Nasuh Matrakçı

Nasuh Matrakçı ( ?-1564)

A Turkish miniaturist, who was also a versatile scientist and wrote books about mathematics and history.

His date and place of birth are unknown. We know, however, that he died in 1564. Katip Çelebi states that he died in 1533, although we now know that he was mistaken in this. Other sources have claimed that he might have died after 1547, 1551 or 1553. We also possess very little information about his life. There are hints that he was born in Bosnia and that his grandfather used to be a devşirme. He studied in Enderun. The reason he was known as as Makrakçı or Matraki is because of his being a good player, or even the inventor, of the game “Matrak,” which is a war kind of game played with sticks and resembling fencing. Nasuh was also a proficient man-at-arms, for which reason he was also known as “Silahi.” A warrant naming him “Master and Chief” was issued in 1530 by Süleyman I (Kanuni) for his professionalism with various weapon and expertise at spear games. He even wrote a manual, “Tuhfetü’l- Guzat,” explaining the use of various weapons and ways of fighting. He was an important scientist, especially in the fields of geometry and mathematics. He wrote books on the latter, Cematü’l- Küttab and Kematü’l- Hisab and Umdetü’l- Hisab, during the reign of Selim I (Yavuz) and dedicated them to the sultan. The last of his books was used by mathematicians for many years.

As a historian, Nasuh produced important works. He translated the History of Taberi into Turkish under the name “Mecmaü’t- Tevarih. In two other books, called “The History of Sultan Bayezid and Sultan Selim and The History of Sultan Beyazid, he described events in those periods. In the three editions of his book “Süleymanname,” he referred to events in 1520-1537, 1543-1551 and 1542-1543. He mentioned Sultan Suleyman’s Iraq expedition in 1534 in his book Beyan-ı Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn-i Sultan Süleyman Han, and the Karaboğdan expedition in 1538 in his book Fetihname-i Karaboğdan.