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Three Empires and Persian Historiography: The Thought of Müli¿ al-d¿n L¿r¿ uncovers the underexplored historical vision of sixteenth-century scholar whose work spanned the Safavid, Timurid, and Ottoman worlds.
List of contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgements
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Chapter 1: L¿r¿'s World: Exile, Empire, and History
1.1 Introduction
Chapter 2: Mu¿li¿ al-D¿n L¿r¿ - Education, Travels, and Career
2.1. Origins and Early Scholarly Development
2.2. A Forced Migration
2.3. At the Mughal Court
2.4. Arriving at the Ottoman Court
Chapter 3: The Persianate Lens - L¿r¿'s Literary Contributions and Historical Vision
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Mir'¿tü'l-Adv¿r wa Mir¿¿tü'l-A¿b¿r: An In-Depth Analysis
3.3. Exploring Features of Mir'¿tü'l-Adv¿r wa Mir¿¿tü'l-A¿b¿r
Chapter 4: Selective Silence - L¿r¿'s Portrayal of the Safavids
4.1. Introduction
4.2. L¿r¿'s Reversal of Safavid Historiography
4.2.1. Crafting the Safavid Universal History
4.2.2. Biographies
4.2.3. The Shah at the Core
4.2.4. Prefaces
4.2.5. The Ancient Stories
4.3. Safavid Rule in Question
4.4. Safavid Scholars in L¿r¿'s Täkira
4.5. Conclusion
Chapter 5: The Heroic Legacy - T¿m¿r's Glorious Portrayal
5.1. Introduction
5.2. A Heroic Narrative
5.2.1. Tracing the Lineage of T¿m¿r
5.2.2. The Leadership Triad: Strategy, Skills, and Character in Action
5.2.3. The Faithful Conqueror
5.2.4. The Patron of Knowledge
5.3. L¿r¿'s T¿m¿r: A Strategic Hero in the Battle of Ankara
5.4. Timurid Mindscapes: The Intellectuals of the Timurid Era in Mir'¿tü'l-Adv¿r
4.4.1. Mystics of the Näshband¿s
5.4.2. Mystics Beyond the Näshband¿ Sufi Tradition
5.4.3. Scholars in the Era of T¿m¿r
5.5. Conclusion
Chapter 6: Empire in Outline - L¿r¿'s Portrayal of the Ottoman Dynasty
6.1. Introduction
6.2. L¿r¿'s Lens: Early Ottoman Origins and the Shaping of Power
6.3. Osm¿n I: The Struggle for Legitimacy in the Early Ottoman Empire
6.4. Beneath T¿m¿r's Shadow: L¿r¿'s Account of the Ottoman Interregnum
6.5. Conquering the World: L¿r¿'s Depiction of Me¿med II
6.5.1. Conquering the World
6.6. Disclosing Hostility: L¿r¿'s View on the Battle of Çald¿ran
6.7. Divine Majesty: Sultan Süleym¿n in L¿r¿'s Narrative
6.8. Conclusion
Chapter 7: A Mirror Fading: L¿r¿'s Historiographical Legacy
7.1 Conclusion
Appendices
INDEX
About the author
Nilab Saeedi is a Research Associate at the Institute of Habsburg and Balkan Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences. She received her PhD in History in 2025 in Istanbul, with a focus on Islamic Intellectual History. Her dissertation was awarded the "Best Doctoral Thesis of the Year" at Ibn Haldun University. She also holds an MA in Turkish Literature from Ondokuz May¿s University and a BA in Linguistics. Her research interests include early modern Ottoman history, Persian historiography, and Islamic intellectual history. She has taught courses on art and literature and worked as a translator in Turkish, English, and Persian. She is a contributing editor for the
Journal of the History of Ideas, where she interviews scholars of intellectual history and reviews their work.
