Cevat Sucu THE MARVELOUS SCIENCES IN ‘ACEBÜ’L-‘UCCĀB: DISSEMINATING AND REFRAMING OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE FOR THE OTTOMAN AUDIENCE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY MA Thesis in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Central European University Budapest June 2020 CEU eTD Collection THE MARVELOUS SCIENCES IN ‘ACEBÜ’L-‘UCCĀB: DISSEMINATING AND REFRAMING OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE FOR THE OTTOMAN AUDIENCE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY by Cevat Sucu Turkey Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor CEU eTD Collection ____________________________________________ Examiner THE MARVELOUS SCIENCES IN ‘ACEBÜ’L-‘UCCĀB: DISSEMINATING AND REFRAMING OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE FOR THE OTTOMAN AUDIENCE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY by Cevat Sucu Turkey Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection THE MARVELOUS SCIENCES IN ‘ACEBÜ’L-‘UCCĀB: DISSEMINATING AND REFRAMING OF OCCULT KNOWLEDGE FOR THE OTTOMAN AUDIENCE IN THE EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY by Cevat Sucu Turkey Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection I, the undersigned, Cevat Sucu, candidate for the MA degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person‘s or institution‘s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 03 June 2020 _____________________ _____ Cevat Sucu CEU eTD Collection Abstract This study discusses the work entitled ‘Acebü’l-‘Uccāb (lit. The Most Marvelous among Marvelous Things) written in 1438 by Mahmud bin Kadı Manyas, also known as Manyasoğlu, contextualizing it in the lettrist trends of the Islamic world and Ottoman literary politics of the early fifteenth century. At this time, Ottoman intellectuals translated works from Arabic and Persian, commenting on, excerpting, and rearranging them to instruct Turkophone readers in various sciences and transmit the knowledge from the wider Islamic world. This period also coincided with the dissemination of lettrist practices, as well as proliferation of messianic ideas and movements with different political agendas. The courts, including Ottoman, sponsored occultist cosmopolitan intellectuals who viewed lettrism as a ―queen science‖ of the impending messianic age. It is against this background that the thesis approaches Manyasoğlu‘s work that was compiled and presented to Ottoman sultan Murad II in 1438. The thesis argues that ‘Acebü’l-‘Uccāb differs from contemporary lettrist and occultist works because it largely disregards millennialist, messianic, gnostic and Sufi perspectives, and focuses more on the experimental and replicable nature of the occult practices than a mystical chain of transmission. Moreover, it strives to activate occult properties for the practitioner‘s benefit rather than solve the theoretical problems of the cosmos. By juxtaposing it to the contemporary ―cosmopolitan‖ occult works, the thesis argues that this lettrist text reflected Manyasoğlu‘s vernacular authorial strategies not only in terms of language but practice of the occult as well. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements During the completion of my thesis I received support from many friends, colleagues and professors. First of all, I want to thank my supervisor, Tijana Krstić, who provided me with fruitful suggestions and corrections throughout the thesis writing process. She helped me to develop my arguments and motivated me whenever I needed support. Beyond these, in the last couple of years, she set an example of a great scholar and personality for me. I appreciate Günhan Börekçi‘s endless academic and personal support. He contributed to my research by asking new contextual questions. I feel lucky since I took several courses from him and benefited from his views. I am indebted to Tunç Şen, who introduced me Manyasoğlu‘s ‗Acebu’l-‘Uccāb, and suggested me to study it. He is also the external reader of this study, and this thesis is completed with his insightful comments and benevolent helps. I am grateful to Brett Wilson for his comments, who demonstrated the missing points in the structure and argumentation of the text. I also thank Grigor Boykov, who was the moderator of my thesis defence. Besides these names, I thank Johanna Tòth and Zsòfia Göde, for their helps regarding the procedure and organization of the thesis process. I appreciate the support of my friends and colleagues in CEU. I thank Flora Ghazaryan for her never-ending support, and incredible friendship. I am grateful to have Cankat Kaplan, Serkan Simen and Samuel Huckleberry as the academic peers and close friends. I also thank in a similar manner Burak Yazıcı, Muhammet Mazı, Nikola Pantić, Ivona Vargek, Mehmet Yavuz, Müberra Kapusuz and Doğan Karakelle. I also appreciate the CEU eTD Collection accompany of Teodora Miljojković, Sofiia Kostomarova, Antonia Cioancă, Iskander Rocha Parker, Oana Avram and Elif Kaplan. I am also grateful to my dearest friends Ahmet Barış Ekiz and Mustafa Altuğ Yayla, with who I had constant conversations and lively discussions about Ottoman history and ii literature. I am indebted to my dearest friends Murat Ertaş, Cengiz Dikme, Celal Aslan, Umut Çelik and Emrah Tezer. I thank Samet Budak for his willingness to help me with gathering manuscripts and involving in discussions concerning fifteenth-century Ottoman world. I must also thank my elder brother from Daçka, Şerif Pora. I need to utter my appreciation to Ertuğrul Ökten and Noah Gardiner. Ertuğrul Ökten has always been supportive, and thanks to him I had an opportunity to take feedbacks in the early stages of my research. Noah Gardiner patiently and kindly replied to my questions regarding the lettrism in the Islamic world and Būnīan works. Lastly, I thank my family, my mother Nurhayat Sucu and grandmother Şemsi Tekin along with my lovely ―friends‖ Erikli and Kozulce families. Even though there were many obstacles, they have never tried to convince me to start another occupation, and always supported me. CEU eTD Collection iii To my mother, Nurhayat Sucu CEU eTD Collection iv Table of contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Research Framework & Argument ........................................................................................ 1 The Structure and Content of ‘Acebü’l-‘Uccāb ..................................................................... 5 Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 7 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1 - The Vernacular Authorship and Dissemination of Knowledge in the Early Fifteenth Century Ottoman World ...................................................................................... 13 The Vernacular and Court-Centered Book Culture ............................................................. 14 The Vernacular Authorship and Manyasoğlu ...................................................................... 25 Chapter 2 - Lettrism and Occult Sciences in the Early Fifteenth-Century Islamic World and the Ottoman Court: Cosmopolitan Intellectuals and ‘Acebü’l-‘Uccāb ..................... 30 Post-Esotericism and the Ottoman Court: The Cosmopolitan Synthesizers ........................ 31 Manyasoğlu and the Cosmopolitan Intellectuals ................................................................. 36 Lettrist and Occultist Cosmopolitan Intellectuals in the Islamic World .............................. 38 Ḥurūfiyya Movement in the Ottoman Court ........................................................................ 46 Chapter 3 - Reframing the Occult Knowledge .................................................................... 52 The Sciences of the Learned: The Occult Knowledge in ‘Acebü’l-‘Uccāb ......................... 53 The Absence of Gnosticism ................................................................................................