A New Look at Sokolluzade Hasan Paşa’s

Illustrated Universal History

Melis Taner*

Sokolluzade Hasan Paşa’nın Resml Evrensel Tarhne Yen Br Bakış

Öz Bu makale Badat vals Sokolluzade Hasan Paa ö.  çn Badat’ta ya
zılmı br evrensel tarhe yen br kaynak çerçevesnden tekrardan bakar. Bu kaynak
Bblothèque natonale de France Supplément turc , evrensel tarhn sunum
nüshalarının Topkapı Sarayı Müzes Kütüphanes H.  ve H.  hrstnde
belrtlm ancak tamamlanmamı hatme kısmını muhteva eder. Bu yen kaynaın
çerçevesnden evrensel tarhe tekrardan baktıımızda hatme kısmının da Sokollu
zade Hasan Paa’yı neredeyse br sultan gb yansıttıını ve esern tümüne yayılmı
yerel, Badatlı reeransların mevcudyet krn pektrr. Ancak bu Pars yazması
sadece eksk br metnn ger kalanı deldr. Bu evrensel tarhten bölümler Zakarya
alQazwn’nn ö.  ʿAjāʾb al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharāʾb al-Mawjūdāt esernden
bölümlerle brlkte sunularak neredeyse br mecmua gb görüleblnr ve bu evrensel
tarhe arklı br perspekt katar.
Anahtar kelimeler: Osmanlı, evrensel tarih, Sokolluzade Hasan Paa, mecmua, Badat.

Scholars are oten plagued by ear that there might be yet another crucial
source still waiting to be discovered in the archives and manuscript libraries. What
we notice as we go through archives and catalogues is partly predicated on the
parameters o our research, but in rare instances serendipity allows one to ind
a source ater the completion o a project. This article arises rom such a discov
ery––a curious manuscript rom the Bibliothèque nationale de France Supplé
ment turc , hereater BnF Supp. turc  that “completes” the univer
sal history composed or the governor o Baghdad Sokolluzade Hasan Paa d.

* Özyein University.

Osmanlı Araştırmaları / The Journal o Ottoman Studes, LXII ,  

 SOKOLLUZ ADE HASAN PAŞA’S ILLUSTRATED UNIVERSAL HISTORY

. The article reintroduces the Cāmiʿü’s-Siyer Compilation o Biograhies,

the latesixteenth earlyseventeenthcentury illustrated universal history written
or Sokolluzade Hasan Paa in light o this new discovery. This article presents
the pieces o an intriguing puzzle that involves three manuscripts––two rom the
turn o the seventeenth century and one rom the late seventeenth century––to
suggest that BnF Supp. turc  rerames this universal history by juxtaposing
it with other texts, in eect becoming a compilation mecmuʿa.
In the Topkapı Palace Museum Library, there are two illustrated, deluxe man
uscripts Hazine  and Hazine  which were composed by an otherwise
littleknown historian Muhammed Tahir esSıddıki elNecibi elSuhreverdi, who
was a member o governor Sokolluzade Hasan Paa’s household. These two man
uscripts which were prepared during Sokolluzade Hasan Paa’s gubernatorial ten
ure in Baghdad between  and  as presentation copies or the governor
and the newly discovered manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale de France

 On Sokolluzade Hasan Paa’s career see Erhan Ayoncu, “Sokulluzade Hasan Paa,” Türkye
Dyanet Vakı İslâm Ansklopeds (DİA), , XXXVII, –.
 On ths manuscrpt see Tülün Dermenc, “Br Osmanlı Paasının Padahlık Rüyası:
Sokolluzade Hasan Paa ve Resml Dünya Tarh,” Osmanlı Araştırmaları / The Journal o
Ottoman Studes,  , pp. –. Hereater Dermenc, “Br Osmanlı Paasının
Padahlık Rüyası;” Mels Taner, “Two Paths to Power: Sokolluzade Hasan Paa and Ha
dım Yusu Paa and Ther Art Patronage n EarlySeventeenthCentury Baghdad,” Osmanlı
Araştırmaları / The Journal o Ottoman Studes,  , pp. –. Hereater Taner,
Two Paths to Power; Mels Taner, Caught n a Whrlwnd: A Cultural Hstory o Ottoman
Baghdad as Relected n ts Illustrated Manuscrpts Leden: Brll, , chapter . Hereater
Taner, A Cultural Hstory o Ottoman Baghdad.
 Other than the act that Muhammad Tahr was n Sokolluzade Hasan Paa’s household
and hs alaton wth the Suhrawardyya Su order, we do not know much about the
author. The Suhrawardyya order was a Sunn order ounded by Zya alDn Abu’l Na
jb asSuhraward d. , or whom a khānqah lodge or Su gatherngs was bult
n Baghdad. Gven the strong emphass on Baghdad and Baghdad persons n the un
versal hstory, and gven hs Suhraward connecton, t s possble that Muhammad Tahr
was rom Baghdad. The seventeenthcentury hstoran and author o a vast bblographc
encyclopeda Katb Çeleb d.  brely mentons Muhammad Tahr as among the no
tables o the sxteenth century and wrtes that the Cāmʿü’s-Syer s about some governors
o Baghdad and s organzed to have an ntroducton, sx books, and a concluson. Katp
Çeleb, Ktāb Kash az-Ẓunūn ʿan Asām’l Kutub wa’l Funūn Istanbul: Maar Matbaası,
–, p. ; Edgar Blochet, Catalogue des Manuscrts Turcs Tome II Supplément, nos
573–141 Pars: Bblothèque natonale, , p. . Hereater Blochet, Catalogue des
Manuscrts Turcs.


 M E L İ S TA N E R

dated  February  comprise the totality o the universal history authored
by Muhammad Tahir. This universal history, as the author tells us in H. , was
organized by an introduction, six books, and a conclusion. These six books were
to cover the celestial spheres and elements; preIslamic prophets and their contem
poraries; the lives o the Prophet Muhammad and his amily; the Umayyads; the
collapse o the Umayyads and the transition o the caliphate to the Abbasids; the
Abbasids and their near contemporaries. The conclusion was supposed to take the
historical events to the present day, ocusing on the tenure o Sokolluzade Hasan
Paa. H.  and H.  do cover the six books as promised. However, the
concluding section is lacking in these two volumes.

 As dscussed by Dermenc and Taner prevously, H.  covers the rst ve books
and ncludes the begnnng o book sx on the Abbasds, reachng the begnnng o calph
Harun alRashd’s regn r. –. It ends mdsentence. H.  begns wth a short
ntroducton that notes that the author Muhammad Tahr thereby begns the second vo
lume. Then, t pcks up the story rom the begnnng o the sxth book. Thus, barrng the
short ntroducton n H. , the text o the sxth book overlaps almost verbatm wth
the last ortyour olos o H. . H.  covers the whole o the sxth book, rom the
begnnng o the Abbasds to ther all. It ncludes sectons on contemporary shaykhs and
ulema, as well as contemporary dynastes. It ends wth a very bre account on Muhammad
Khan d. , a clamant to the Ilkhand throne. However, H.  does not nclude the
concludng secton. Dermenc, “Br Osmanlı Paasının Padahlık Rüyası,” pp. –;
Mels Taner, “Caught n a Whrlwnd:” Pantng n Baghdad n the Late SxteenthEarly
Seventeenth Centures” PhD dss., Harvard Unversty, , pp. –. Hereater
Taner, Caught n a Whrlwnd.
 “…Br muḳaddme ve altı deter ve br ḫatme üzerne tertīb olunub Cāmʿü’sSyer tesmye
olundu…Deter evvel elākı devvār ve kevākb s̱ evābıt ve seyyār ve semevāt ve ʿanaṣırı
çaharıñ aḥvāl ve ās̱ arların beyan der. Deter s̱ an ʿulu’l ʿazm aḥvaln ve zamanlarında vaḳıʿ
olan selāṭnlerñ veḳaʿlern ve seyyd enbyā ve server aṣya ḥażretlernñ vlādet er
ler ve ġazavāt ve saʾr veḳaʿ ve ḥālātların beyān der ṣalavat allah ʿaleyh ve ʿaleyhm ecmaʿn.
Deter s̱ als̱ ṣaḥabey kramı ẕev’l ḥtram ḥażretlernñ ḫlāetler zamānında vaḳıʿ olan
veḳaʿler ve aḥval ve ḥavads̱ ler ve İmam Ḥasan ve İmam Ḥüseyn ehadetlernñ vuḳuʿu ve
baḳy eʾmmey ʿs̱ na ʿaer aḥvaln beyan der rıḍvan allahu ʿala’s ṣaḥabet ve ʿaleyhm la
yevmü’d dīn. Deter rabʿ ben Ümeyyenñ ḥükümetler ve ol zamanda vaḳıʿ olan aḥval be
yan der. Deter ḫams Ebu Müslm’ñ ḫurucu ve ben Ümeyye’den ʿAbbasler’e ḥükümet
ntḳal eyledügn beyan der. Deter sads ḫuleayı ben ʿAbbas aḥvaln ve zamanlarında
vaḳıʿ olan veḳaʿ ve eṭra selaṭnlernñ ḫtlaların beyan der. Ḫatme ol server mücahdan
ve serdarı ġazyan ve ol ṣadrnn vezaret ve ṣaḥb temkn eyalet ḥażretlernñ bu āna
gelnce ḥükümet eyledüg vlayetler ve tdüg ġazaları beyan der.” Muhammed Tahr es
Sıddık elNecb elSuhreverd, Cāmʿü’s-Syer, Topkapı Palace Museum Lbrary H. ,


 SOKOLLUZ ADE HASAN PAŞA’S ILLUSTRATED UNIVERSAL HISTORY

Upon revisiting the catalogues o the Bibliothèque nationale de France or

a dierent project, I came across an unillustrated lateseventeenthcentury copy
o Muhammed Tahir’s text, which begins with the history o Abbasids book six,
and ends with the concluding section which does not name the author, thus
completing––to some extent, which will be discussed later––what was announced
in H. . However, these are not the only texts in this manuscript. BnF Supp.
turc  also includes Turkish translations o sections rom cosmographer and
geographer Zakariya alQazwini’s d.  ʿAjāʾib al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharāʾib
al-Mawjūdāt Wonders o Creation and Oddities o Existents beore the con
cluding section.
By providing detailed summaries o Muhammad Tahir’s text and highlight
ing the ways in which this concluding section departed rom its main sources, the
article irst looks at the totality o the “text” o the universal history to revisit Mu
hammad Tahir’s conception o this universal history prepared or the governor o
Baghdad. Reading the two Topkapı volumes that is, the introduction and the six
books together with the concluding section in BnF Supp. turc  reairms
earlier points made regarding this project. The concluding section, like the in
troduction, insinuates Sokolluzade Hasan Paa’s particular position in Baghdad

ols. a–b. Hereater Cāmʿü’s-Syer, H. ; Dermenc, “Br Osmanlı Paasının Pad
ahlık Rüyası,” p. ; Taner, Two Paths to Power, p. .
 Ths s Supplément turc  and s descrbed by Blochet, Catalogue des Manuscrts Turcs,
pp. –.
 Whle the use o language does not present a drastc change to explctly warrant a derent
author/translator or these sectons, the placement o such texts rom the ʿAjāʾb al-
Makhlūqāt n BnF Supp. turc  rght ater the hstorcal secton s unusual. I they
were translated by Muhammad Tahr, the more commonly expected place or them would
be n book one o H. , whch descrbes the creaton, celestal spheres, and the our
elements. Earthly matters would then ollow as they do n the n ʿAjāʾb al-Makhlūqāt wa
Gharāʾb al-Mawjūdāt. So ar, I have not been able to determne the authorshp o ths
secton. On Ottoman Turksh translatons o the ʿAjāʾb al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharāʾb al-
Mawjūdāt see Günay Kut, “Türk Edebyatı’nda Acâbü’l Mahlûkât Tercümeler,” Beşnc
Mlletlerarası Türkoloj Kongres Teblğler İstanbul: İstanbul Ünverstes Edebyat Fakültes
Yayınları, , pp. –; Feray Cokun, ‘Workng Paper: ʿAjāʾb wa Ghraāʾb n the
Early Ottoman Cosmographes,” Acaʾb: Occasonal Papers on the Ottoman Perceptons o the
Supernatural,  , pp. –.
 On these see Dermenc, “Br Osmanlı Paasının Padahlık Rüyası;” Taner, Caught in
a Whirlwind, chapter ; Taner, Two Paths to Power; Taner, A Cultural History o Ottoman
Baghdad, chapter .

