Making It among the Ottomans: The Persian Émigré Secretary and His Prose in the Ottoman Chancery, 1473–1520

Throughout the fifteenth century political fragmentation in the central lands of Islam facilitated the mobility of statesmen and scholars, who frequently secured professional advancement and financial prosperity by seeking patronage among far-flung courts. While the politically ascendant Ottoman Sultanate of the late fifteenth century presented an attractive alternative for Persian scholars, who often contended with political and religious turmoil in their homeland, the arrival of these men in Ottoman lands at the turn of the sixteenth century did not necessarily initiate the prosperity and appointment to high office that they had envisioned upon the outset of their respective journeys. Language, shifting patterns of patronage, professional networks, and personal rivalries all contributed to a glass ceiling for Persian statesmen at the Ottoman court. And yet, the existence of such a glass ceiling does not suggest a lack of influence in certain crucial areas. Indeed, through their chancery activities and the composition of historical works, Persian émigrés had a lasting impact—albeit one largely overlooked in modern scholarship—on the administrative and ideological dimensions of the Ottoman Sultanate as it transitioned from regional power to empire.

This presentation will examine the limitations and impact of Persian secretaries and statesmen by assessing the professional and literary careers of four émigrés in the Ottoman court between 1473 and 1520—a period marked by the expansion of the Ottoman Sultanate eastward into eastern Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt. In such an environment, the expertise and rhetorical skill of these Persian men of letters proved invaluable. For even if the foreign status of these Persian statesmen frequently limited their professional advancement, the sultanate relied upon their hyper-literate chancery products and historical writings to articulate a persuasive rationale for and compelling vision of Ottoman rule in the Near East in the sixteenth century.