Intellectual Networks in Timurid Iran

Sharaf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī and the Islamicate Republic of Letters

İlker Evrim Binbaş, İlker Evrim Binbaş

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781107054240
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316553862
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

By focusing on the works and intellectual network of the Timurid historian Sharaf al D?n 'Al? Yazd? (d.1454), this book presents a holistic view of intellectual life in fifteenth century Iran. ?lker Evrim Binba? argues that the intellectuals in this period formed informal networks which transcended political and linguistic boundaries, and spanned an area from the western fringes of the Ottoman State to bustling late medieval metropolises such as Cairo, Shiraz, and Samarkand. The network included an Ottoman revolutionary, a Mamluk prophet, and a Timurid occultist, as well as physicians, astronomers, devotees of the secret sciences, and those political figures who believed that the network was a force to be taken seriously. Also discussing the formation of an early modern Islamicate republic of letters, this book offers fresh insights on the study of intellectual history beyond the limitations imposed by nationalist methodologies, established genres, and recognized literary traditions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of map and figures
• Acknowledgments
• Notes on transcription
• Chronology of events
• List of abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The making of a Timurid intellectual
• 3 Informal intellectual networks in Timurid Iran
• 4 The prophet of Cairo and the master of Isfahan
• 5 The articulation of a princely political discourse
• 6 Writing history in the Timurid Empire
• 7 The king’s two lineages: the evolution of a politico-theological idea
• 8 Epilogue
• Appendix: Yazdī and his informal network
• References
• Index
• Series information