Dr Marc Czarnuszewicz · 21 May 2026, 5 pm UK · Online
Abstract
The Testament of Niẓām al-Mulk (Waṣāyā Niẓām al-Mulk) is one of the most exciting unedited Persian texts on Great Seljuq history. It purports to be Niẓām al-Mulk’s final advice to his son Fakhr al-Mulk, illustrating the problems a vizier could face by reference to stories from the Samanid, Ghaznavid, and early Seljuq courts. It was compiled by a descendent of Niẓām al-Mulk, one Fakhr al-Dawla Ḥasan, whose great-grandfather had served the last Ilkhanid ruler Togha Temür (r. 736 – 754 / 1336 – 1353). It supposedly combines tales from written histories with stories passed down within Fakhr al-Dawla Ḥasan’s family. In the early 20th century Edward Browne and Harold Bowen identified certain stories within the Waṣāyā as later forgeries, stymieing further Western study of the text. This presentation will look afresh at the Waṣāyā, situating it in the later Ilkhanate, exploring its manuscript tradition, and asking what value its stories may have for the modern historian.
About the speaker
Marc Czarnuszewicz is a Research Fellow at Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge. He studied Middle Eastern History at the Universities of Oxford and St Andrews, completing his doctorate at the latter in 2024. He researches the Khwarazmshahi and Great Seljuq Empires, reinterpreting their histories through neglected textual sources.