The politics of Persian historiography at the court of Süleyman: Shah Qasım and his Kanz Al-Javahir

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2486543_(Table of contents)

The present thesis discusses Shah Qasim’s (d. 1539-1540) Kanz al-javahir al-saniya fi’l-futuhat al-Sulaymaniya (Treasure of the Brilliant Jewels among the Conquests of Süleyman), a chronicle in Persian commissioned by Süleyman I (r. 1520-1566). It claims that Shah Qasim produced this work to legitimize Ottoman rule in the eyes of Persian speaking elites of Iraq and Iran. Süleyman and his court chose Shah Qasim for this job because he was an emigre from Tabriz, who absorbed the Timurid way of history-writing and was a master in the chancery style. While some historians have pointed out to the significance of the Kanz al-javahir, none of them has examined its stylistic, literary, and historical features thoroughly. Thus, this thesis aims to present an oft-neglected Persian chronicle to scholarship and situates it in an age when millenarian expectations and claims to universal sovereignty climaxed. In that context, Shah Qasim’s epithets to portray Süleyman as the ideal ruler gains new dimensions. In addition, it examines the first years of Süleyman’s reign in order to understand how Süleyman had established his authority as the “Sultan”