Add MS 7901

This volume contains a work on horses and their treatment by Şeyh Mehmet, also known as Kazızade. The son of Kadı Mustafa Efendi of Balıkesir, Şeyh Mehmet settled in İstanbul, where he became celebrated as a learned divine and eloquent preacher, and caused a great stir by his virulent attacks upon the religious orders. He was appointed Hatıp of Selimiye Camii in 1032 AH (1622-23 CE) and was transferred in the same capacity to Aya Sofya in 1041 AH (1631-32 CE). Having accompanied Sultan Murat IV in the campaign of Yerevan (1044 AH/1634-35 CE), he fell ill in Konya and returned to the capital, where he died on 26 Rebiülahir 1045 AH (9 October 1635 CE).

In the preface to the present work, the author says that among the many sciences to which he appied himself from childhood to old age was the ilm-i feraset, or science of horsemanship. He had gained some experience of good and bad horses, and had perused a number of beytarnameler, or treatises of veterinary art. Having heard that the reigning Sultan, Osman Han İbn-i Ahmet Han (Osman II, 1027-31 AH/1618-22 CE), who had first adopted the mahlas Farisi, was a matchless horseman, he composed the present treatise as an offering to His Majesty.

The contents of the text are as follows: Mukaddime on the value and importance of the horse (f 6r); Bab I, Verses of the Qur'an and Ahadith relating to horses and their excellence (f 11v); Bab II, Signs of good and bad horses (f 33r); Bab III, On the management of horses and the care due to them (f 47v); Bab IV, On the teeth of horses and their age (f 44r); Hatime, On the useful property of the various parts of the horse (f 45r).

The manuscript was likely copied in the 18th century CE.