Biography
Mu‘in al-Din Natanzi lived at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries; the dates of his birth and death are unknown. His name points to an origin in Natanz, a town near Isfahan in present-day Iran.
Little is known about him. The poet and biographer Dawlatshah Samarqandi reports that Natanzi was a man of letters at the court of Iskandar, a grandson of Timur, in Shiraz, where he moved in the same circle as poets such as Haydar Khwarazmi and Hafiz Khwarazmi.
In 1413 Natanzi began writing a world history in Persian, running from the creation to 1405, the year of Timur’s death, and dedicated it to Iskandar. A year later Iskandar was removed from power by Shahrukh, the Timurid ruler, and the author had to revise the text and strike out the praise of his former patron.
Natanzi presented the revised version to Shahrukh in Herat on 7 October 1414 (22 Rajab 817 AH), and he lived in Herat after 1414. Nothing reliable survives about his later life or about when and where he died.
The work, titled “Muntakhab al-tavarikh-i Mu‘ini”, survives in two versions. The unrevised one was long thought to be anonymous and known as the “Anonymous of Iskandar”, until in 1929 V. V. Barthold showed that it was another version of the manuscript preserved in Paris. A critical edition of the text was prepared by the French historian Jean Aubin (Tehran, 1957).
Career
- Court of Mirza Iskandar in ShirazCourt man of letters
Life path
- Late 14th centuryOrigins
Born in Natanz near Isfahan; the exact dates of his life are unknown.
- Early 15th centuryAt Iskandar’s court
According to Dawlatshah Samarqandi, lived in Shiraz as a man of letters at the court of Iskandar, a grandson of Timur.
- 1413Start of the work
Began a world history in Persian and dedicated it to Iskandar.
- 1414Change of ruler
After Iskandar was deposed by Shahrukh, revised the text and removed the praise of his former patron.
- 1414Herat
On 7 October presented the revised work to Shahrukh in Herat; lived in Herat afterwards.
Works
- “Muntakhab al-tavarikh-i Mu‘ini” (“Mu‘ini’s Selected Histories”)Historical work
Written in 1413–1414; a world history in Persian from the creation to the death of Timur; it contains detailed descriptions of warfare.
- First version — the “Anonymous of Iskandar” (1413)Version of the work
The version dedicated to Iskandar, in which the author does not name himself; Barthold linked its manuscript to Natanzi’s work in 1929.
- Second version, presented to Shahrukh (1414)Version of the work
The revised text without the praise of Iskandar; the manuscript is kept in the National Library of France.
Legacy
“Muntakhab al-tavarikh-i Mu‘ini” remains one of the main sources for the history of Iran and Central Asia in the Mongol and Timurid periods. The work is valued for being contemporary with the events it describes and for its detail on warfare. Manuscripts are kept in libraries in Britain, France, Russia and Iran, and extracts have been translated into French, Russian, Uzbek and other languages. In several places the author comments on events from a Shi‘i point of view, which is taken as a sign of his allegiance to that branch of Islam.
Era: The Timurid era, late 14th – first half of the 15th century- Death of Timur, the end point of the narrative (1405)
- Start of work on the history (1413)
- Iskandar deposed by Shahrukh; the revised work presented in Herat (1414)
- Barthold shows the “Anonymous of Iskandar” to be a version of Natanzi’s work (1929)
- Jean Aubin’s critical edition, Tehran (1957)