Military Command and Imperial Knowledge in the Anonymous Chronicle <i>Tevārīḫ-i Futuḥ-i Şirvān</i>

Abstract This article examines MS Török O. 176 from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Vambery Collection, Tevārīḫ-i Futuḥ-i Şirvan , an anonymously authored manuscript of the Ottoman campaign in the Caucasus in 1578. The text under study emphasizes the importance of leadership and memorializes the commanders of the campaign, showing how an Ottoman author presented proper military leadership, with an emphasis on rigid adherence to authority. The factional context of the chronicle also is analyzed, as the author indirectly criticizes the campaign leaders’ rivals. Finally, consideration is given to the reason the text was copied in 1722–23, at a time when the Ottoman Empire was competing with Russia in the Caucasus shortly after the collapse of the Safavid dynasty.