The Manzikert Campaign from an Ottoman Perspective

Abstract

This study analyses the battle of Manzikert, which marked the beginning of a new period, through the- asyet unpublished manuscript of the sixteenth-century Ottoman historian, Ahmed ibn Mahmud. Since it has little fresh to add to what we know from earlier texts, its value lies in the handling of his material. Though it is modelled on the account of the Arab writer Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, there are numerous rearrangements and deliberate omissions. All these elements serve to meet Ahmed’s compositional goal which should be seen through the prism of Alp Arslan’s devoted faith to God that decided his victory at Manzikert.