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

Selim to the throne in April 24, 1512. This addendum (KPZ8b) is indeed devoted to the
struggle of Selim for the throne and obviously written with the aim of legitimizing
Selim’s acts. This addendum truly bears the general characteristics of the Selim-nāme
literature indicated above. Kemalpaşazāde wrote a separate volume to narrate the reign
of Selim I. Defter IX 55 (KPZ9) is the history of the reign of Sultan Selim up to the year
920/1516. 56 In spite of all his prejudices regarding the qizilbash affairs, both of
Kemalpaşazāde’s histories include quite valuable details.
Another prominent actor of the contemporary events was Idris-i Bitlisī. Idris
started his career as a scribe in the Akkoyunlu Palace. When Shah Ismail put an end to
the Akkoyunlu rule in 1501, he joined Bayezid II’s suit, where he wrote his magnum
opus Heşt Behişt, the history of the first eight Ottoman sultans down to Bayezid II.
Unfortunately, Heşt Behişt does not include the last years of Bayezid II’s reign, when
the qizilbash affairs became one of the most vital issues in the Ottoman politics.
However, later on he wrote a separate history of the reign of Selim I, namely Selimşah-
nāme (IDRS). 57 Idris took a very active part in the Ottoman-Safavid struggle. He was
among the prominent advisors of Sultan Selim regarding his eastern policy. He was
55 This Defter is published by Ahmet Uğur in his The Reign of Sultan Selim I in the Light of the Selimnâme
Literature, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1985, pp. 65-128.
56 In the end of the text, the date Zilkāde 922 / November-December 1516 is recorded. See
Kemalpaşazāde, Defter IX, in Ahmet Uğur, The Reign of Sultan Selim I in the Light of the Selim-nâme
Literature, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1985, p. 128. A contemporary Italian source ratifies this fact.
Giovan Maria Angiolello, who attended Selim’s campaign of Egypt, writes, “The history of this last
expedition of Selim ağainst the Soldan and the Mamelukes was carefully written by a Cadi Lascher
[kadıasker], who was with the army, to a Cadi [qādī] in Constantinople, and translated from the Turkish
into Tuscan on the 22 nd October, 1517.” See Giovan Maria Angiolello, “A Short Narrative of the Life and
Acts of the King Ussun Cassano”, in NIT, p. 137. It is known that Kemalpaşazāde was kadıasker of
Anatolia during this campaign, and most probably he got the post as a reward for his Defter IX, which had
just been presented to the sultan. (See Franz Babinger, “Kemālpashazāde”, EI2, p. 912; Đsmet
Parmaksızoğlu, “Kemāl Paşa Zāde”, IA, p. 561.) Thus the history Giovan Maria Angiolello mentions must
have been the Defter IX of Kemalpaşazāde.
57 The Turkish translation of this work, which was written in Persian, is published by Hicabi Kırlangıç.
See Idris-i Bitlisī, Selim Şah-nâme, translated and edited by Hicabi Kırlangıç, Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı
Yayınları, 2001.
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