A sixteenth century intellectual and statesman: Kemalpaşazade

• Published in: Tarih araştırmaları dergisi Vol. 39; no. 67; pp. 215 - 235
• Main Author: Sezer,Hatice
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ankara Üniversitesi 01-01-2020
• Subjects: Tarih; Ankara; Türkiye; statesman; state ideology; devlet ideolojisi; Kemalpaşazade; devlet adamı; intellectual; tevarih; entelektüel
• ISSN: 1015-1826

Kemalpaşazade is one of the most influential intellectuals of the sixteenth
century. He is both a religious scholar and a prominent state official. In this study,
the main goal is to detect the ways Kemalpaşazade’s status as a statesman affected
his intellectual disposition. In order to understand this, at the beginning, the study
covers both a biography of Kemalpaşazade illustrating the upbringing of the
statesman, and an analysis of the sixteenth century medrese education system
displaying the characteristics of religious scholarly atmosphere. Later on, an analysis
of Kemalpaşazade’s narration in his Tevarih-i Ali Osman in comparison with the
history of Aşıkpaşazade who was not a statesman will be made to display the extent
Kemalpaşazade had written in support of the state authority. In the last part so as to
understand whether he supported the state ideology, some among his fatwas and the
factors underlying the emergence of these fatwas will be the main subjects under
consideration.