Summary View

Country

France

City

Paris

Institution

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Collection

Manuscrits turcs

Shelfmark

379

Contents

Ḥikāyet-i Ḳırḳ Vezīr (Şeyḫ-zāde)

Author

Şeyḫ-zāde

ﺷﻴﺦ ﺯﺍﺩﻩ

Show other names

Şeyḫ-zāde, fl. 15th Century (authorised)

شيخ زاده (variant)

Biographical notes

Fifteenth century author whose life is shrouded in mystery. His name appears as Şeyḫ-zāde Meḥmed b. ‘Abdu’r-raḥmān es-Sirvezī in catalogues for manuscripts in Egypt. He used to be considered the same person as Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī, who presented the first Turkish translation of the no longer extant Arabic corpus of stories of the Forty Viziers to Murād II in 850 AH [1446 CE]. Şeyḫ-zāde made some changes and additions to Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī’s text and presented it to both Murād II and Meḥmed II.

Title

Ḥikāyet-i Ḳırḳ Vezīr

ﺣﻛﺎﻳﺖِ ﻗﺮﻕ ﻭﺯﻳﺮ

Notes

Şeyḫ-zāde’s rendition of the corpus of stories known in the Islamic lands under the name Forty Viziers. Şeyḫ-zāde made some changes and additions to a previous work by Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī and presented it to both Murād II and Meḥmed II. In the introduction to some of the manuscripts (i.e. Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Yeni Sultan Reşad, no. 1081 ), it is stated that the work named Ḥikāyāt-ı Ṣubḥ u Mesā (the title of Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī’s corpus) was used in its composition. In the introduction, the work is presented as a translation from Arabic, although some scholars disagree, stating that pre-existing story collections were used in the production of an original collection. Story collections known under the name Forty Viziers exist in the Indian, Persian and Arabic lands. The frame story of all of these resembles that of the Sindbād-nāma. Scholars have also pointed to borrowings from the corpus of the One Thousand and One Nights. In the frame story, the king of Persia is seduced by the tales of his conniving young wife into killing his son, while the king’s forty viziers try to dissuade him also by telling stories. The work consists of 80 stories, forty of them told by the wife, forty told by the viziers. Each story ends in counsels, thus teaching about the responsibilities of the shah towards his wife and son.

Main language of text

Turkish

Bibliography

Editions

Behrnauer, Walter Fr. Adolf. Die Vierzig Veziere Oder Weisen Meister, Ein Altmorgenländischer Sittenroman Aus Dem Türkischen. Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von B.G. Teubner, 1851.

Belletête, Henry Nicolas. Contes Turcs En Langue Turque, Extraits Du Roman Intitulé Les Quarante Vizirs. Paris: De Bure, 1812.

Birinci, Aziz. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük)." Phd Dissertation, Istanbul University, 2012.

Kızıltan, Mübeccel. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri." PhD Dissertation, Istanbul University, 1991.

Studies

Birinci, Aziz. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri’nin Türk Dili ve Edebiyatındaki Yeri ve Önemi." In VIII. Milletlerarası Türkoloji Kongresi 30 Eylül-04 Ekim 2013 İstanbul Bildiri Kitabı / VIII: International Turcology Congress 30 September-04 October 2013 Istanbul Book of Papers. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, 2014, 217-238.

Burrill, Kathleen. "Sheykh-oghlu, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muṣṭafā." EI. 9 1997: 418-419.

Duda, H. W.. Die Sprache der Qyrq Vezir-Erzählungen. Leipzig: Eduard Pfeiffer, 1930.

Gibb, E. J. W.. The History of the Forty Vezirs or the Story of the Forty Morns and Eves. London: George Redway, 1886.

Gülsevin, Gürer. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri." In Beşinci milletlerarası Türkoloji kongresi : tebliğler : I. Türk dili. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Türkiyat Araştırma Merkezi, 1985, 117-126.

Kavruk, Hasan. Eski Türk Edebiyatında Mensur Hikâyeler. Ankara: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1998, 109-116.

Kavruk, Hasan. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyelerinde Kadın." İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Dergisi. 30 2003: 263-303.

Kızıltan, Mübeccel. "Kırk Vezir." TDVİA. 25 2002.

Petit de la Croix, François. L’histoire de la sultane de Perse et des vizirs. Paris: H. Champion, 2006. (first edition: 1722)

Show filiations

Khedivial Library 9945

Berlin Staatsbibliothek 1061

Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi 1081

British Library 20

National Library 241

National Library 336

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 433

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 434

Physical Description

Number of folios

147 ff.

History

Date of copy

First half of the 16th century