Abstract:

In this article, fifteen medallion-ornamented manuscripts prepared for the library of Murad III, who was known for his interest in books and illustrated manuscripts, were examined. While Murad III was the sanjak chief in Manisa, many books were presented to him and after his accession to the throne, he encouraged the preparation of books with illustrations whether written originally in Ottoman-Turkish or translated from other languages. The expressions such as ‘hizâne, bi-resm, liresm ' were used within the medallion-ornament in the manuscripts presented to the sultan, who had a library full of illustrated books. The medallion-ornamented manuscripts mentioned in the article belong to many different fields such as history, geography, hadith, sirah, astrology, ethics, sufism and fine arts. While ten of the books in question are illustrated, there are no illustrations in five of them. Unlike the others, Mehmed Suûdî's work called Metâli‘ü’s-Sa‘âde was prepared for the sultan's daughters Fatima and Ayşe Sultan. All of the works, except Ibretname by Lâmiî Çelebi, either were written or were translated during the reign of Murad III. It is known that Seyyid Lokman, Muhyî-i Gülşenî, Mehmed Suûdî and Cenâbî Mustafa received a certain amount of grants after having presented their works to the sultan. This shows that the medallion-ornament is used not only for the library but also for the patronage tradition. The fact that most of the medallion-ornamented books are in Turkish is an indication of the importance that the sultan gave to Turkish language. In the article, it is claimed that medallion-ornament in manuscripts was used for different purposes and the medallion-ornamented manuscripts in the sultan's library were listed along with the notes on Murad's library and the works with medallions. The images of the medallions and the Turkish translations of the texts within the medallions are also included.

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