A study on civil documentation sources in the Safavid era

Introduction

Documentology is essential in the recognition of documents and the components therein, that is the internal elements like the content elements and external elements like handwriting and paper to verify their authenticity and validity. The available studies indicate that in 17^th-century Europe, knowledge of documentology was considered a scientific field, and practical books were written in this realm. According to (Hasan Abadi, 2023), there exists no book on this issue in Iran. The writings on etiquette and document preparation from the 6^th century (AH) onwards are addressed in some sources, based on Shariah clerical documentology. The Safavid period, due to the centralization of the governance and the changes of religious sects is important in terms of administrative bureaucracy. In the works of this period, this issue is addressed slightly in books by Tazkire al-Muluk, Dastoor al-Muluk, Risalah al-Aqab and Muwajib, and Mushat Soleimani. The purpose of using the term clerical documentology is to introduce sources that would assist researchers in recognizing the internal and external components of such documents as seals and titles in the Safavid period. The objective here is to assess the Safavid clerical documents through documentology with a special approach to assess the content of some treatises of Ahmad Gholam’s analects and the book of Bayazi Safavid, regarding the royal seals and their function. Questions of this article are: What is documentology and what are its different definitions? Which are the most important documentary sources of the Safavid period? and What are the information features of the newly found sources about Safavid period documentology? Next to answering these questions, the general question is what is the stance of Safavid period documentology compared to previous periods?

The adopted method here is library and documentary, to assess the information content of the subject manuscripts. The material of concern here consists of the four Tazkire al-Muluk, Dastoor al-Muluk, Risalah al-Aqab and Muwajib, and Mushat Soleimani's books and Ahmad Gholam’s and Biyazi Safavi’s analects.

Assessment of the issue background indicates that most of the sources of the Safavid period are not unknown and the essential ones like Tazkira al-Muluk, Dastur al-Muluk, Risalah al-Qab and Muwajib and Mushat Soleimani have been studied and their information aspects have been assessed in books and articles. As to the works introduced in this article, Ahmad Gholam’s and Bayazi Safavi’s analects are assessed (Mansur Sefat Gol 2004). The last years of the Safavid government introduced the important historical aspects of this work and its informational values (Safat Gol, 2013). (Ehsan Shokrallahi's 2003) assessed the analects with a literary approach where the latter’s historic manuscripts are evaluated. In this article, the details of different analects in terms of temporal and spatial identity and historical stance are of concern. Researcher (Mohammad Sadegh Mirza Abul Qasimi 2015) ran a review study on the two treatises of Ahmad Gholam’s analects, depicted by Manshat Soleimani and Manshat Malik, and copied their text. To him, these two treatises are highly informational while not different in content. The treatises discussed in this article have not been researched in terms of documentation.

The images of the Biyaz Safavi were published by Iraj Afshar in Farhang Iran Zameen magazine. Some researchers in an article assessed the letter-writing etiquette and the postage manner to foreign countries in the Safavid era, which is a valuable source in this context. This article was published simultaneously in Iran and Japan. Sefat Gol has published this book at the Institute of Advanced Asian Studies, University of Tokyo, with an introduction by Mori Moto. In a detailed introduction, he has assessed the value of information about Bayaz's analyses and has addressed it to some extent from the point of view of documentation. Researcher (Mir Mohammad Sadegh, 2023) assessed this work, which was then published by Iraj Afshar.

Documentation and definitions

The definition of documentology embodies the archival, legal, and historical aspects, thus, has no specific definition. Documentology is defined according to its general logical content regarding the internal and external governing components. Assessing documents requires correct knowledge and recognition of the different dimensions of appearance and content where the internal and external aspect’s roots and structure are analyzed. Documentology, as the science of studying documents where the process of document formation is analyzed from the prerequisites of its production ending in the originators must be of high concern for historians (Herde, 2017).

Documentology is the science of studying the external components of a document, which gives form to the external structure and its appearance. Analysis of the external components reveals the understanding of social, economic, and cultural interactions of changes. According to (Duranti: 1991), the most important external elements consist of:

- Media or carrier: The carrier means the material or the object on which the document appears like paper photo, film, video, CD, etc.

- Handwriting: Applied in written documents

- Parlance: Administrative, friendly

- Symbols: Logos, slogans and Signs

- Seal: Size, shape, color

- Line filler: Applied in documents and manuscripts

Knowing the external components in document analysis contributes to the authenticity and validation of the document before entering into the discussion of its content and provides a better understanding of the content in interaction with the document research components. This is followed by assessing the structure of a document. The science of document analysis is an essential tool in learning the documents while somehow being of less concern, and researchers at different levels, have trusted the source of documents or their keepers and archives by concentrating on the content only to meet their needs, while studies on complete knowledge of the documentation as to their customs, techniques, material, etc., is yet to be explored.

2- Sources of administrative documantology in the Safavid era

The variety of resources available in the field of administrative, finance, and especial documents, has assessed the documentation in the subject era possible. The best of such assessments belong to the Safavid era. Some of these sources are more well-known and researchers are more familiar with their informational content, and the information of some others, despite the familiarity of the content, has received less attention in the field of writing etiquette and documentation.

  Soleimani’s initiative prepared by the secretaries of the Safavid Court Secretariat at the order of King Suleiman is organized into fifteen chapters, and is considered an important work in the field of Safavid period documentation, where in chapter one the direct decrees are expressed; in chapter two the procedures of decrees, figures and rulings are of concern; in chapter three the seals are of concern and in chapter fourteen the writing of Sharia are of concern. The content analysis of the book reveals that in many of its chapters documentary information about the court system of this period assists the researchers in realizing the documents' authenticity.

According to (Ali Naghi Nasiri, 1992), the composition and transmission of specific writing structures including the title official position, the duties obligation, and the source of its supply were made according to the author's legal background, in legal affairs from the father to son, like the masters of positions and members of the office of Homayun the Great and ministers and Mustofians and masters of the pen who were the letter writers of the Supreme Court. This book contains information about the system of preparation and organization of the documents and the administrative procedures. The information in this book is important in understanding the structure of writing documents in the Safavid period and the duties of each member of the court.

One of the other documentary sources of this period is Tastar al-Muluk. Mohammad Rafi Ansari Mostofi Al Mamalek wrote the book in the name of Shah Sultan Hossein (Mirza Rafia, 2006). The scholar believes that it was probably a book like a circular, which was probably written at the beginning of the Safavid period, and continued with the same approach attributed to every King. This book is composed of five chapters, where the last chapter is a book about documentology, which provides detailed information on the clerical occupations of Homayun al-Ala's court in four extended articles containing introduction writing digits, offerings, court secretary, letter writer, and secretary of Daralansha.

Tazkira al-Muluk is one of the other important books in the bureaucracy of the Safavid period. The book was written in five chapters by Mirza Samia. He is the brother of Rostam al-Hakma's paternal great-grandfather and he authored this book for Ashraf Afghan (Danesh Paju 1968).  Researcher (Mirzasmi'a, 1999), writes about the seal holder as royal seal possessor Mohrdar Homayoun, Mohrdar Mehr Sharaf Nifaz, seal ink holder and refers to the types of documents, their settings, and archiving. In the fourth chapter, he refers to some occupations like bookkeeper, Royal bookkeeper, court security, supervisor, and head of the court. This chapter contains the most information about the administrative structure in preparation and preparation of documents.

Assessing the Dastur al-Muluk, Tazkira al-Muluk titles, salaries and status in the subject ear indicate the similarity of these books with slight differences (Danesh Pajoh 1968), in expressing the functions of occupations and the way of setting. According to Danesh Pajoh, these two books may have been written based on a common principle. As to the Safavid Kings period, the legal and governmental stance of these authors, and those involved in writing and preparing documents and information, the legal documentation is more important. This information is necessary for archivists and researchers to check the authenticity and administrative validity of document issuance.

3-New sources of Safavid period documentology

3-1: Ahmad Gholam's analects letters

Analects are one of the least known important sources of history. The content of these books is diverse and, according to the author's taste, they indicate prayers, other themes, documents, scattered invoices, and personal letters among which Ahmad Ghulam's analects is one of the most important in the Safavid period. Ahmad Ghulam, analects is about Shah Suleiman, Shah Sultan Hussein, and the treasury minister. Considering his position in the court, the author has used original documents in his book (Abdinpour and others, 2010). These analects are not unknown in the Safavid period and have been an issue of studies. The most important issue in the available studies is the assessment of the 57 endings in the book between 1652 and 1771. The reason for this amount of endings is the author's concern about the disappearance of the works and leaving traces in history. In this article, the short treatises in analects, which have received less attention, will be assessed, next to details on royal and court seals and women’s titles in the Safavid period.

3-1-1: Treatises on seal studies: There exist two treatises about Shah Suleiman Safavid seals in Ahmad Gholam's analects. Researcher (Mirza Abul Qasimi, 2015) ran a study on these two treatises and their copies and has introduced them as the most important sources for recognizing the seals of the subject period. These treatises have no introduction to the explanation of the seals but the names of the seals, Saja and Karkard are mentioned in some cases.

At the end of the treatise, he writes on two dates in 1701 during the reign of Shah Suleiman, and 1726, one week after the death of Shah Suleiman before the accession of Shah Sultan Hossein. Ahmad Gholam was asked for information about the seals, for which he prepared the requested information. This fact indicates that the author of the treatise was trusted in the court (Document number 1), though the relation between the two dates in this treatise is not clear, thus the following questions: Did he copy it exactly from the source at his disposal (probably Soleimani's origin)? If so, why does it have more information than Soleimani's original copy? and Is the additional information been added by Ahmad Gholam?

Document No. 1: Image of Seal treatise dated 1701

In the same analects, another dateless treatise with the same content, but more detailed and more complete information, dealt with the seals are read “The 12 Ashraf Aqdas Arfa seals, in accordance to the instructions of Nawab Janat Makan Aliin Ashyan vary from that of the Nawab Sikandershan, and each is authorized by the kings on selected writing". The content of both treatises is almost similar, but in the second one, more detailed information is given like the making date, and where it is used (Document number 2). The specifications of the seals are not uniform, some are detailed even with the Saja Mohr scripts, but others are just briefed.

Document No. 2: The image of the treatise on page 352

Soleimani’s writings provide important sources about the study of Safavid period seals. The blessed seals, (Menshat Soleimani, 2009) the content analysis and a comparison of the text of both treatises with Soleimani's sources reveal a similarity in content, especially in the first treatise about the seal, but the information of the second treatise about the seal mentioned in Ahmad Ghulam analects is more detailed and their paintings of some seals which do not have Soleimani's origin and are of late date. The first text corresponds to the official administrative instructions, while the second text has a scientific aspect and it is clear that an experienced person wrote it. It is possible that this treatise is written based on Soleimani's sources and the additional information of the second treatise is added to it by Ahmad Gholam. There is currently no image available for some of these seals. Examining the seals reveals that the Safavid kings used the same seal with a slight difference and sometimes made changes in its size and cut. But overall, there were major changes in the content (Mirza Abu al-Qasmi, 2013: 86-88). In some of the seals introducing Shah Suleiman in these treatises, the name of the Shah and its title is increased, and in others only the name of the seal is sufficient.

Table No. 1: Seals of Safavid Kings in the Safavid period (author's source)

3-1-2: Treatise on Titles: Another valuable issue addressed by Ahmad Gholam analects is a brief treatise on titles of women in the Safavid period, where the author of the text is Muhammad Reza bin Abdul Hossein Tusi. In his analects, he mentions that the latter’s father wrote a treatise named Titles about the customs regulations on manuscript writings where any writing about women and their tribes is not mentioned. The continuation deals with the types of letter writing between women and provides an example that is compared with the fourth chapter of Soleimani's works with the title "In the order of Ashraf’s writings and their high authority" (Genesis of Soleimani, 2009).

Document No. 3: Image of the treatise on titles

Another important instruction in the field of documentology was introduced by Ahmad Gholam in 1763 after comparing the available researchers by Soleimani. In writing genealogies, orders, rulings, figures, badges, permits and emblems for the Supreme Court are of essence (Genesis of Soleimani, 2009), (document number 4). According to these treatises, Ahmad Gholam possessed the original of copies Soleimani's writing, consequently, based on his taste, he added some parts to his analects. This phenomenon raises the question: Whether the author of Soleimani's Origins is Abdul Hossein Toosi or not? The answer could be positive if we assume that according to his father's administrative background and his wisdom, he can be considered as the author of Soleimani's Origins.

Document No. 4: Image of the treatise on writing instructions for rulings and decrees

There exist some other scattered administrative instructions in this analects, which are important in terms of assessing the administrative system of this period and court processes, referred to as the administrative instructions about the discount and its rate concerning the customhouses, fees, and tariffs payments regulated by the religion instructions, the instruction on the practices of the Supreme Court officials, the instruction on the students and city watchmen, and the instruction on the barren and ruined places.

2-3: The content of Beyaz Safavi's documentary

Another important source of the documentation of this period is Beyaz Safavi’s documentary studies of the royal office of the Iranian government during the Safavid period. This study was first published in a photographic form by Iraj Afshar in Farhang Iran Zemin magazine (Afshar, 1978). In another article titled the Biyazi Safavi the same writer deals with the etiquette of writing letters (the length, size, array, etc.) of Safavid kings to foreign Kings which is a good source in the study of foreign correspondence. That article contains 245 letters, with a summary of 163 documents, considering components like paper, arrangement, writing style, seal location, folding manner, their filing boxes or containers and sending manners, etc., between 1618 and 1751 (Afshar, 2016).

This beyaz is published by Mansoor Sefat Gol (2022) under the title of Royal Registrar’s Office of Iran Safavid Era in cooperation with the Institute of Advanced Asian Studies in Japan, where the characteristics of the etymology administrative system of this period are explained. The content of this book is compared with other contemporary sources like the Tazkire al-Muluk and Tastur al-Muluk. The text of the letters and the instructions and description of the preparation of the letters are categorized and emphasize the importance of the content of Beyaz in the foreign policy and judicial structure of this period. In discussing the documentary value of documents, he briefly mentioned the type of paper, the type of writing, the type of seal and its placement procedure, the colors and the envelope, the arrangement of the text, and the description of the arrays and sizes and gave the relevant examples.

The issue in question in this article is not the content of the letters of this treatise, but the analysis of the importance of documentology, which Afshar and Sefat Gol have briefly addressed, something with no precedence. By examining the information content of a part of this bayaz, a guideline can be obtained for describing the documents in any historical period. The information content of this biaz in the field of documentology can be summarized in the following topics based on its components.

3-2-1: Paper: The material on which the document is written is one of the important dimensions of the external components, which has been under the influence of components in naming its types.

- The relationship between paper and its fiber: One of the other important components in the examination of documents is its material, which gives it a name like silk paper, cashmere paper, jade paper, four royal paper, and hair paper. In this bayaz, papers are introduced by their quality in many varieties. In this context, simple applique, thin applique paper, ordinary paper, text-printed applique paper, simple starched applique paper, and simple cloud paper are of concern.

- Paper relationship with people: Sometimes paper was named after famous individuals Ebrahimi, Amirjafari, Jihani, Dolatshahi, Soleimani, Taheri, and Adelshahi (Afshar, 2011).

- Relationship between paper and the name of the city: the papers made in different cities had different characteristics thus their quality and type were labeled by the name of the city, like the Khanbaligh paper, firm and thick. Shami, white transparent and soft, Baghdadi, thick papers next to, Daulatabadi paper, Daulatabadi red paper, and Khanbalaghi paper are referred to.

-Paper, color, and illumination: The color of the paper alone cannot be considered as an identifier for the paper, while it is necessary to mention its features in the documental description of a work. In this bayaz, the description of the paper and letters are well described as Text Afshan paper, Taghrai paper with Indian starch, green paper, mild thick blue papers, one-faced, and navy blue-black paper.

3-2-2: Description of the internal components of the document: The description of the appearance of the document should be presented by the researcher in a manner that the reader can communicate with it. In general, describing the seal and its distance from the top-bottom and left-right of the document, the reading of the taghra text, etc., are of high concern in document illumination.

- Width, length, and internal components of the document: Mentioning the length and width of the document is important in documentology, and researchers usually refer to them. In this biyazi, different terms are used to describe their features and width. In the letter of Nawab Giti Stani to his father Sultan Murad, used the term finger (Saft Gul, 2022). In the description of Sultan Khorram's letter, he uses a finger for width and zare for length. In a letter from Shah Abbas II to the ruler of Indians the terms Kings Node and simple node and book of the King are used. In the letter from Sultan Hossain to Faroughseyr the term big thump width is used. The important point in mentioning the size in this measurement is the placement of each component of the document it is the appropriate spot to mention the size of the margin in different parts of the document according to its components, like the seal and taghra, tables, and spacing line.

3-2-3: Illustration: Describing and assessing the illustration of documents is a difficult task and most researchers are not familiar with its terms. In this bayaz, the illustrative terms used in paintings like yellow raw yellow gold scratched gold with beads, gold without beads, green gold, solution gold, tablet and tablet head, space between lines, plain or decoration between lines like gilding all colors are used in a document like a shanjarf, like a blossoming flower bud, and on both sides of said buds, unblooming buds, and two unblooming buds under the seal… are evident, for example in the patch to Sultan Akbar in the illumination, a reference to the illustrated margins regarding animal faces and blooming flowers are evident.

3-2-4 The Seal: Studies on seals can provide valuable information about different political, social, and economic aspects of manuscripts and documents. In manuscripts, seals like width seals, royal seals, administrative seals, ownership seals, and endowment seals are evident, (Hashemi, 2001). In this book, the seals are detailed according to the seal shape, decoration, carving, description of its size, and other details that are not mentioned elsewhere. A seal is usually stamped a top of a given document, but in the description of Shah Abbas II's letter to Sultan Abdul Aziz Khan, it is stamped after the title. In another letter on illusive yellow paper, the ring seal is stamped on the top of the religious document on the second line where the titles end. In another letter in response to the book of Khwaja Qahir Mohammad, it is mentioned that after finishing the letter and stamping the seal, the margins and the title space were decreased. In response to the letter of acceptance, the trade seal was stamped upside-down.

3-2-5-Line: The line in the documents can show the character of the document related to the historical period. In understanding the lines of documents, it is important to realize the social stance of the users. A complete description of the lines of the document, includes the types of lines used in different sections and their location, concerning their size, how the lines are placed after each other, the number of lines and the distance between them, and the size of the lines, a full description of the tables and the lines before and after it, the line color of the quality of the line and even describing how to write the names and their color.

3-2-6-Important points in document analysis: portions of document analysis are scattered in this biyazi, which are important in the recognition and description of documents, something missing in other sources.

-These portions consist of material, color, and size, detailing the decorations on it.

- The intervention of the king in determining the size of the letters, the type of envelope of the document, and even the place of stamping the seal. In the answer to the letter of the king of Nav and Machin, it is mentioned that the place of the seal is determined by the king himself. The direct involvement of the king in writing the letter and even determining the length and width of the document is intriguing. In an answer letter by Suleiman Shah to the Valandiz governor the width of the answer letter was two cubits, which was reduced to four fingers by the order of the king.

- Storing and maintaining papers in the library, their preparation paper according to the type of letter and the status of the recipient, the people involved in the preparation, and the place of the document storage and its envelope.

- Writing etiquette among different social classes: In Biyazi, the etiquette of writing letters of kings to different social classes, regarding sealing, cases, where the king does not seal or intentionally writes, are addressed. This etiquette is observed in all types of letters, concerning writing names and nicknames according to the identity of the issuer and the stance of the receiver, for example, in the decree of Anoushe Khan, it is mentioned that "the name Anoushe Khan was written in gold in the margin of the border between the lines below the line where his titles are finished, and all the changes in the names of Ashraf in the text and Shah Babam Anarullah Berhane in the margin of the title below either Muhammad or Ali were written in gold and the title was written as Hasf al-Amr al-Ala.

Final assessment

The Safavid period in terms of the existence of official clerics and administrative sources is richer than the previous periods, although the remaining books are from the end of the Safavid period, by examining them, one can get a general view of the structure of administrative traumatology of this period. In the Timurid period, the educational sources were few, and it seems that the scribes followed the way of their predecessors, while in the administrative writing context, for the first time, due to the existence of four books, the Soleimani Origins, Tastor al-Muluk, Tezkra al-Muluk and Al-Qab in Safavid period, it is possible to examine the documental structure of the manuscripts in more detail. The works that are assessed subject to the new sources in this article are not unknown to researchers of the Safavid period and have not been tackled with their documental aspect. By reviewing and classifying the information in Biyazi Safavi's book, obtaining specific instruction in this field will be more possible. The important point about Ahmad Ghulam's analects treatises is the possible identification of the unknown author of Soleimani's manuscripts, who may be his father due to the mention of Muhammad Reza bin Abdul-Hossein Tusi at the beginning of the Treatise on Titles. Despite the knowledge of the sources of Safavid court documents’ content, there exists no comprehensive review on a comparative and supplementary assessment of the content of the works where books constitute the sources.