Âlî Efendi’s Târîh-i Engürüs and the literary context of Ottoman historical narratives

Abstract

The subject of this dissertation is Târîh-i Engürüs, a literary work which describes the events that took place during the Ottoman campaign on Hungary between 1593 1596. The manuscript is recorded in Revan 1302, Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is understood from the poems in the text that the work belongs to an author who uses the penname ʿÂlî. In the Ottoman literature, the works which were based on conquests, military campaigns and victories can be named as gazavatname, fetihname or tarih. As a literary genre these works can be gathered under the title of “fetihname” according to their common features in terms of content, language and literary expression. Târîh-i Engürüs which was written in eloquent prose, is a successful example of fetihname genre with its use of inşa style and metaphors. In the first chapter of the thesis we discussed the historical and literary context of Târîh i Engürüs by giving information about the political situation of the Ottoman empire at the end of 16th century and by defining the fetihname genre. In the second chapter, the persona of author ʿÂlî Efendi was discussed. Then the events in Târîh-i Engürüs were summarized. In the third chapter we identified the text’s literary and stylistic aspects. In the sixth chapter, the transcribed text of Târîh-i Engürüs was given. An alphabetical index of people and places was added at the end of the text for people who would make further research on the subject. Moreover a dictionary was compiled to make it easier for the readers to understand the text.