SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This monograph is an edition and commentary of a collection of Turkish poetry based on a manuscript from the 17th century. The manuscript is a single copy in a private collection and contains the poems of Rezmi identified as Bahadir Giray, one of the Crimean Khans (d. 1641). There are a few poets who used the penname Rezmi, but the very limited sources available do not provide any substantial clues as to their identities. Studying and comparing the stylistic features of these poets, particularly the use of Eastern Turkish (Chagatay) in the poems, led to the conclusion that it was only Bahadir Giray who could be identified as the composer of the poems in this manuscript. The monograph includes translation of the poetry into modern Turkish as well as explanation and discussion of the vocabulary and other aspects of the language, in particular the literary allusions, in the context both of Persian, Ottoman Turkish and the Crimean milieu in which Rezmi wrote. A brief history of the Giray dynasty is also included in order to place the poet in the political context of his time.