Ottoman 'ulema in the mid-17th Century: an analysis of the Vaka'iI'u' l-fuzala of Mehmed Seyhi Ef

Abstract

The present work consists of methodical re-organization of the biographical data on the Ottoman 'Ulema to be found in Books 17 - 19 of Mehmed Seyhi Efendi's Vakai'u 'l-Fuzala, based on the manuscripts in the Suleymanlye Library, Bejir Aga ,479. The author attempted to cast into a literary form the information on the careers of the teachers and jurists which , for the most part , he collected from the official registers , thereby seriously impairing the value of the work as a source of reference . In this dissertation this data is systematically extracted and arranged in a tabular presentation which , it is hoped , will be the pattern for the future publication of the entire work . Moreover , the facts given by Seyhi have been collated with the other biographical works dealing with the 'Ulema , and discrepancies amongst them noted. The information thus derived has been used as the basis for an introductory essay on the 'ilmiye , in which an attempt is made to characterize this important social class in the mid-17th century.