Rumi, Sufism and Sultans in the Medieval ‘Lands of Rum’

A central theme here is the phenomenon of royal support, or patronage, of virtually every aspect of Mawlawi life, initially located chiefly in the central Anatolian city of Konya and gradually expanding with the growth of Rumi’s organization throughout Anatolia and elsewhere in the Central Middle East. And at the heart of Mawlawi institutional growth lies the ongoing posthumous influence of Rumi himself, as mystic, poet, and spiritual guide whose charism lived on in his descendants. Centers on the “first epoch,” in which Rumi’s family settles in Konya, the life of Rumi and the next two generations of the Family Rumi, and Aflaki’s monumental hagiography. As for the second epoch: to appreciate the rationale, sources and impact of the three illustrated Ottoman manuscripts at the heart of this study, I suggest the broad outlines of the nascent Ottoman dynasty’s early fourteenth century rise to power across Anatolia, and the late sixteenth century setting for the imperial patronage that made our three manuscripts possible. [163]