{{italic title}} {{Infobox book | italic title = Şeca'atname | name = | image = Secaatname 0213 (cropped).jpg | image_size = | border = | alt = | caption = Osman Pasha at the Siege of Caffa during the Crimean campaign (1584). ''Şeca'atname'' | author = Dal Mehmed Çelebi Asafi | audio_read_by = | title_orig = | orig_lang_code = | title_working = | translator = | illustrator = | cover_artist = | language = | series = | release_number = | subject = | genre = | set_in = | publisher = | publisher2 = | pub_date = 1586 | pub_place = | english_pub_date = | published = | media_type = | pages = | awards = | isbn = | isbn_note = | oclc = | dewey = | congress = | preceded_by = <!-- for books in a series --> | followed_by = <!-- for books in a series --> | native_wikisource = | wikisource = | notes = | exclude_cover = | website = | module = }} The '''''Şeca'atname''''' ({{langx|ota|شجاعة نامه}}, ''Şecāʿatnāme'' or ''Šajāʿat-nāme'', "Book of Valor" or "Book of Bravery") was an illustrated record of the exploits of the Ottoman statesman and general Özdemiroǧlu Osman Pasha during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590), written by his secretary Dal Mehmed Çelebi Asafi (d. 1597–98) and completed in September 1586.{{sfn|Taner|2020|p=31}}{{sfn|Fliescher|1986|p=82}}{{sfn|Tunca|2017|p=1}}
The ''Şeca'atname'' deals with the event of the Ottoman-Safavid wars between 1578 and 1585.{{sfn|Taner|2020|p=31}} ''Şecāʿat'' (شجاعت) is an Arabian word meaning "bravery", "boldness", "courage".{{sfn|Papuashvili|2020|p=55}} There are two copies: one, unillustrated, is in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library (R. 1301), and the other, illustrated, at the Istanbul University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (T.6043). Both manuscripts were copied by ʿAli b. Yūsuf.{{sfn|Taner|2020|p=31}} The ''Book of Valor'' is written in Turkish, in the ''naskh'' script and uses rather plain language.{{sfn|Tunca|2017|p=38}} It represents a developing trend in Ottoman literature, away from the Persianate aesthetic in terms of both visual idiom and language, where court histories were written by bureaucrats rather than poets, using plain Turkish rather than Persian, and employing the ''naskh'' and ''dîvânî'' scripts rather than the poetic ''ta'liq''.{{sfn|Tunca|2017|p=38}} Still, Asafi displayed a taste for Persian literature, and his illustrations have Persian characteristics.{{sfn|Tunca|2017|p=38}}
Asafi joined the conflict in 1577–78, first as a secretary to Lala Mustafa Paşa, and then to Özdemiroǧlu Osman Pasha. In 1581, Asafi was captured by the Safavid Kizilbas, and kept in captivity in Qazvin and Isfahan, but was released in 1585.{{sfn|Fliescher|1986|p=82}}{{sfn|Eravci|2023|pp=27-28}} He was then made governor-general of Kefe (Caffa) in Crimea. After three years, he became governor-general of Semahi (Sirvan).{{sfn|Fliescher|1986|p=82}}
Asafi had a remarkable career progression, from scribe to financial official and member of a Pasha's household, to Sancak (Governor) Begi, and then to Pasha.{{sfn|Fliescher|1986|p=82}}
Another famous war account of the period is the earlier ''Nusretname'' (1582-84), which records the campaigns of Lala Mustafa Pasha in the Caucasus.
{{clear}} <gallery widths="170px" heights="200px" perrow="4"> File:Secaatname 0153. Dal Mehmed Çelebi Asafi (d. 1597–98), imprisoned circa 1584-85, at the Safavid court.jpg|The author, Dal Mehmed Çelebi Asafi, imprisoned circa 1584–85 at the Safavid court of Mohammad Khodabanda File:Secaatname 0068 (cropped).jpg|Depiction of the affair between the Crimean Tatar commander Adil Giray and the Safavid queen Khayr al-Nisa Begum File:Adil Giray with Khayr al-Nisa Begum.jpg|The affair between the Crimean Tatar commander Adil Giray and the Safavid queen Khayr al-Nisa Begum (detail) File:Secaatname 0072 (cropped).jpg|Siege of Shamakhi (1578) </gallery>
==Sources== * {{cite book |last1=Fleischer |first1=Cornell H. |title=Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600) |date=1986 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691638447 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zvjvj}} * {{cite journal |last1=Eravci |first1=H. Mustafa |title=The Role of the Crimean Tatars in the Ottoman-Safavi Wars |journal=Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi |date=18 April 2023 |issue=57 |doi=10.21563/sutad.1285102 |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3092106|doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal |last1=Papuashvili |first1=Tamar |title=The Childiri Battle According To Şecâ'atnâme |journal=2nd Intertational Conference on Research in Social Sciences and Humanities |date=10 December 2020 |page=55 |doi=10.33422/2nd.icrsh.2020.12.08 |url=https://www.dpublication.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/35-5035.pdf}} * {{cite book |last1=Taner |first1=Melis |chapter=Illustrated Manuscripts Attributed to Baghdad |title=Caught in a whirlwind: a cultural history of Ottoman Baghdad as reflected in its illustrated manuscripts |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden; Boston |isbn=978-9004412699 |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstreams/6ae736f2-83c7-46e5-b6f0-d0559e16e14c/download}} * {{cite book |last1=Tunca |first1=Ece |title=Depiction of the enemy through the eyes of an Ottoman bureaucrat (thesis) |date=2017 |publisher= Central European University|location=Budapest |url=https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/tunca_ece.pdf}}
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Ottoman literature Category:16th-century illuminated manuscripts Category:Islamic illuminated manuscripts