Abstract
This chapter examines the people involved in the production and consumption of manuscripts—those of Mevlevi texts, as well as Mevlevi individuals who left inscriptions in other manuscripts. The first part of the chapter discusses craftspeople, most notably scribes, and what their inscriptions can tell us about this important subsection of the early Mevlevis. The second part looks at readers, especially patrons, owners and collators. This gives further insights into who the Mevlevi disciples were in this early period and for what purposes readers might have used manuscripts. The evidence analysed in this chapter shows that the early Mevlevis were a diverse group, with scribes and readers of various backgrounds, occupations and affiliations.
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Notes
- 1.
In the latter case, the manuscript is dedicated to this patron, which helps to clarify the meaning of the nisba.
- 2.
- 3.
I am grateful to Zeynep Yürekli, A. C. S. Peacock and Jan Hagedorn for their thoughts on this topic.
- 4.
It is likely that the later wives of Sultan Valad and mothers of the Mevlevi leaders ʿAbid Çelebi and Vajid Çelebi (Nusrat Khatun and Sunbula Khatun respectively) were of slave origin. Aflaki describes them as ‘concubines’, using the Arabic word surrīya (Aflaki 1961, 2: pp. 995–996; 2002, p. 698). Simon Barton, writing on medieval Iberia, notes that concubines (surrīya, pl. sarārī) were slaves taken ‘on account of their beauty, or their abilities as singers, dancers, or reciters of poetry’ and ‘widely regarded as an important status symbol’ (Barton 2015, p. 33). He further notes that a concubine who bore her master a son would receive the status of umm walad (mother of a child, or slave mother) and be manumitted upon her master’s death, if not earlier, with the child having the same status as legitimate sons (ibid). Jan Hagedorn notes a similar set of circumstances in the context of Mamluk Syria and Egypt (Hagedorn 2020, p. 141).
- 5.
A famous owner of the name ‘Gawharshad’ was Gawharshad Agha (d. 1457), who was the (non-slave) wife of the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh (r. 1405–47). On Sandal, see James (1988), pp. 39–65 (Sandal’s eunuch/slave status is discussed on p. 47).
- 6.
It could also mean ‘of the lovers [of God]’.
- 7.
While faqīr often appears as an epithet preceding a name (e.g. al-ʿabd al-faqīr al-muḥtāj…), in this case, the word appears in the middle of the name so is part of it.
- 8.
It is unclear precisely what ‘al-Razi mujīdan’ means in this context. In a previous publication, I interpreted it as majīdan (illustriously/famously), meaning that the scribe’s family were originally from Ray in Iran. However, mujīdan, from mujīd (skilful/versed in), could mean someone who knows the works of ‘al-Razi’, a nisba that refers to several well-known medieval scholars (Jackson 2020, p. 126).
- 9.
Süleymaniye Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi, Istanbul, Fatih 2810, fol. 299a.
- 10.
A small number of named people have been excluded from this list because they do not fit within this scope (all are, however, noted in the catalogue in Chap. 2). For example, the patron of cat. 94, which is not a Mevlevi text, nor written by a Mevlevi scribe, is not included as he was also not a Mevlevi. However, the manuscript’s later owner, who was a Mevlevi, is included in Table 4.2. Similarly, cat. 98, which is also not a Mevlevi text, was copied by a Mevlevi scribe. However, its later reader, Shams ibn Kamal al-Shafiʿi, is not mentioned in Table 4.2, since there is no evidence that he was a Mevlevi. A manuscript not included in the catalogue but with a Mevlevi owner is worth mentioning here. A unicum copy of Durar-i makhzan-i Kaykavusi, a Persian medical treatise, was produced for the library of the Seljuk ruler Kaykavus II (r. 1246–57) by its author, ʿAli ibn Khalifa al-Mutatabbib al-Salmasi (of Salmas in present-day north-western Iran), on 13 Dhu’l-Hijja 649/4 March 1252. The manuscript was, at some point, owned by one ‘Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Mawlavi’ (Sotheby’s 2017, lot 39). The dates of this later owner are currently unclear, as I have not been able to see the original inscriptions. There are, however, two Mevlevi scribes with this name mentioned in the catalogue (cats. 93 and 102). Many thanks to Astrid Chater of Sotheby’s for sharing images of the manuscript.
- 11.
See, for example, cat. 21, in which the scribe notes that the manuscript was completed ‘by the hand of its owner’ (ʿalā yadd ṣāḥibihi).
- 12.
Mevlana Müzesi, Konya, 332.
- 13.
The note on fol. 1a is authored by ‘Muhammad ibn Musa al-qāḍī bi-madīnat Qūniya’ (d. after 1447), who records that the manuscript came from the effects bequeathed (mukhalafāt) by the deceased ‘ʿArif Çelebi’. Since Ulu ʿArif Çelebi died before the manuscript was produced, and ʿArif III Çelebi died in 1640, neither could have owned the manuscript. Muhammad ibn Musa is named as a witness in a document related to Ibrahim II of the Karamanids (r. 1423–64), dated 9 Jumada I 851/1 August 1447 (Konyalı 1968, p. 101).
- 14.
- 15.
Wellcome Collection, London, MS Arabic 119 (formerly WMS Or. 119). The manuscript is available online at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/j8d6az6d (accessed 15 March 2023). According to the colophon on fol. 157b, it was copied by ʿAtaʾallah ibn Muhammad al-Gulshahri (of Gülşehir in central Turkey) on 5 Rajab 758 (2 July 1357), during the author’s lifetime.
- 16.
Other illuminated manuscripts were copied by this scribe in 1379 (cat. 114) and 1386 (cat. 116). They may have been owned by Sati or Mustanjid as well, but there are no inscriptions suggesting this.
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Jackson, C. (2024). Scribes, Patrons and Readers. In: Mevlevi Manuscripts, 1268–c. 1400. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48367-7_4
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