Mevlânâ Mehmed Neşri (born c. 1450 – died circa 1520), also commonly referred to as Neshri ( Ottoman Turkish: نشري), was an Ottoman historian, a prominent representative of early Ottoman historiography. ^[1]

Very little is known about Neşri, which suggests that he was not a major literary figure during his lifetime. ^[1] Contemporary sources refer to him with the modest title of muderris (teacher), which further suggested that he did not hold a high office. ^[1] He witnessed the death of Mehmed II in 1481 and the Janissary riots that followed it. He is known as the author of the universal history Cosmorama or Cihan-Nümâ. Only the sixth and final parts of this work are preserved today. He probably completed it between 1487 and February 1493. ^[2]

According to the historian Paul Wittek, Neşri based his work on the early Ottoman historian work of Aşıkpaşazade, a chronological list of the mid-15th century and an anonymous chronicle of the late 15th century, amalgamating the three primary historiographical traditions which were then popular. His text became a principal source for many later historians, both Ottoman and European. ^[3]

References

Sources

• Isom-Verhaaren, Christine; Schull, Kent F. (2016). Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries. Indiana University Press. p. 66. ISBN  978-0253019486.
• Kitab-i Cihan-Nümâ, sometimes referred to as Djihan-Nümâ, partially edited and translated in Journal of the German Oriental Society. 13. Volume 1859
• NEŞRÎ - Osmanlı tarihçisi (in Turkish)
  Published in the 33rd Volume of TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi in 2007, pp.20—22, Istanbul.
• Woodhead, Christine (1995). "Neshri". In Bosworth, C. E. (ed.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 8: NED-SAM. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill. pp. 7–8. ISBN  90-04-09834-8.