Written culture in the Murad III Era

By the late 16th century, changes in existing power relations and patronage networks centered around the Ottoman sultans affected the political, literary and cultural environment of the period from the 1570s to the 1590s. During this period, in which Murad III was the central ruling figure, many poets, authors, translators and commentators of the period produced their works in conjunction with the growing power of the sultanas, chief eunuchs of the palace, scholars and favourites (musāhibs and musāhibes). The existence of such alternative intermediaries in order to access to the person of the sultan as well as to gain his patronage created some new ways of patronage for the authors of this period. The fact that Murad III himself had a very voluminous Dîvân, wrote his own literary works, had his dreams recorded and his poems annotated by other poets, and his interest in supernatural stories (ajā'ib and gharā'ib) and illustrated manuscripts all played a leading role in the development of this period's massive literary production. The sultan's literary interests and tastes also affected other patrons of the period. Courtiers, such as mahrams, muqarrabs and musāhibs, also chose artists to be supported in line with the expectations of the sultan and in order to raise their positions in the eyes of the sultan. This led to the emergence of new works that can be considered as the first in the field during the reign of Murad III. Another significant feature of this period is that Murad III gave utmost importance to writing in Turkish and even had some works written, translated and annotated by intermediaries. In addition to Turkish works, Persian and Arabic works were also written with the support of the sultan. In this study, in which different types of works are examined in sub-periods, the subjects are classified in a certain way. In our study, the political culture of the period, the poems of Murâdi as a poet, the sultan's relations with the sects and the sheikhs of the sects, the palace environment, the patronage in the period, the scholars and pashas of the period, the poets who wrote odes (qasida) to the sultan, the Circumcision Festival of 1582, the works dedicated to Murad III, other works of the period, the poets of the period and the subjects of the illustrated manuscripts are discussed. While examining all these, a method based on the manuscripts of the period was followed. The charts and graphs showing the relationship between patron and patronage were added at the end of the study.