''Parwāna'' or ''pervāne'' ( fa, پروانه, 'butterfly') was a court title of the

Seljuk Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = B ...

(1077–1308). The title may be a poetic abbreviation of the title '' parwānačī'', known from the

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...

(1256–1335). It denoted the messenger who conveyed the sultan's personal messages. It may have originally denoted the messages themselves before coming to apply to the messenger.

Claude Cahen Claude Cahen (26 February 1909 – 18 November 1991) was a 20th-century French Marxist orientalist and historian. He specialized in the studies of the Islamic Middle Ages, Muslim sources about the Crusades, and social history of the medieval Is ...

(trans. J. Jones-Williams), ''Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History, c. 1071–1330'' (Taplinger, 1968), pp. 221–222. The sources show ''parwāna''s issuing '' farmān''s in relation to the business of the ''

dīvān A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''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, meanin ...

'' (council), of which they were members, and issuing grants of ''

iqṭāʿ An iqta ( ar, اقطاع, iqṭāʿ) and occasionally iqtaʿa ( ar, اقطاعة) was an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty. Iqta has been defined in Nizam-al-Mulk's Siyasatnama. Administrato ...

''s. They headed the chancery and also bore the title ''ṭughrāʾī'' (secretary). A. C. S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yıldız, "Introduction", in ''The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East'' (I. B. Tauris, 2013), pp. 14 and 22 n37. In the reign of

Kilij Arslan II Kilij Arslan II ( 1ca, قِلِج اَرسلان دوم) or ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslān ibn Masʿūd ( fa, عز الدین قلج ارسلان بن مسعود) ( Modern Turkish ''Kılıç Arslan'', meaning "Sword Lion") was a Seljuk Sultan of Rû ...

(1156–1192), a

Danishmendid The Danishmendids or Danishmends ( fa, دودمان دانشمند; tr, Dânişmendliler) was a Turkish beylik that ruled in north-central and eastern Anatolia from 1071/1075 to 1178. The dynasty centered originally around Sivas, Tokat, and N ...

prince named Ẓāhir al-Dīn Ili held the office of ''parwāna''. He may have founded the

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes coverin ...

, originally called Pervane.Oya Pancaroğlu, "The House of Mengüjek in Divriği: Constructions of Dynastic Identity in the Late Twelfth Century", in A. C. S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yıldız, eds., ''The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East'' (I. B. Tauris, 2013), p. 63 n27. By the early 13th century, the office of ''parwāna'' could be a powerful one. The powerful

Muʿin al-Dīn Sulaymān Mu'in al-Din Suleiman Parwana ( fa, معین الدین سلیمان پروانه), better known as Parwana ( fa, پروانه) was a Persian statesman, who was for a time (especially between 1261–1277) a key player in Anatolian politics involvi ...

held the office from 1256 and is known to posterity as Parwāna. Carole Hillenbrand, "Muʿin al-Din Parwana: The Servant of Two Masters?", ''The Medieval Turks: Collected Essays'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2022 993, p. . The near dictatorial powers he acquired did not, however, come from his office of ''parwāna''.

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