Mustafa Selaniki (; Mustafa of

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

; died c. 1600), also known as Selanıkî Mustafa Efendi, was an Ottoman scholar and

chronicler A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, ...

, whose ''Tarih-i Selâniki'' described the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

of 1563–1599. He was a secretary of the Imperial

Divan A divan or diwan (, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental cou ...

but his ''Tarih'' was not servile and included criticisms of the sultans directly. The ''Tarih-i Selâniki'' is considered one of the most individualistic accounts of 16th century Ottoman life. It also offered one of the most detailed accounts of the cold and famine in Anatolia in the 1590s related to the

Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Mat ...

. Little is known about Selaniki's life, including his family, background, or age, but parts of his education can be inferred; Selaniki stated that he was one of the six hafiz who recited from the Quran over the body of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

''Tarih-i Selâniki''

The ''Tarih-i Selâniki'' was not widely incorporated into Ottoman historiography and was only partially published in 1864; the publication itself contained many edits, modifications, and interpolations. The historian Solakzade Mehmed Hemdemi is thought to have had access to it, but did not credit the work to Selaniki specifically. The chronicle begins with a description of torrential rain falling in September 1563 and concludes with the escape of Kasim Voyvoda from his captors in May 1600. It spans the reign of four sultans: the final years of Suleiman the Magnificent, the entirety of

Selim II Selim II (; ; 28 May 1524 – 15 December 1574), also known as Selim the Blond () or Selim the Drunkard (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574. He was a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sul ...

and

Murad III Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...

, and the first five years of Mehmed III's reign.

Works

References

16th-century births 1600 deaths 16th-century historians from the Ottoman Empire {{Ottoman-bio-stub

''Tarih-i Selâniki''

Works

See also

References