The history of a “primary source”: The making of Tûghî’s chronicle on the regicide of Osman II

A short chronicle by a former janissary called Tûghî on the regicide of the Ottoman Sultan Osman II in 1622 had a definitive impact on seventeenthcentury Ottoman historiography in terms of the way in which this regicide was recounted. This study examines the formation of Tûghî’s chronicle and shows how within the course of the year following the regicide, Tûghî’s initial attitude, which recognized the collective responsibility of the military caste (kul) in the murder of Osman, evolved into a claim of their innocence. The chronicle of Tûghî is extant in successive editions of his own. A careful examination of these editions makes it possible to follow the evolution of Tûghî’s narrative on the regicide in response to the historical developments in its immediate aftermath and thus witness both the evolution of a “primary source” and the gradual political sophistication of a janissary.