TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

of this last section is open to speculation. 42 Indeed, the orientation of the book suggests
that this section must be a later edition either by Aşıkpaşazāde himself or by someone
else. Atsız argues that Aşıkpaşazāde died in 886/1481. 43 To him, all sections narrating
events of Bayezid II’s reign must be a later addition. Taeschner suggests the year
889/1484 for his date of death. 44 But according to Đnalcık, who establishes his view on
archival evidence as well as the textual analysis of the Tevārih, he must have died after
908/1502. 45 Indeed, before Inalcik this date had been already proposed by Köprülü. 46
Then it is highly possible that the author of the last sections was Aşıkpaşazāde himself,
but as a later addendum.
The unlawful succession of Selim I, who for the first - and the only - time in the
Ottoman history forced his father to abdicate and ascended to the throne, created a deep
hallmark in the Ottoman historiography. A literature called Selim-nāme, 47 narrating
deeds of Selim I but with a specific intention to legitimize Selim I’s usurpation
appeared. Thanks to Selim’s uprising against his father, which ended in the dismissal of
the legitimate sultan by his son, this era became one of the most documented periods of
the Ottoman history, both in terms of archival documents and authored historical works.
Dozens of narratives exclusively devoted to Selim’s deeds have been written during the
reign of Selim I himself and his son Süleyman I.
42
For a textual analysis see V.L. Ménage, A Survey of the Early Ottoman Histories, with Studies on their
Textual Problems and their Sources, II, Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, 1961, pp. 440-83.
43
See APZ, p. 80.
44
See F. Taeschner, “Ashik-pasha-zāde”, EI2.
45
See Halil Đnalcık, “How to Read Aşıkpaşazāde’s History”, Essays in Ottoman History, Istanbul, 1998, p.
34.
46
See Köprülü, “Aşık Paşa-zâde”,ĐA, p. 707.
47
For the Selim-nāme literature and a brief description of prominent Selim-nāmes, see Ahmet Uğur,
“Selim-nāmes”, in his The Reign of Sultan Selim I in the Light of the Selim-nâme Literature, Berlin: Klaus
Schwarz Verlag, 1985, pp. 28-64, pp. 7-27; Şehabeddin Tekindağ, “Selîm-nâmeler”, Tarih Enstitüsü
Dergisi, I, 1970, 197-231.
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