Narratives of Kingship in Eurasian Empires, 1300-1800

288 Pages·2017·2.81 MB·English

by  Richard van Leeuwen

NarrativesofKingshipinEurasianEmpires,1300–1800
Rulers & Elites
SeriesEditor
JeroenDuindam(LeidenUniversity)
EditorialBoard
MaaikevanBerkel(RadboudUniversityNijmegen)
YingcongDai(WilliamPatersonUniversity)
Jean-PascalDaloz(UniversityofStrasbourg)
JosGommans(LeidenUniversity)
JérômeKerlouégan(UniversityofOxford)
DariuszKolodziejczyk(WarsawUniversity)
MetinKunt(SabanciUniversity)
volume 11
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/rule
Narratives of Kingship
in Eurasian Empires, 1300–1800
By
RichardvanLeeuwen
leiden | boston
Thisisanopenaccesstitledistributedunderthetermsofthecc-by-nc-ndLicense,which
permitsanynon-commercialuse,anddistribution,providednoalterationsaremadeand
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Coverillustration:JahangirpreferringaSufishaikhtokingsfromtheSt.PetersburgAlbum,byBichitr,1615–
1618.CourtesyoftheFreerGalleryofArtandArthurM.SacklerGallery,SmithsonianInstitution,
Washington,d.c.:Purchase–CharlesLangFreerEndowment,f1942.15a.
TheLibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailableonlineathttp://catalog.loc.gov
LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2017028405
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issn2211-4610
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Copyright2017byRichardvanLeeuwen.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
ListofFigures viii
Introduction 1
TheThousandandOneNightsandProcessesofTransmission 6
SourceMaterial 11
1 Kings,Viziers,Concubines 24
TheCycleofthe‘SevenViziers’/‘SevenSagesofRome’andIts
Cognates 25
Variations:TheStoryof‘JaliʾadofHindandHisVizierShimas’ 34
KingWu’sExpeditionagainstZhouandProclaimingHarmony 38
ConcludingRemarks 48
2 Gods,Demons,andKings 52
ThePrinceandtheDemonsofEvil:TheLegendaryVikramaditya 53
TheThirty-TwoStepsoftheThrone 54
Harunal-Rashid,VizierJaʾfar,andtheJinns 61
Harunal-RashidandtheDiscourseofPower 68
FightingtheEvilSpirit:CreationoftheGods 71
ConcludingRemarks 76
3 DivineInsights,CosmicHarmony 78
TheCycleofthe‘QueenoftheSerpents’ 79
KingandCosmos:TheSorcerer’sRevolt 88
JanPotocki’sManuscritTrouvéàSaragosse 98
ConcludingRemarks 107
4 TheKnightandtheKing 109
TirantloBlanc:TheIdealKnight 113
TheHarbingeroftheFaith:AmirHamza 121
TheEmperorandtheBarbarians:TheExploitsofYueFei 133
HangTuah,theMalayHero 141
The‘Foreign’Sultan:Al-ZahirBaybars 147
TheMuslimsagainsttheByzantines:SayyidBattal 155
ConcludingRemarks 159
vi contents
5 KingshipandLove 163
ThePrinceandtheMysteriesofLove 167
TheEnchantmentofLove:EuropeanFantasiesofKingshipand
Love 182
ConcludingRemarks 196
6 UnrequestedAdvice 198
TheFrustratedOfficial:MustafaAliofGallipoli 201
AgainsttheOldOrder:HuangZongxiandHungSheng 210
EuropeanandOrientalDespots:MontesquieuandDiderot 215
AModernMirror-for-Princes:ChristophMartinWieland’sDer
GoldeneSpiegel 232
TheOfficialandHisEmpress:AlexanderRadischevand
Catherineii 239
ConcludingRemarks 250
Conclusion 253
Bibliography 261
Index 268
Acknowledgements
The research for this book was part of the research programme ‘Eurasian
Empires’ funded by the Dutch research organization n.w.o. and conducted
at Leiden University, the University of Amsterdam and Radboud University
Nijmegen.Iamgratefultothedirectorsof theprogramme,JeroenDuindam,
PeterRietbergen,JosGommansandMaaikevanBerkelforinvitingmetojoin
theresearchteamandprovidingmewiththeopportunitytodelveintoafas-
cinating and important field of study. Together with the PhD and Post-Doc
studentsBarendNoordam,LennartBes,WillemFlinterman,KimRagetli,Lies-
bethGeevers,HansVoeten,andCumhurBekartheycreatedastimulatingand
agreeable scholarly environment, ensuring a critical and inspiring exchange
ofideas.Myspecialthanksgotoallparticipantsfortheirquestionsandcom-
mentsonthetextpresentedhere;toBarendNoordamforhelpingmewiththe
transliterationofChinesenames;toKateDelaneyforcopy-editingthetext;to
DavidClaszenforfinalizingtheformatandcompilingtheindex;andtoJoost
vanSchendelforhelpingtofindandselecttheillustrations.Needlesstosay,all
remainingdeficienciesandmistakesareentirelymyown.
The research overlapped with my contribution to the programme ‘Early
modernencounterswiththeOrient’,financedbyheraanddirectedbyCharles
Burnett(UniversityofLondon)andJanLoop(UniversityofKent).Theykindly
providedthefundingfortheonlinepublicationofthetext.
List of Figures
1 Princeandastrologers,ascribedtoBasavana.India,Mughaldynasty,
circa1585–1590,Muséedesartsasiatiques-Guimet,Pariseo3577a. 18
2 Mountedofficial,byZhaoMengfu.Dated1296,PalaceMuseum,Beijing. 44
3 Chinesepantheon,fromAthanasiusKircher,Chinamonumentis(Amsterdam,
1667). 66
4 EmissariesbringnewsfromtheprovincesofKhaybarandChintoAnusherwan,
fromtheHamzanama,16thcentury,byMirSayyidAli.Courtesyofthemak—
AustrianMuseumofAppliedArts/ContemporaryArts,bi8770–8772.
Photograph:mak/GeorgMayer. 92
5 YueFei’smothertattooingYueFei,18thcenturypaintingfromtheLong
CorridorattheBeijingSummerPalace.PhotocourtesyofWikipedia,
Shizhao. 114
6 DiderotandCatherineii,19thcenturyengravingbyAlphonseMariede
Neuville,fromFrançoisGuizot,APopularHistoryofFrancefromtheEarliest
Times.Volume6,321. 139
7 SultanBayazidbeforeTimur,foliofromanAkbarnama(HistoryofAkbar).
PaintingbyDharamDas,ca.1600.CourtesyoftheMetropolitanMuseumof
Art,RogersFund,1935. 157
8 EmperorHuizong,ListeningtotheQin,byZhaoJi.Ca.11thcentury,Palace
MuseumBeijing. 175
9 TheEmperorofChinaploughingthefirstfurrow,byChristianBernhardtRode,
ca.1773.CourtesyofGemäldegalerie,StaatlicheMuseenzuBerlin,Preußischer
Kulturbesitz,photo:JörgP.Anders. 202
10 PortuguesemapofMalacca,fromManueldeFariaeSousa,AsiaPortuguesa.
Volume1(Lisbon,1666)148. 226