Musul’da Yerel Bir Tarihçi: Yâsîn Ömerî (1745-1820) ve Târîh-i Âsâru’l-Celiyye fî Havâdisi’l-Ardiyye Başlıklı Eseri

This study is about a local chronicler in Ottoman Mosul, Yasin al-Omarî (1745-1820) and his chronicle Târîh-i Âsâru’l-Jaliyya fî Havâdisi’l-Ardiyya. Yâsîn Omarî belonged to the notable Omarî family and wrote 17 books, most of them dedicated to various notables of Mosul. The manuscript copy in Millet Manuscript Library is used in this study and it is in much better condition than that of the British Library and encompasses a longer period. Supported by Ottoman archival documents, this study presents the manuscript and then focuses on the last period of the chronicle which deals with the events that took place during the lifetime of the chronicler. As in many chronicles, natural events such as floods, earthquakes, droughts, famines, lunar/solar eclipses, epidemic diseases and extraordinary events are included in this chronicle as well. The most important event mentioned in the work is Nadir Shah’s siege of Mosul in 1743. The author also included the disagreements and conflicts between the rulers, city notables and Janissaries in Mosul during the Jalili period; however, he did not present them in a cause-effect relationship and preferred praise over criticism. The works written by the author and other members of his extended family prove that contrary to what was claimed, the intellectual life in Ottoman Mosul in the second half of the 18^th century was not inert and static.