Article

What Happened in Iznik? The Shaping of Ottoman Intellectual Life and Dawud Qaysari

Abstract

This work examines the shaping of Ottoman intellectual life between 1302 and 1362 as part of
the common cultural heritage of Turkistan, Iran, and Anatolia. The relevant Damascus-Cairo and Byzan-
tine aspects are also considered. It will detail how the components of this heritage were transmitted to the
Ottoman realm and investigate both the channels used and the institutions involved during the reigns of
ʿOsman and Orhān Gāzī as well as the role of Dāwūd Qayṣarī, who was considered to be the first Ottoman
mudarris. The period’s political, intellectual, and ideological approaches will also be taken into account, and
a brief context evaluation will be conducted on the al-Itḥāf al-Sulaymānī fī al-ʿahdi al-Ūrkhānī attributed to
Qayṣarī and presented to Sulayman Pasha. This scholarly work is identified as the first one to be compiled in
the Ottoman realm. Its editio princeps will be appended to the article.

Keywords

The Ottoman realm Dāwūd Qayṣarī al-Itḥāf al-Sulaymānī fī al-ʿahdi al-Ūrkhānī Iznik Madrasa Grogery Palamas ʿOsmān Gāzī Orhān Gāzī Sulayman Pasha the Marāgha school of mathematics and as- tronomy the Tabrīz school of mathematics and astronomy Konya