''Parwāna'' or ''pervāne'' () was a court title of the

Seljuk Sultanate of Rum The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples ( Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 ...

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

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

(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 Isla ...

(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 A firman (; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word ''firman'' comes ...

''s in relation to the business of the '' dīvān'' (council), of which they were members, and issuing grants of ''

iqṭāʿ An iqta () and occasionally iqtaʿa () was an Islamic practice of Farm (revenue leasing), farming out tax revenues yielded by land granted temporarily to army officials in place of a regular wage; it became common in the Muslim empire of the Caliph ...

''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 () or ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslān ibn Masʿūd () ( Modern Turkish ''Kılıç Arslan'', meaning "Sword Lion") was a Seljuk Sultan of Rûm from 1156 until his death in 1192. Reign In 1159, Kilij Arslan attacked Byzantine emperor Ma ...

(1156–1192), a

Danishmendid The Danishmendids or Danishmends () were a Turkish dynasty. These terms also refer to the Turkish state in Anatolia. It existed from 1071/1075 to 1178 and is also known as the Danishmendid Beylik (). The dynasty was centered originally around Siv ...

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

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

, 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 held the office from 1256 and is known to posterity as Parwāna.

Carole Hillenbrand Carole Hillenbrand (born 1943), is a British Islamic scholar who is Emerita Professor in Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews. She is the Vice-President of the British S ...

, "Muʿin al-Din Parwana: The Servant of Two Masters?", ''The Medieval Turks: Collected Essays'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2022

993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian (also known as the Sword of Essen) as ...

, p. . The near dictatorial powers he acquired did not, however, come from his office of ''parwāna''.

References

Further reading