Risale-yi Şecaiye رساله شجاعیه

Content

An Ottoman Turkish translation of an Arabic treatise discussing how a perfect mounted soldier should handle his weapons in battle. The text of this work was copied into blank spaces left for illustrations to the Arabic treatise for which the volume was originally created. (see Add MS 20736, ff. 2v-96r). The Turkish text runs intermittently from f. 37r, with the continuation text indicated by catchwords (ff. 37r-82r).

The treatise contains thirty-three chapters ( bablar ), which are enumerated in a table in the preface to the work (ff. 39r, 40r and 45r). At the beginning of that table, the author of the original work is given as Emir Bedrüddin (f. 39r, line 13), possibly to be identified with Badr al-Dīn Baktūt al-Rammāḥ al-Khazindārī al-Ẓāhirī (بدر الدين بكتوت الرماح الخزنداري الظاهري, active 13th century), author of the earliest general furūsīyah treatise.

In a prologue written partly in rhyming couplets and partly in prose, the author praises Prince Bayezit (1525-1561), whom he calls Veli Ahd, or heir designate, as the most gallant and noblest of the sons of the Sultan (Kanunî Süleyman). It was in the Prince's honour that the author gave to the present translation of the Risale-yi Furusiye the name Şecaiye .

The author calls himself the humble servant Toma ( Bende-yi haksar-i Toma ) and says that "he had been raised up by the Prince from the dust of abjection to the steed of ambition. He hopes to be looked upon by him with a favourable eye and to be invested with the ornament of Islam."

The translation must have been written some time before 966/1559, when Bayezit was defeated by his brother Selim near Konya and fled to Persia. The linguistic forms found in the text attest to authorship in the 16th century CE.

The text is written in Divani ( Dīwānī ) script with occasional vocalization, and follows the same ruling as the volume's original Arabic text.

Extent and format

Ff. 37r, 38r, 39r, 40r, 45r, 47r, 50r, 51r, 52r, 53r, 54v, 56r, 57r, 58r, 59r, 59v, 60v, 61v, 63r, 64r, 65r, 65v, 66v, 74r, 75v, 78r, 78v, 79r, 81v, 82r, 87v, 88r

It is part of

Two treatises on horsemanship

214 images

Ref: Add MS 20736

Written in

Turkish, Ottoman in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 20736, ff 37r, 38r, 39r, 40r, 45r, 47r, 50r, 51r, 52r, 53r, 54v, 56r, 57r, 58r, 59r, 59v, 60v, 61v, 63r, 64r, 65r, 65v, 66v, 74r, 75v, 78r, 78v, 79r, 81v, 82r, 87v, 88r

History of this record

Date(s)

16th century (CE, Gregorian)

Related material

Finding aids

Rieu, Charles, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1888), p. 128

People & organisations

Baktūt al-Rammāḥ Ẓāhirī

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Risale-yi Şecaiye رساله شجاعیه, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 20736, ff 37r, 38r, 39r, 40r, 45r, 47r, 50r, 51r, 52r, 53r, 54v, 56r, 57r, 58r, 59r, 59v, 60v, 61v, 63r, 64r, 65r, 65v, 66v, 74r, 75v, 78r, 78v, 79r, 81v, 82r, 87v, 88r, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100140442372.0x000002> [accessed 21 June 2026]

Link to this record

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