Dr. Christiane Czygan

Abteilung für Islamwissenschaft und Nahostsprachen

Brühler Str. 7

53119 Bonn

Aktuelles Forschungsvorhaben

Under the pen name Muḥibbī, Sultan Süleyman (r. 1520-1566) created thousands of poems, compiled in various dīvāns (poem collections). He was perhaps not the most accomplished but the most prolific Ottoman ruler poet.

Among these dīvāns, the Hamburg manuscript from 1554, is not only one of the oldest poem collections, but also, according to today’s knowledge, the first illuminated collection created by the famous palace illuminator, Ḳara Memi, and the court calligrapher, Meḥmed Şerīf.

Amidst real or putative dynastic conflicts, Sultan Süleyman must have ordered this magnificent poem collection before he left İstanbul for the Iran campaign in 1553. Coincidentally, Sultan Süleyman ordered the killing of his own son, Prince Mustafa. This precedence shocked the elite and janissaries alike. Sultan Süleyman must have anticipated strong disapproval, and the dīvān, in which he conventionalized himself as the most devoted lover of God, a loving spouse, and a truly accomplished mystic, met this disdain by appealing to emotions of love and devotion. Thus, this dīvān bears a specific political impact. It is certainly not merely a lyrical production, but the beauty of words, imagery, and the book itself were all means to create affection, badly needed to turn the tide of disapproval.

Beyond the political impact, my critical study reveals that this manuscript is the closest copy to the so-called sultanic handwriting and contains a number of mistakes in meter, sometimes even rhyme, which were revised in later manuscripts. Thus, the Hamburg manuscript reveals, in a unique way, the authentic lyrical voice of this extraordinary ruler.

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Publikationen

(Stand: Mai 2022)

Monographien

2012: Zur Ordnung des Staates. Jungosmanische Intellektuelle und ihre Konzepte in der Zeitung Hürriyyet (1868-1870). (Studien zum Modernen Orient; 21). Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verl. 315 Seiten.
- Rezensiert von: Stephan Conermann, Sehepunkte. 15. 2015.1. http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/01/26708.html, gesichtet 07.04.2015; Korkmaz Toros; Yıldırım Metin, International Journal of Turkish Studies. 19. 1-2. 2013.; Nizam al-Abbasi, Al-Ostour. 2.2015. 187-196.
2022: Übersetzung. İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı. [Forthcoming]

Edition

2018: Christiane Czygan / Stephan Conermann (eds.), An Iridescent Device: Premodern Ottoman Poetry. Göttingen: Bonn University Press. 268 Seiten.
- Rezensiert von: Maren Fittschen, Der Islam. 2019. Vol. 96.2. 508-513.; Murat Umut Inan, Middle Eastern Literatures. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475262X.2021.1938833.

Einträge in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd edition

[Forthcoming]: Muhibbi [2023]; Hürrīyet [2023]; Çaylaḳ [2023]

Buchkapitel (peer reviewed)

[Forthcoming]: Sultan Selim’s Predilection for Persian Arts and Refinement: Newly Discovered Poems and Displaced Poets from Tabriz. In Yavuz Sultan Selim ve Dönemi. Ed. Türk Tarih Kurumu, İstanbul.
[Forthcoming]: Mysticizing Power: The Concept of insān-ı kāmil (Perfect Man) in Sultan Süleyman’s Divan (1554). In Kanuni Sultan Süleyman. Ed. Türk Tarih Kurumu, İstanbul.
[Forthcoming]: From Slave to Queen: Hurrem Sultan’s Agenda in Herr Narration of Love (1526-1548). Göttingen: Bonn Univ. Press.
[Forthcoming]: Prestigious Manuscripts, Prestigious Poetry? The Third Divan of Sultan Süleyman. In Rulers as Authors in the Islamic World: Knowledge, Authority and Legitimacy. Eds. Maribel Fierro, Tilman Seidensticker.
2021: Masters of the Pen: The Divans of Selīmī and Muḥibbī. In 1516: The Year That Changed the Middle East and the World. Conference Proceedings, AUB December 7-9,2016. Ed. Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn. Beirut: AUB Univ. Press. 111-133.
2021: Tercihler ve Gözardı Edilenleri Muhibbī’nin Hamburg Nüshası’ndaki Belagat Hünerleri. Trans. Vildan S. Coşkun. In Osmanlı Edebī Metinlerinde Teoriden Pratiğe Belāgat. (Eski Türk Edebiyatı Çalışmaları XV). Eds. Hatice Aynur, Hanife Koncu et al. İstanbul: Klasik. 426-446.
2020: Depicting Imperial Love: Love Songs and Letters between Sultan Süleyman (Muhibbī) and Hürrem. In Suleyman the Lawgiver and His Reign. New Sources, New Approaches. Eds. M. Fatih Çalışır, Suraiya Faroqhi, M. Şakir Yılmaz. İstanbul: İbn Haldun University Press. 247-265.
2019: Songs of Power and Love: Context and Content of the Third Divan of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. In: Poetry: Interpretations and Influence on the World. Ed. Vivian Norton. New York: Nova Publ. 47-68.
2018: Introduction. In An Iridescent Device: Premodern Ottoman Poetry. Eds. Christiane Czygan, Stephan Conermann. Göttingen: Bonn University Press. 17-29.
2018: Was Sultan Süleymān Colour-Blind? Sensuality, Power and the Unpublished Poems in the Third Dīvān (1554) of Sultan Süleymān the Lawgiver. In An Iridescent Device: Premodern Ottoman Poetry. Eds. Christiane Czygan, Stephan Conermann. Göttingen: Bonn University Press. 183-205.
2017: Power and Poetry. Kanuni Sultan Süleyman`s Third Divan. In Turkey at a Glance II. Turkey Transformed? Power, History, Culture. Eds. Meltem Ersoy, Esra Ozyurek. Wiesbaden: Springer. 101-112.
2016: A Device of Communication: the Third Divan of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566) and its Political Context. In Islamic Perspective. Centre of Sociological Studies. London. Vol. 15. 2016. 77-90.
2013: The Schneller Family and the Orphanage in Nazareth. In Nazareth. History & Cultural Heritage. Eds. Mahmoud Yazbak, Sharif Sharif. (Nazareth Academic Studies; 2). Nazareth: Nazareth Municipality. 235-251.
2010: Reflections on Justice - a Young Ottoman View of Tanzimat, In Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 46.6. November. 943-956.

Sammelbandbeiträge

2019: Approaches to Muḥibbī’s Lyricism: The Third Divan Through the Prism of Ḳānūnī Sultan Süleyman’s Other Divans. In Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Dönemi ve Bursa. Ed. Burcu Kurt. Bursa: Gaye Kitabevi. 225-241.
2016: The Young Ottomans and their Journal Hürriyyet (1868-1870) Revisited. In Eine hundertblättrige Tulpe – Bir sadbarg lāla. Festgabe für Claus Schönig. Eds. Ingeborg Hauenschild, Matthias Kappler, Barbara Kellner-Heinkele. (Studien zur Sprache Geschichte und Kultur der Türkvölker; 22) Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Publ. 48-60.
2014: Zur Ghazelkultur in der Zeit Sultan Süleymans des Prächtigen. Der Herrscher als Liebender. Kutadgu Nom Bitig. Festschrift für Jens Peter Laut zum 60. Geburtstag. Eds. Elisabetta Ragagnin, Jens Wilkens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 85-100.

Rezensionen

2014: Laban Kaptein (ed.): Ahmed Bican Yazıcioğlu, Dürr-i meknûn. Kritische Edition mit Kommentar. Asch 2007. Der Islam. Journal of the History and Culture of the Middle East. Vol. 91, No. 1. 201-204.
2014: Arnd-Michael Nohl / Barbara Pusch (eds.): Bildung und gesellschaftlicher Wandel in der Türkei – Historische und aktuelle Aspekte. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag. ZDMG. 164.3.2014. pp. 853-857.

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