Ibn Bibi was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

historiographer and the author of the primary source for the history of the

Seljuq Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = ...

during the 13th century. He served as head of the chancellery of the Sultanate in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

and reported on contemporary events. His best known book is ''

Selçukname ''Selçukname'' is an informal term used for any of a number of medieval chronicles about Seljuk history written by different authors, mostly in Persian. It is also used for the 15th century Ottoman chronicle '' Tevârih-i Âl-i Selçuk'' (''Hi ...

''.

Life

Ibn Bibi’s father, a native of

Gorgan Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...

, lived for a time at the court of the Jalal al-Din Kwarezmshah and later worked at the Seljuq chancellery. His mother was a famous astrologer from Nishapur invited to Konya by

Kayqubad I Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād ibn Kaykhusraw ( fa, علاء الدين كيقباد بن كيخسرو; tr, I. Alâeddin Keykûbad, 1190–1237), also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the ...

. The family was part of an exodus of Persian intellectuals from

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

-dominated

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

el-Evâmirü'l-Alâiyye fi'l-umûri'l-Alâiyye

Ibn Bibi’s memoir is written in

and covers the period between 1192 and 1280.H. Crane, ''Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia'', Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 36, No. 1, 1993:2. A single manuscript, produced for

Kaykhusraw III Kaykhusraw III ( 1ca, كَیخُسرو سوم) or Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kaykhusraw bin Qilij Arslān ( fa, غياث الدين كيخسرو بن قلج ارسلان; – 1284) was between two and six years old when in 1265 he was named Seljuq Su ...

, survives in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

(Aya Sofya 2985). An abridged Persian version called ''Mukhtaṣar'' was produced during the author's lifetime in 1284-85. An Ottoman Turkish adaptation, sometimes called the ''Seljukname'', is included in the ''Oğuzname'' of the early 15th century court historian Yazicioğlu Ali. Several manuscripts of the latter survive in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. H.W. Duda supplies the definitive text with a German translation in his ''Die Seltschukengeschichte des Ibn Bībī'' (Copenhagen 1959). ''A facsimile of Aya Sofya 2985'' with an introduction by A.S. Erzi is published as '' El-Evāmirü'l-'Alā'iyye fī'l-Umuri'l-'Ala'iyye,'' Türk Tarih Kurumu Publications I, Serial No: 4a (Ankara, 1957).

References

Sources

*H.W. Duda, “Ibn Bībī” ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', ed. by P. Bearman, et al. (Brill 2007). *Andrew S. Ehrenkreutz, “Ibn Bībī” ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (Oxford University Press 1991), v. 2, p. 973. Historians from the Sultanate of Rum 13th-century Iranian historians People from Nishapur 13th-century Persian-language writers People from Gorgan {{iran-writer-stub