Basgil, Ali Fuat

ba^gil, ali fuat 69 in Michael Winter and Amalia Levanoni, The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian politics and society (Leiden 2004), 59–76; Leo A. Mayer, Saracenic heraldry (Oxford 1933), 103; William Popper, History of Egypt, 1382–1469 A.D., translated from the Arabic annals of Abu l-Ma asin ibn Taghrî Birdî, Part 1, 1382–1399 A.D., Berkeley 1954; William Popper, Egypt and Syria under the Circassian sultans, 1382–1468 A.D. Systematic notes to Ibn Taghrî Birdî’s chronicles of Egypt (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1955), 91; Jo Van Steenbergen, Order out of chaos. Patronage, conflict and Mamluk socio-political culture, 1341–1382, Leiden 2006. Warren C. Schultz Ba gil, Ali Fuat Ali Fuat Ba gil (1893–1967), a Turkish intellectual, jurist, and politician, was born in Çar amba, Samsun. He was related to the notable family of Bölükba ıoğulları. After completing his primary schooling in Çar amba, he began his secondary education in Istanbul, but his studies were interrupted by military service in 1914. Ba gil later resumed his secondary schooling in Paris, studied law at the University of Grenoble, and obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Paris, with a thesis about the “Straits Question.” After further studies at the Institute of Political Science (Institut d’Études politiques) and the Faculty of Letters, both in Paris, as well as The Hague Academy of International Law, he returned to Turkey in 1929. Ba gil began his career in the Turkish Ministry of Education, as assistant director-general of higher education (1929). Subsequently, he served as professor of Roman law, Ankara University (1931); professor of constitutional law at the newly founded Istanbul University (1933); director of the Istanbul Higher School of Economics and Commerce (İstanbul Yüksek İktisat ve Ticaret Mektebi, 1937); and dean of the faculty of law, Istanbul University (1938–42 and 1943–61). He prepared the Constitution of Hatay and was legal adviser to the Turkish delegation at the League of Nations commission that convened in Geneva to discuss Hatay’s independence (1937). In 1947, Ba gil founded the Society for the Dissemination of Free Ideas (Hürr Fikirleri Yayma Cemiyeti). During the purges following the coup of 1960, he was expelled from Istanbul University; despite being recalled, he retired on 10 April 1961. A few months later, in October 1961, Ba gil was elected senator, as an independent candidate of the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi). He also became a candidate for the presidency of the Republic; however, he was forced to withdraw by pro-junta circles, and he resigned his senatorial post. Ba gil then went to Switzerland, where he received an appointment as chair of Turkish History and Language at the University of Geneva (1962). In Turkey’s 1965 elections, he re-entered parliament as MP for the Justice Party, and he later headed the Constitutional Commission (Anayasa Komisyonu). He died on 17 April 1967, in Istanbul. Ba gil advocated that the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İ leri Reisliği) should have administrative and financial autonomy, as well as control of the Directorate General of Pious Foundations (Vakıflar Umum Müdürlüğü) and its revenues. He failed in this aim, and his efforts put him at odds with the Republic of Turkey’s secular establishment. Ali Fuat Ba gil’s major works include Gençlerle Ba ba a (Istanbul 1949), Din ve Laiklik (Istanbul 1954), and La révolution bqysunghur b. shqh rukh, ghiyqth al-d{n 70 militaire de 1960 en Turquie (Ses origines) (Geneva 1963). Bibliography A. Selçuk Özçelik, Ba gil, Ali Fuat, TDVIA 5:128–30; Ali Fuat Ba gil, Din ve laiklik, Istanbul 20038; Ali Fuat Ba gil, Gençlerle ba ba a, Istanbul 200958; Ali Fuat Ba gil, La révolution militaire de 1960 en Turquie (Ses origines), Geneva 1963; Ali Fuat Ba gil, Türkçe meselesi, Istanbul 20073. Ali Suat Ürgüplü Bāysunghur b. Shāh Rukh, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Ghiyāth al-Dīn Bāysunghur Mīrzā b. Shāh Rukh (799–837/1397–1433) was a Tīmūrid prince famous for his cultural patronage. He was born on 21 Dhū l- ijja 799/15 September 1397 to Shāh Rukh and his powerful wife Gawharshād. As a younger son, he was probably raised at his parents’ court, and they seem to have favoured him for succession. Like his brothers, Bāysunghur held military and administrative responsibilities from a young age. In early 818/1415 he was given the governorship and income of Astarābād and western Khurāsān, and in 819/1416–17 Shāh Rukh appointed him to supervise the dīwān-i a lā (main chancellery), with the particular assignment of dislodging the tyrannical vizier, Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 830/1417). This was a post of significant responsibility, which he retained until his death (Manz, 87, 91–2). Bāysunghur had his own dīwān and army, led the troops of his province, and held high command on Shāh Rukh’s campaigns. He lived largely in Herat, in the Bāgh-i afā palace, visiting his province for a few weeks each year to hunt. During his later years Bāysunghur’s health declined (Fa ī Khwāfī, 261–2, 266), probably because of the alcoholism that would cause his death (7 Jumādā I 837/20 December 1433). He was buried in the mausoleum built by Gawharshād, and his eldest son, Alā alDawla, inherited his governorship and his dīwān position. After Shāh Rukh’s death in 1447, Alā al-Dawla contested power over Iran with his brothers Sul ān Mu ammad and Abū l-Qāsim Bābur, in a struggle that destroyed all three. Bāysunghur’s achievements fit into the culture of princely patronage that began under Shāh Rukh and was known as the Tīmūrid renaissance. This was a period of refinement and systematisation in literature, historiography, and the arts, incorporating the Chinese and Central Asian influences of the Mongol period. Bāysunghur is remembered as a patron of the arts of the book and founder of a school of painting and calligraphy in Herat, which built on the earlier styles of Tabriz and Shiraz. After Shāh Rukh’s conquest of Fars and Azerbaijan, several artists from these centres entered Bāysunghur’s employ. From about 830/mid-1420s, Bāysunghur oversaw the Herat scriptorium (kitāb-khāna), where calligraphers, illuminators, painters, and bookbinders produced superlative works. The Shāhnāma, which was copied by the famous Ja far Tabrīzī (or Bāysunghurī) in 833/1430, was based on several manuscripts and contained an introduction commissioned by the prince; this remained the standard edition until the late twentieth century. It was a popularisation rather than a critical edition, and the text includes numerous accretions (Khaleghi Motlagh). In poetry and calligraphy, Bāysunghur was both patron and practitioner. Although his taste and his remarks are