''Selçukname'' is an informal term used for any of a number of medieval chronicles about Seljuk history written by different authors, mostly in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. It is also used for the 15th century Ottoman chronicle '' Tevârih-i Âl-i Selçuk'' (''History of the House of Seljuk'', also called ''Oğuznâme-Selçuklu târihi'' by some

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

sources, ). The Ottoman chronicle, written by Yazıcıoğlu Ali in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

, is the only official history of the Imperial Court from

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

's reign and serves to establish a narrative of the Ottoman dynasty's claim of descent through the Seljuks.

Selçukname of Ibn Bibi (13th century)

Ibn Bibi was born as the son of refugees from

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; ; , ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the east by the Kyzylkum Desert, on the south by th ...

and Khorasan who had fled their native lands following the death of the last ruler of the

Khwarazmian dynasty The Anushtegin dynasty or Anushteginids (English: , ), also known as the Khwarazmian dynasty () was a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin from the Begdili, Bekdili clan of the Oghuz Turks. The Anushteg ...

, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu. Ibn Bibi attained a high position in the

Seljuks of Anatolia 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. T ...

as a "seal holder" and was responsible for all Seljuk correspondence. His mother had held a position in the Imperial Court of Khwarazm as an

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

. She had managed to find a position in the court of the Seljuk sultan

Kayqubad I 'Alā' ad-Dīn Kay-qubād ibn-e Kay-xusraw (; , 1190–1237), also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Turkish Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the borders of the sultanate at the expense of his neighbors, particula ...

. Thus Ibn Bibi began his service in the Seljuk Court during the reign of Kayqubad I, which continued even after the

Battle of Köse Dağ The Battle of Köse Dağ took place in eastern Anatolia on 26 June 1243 when an army of the Sultanate of Rum, led by Sultan Kaykhusraw II, confronted an invading Mongol Empire, Mongol army under the general Baiju Noyan, Baiju and was decisively ...

, when the

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. ...

, defeated by the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

, became vassals of 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 ...

. Historian Ali Anooshahr has proposed that Ibn Bibi's chronicle of Seljuk history, called ''Selçukname'', followed a common pattern that can be found in earlier chronicles written by medieval Persian historians Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi and

Nizam al-Mulk Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī Ṭūsī () (1018 – 1092), better known by his honorific title of Niẓām al-Mulk (), was a Persian Sunni scholar, jurist, political philosopher and vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising from a low position w ...

. Anooshahr calls this pattern the "triad of kings", beginning with a ''ghazi'' founder king who lives a life of hardship as a wandering dispossessed warrior prince who "returns" to regain his throne. The second king of the triad is a ruler over ''ghazis'' during a prosperous and stable era, and the third king is depicted as a debauched and inexperienced ruler who loses the kingdom to a new group of ''ghazis''.

Selçukname of Yazıcıoğlu Ali (15th century)

Authorship

The author of the 15th-century Ottoman chronicle ''Tevârih-i Âl-i Selçuk'' () was Yazıcıoğlu Ali (literally "Ali the clerk's son"), who was a civil servant during the reign of

. He was sent to the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

as an ambassador. Other than that, there is no information about his personal life. However, there were two other Yazıcıoğlu's in the same period who are thought to be his brothers, Ahmet Bican and Mehmet Bican. Their father was Selahattin from

Gelibolu Gelibolu is a town in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey. It is located on the southern shore of the Gallipoli, peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, away from Lapsek ...

(now a district center of

Çanakkale Province Çanakkale Province () is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the city of Çanakkale. Its area is 9,817 km2, and its population is 559,383 (2022). Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) who was a ''katip'' "clerk" and the author of an astrology book. Since Yazıcıoğlu means "son of clerk" the supposition about Ali's family is justified.

Legitimacy of the Ottomans

In the early days of 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 ...

, Ottomans suffered from accusations about their origin. Both Qadi Burhan al-Din and

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

questioned Ottoman sovereignty in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. Kadı Burhaneddin made fun of the Ottomans by using ''Kayıkçı'' "Boatman" instead of Kayı, the Ottoman ruling tribe. The Ottomans tried to prove their nobility. Murad II was especially uneasy about the accusations, and Yazıcıoğlu Ali was tasked to write a book about the origin of the Ottoman family.İnalcık:''Kuruluş Dönemi Osmanlı Sultanları'', İSAM, , pp.19-20 The ''Selçukname'' discusses briefly the

Ottoman dynasty The Ottoman dynasty () consisted of the members of the imperial House of Osman (), also known as the Ottomans (). According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, under the leadership of Os ...

's genealogy by asserting Ottoman descent from the Seljuks of the

. ''Selçukname'' is the only official history of the imperial court from Murad II's reign.

Text

There are five sections. The first section concerns the pre-Islamic age of the

Turkish people Turks (), or Turkish people, are the largest Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group, comprising the majority of the population of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. They generally speak the various Turkish dialects. In addition, centuries-old Turkish co ...

. In this section, Ali claims that the Ottoman dynasty is the continuation of the legendary

Oghuz Khagan Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan (; ; ) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the legend of Oghuz Khan to describe their ethnic and tribal origins. The various versions of the narra ...

.TÂRÎH-i ÂL-i SELÇÛK
''Published in the TDV Islâm Ansiklopedisi》vol. 40 (2011)》pp.72-73 in Istanbul''

Karluks The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, , Qarluq, Para-Mongolic languages, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', , ''Khallokh'', ''Qarluq'') were a prominent no ...

Uyghurs The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the ti ...

, and

Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...

are also mentioned in this section. The second section is about the

Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...

. The third section is a translation of ibn Bibi's book.Ali Anooshahr:
The Ghazi Sultans and the Frontiers of Islam
', Routledge (2009) The fourth section is about

(1220–1237) of the Seljuks of Rum and

Osman I Osman I or Osman Ghazi (; or ''Osman Gazi''; died 1323/4) was the eponymous founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as a bey, beylik or emirate). While initially a small Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman principality during Osman's lifetime, h ...

(1298–1326) of the Ottomans. The last section is a summary of Anatolia after the death of

Ghazan Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes westernized as Casanus was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa K ...

of the

(1304). The 15th-century Ottoman ''Selçukname'' includes a 65-line '' Oğuzname'' fragment, so scholars may occasionally use the latter term to refer to this text. Yazıcıoğlu Ali uses the term ''Oğuzname'' about earlier

Old Uyghur Old Uyghur () was a Turkic language spoken in Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries as well as in Gansu. History Old Uyghur evolved from Old Turkic, a Siberian Turkic language, after the Uyghur Khaganate broke up and remnants of it migrated ...

texts. It is possible the author made use of these. These earlier texts, attested to in multiple medieval sources from the Ottoman period, have not survived into the present day. Some of the names from the ''

Book of Dede Korkut The ''Book of Dede Korkut'' or ''Book of Korkut Ata'' (, ; ; ) is the most famous among the dastans or epic stories of the Oghuz Turks. The stories carry morals and values significant to the social lifestyle of the nomadic Turkic peoples and ...

'', considered to be one genre of ''Oğuzname'', are repeated in the ''Selçukname''.Ziya Gökalp
Altın Işık
/ref> Ali Anooshahr has written that certain aspects of Ibn Bibi's earlier work were modernized and updated with 15th-century terminology such as ''top''

cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

and ''tüfek'' "

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. The term ''arquebus'' was applied to many different forms of firearms ...

", whereas the original 13th century

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

text had used the term ''manjaniq'' "

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while othe ...

References