ABSTRACT
Ottoman chronology, as furnished by Ottoman literary sources, has long been recognised as a subject of study which contains pitfalls for the unwary or uncritical historian. The Beldiceanus’ study raises many interesting questions. The campaign launched in 1089 / 1678 by the Ottomans against Çehrin is historically significant for a number of reasons. The warnings against a too facile ‘straight’ conversion from hicrî to A.D. dates, issued by the Beldiceanus for the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, still holds good for the later seventeenth century, on the basis of the shifting chronographic evidence for the Çehrin campaign of 1089/1678. The account in S is incontrovertibly on a 15 July base for dates subsequent to the departure of the army from Istanbul, down to the fall of Cehrin on 11/21 August, which is the terminal point of the present survey. Thus some general precepts may be offered.
