The Hünername as a Mirror for Princes and as an Image-Making Project

The H & uuml;nername can be considered within the context of illustrated official histories that became popular since the establishment of the post of the & scedil;ehnameci (shahnama writer) in the middle of the sixteenth century. However, it stands apart from those works composed in Persian following the meter of the famed Shahnama of Firdawsi (d. 1020-26). Instead, the H & uuml;nername is composed in Turkish and does not follow a strict chronological progression but is organized thematically. The paper argues that the four-volume project had a double function. That is to say, the H & uuml;nername functioned both as a "mirror for princes" in the guise of history and as a means of establishing imperial legitimacy through highlighting immediate dynastic lineage, linking the reclusive Murad III (r. 1574-1595) to his immediate forebears, in a period that resonated with millennial anxieties, a sense of disorder, and a perceived need for reform. This article focuses on the second volume in particular but situates it in the larger context of the four-volume project.