Dr. Cailah Jackson (Oxford University) – The Arts of the Book in a Time of Conflict: Manuscripts of Late Medieval Konya

This presentation will discuss several illuminated manuscripts produced in Konya between 1278 and 1332. Consisting mainly of works by Jalal al-Din Rumi and Sultan Walad, most of this material has not been published in detail or studied within a broader cultural framework. The talk will outline the diverse decorative features of these manuscripts and demonstrate that Konya – despite frequent outbreaks of violence, and the absence of an effective centralised governing structure in the region – possessed an active artistic scene that was populated by Seljuk bureaucrats, Mevlevi dervishes, converts from Christianity, and Turkmen beys.