around 1592–1594. An autobiography is followed by an evaluation of the Ottoman dynasty. He describes the behavior towards Islam and the Sharia , the supremacy over the holy places Mecca and Medina , the personal bravery, the capital Istanbul, the expansion of the empire and the various subjugated peoples, the rule over land and seas, the love for Poetry and the poetic works of the sultans. Murad III however, caused a cut because he was dissatisfied with some passages. This version was then named Ta'rih-i Al-i 'Osman ("Chronicle of the Ottomans").

• Şehname-i Hümayun ("Sultan's Şehname")

The first diary of the Hungarian campaign from 1593 to 1606 ("Long War") covers the period from September 1593 to January 1596. It begins with the campaign of Koca Sinan Pasha († 1596), the council of war in Belgrade and the conquest of the fortresses Veszprém and Palota (Várpolata). The next year the capture of Tata , Szent Márton ( Sankt Martin an der Raab ) and Yaniq (Győr), as well as the death of Murad III. in January 1595 follow on from it. A long address of homage to the new ruler Mehmed III. follows. The campaign in Wallachia concludes this book and leads on to the next.

• Şehname-i Sultan-i Selatin-i Cihan ("Şehname of the Sultan of the Sultans of the World"), also Eğri Fethi Ta'rihi ("Chronicle of the Conquest of Eger")

This last known work by Talikizâde describes the Hungarian campaign of Mehmed III. in 1596. It begins with a lengthy description of the political and social situation when the Sultan took office and ends with his triumphant return from Hungary to Istanbul. The most important events are the conquest of Eger and the great battle at Haçova ( Mezökeresztes ) against a Habsburg army. In defending the sultan during an attack by Christian troops, the author emphasizes his active participation. Two things make this chronicle stand out from the other works: the continuous verse form of the text and the illustrations by Naqqaş Hasan, who immortalized himself, the author and an unnamed calligrapher in a half-page miniature.

• Firasetname (book of [the science] of physiognomy)

The only surviving non-historical, at the same time Talikizâde's oldest work, is a gift to Sultan Murad III. Written around 1575, it contains a brief introduction and three main parts: a definition of the science of physiognomy ( firaset ); the influence of different climates on temperament; recognizing a man's true character by outwardly prominent features.

Manuscripts

• Gürcistan Seferi : Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi ("Library of the Topkapi Seraglio"), Istanbul, Revan 1300, 33 folios, 1 miniature
• Tebrizziye : Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi , Istanbul, Revan 1299, 59 folios
• Şema'ilname-i Al-i 'Osman : 1. Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi , Istanbul, Ahmed III 3592, 123 folios 12 miniatures
  2. Austrian National Library , Vienna , 154 folios
• Şehname-i Hümayun : Türk ve Islam Esleri Müzesi (“Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art”), Istanbul, no. 1965, 123 folios, 3 miniatures
• Şehname-i Sultan-i Selatin-i Cihan : Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi , Istanbul, Hazine 109, 74 folios, 4 miniatures

See also

• List of Ottoman chroniclers
• List of Ottoman titles

literature

• Christine Woodhead: Ta'līqīzāde Meḥmed el-Fenārī , 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]
• Christine Woodhead: From Scribe to Litterateur. The Career of a Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Katib. Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, 1982.
• Christine Woodhead: An Experiment in Official Historiography: The Post of Şehnameci in the Ottoman Empire, ca. 1550–1605. Viennese magazine for the customer of the Orient, 1983.
• G. Flügel: The Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts of the Imperial and Royal Court Library in Vienna. Volume II, Vienna 1865.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Géza Fehér: Turkish miniatures from the chronicles of the Hungarian campaigns. (Leipzig / Weimar 1978, p. 21 and commentary on panel LI)