O FORTIFIKACIJSKIM OBJEKTIMA U ZAPISIMA HRONIKE OSAM RAJEVA IDRISA BIDLISIJA S POČETKA 16. STOLJEĆA
ON THE FORTIFICATION OBJECTS AS DESCRIBED IN THE CHRONICLE THE EIGHT PARADISES BY IDRIS BIDLISI DATING FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: In this research, we selected records from the Hasht bihesht chronicle (The Eight Paradises) in Persian by Idrīs Bidlīsī (d. 1520) that relate to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the conquest of fortresses and civil urban settlements, as well as those relating to approaches to these fortifications and methods of conquering difficult fortifications. Particularly interesting are the intelligence activities that the Ottomans regularly resorted to in the conquest of the described fortresses during the reigns of Mehmed II Fatih (1432-1481) and Bayezid II (1481-1512) in the territory of the Sanjak of Bosnia and Sanjak Herzegovina. Bidlīsī used numerous sources available at the time, emphasizing that he used verified and respected sources. As for the narrative about the conquest of Bosnia that he used as a source, we single out the chronicles of Aşikpaşazâde (d. 899/1484), Tursun Bey (d. 896/1491), Oruç (d. 908/1503) and Neşrî (d. 926 /1520) and the anonymous history Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osman, as well as other minor works in simple language. His sources are also gazāvatnāmes (reports of battles) and participants of events as oral sources such as Iskender Pasha (d. 1506), three times governor in Bosnia. His accounts of the conquest of Bosnia differ in that the focus is on the difficulty of the conquest and the inaccessibility of the terrain, which compared to other chroniclers was much more detailed and dramatic due to the literary emphasis. This kind of research from the perspective of the analasys of the literary written records opens the door to unexplored multidimensional perspectives of ‘Ottoman chronicles’ and their pragmatic and cultural dimensions. The information that the chronicler obtained in connection with combat activities about factors that facilitated the conquest of a given place (weakness in fortifications, lack of personnel, supply of crews, epidemics, conspiration with soldiers) reflected the course and goal of military activities. This kind of information was carefully collected by the people in charge of it through a branched and apparently well-developed network. From the records it can be seen that the physical aspect of the struggle to conquer the fortifications was preceded by a long series of activities such as the collection of intelligence data from informants, spies and other unnamed sources, as the author points out in the conquest of the Jajce, Ključ, and Zvečaj fortresses. The chronicle indirectly describes the ‘daily conquest’ of fortresses and regions in Herzegovina, which were surrendered, which is confirmed by other sources such as defters. In defters we find the names of the crew and the names of the fortresses which were surrendered, such as Hum, Travnik, Tođevac, Novi and others. These methods of conquest were undertaken by the Ottoman army with the aim of facilitating the physical conquest and minimizing losses, as well as avoiding the destruction of the objects that were conquered. The chronicle is a valuable source of information with subtle references in which different layers of interpretation can be detected. In this sense, as a narrative source, it has a significant advantage over more factual archival sources, as it enables visualization and multi-layered interpretations.

• Details
• Contents