Summary View

Country

Turkey

City

Istanbul

Institution

İstanbul Üniversitesi Nadir Eserleri Kütüphanesi

Shelfmark

921

Contents

Work 1: İskendername (Ahmedî, 1334?-1413)

LOC subject headings

(Alexander the Great (Romances, etc.))

Masnavis, Turkish

Turkish language To 1500

Author

Ahmedî, 1334?-1413

احمدي

Show other names

Tācüddīn Ibrāhīm b. Ḫıḍır Aḥmedī

Ahmedî, ö. 815/1412-13

Ahmedî, 1334?-1413 (authorised)

Tācüddı̄n İbrāhı̄m bin Ḫıżır, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Ahmedi, Taceddin, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Taceddin İbrahim ibn Hızr Ahmedi, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Tāc al-Dīn İbrāhīm bin Ḫiżir, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Tacettin İbrahim, 1334?-1413 (variant)

احمدي (variant)

Biographical notes

An Anatolian poet and man of letters from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth-century, Aḥmedī composed both in Old Anatolian Turkish and Persian. Although his date of birth and origins remain debatable, the strongest evidence points to his origins from the Germiyan (Turkey) region of western Anatolia. After furthering his education in Cairo studying under the religious scholar Akmal al-Dīn Bābartī in the late 14th century [1300-1399 CE], he returned to western Anatolia where he received the patronage of local rulers such as that of the Aydınids based in Ayasuluk and the Germiyanid ruler, Süleymān Shāh (r. 1367-1388) of Kütahya. He later entered Ottoman service and dedicated his literary works to Bayezid I's son, Süleymān Çelebi (Emīr Süleymān). Perhaps the most prolific Anatolian of his generation, Aḥmedī did much to advance the Islamic literary culture of Rūm, producing a variety of works in both Turkish and Persian, dealing with a range of poetic and religious themes.

Title

İskendername

اسكندرنامه

Notes

This mathnawî, Ahmedî, 1334?-1413’s best known work, consists of 8754 couplets in its longest version. The first known versified Alexander romance written in Turkish, the work was composed over a decade from c. 1389 to c. 1410. Its final recension was dedicated to Bayezid I, Sultan of the Turks, approximately 1360-1403’s son, Süleymān Çelebi (Emīr Süleymān), 1377-1411 just before his death in 1410 [1410 CE]. It is similar to Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 1141-1202 or 1203 Persian Iskandarname in emphasizing Alexander’s prophetic mission and employing the Alexander romance as a frame for a series of discourses on theology, myticism, philosophy, geography, medicine and astronomy. Yet much of the narrative content dealing with Alexander, the Great’s adventures derives from Firdawsī's Shāhnāme (شاهنامه). Ahmedî, 1334?-1413 attributes a greater role to the semi-prophetic figure of Khidr (Ḫızır) than his predecessors. Completing the world history part of the work is a section of 334 couplets entitled "Dāsitān-i tevārīkh-i mülūk-i āl-i ‘osmān (داستان تواريخ ملوك ال عثمان)" (Narrative of the Deeds of the Kings of the House of Osman), which presents the earliest historical discussion of the Ottoman dynasty. This section relates the rise of the Ottomans in the aftermath of Mongol domination of Anatolia, with Osman’s father Ertuğrul Gazi, 1198-1288 and concludes with Süleymān Çelebi's ascension to the throne following Bayezid’s death in 1402 [1402 CE] and upon the outbreak of the civil war with his brothers. Ahmedî, 1334?-1413 presents the Ottomans as fervent ghāzīs expanding the realm of the dār al-islām along moralistic rather than annalistic terms.

Information about the manuscript was taken from (Ünver, İsmail. İskender-nāme: İnceleme-Tıpkıbasım. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983., pp. Unver, 1983).

Main language of text

Turkish

Foliation

ff. 1r-75v

Columns

4

Ruled lines

31

Bibliography

Editions

Ahmedî, . İskendername'den seçmeler. Edited by Akdoğan, Yaşar. Ankara: 1988.

Akdoğan, Yaşar. "Mi‘rac-nâme ve Ahmedî’nin Bilinmeyen Mi‘rac-nâmesi." Osmanlı Araştırmaları. 9 1989: 263-310.

Atsız, Nihal Çiftçioğlu. "Tevârih-i Mülûk-ı Âl-i Osman." In Osmanlı Tarihleri I. Istanbul: Türkiye Yayınevi, 1947-49, 1-35.

Banarlı, Nihad Sami. XIV. Asır Anadolu Şairlerinden Ahmedī’nin Osmanlı Tarihi Dāsitān-ı Tevārīh-i Mülûk-i Āl-i Osmān ve Cemşīd ve Hurşīd Mesnevisi. Istanbul: Burhaneddin Matbaası, 1939.

Ünver, İsmail. İskender-nāme: İnceleme-Tıpkıbasım. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983.

Translations

Silay, Kemal. "Aḥmedī’s History of the Ottoman Dynasty." Journal of Turkish Studies. , no. 16 1992.

Studies

Demirbilek, Salih. "Ahmedi'nin İskendername adlı eseri üzerinde inceleme (ses bilgisi-şekil bilgisi-cümle bilgisi) metnin transkripsiyonu, sözlük çalışması." Dissertation, Trakya Üniversitesi, 2000.

Fodor, Pal. "Ahmedi’s Dasitan as a Source of Early Ottoman History." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 1-2, no. 38 1984: 41-54.

Lewis, G.L. "Aḥmadī." Encyclopedia of Islam. 1 1960: 299-300.

Sawyer, Caroline Goodwin. "Alexander, History, and Piety: A Study of Ahmedī’s 14th-Century Ottoman Iskendernāme." PhD, New York: Columbia University, 1997.

Sawyer, Caroline Goodwin. "Revising Alexander: Structure and Evolution. Ahmedi’s Ottoman Iskendernāme (c. 1400)." Edebiyāt. 13, no. 2 2003: 225-243.

Work 2: Cemşīd ü Ḫūrşīd (Aḥmedī (d. 815/1412-13))

LOC subject headings

Turkish language To 1500

Love poetry, Turkish

Masnavis

Epic literature, Turkish

Author

Aḥmedī (d. 815/1412-13)

احمدي

Show other names

Tāc al-Dīn İbrāhīm b. Ḫıḍır Aḥmedī

تاج الدين ابراهيم بن خضر احمدي

Ahmedî, 1334?-1413 (authorised)

Tācüddı̄n İbrāhı̄m bin Ḫıżır, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Ahmedi, Taceddin, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Taceddin İbrahim ibn Hızr Ahmedi, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Tāc al-Dīn İbrāhīm bin Ḫiżir, 1334?-1413 (variant)

Tacettin İbrahim, 1334?-1413 (variant)

احمدي (variant)

Biographical notes

An Anatolian poet and man of letters from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth-century, Aḥmedī composed both in Old Anatolian Turkish and Persian. Although his date of birth and origins remain debatable, the strongest evidence points to his origins from the Germiyan (Turkey) region of western Anatolia. After furthering his education in Cairo studying under the religious scholar Akmal al-Dīn Bābartī in the late 14th century [1300-1399 CE], he returned to western Anatolia where he received the patronage of local rulers such as that of the Aydınids based in Ayasuluk and the Germiyanid ruler, Süleymān Shāh (r. 1367-1388) of Kütahya. He later entered Ottoman service and dedicated his literary works to Bayezid I's son, Süleymān Çelebi (Emīr Süleymān). Perhaps the most prolific Anatolian of his generation, Aḥmedī did much to advance the Islamic literary culture of Rūm, producing a variety of works in both Turkish and Persian, dealing with a range of poetic and religious themes.

Title

Cemşīd ü Ḫūrşīd

ﺟﻤﺸﻴﺪﻭﺧﻮﺭﺷﻴﺪ

Notes

Based on the work of the same name by the Persian poet Salmān-i Sāwaj̲ī (d. 778/1376), this mes̱nevī by Aḥmedī consists of 4798 couplets. It narrates the love story between Cemşīd, a Chinese prince, and Ḫūrşīd, a Byzantine princess. Cemşīd dreams of Ḫūrşīd and goes looking for her in the land of Rūm after seeing a drawing of her.

Date of composition: Ṣafer-Rebīʿü’l-āḫir 806 [1403 CE]

Patron: Meḥmed I (816/1413-824/1421)

Patron: Emīr Süleymān (804/1402-813/1411)

Main language of text

Turkish

Foliation

76r-116v

Columns

4

Ruled lines

31

Bibliography

Editions

Ahmedî, and Mehmet Akalın. Cemşîd ü Hurşîd: İnceleme-Metin. Ankara: Sevinç Matbaası, 1975.

Studies

Banarlı, Nihad Sami. Dâsitan-ı Tevârîh-i Mülûk-i Âl-i Osman ve Cemşîd ve Hurşîd Mesnevisi. Istanbul: Bürhaneddin Matbaası, 1939.

Kut, Günay. "Ahmedī." TDVİA. 2 1989: 165-167.

Köprülü, M. F.. "Ahmedī." İA. 1 1950: 216-218.

Lewis, G. L.. "Aḥmadī." Encyclopedia of Islam. 1 1960: 299-300.

Physical Description

Number of folios

165 ff.

Dimensions of folio

width 41.5cm, height 31.0cm

Hand

Copyist: Nebī b. Resūl b. Yaʻḳūb, fl. 1444 نبي بن رسول بن يعقوب

Seal

Waqf seal of el-Ḥāc İbrāhim Paşa, fl. 1717 الحاج ابراهيم پاشا dated 1130 AH [1717-1718 CE] on folio 1v.

History

Place

Sinop (Turkey)

Date of copy

15th. century