A New Persian Source on the History of Timurids: Müntahabü’t-Tevârîh of Zahîr-i Mar’aşî

Abstract

A new source in Persian written by Zahîrüddîn b. Nasîreddîn-i Mar'aşî, has been recently detected. Zahîrüddîn is generally known with his works called Târih-i Taberistân, Rûyân û Mâzenderân and Târih-i Gîlân, which are important sources of the medieval history. This new work includes events of Timur's lifetime and it is a müntehab work based on sources written about the Timurids until that time. It was discovered that one of the sources of the work is Zafername of Yezdî. In addition to his borrowings from the previous works, Zahîrüddîn also gives important details from narrations of the witnesses and participants of the period's events. The sources he consulted were his father Nasîreddin, who had personally attended to Timur's campaigns in Anatolia and Syria, and his uncle Gıyaseddin and his uncle's son Abdulvahap. According to Zahîrüddîn, Yezdî's narrations concerning Yıldırım Bayezid's capture and conversations between Bayezid and Timur were not accurate. He narrates these events according to the accounts of his uncle Gıyaseddin, who had been present in the tent of Timur when Bayezid was brought there, and of his uncle's son Abdulvahap, who had been rewarded by Timur for his services during the Ankara War. In this study, the life of the author, his historiography, his style will be explained. Also his work will be evaluated in terms of its content, sources, and significance for the Timurid and Ottoman histories and then its differences with contemporary works on disputed matters will be discussed.