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Capsali as a Source for Ottoman History, 1450–1523

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Aryeh Shmuelevitz
Aryeh Shmuelevitz
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
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Extract

The chronicle of Rabbi Elijah Capsali (ca. 1483–1555), which concerns itself with the history of the Ottoman Empire, turns up as a subject for discussion from time to time. Capsali, rabbi of the Candia community in Crete, wrote the chronicle entitled Seder Eliyahu Zuta during the plague of the spring and summer of 1523. It is divided into four parts and 166 chapters and includes an introduction in which he explains the reasons for writing it and mentions his sources. As yet, however, the importance of this chronicle has not been sufficiently emphasized. The interpretation presented by Uriel Heyd at the Sixth Turkish History Congress held in Ankara in 1961. dealt with a number of aspects such as the sources of Capsali and Jewish references in the text, but only in their most general form. In this paper I examine the importance and limitations of the chronicle more thoroughly.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , August 1978 , pp. 339 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

Author's Note: An earlier version of this paper was read at the 29th International Congress of Orientalists, Paris July 1973.

1 Seder Eliyahu Zuta together with Capsali's earlier and less well-known chronicle Divrei ha- Yamim le-Malkhut Venezia, written in 1517, has been prepared for publication (in Hebrew) based on four manuscripts: (a) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Opp. Add. 8, Neubaur Catalogue No. 2411; (b) British Museum, Opp. and MSS Dept. Catalogue, Add. Or. 19.971;Google Scholar (c) ibid., Gastar Collection, MS Oriental 10713; (d) Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, XIIO SUP. The last manuscript is the most reliable and was almost certainly read by Capsali. The text has been published by the Ben Zvi Institute and Tel Aviv University in two volumes (Jerusalem, 1975, 1977); the third volume, which includes introductions, glossary and index, is in press.

2 ‘Osmali Tarihi lçin Ibramice Kaynaklar’ in VI Türk Tarih Kongresi (Ankara, 1967), pp. 295–303.Google Scholar

3 Eliyahu, Capsali, Seder Eliyahu Zuta, edited, explained, and annotated by Shmuelevitz, A., Simonson, S. and Benayahu, M., Vol. I (Jerusalem, 1975), pp. 10, 367 (hereafter referred to as Seder).Google Scholar

4 See ibid., pp. 141–142, 239–240, for the text of the decree, the only one extant today.

5 ibid., pp. 10, 367.

6 See ibid., pp. 344–345, for the several differing comments of Sultan Selim on the death of his Grand Vezir Sinan PaŞa during the battle of Raydāniyyah.

7 ibid., p. 283.

8 ibid., p. 11.

9 Halevy, M. A., ‘Les Guerres d'Etienne le Grande et de Uzun-Hassan contre Mahomet II d'apres Ia chronique de la Turquie de Candiot Ella Capsali (1523),’ Studia et Acta Orientalia, I, 1957 (Bucharest, 1958), 191–192. Halevy claims that Capsali had read and used the Greek chronicles written in the second half of the fifteenth century. This assumption is based on the similarity between the distortions of the names in those chronicles and in Capsali. This does not permit a definitive conclusion because he may have heard the same distortions as the Greek authors – after all, he lived in Crete. Moreover, Capsali cited his sources in all his writings.Google Scholar

10 Seder, I, 107.Google Scholar

11 ibid., p. 109.

12 ibid., pp. 129–130.

13 E.g., Sultan Qānsūh al-Ghawri on his way from Egypt to Syria reached Safed, then Jerusalem, and then Damascus (ibid., pp. 322–333).

14 Capsali is wrong even in the Jewish calendar: ‘on Thursday before Saturday of 9th of Ab 5276’ whereas 9 Ab fell on a Tuesday in that year (ibid., p. 321).

15 It was compared, among others, with (a) Sa'd, al-Din, Tāj u Tevārikh (Istanbul, 1279–1280/1862–1863);Google Scholar (b) Sōlāqzādeh, , Ta'rikh Sōlāqzādeh (Istanbul, 1271/1854–1855)Google Scholar (c) Ferīdun, , Mensha'āt-i Selatin (Istanbul, 1274/1857–1858);Google Scholar (d) Ibn, Iyās, Ta'rikh Misr:Badā'ī' al-Zuhūr fi Waqā'i' al-Duhūr (Būlāq, 1312/1894–1895);Google Scholar (e) Ibn, Zunbul, Kitāb Ta'rikh al-Sultān Salim Khān Ibn Sultān Bāyazid Khān ma'a Qānsūh al-Ghawri Sultān Misr wa-A'mālihā (Cairo, 1278/1861–1862);Google Scholar (f) Giovanni, Sagredo, Aussführliche Histori (Aussführliche Beschreibung dess Ottomanischen Käyserthums) (Augsburg, 1694);Google Scholar (g) Knolles, R., The Turkish History from the Original of that Nation to the Growth of the Ottoman Empire (London, 1687);Google Scholar (h) Joseph, von Hammer-Purgstall, Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman, trans. J. J. Hallert (Paris, 1835–1841);Google Scholar (i) Joseph, ha-Cohen, Sefer Divrei ha-Yamim leMalkhei Zarfat u-Malkhei Beyt Otoman ha-Togar (Amsterdam, 1733).Google Scholar

16 Seder, Vol. II (Jerusalem, 1977), pp. 35–45.Google Scholar

17 ibid., I, 265–272, 308–312, 366–367.

18 ibid., pp. 272–273, 303. According to Capsali, Sultan Selim very much appreciated the assistance these exiles rendered him in the development of firearms. His attitude toward the Jewish community became especially favorable and he even permitted a group of Jews converted to Islam to return to their faith – an act that, according to Islamic law, leads to cardinal punishmcnt. See also Nicolas, de Micolay, Les Navigations peregrinations et voyages faits en Turquie (Paris, 1576), p. 293.Google Scholar

19 Seder, I, 288.Google Scholar

20 ibid., pp. 66–67.

21 ibid., p. 290.

22 ibid., II, 35–40.

23 ibid., I, 333; Knolles, , Turkish History, I, 363;Google ScholarSagredo, , Aussführliche Histori, p. 95;Google ScholarIbn, lyās, Ottoman Conquest of Egypt, a.h. 922, trans. Salmon, W. H. (London, 1921), p. 97. The Yeniçeris were hidden among the Sipahis and when the Mamluks attacked in force, the Sipahis opened ranks and the Yeniçeris killed the Mamluks as they broke through.Google Scholar

24 Seder, I, 241–254.Google Scholar

25 ibid., p. 399.

26 ibid., p. 400.

27 ibid., p. 386.