Journal of the Korea Society of Mathematical Education Series D:
Research in Mathematical Education
Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2010, 19–31
韓國數學敎育學會誌 시리즈 D:
<數學敎育硏究>
제 14 권 제 1 호 2010 년 3 월, 19–31
The Ottoman Palace School Enderun and the Man with
Multiple Talents, Matrakçı Nasuh
Corlu, M. Sencer
TLAC - Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
Email: sencer@neo.tamu.edu
Burlbaw, Lynn M.
TLAC - Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
Capraro, Robert M.
TLAC - Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
Corlu, M. Ali
Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul, TURKEY
Han, Sunyoung
TLAC - Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
(Received December 16, 2009)
Introduced in this paper is one of the most remarkable Ottoman institutions, the Ottoman
Palace School — Enderun, with a focus on the life story of Matrakçı Nasuh, one of its
most noted graduates and teachers. Matrakçı Nasuh’s life and work as a prominent
mathematician and a teacher of mathematics are investigated as a case study. It shows
how young boys and girls were selected because of their academic potential, brought to
Istanbul, and educated in Enderun to serve the Empire. This research articulates the
mathematics education on the first institutionalized gifted education system of the world
and discusses its implications for today.
Keywords: Enderun, Ottoman Educational System, Matrakçı Nasuh, Gifted Education
ZDM Classification: A30
MSC2000 Classification: 01A30
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Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
INTRODUCTION
The growth of Ottoman Empire and the expansion of its civilization over three
continents, starting from 1299, are attributed to the rule of committed and effective
sultans. However, the able statesmen helped the Empire prolong its existence more than
four centuries after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
The selection and education of statesmen became critical to the Empire in the 15th
century because Ottoman state affairs had evolved from those of a small nation into that
of an empire covering more than 2,000,000 square miles. This expansion rapidly
diversified the empire creating a highly multicultural nation with the assimilation of new
cultures that blended into Ottoman life. In addition, Mehmet II (1451–1481) who claimed
to be the successor of Caesar was determined to set rules that would be the basis for his
eternal Empire. A vital component of this goal was the establishment of a special school
to select the most able youngsters within the Empire and to educate them to become the
members of the ruling class. Thus, Mehmet II improved the existing palace school
founded by his father, Murat II (1421–1451), and established the Enderun Academy
(Enderun) within his private residence at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul (Akkutay, 1984).
Matrakçı Nasuh was educated in the Palace School during the reign of Bayezid II
(1481–1512) and studied with Sai Çelebi, one of Sultan Bayezıd II's teachers (Ayduz,
2009). He served Sultan Selim I (1512-1520) and Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1556)
as a mathematician, historian, geographer, cartographer and a miniaturist. Matrakçı Nasuh,
one of the finest products of the Enderun system, was a man with multiple talents and an
l’uomo Universale (And, 2006), the universal man or a Hazerfen, which later became one
of his official titles.
Thus, it is speculated that the Enderun School was an institution that contributed to the
rise of The Ottoman Empire, and a factor in the staying power of the Empire, which
survived for more than four centuries after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
Investigation of the Enderun’s gifted education program helps today’s educators
understand the organization and practices of the world’s first institutionalized education
for the gifted (Senel, 1998; Cakin, 2005; Melekoglu, Cakiroglu, & Malmgren, 2009).
Within this context, studying Matrakçı Nasuh helps to illustrate the abstract notions
surrounding Enderun. In this paper, an analysis of his infamous book Umdet-ul Hisab
(treatise of arithmetic) is presented for the first time.
PERSPECTIVES
Sultan Mehmet II as the founder of Enderun
Angiolello described Mehmet II as a man with a ―splendid mind and many gifts‖ (as
Enderun and the Man With Multiple Talents
21
cited in Miller, 1973, p. 25). He was educated according to the highest standards of the
time and he possessed multiple abilities. Mehmet II was not only a great military leader
and a statesman but also an able and influential poet and a talented gardener. He enjoyed
participating in scholarly discussions on science, religion and the arts (Gibbon, 1903) and
was fluent in seven languages (Runciman, 1965). In sports, Guillet wrote that he was
excellent in the use of the ―masse d’armes” (the mace), in horsemanship, and in archery
(as cited in Miller, 1973, p. 27).
One has to understand Mehmet II in order to understand how Ottoman statesmen were
trained and how, in the absence of capable sultans, they could hold the empire together
for four centuries.
Drafting for Enderun School
The primary objective of the Palace School was to train the ablest children for
leadership positions, either as military leaders or as high administrators to serve the
Empire (Basgoz & Wilson, 1989). Although there are many resemblances between
Enderun and other palace schools of the previous civilizations, such as those of the
Abbasids, and Seljuks (Van Duinkerken, 1998) or the contemporary European palace
schools, Enderun was unique with respect to the background of the student body and its
meritocratic system. Ethnicity or race was irrelevant in the strict draft phase (devshirmeh),
as students were selected from the multicultural population of the Empire.
Those entrusted to find these children were scouts who were specially trained people
throughout the Empire's European lands. Scouts were recruiting youngsters according to
their talent and ability with school subjects, in addition to their personality, character, and
physical perfection. The Enderun candidates were not supposed to be orphans, or the only
child in their family (to ensure the candidates had strong family values); they must not
have already learned to speak Turkish or a craft/trade. The ideal age of a recruit was
between 10 and 20 years of age (Taskin, 2008). Mehmed Refiq Bey mentioned that youth
with a bodily defect, no matter how slight, was never admitted into palace service (as
cited in Miller), because Turks believed that a strong soul and a good mind could be
found only in a perfect body (Ipsirli, 1995).
The brightest youths who fit into the general guidelines and had a strong primary
education were then given to selected Muslim families across Anatolia to complete the
enculturation process (Horniker, 1944; Miller, 1973; Ipsirli, 1995). They would later
attend schools across Anatolia to complete their training for six to seven years in order to
qualify as ordinary military officers (Ilgurel, 1988). They would get the highest salaries
amongst the administrators of the empire, and very well respected in public (Akarsu, n.d.).
Armagan, (2006) defined the system as a pyramid which was designed to select the elite
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Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
of the elite, the ablest and most physically perfect. Only a very few would reach the
Palace school. More than three hundred years later, in 1789, Thomas Jefferson, the future
president of the United States, proposed a similar system of identifying the most capable
and educating them to their highest potential in his "A Bill for the More General
Diffusion of Knowledge" (Jefferson 1779).
Curriculum and the General Principles of Enderun School
The Enderun system consisted of three preparatory schools located outside of the
palace in addition to the one within the palace walls itself. According to Miller (1973),
there were 1,000-2,000 students in three Enderun Colleges, and about 300 students in the
top school in the Palace. The curriculum was divided into five main divisions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Islamic sciences; including Arabic, Turkish and Persian language education,
Positive sciences; mathematics, geography,
History, law, and administration: the customs of the Palace and government issues,
Vocational studies, including art and music education, and
Physical training, including weaponry (Ipsirli, 1995; Akkutay, 1984; Miller, 1973;
Basgoz & Wilson, 1989)
The successful graduates were assigned according to their abilities into two
mainstream positions: governmental or science (Armagan, 2006), and those who failed to
advance were assigned to military. One of the most distinctive properties of the school
was its merit system consisting of carefully graded rewards and corresponding
punishments (Akkutay; Ipsirli; Miller). Ipsirli described the main objective of the school
as not only to educate but to help students discover their abilities. At the end of the
Enderun school system, the graduates were able to speak, read and write at least 3
languages, able to understand the latest developments in science, have at least a craft or
art, and excel in army command as well as in close combat skills. The school system
never aimed to educate its students to become only a scientist, an artist or a soldier; but
aimed at versatility which turned out to be the education of the perfect human who has
good knowledge of everything so that they could become leaders of the Empire.
The Buildings of Enderun School
Topkapi Palace’s third court consisted of the Imperial Treasury, the Pavilion of the
Holy Mantle, and the buildings of the Palace School. Thus, the school is located next to
the most valuable possessions of the Ottoman Sultans—the treasury and the legacy of the
Prophet of Islam. There were seven halls or grades within the Palace School and within
each hall there were 12 teachers responsible for the students’ mental and academic
Enderun and the Man With Multiple Talents
23
development. Students wore special uniforms designated by their achievement level (Deri,
2009) and Miller indicated that additional buildings included the library, mosque, music
conservatories, dormitories, and baths. See a hall of Enderun in Figure 1.
Figure 1. A miniature illustrating a specific teacher and a large number of students of the
Enderun in Topkapi Palace, İstanbul (Osmanli kultur ve uygarligi, 2010)
Matrakçı Nasuh
Nasûh bin Abdullah al-Silahî al-Matrakî (Matrakçı Nasuh or in short, Matraki) came
from a Bosnian family from the European lands of the Empire and became the student of
Sai at Enderun during the reign of Bayezıd II (1481–1512). During his years at the
Enderun system he exhibited his talents and developed his skills and ability in a variety of
24
Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
subjects. He became renowned in the 16th century as a mathematician, historian,
geographer, cartographer, topographer and a musketeer. Moreover, he was an outstanding
knight, calligrapher and engineer. Because he was a musketeer, he was also called alSilahî (Yurdaydin, 1995) and known as Matrakçı because of the name of the game he
developed to train soldiers.1
In 1530, Matraki translated the influential Islamic history book of et-Teberi from
Arabic, and published his first original book, Tuhfetu’l-guzat on military tactics, war
games and weaponry. In the same year, he presented his construction, made from paper,
of two moving fortresses, during the circumcision ceremonies of the sons of Süleyman I
(1520–1556) (Yurdaydin, 1995). See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Matraki’s illustration of his moving fortresses in his book Tuhfetu’l-guzat
(Ayduz, 2009)
Four years later (1534), he joined the Ottoman army for Süleyman’s Iranian campaign
and depicted several miniatures and maps of the cities he visited, thus proving his artistic
ability to the Sultan as an illustrator and painter, as well. Johnston (1971) described his
work as artistically esthetic and perfectly accurate; detailed enough to provide
information on architectural history. Figure 3 is Matraki's illustration of the city of
Diyarbakir (located in the southeastern Anatolian region of modern Turkey).
1
See an example of this game at:
http://www.cenksanati.com/index.php?module=CMpro&func=viewpage&pageid=100
Enderun and the Man With Multiple Talents
25
Figure 3. Matraki’s illumination of the city of Diyarbakir (Ayduz, 2009)
Umdet-ul Hisab and Matraki’s Approach to Mathematics Education
Matraki is arguably one of the finest outcomes of the Enderun system, and each
chapter of his life and each of his works are worth investigating. Matraki wrote two books
on mathematics. Umdet-ul Hisab was the last edition that contained both previous books.
Additionally, he published several others on history, geography, and military tactics.
However, the authors only focused on his mathematical ability in this paper and how he
made mathematics easy to for his students and readers to understand.
Matraki’s interest in mathematics as he explained was based on a saying of the
Prophet of Islam, who had said: ―Count your acts in this life, before your acts are counted
in the hereafter‖ (Yurdaydin, 1963, p.17). According to Matraki, mathematics is a noble
and beautiful science that was a means to know more about God (Yurdaydin, 1963).
Matraki's approach to mathematics learning was explanatory to make it easier for the
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Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
public to understand it in order to apply it in their lives. From this respect, he was a
pioneer in mathematics education and his book is an excellent example of a successful
blend of mathematical pedagogy and rigorous content knowledge.
Matraki was a humble man who believed all his mistakes were his fault and all the
useful parts in his book were a reflection of God’s eternal knowledge. Thus, he started his
book by apologizing for any mistakes he had made and then explained how he organized
his book. The first chapters of his book were devoted to a special Ottoman accountancy
method – siyakat or the stairs method and written for the Enderun students who were
going to be the high officials of the Empire. Matraki explained the stairs method which
dictated different calculation rules beyond the usual laws of mathematics. The reason for
such difference was because of the secrecy of the accountancy documents for the state.
Thus, stairs method which was difficult to read was developed. The second reason was
due to the need for writing many things in a limited space. In the stairs method, numbers
were replaced by words or figures. Valuable information was encrypted reducing the risk
of forgery (Elitas, Guvemli, Aydemir, Erkan, Ozcan, and Oguz, 2008).
Figure 4. Indian Numerals
In other sections of his book, Matraki first introduced the Indian number system.
According to Ottoman ethics, respect for owners of the knowledge, the system we today
know as the Arabic numerals were actually invented by the mathematicians of India as
reported by Matraki. Matraki also introduced four operations with fractions and other
algorithms for arithmetic. In Figures 5 and 6, we present two of the six methods of
multiplication that he explained in his book. In both of these examples, it was shown that
155 x 525 = 81375. The first method in Figure 5 is known to the world as Napier’s bones
although Napier published this method approximately 50 years after Matraki published
Umdet-ul Hisab. In order to help the readers, a translation of his number system is
provided in Figure 4.
Enderun and the Man With Multiple Talents
27
Figure 5. Matraki’s lattice method for multiplication (Matraki, p.164)
Figure 6. Matraki’s triangle method for multiplication (Matraki, p.164)
Later in his book, Matraki presented real-life mathematical problems to explain the
rules of algebraic thinking. He chose his examples from daily life in which he aimed to
relate complex problems to his students’ lives. He first asked the problem, left some space
for the readers to solve it, and then in engaging narrative form started to explain his
solution. For example:
If you would like to know how much 200 kantars (a kantar = a weight of
100 ludre) would weigh if one kantar includes 12 ludre per box, then you
listen to me:
You should subtract the tare which is 12 ludres and treat the result as the
multiplicand whereas the 200 kantars should be the multiplier. Then,
28
Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
deduct the two digits from the result of the multiplication. 100 – 12 = 88,
then 88 x 200 = 17600, which means 176 kantar. (Matraki, n.d)
In another example Matraki guides his readers to solve for x in the problem x – ( x/3 +
x/4 ) = 3.
If one third and one fourth of an unknown quantity is subtracted from
that unknown, and if the difference is 3, the solution is this; listen to me:
In order to do the subtraction, you need to unite the fractions in a whole
so that the subtraction is correct and that whole is 12. Each operation
becomes 12 times. Twelve’s one third becomes 4 and it’s one fourth
becomes 3. The sum becomes 7. When subtracted from 12, it leaves 5.
When the denominator is multiplied with 3, it becomes 36. So that, the
unknown equals 36 divided by 5, and that equals to 7 and 1 as the
remainder. (Matraki, n.d)
Finally, Matraki’s also exhibited artistic talent as reflected in his conversion tables
between different units used in the Ottoman Empire. See Figure 7. Matraki presented a
process for finding the square root of large numbers, and brought unique approaches to
many other mathematical problems that people of his time would face in their daily lives.
His book was used as a reference book for more than two centuries after his death, and
became a foundation for much of the European and Ottoman science.
.
Figure 7. Matraki’s unit conversion diagram (Matraki, p.26)
Enderun and the Man With Multiple Talents
29
RESULTS
The researchers suggest that Ottoman contributions to world civilization were not
restricted to their magnificent mosques or their advanced military technology. The
Enderun School was not merely a building or a school but a system of education that
became the pioneer educational institution in gifted education and was the first of its kind.
The Enderun system was also significant as an early model of multiculturalism
because students from different ethnic backgrounds were brought together and learned to
live together under a common ideal. The multicultural environment of Enderun had a
positive influence on the peace and harmony created in Ottoman States until the decline
of the Empire. The authors also consider that the meritocratic system applied at Enderun
Colleges was one of the main reasons of its success.
Matraki's Umdet-ul Hisab showed that several methods of arithmetic were known to
the Ottomans and commonly used among the Ottoman elite and the public. Matraki set
the foundations of a successful mathematics teaching method by bringing examples from
real life, so his readers would apply theory to practice. In this respect, he deserves to be
remembered as a great teacher in addition to all his other talents. Matraki, himself
embodies how effective the Enderun education system was, and how greatly its graduates
contributed to science and arts.
CONCLUSION & SIGNIFICANCE
There has been little understanding of the Ottoman educational system, both in Turkey
and abroad. There is even less understanding of the gifted education system developed in
the Ottoman Palace. Much of the history of the Ottoman Empire was written in Ottoman
Turkish and script, which is replaced by modern Turkish and Latin alphabet after the
reforms of Ataturk in 1928. Thus, only scholars specialized in studying this language are
able to translate the volumes of archival material into Modern Turkish.
It is possible that special education program coordinators and policy makers may
learn from Enderun. However, a detailed analysis of each curricular subject and research
conducted on instruction emerge as further research areas.
The Enderun system was also significant in the way students from different ethnic
backgrounds were brought together and managed to live and learn together under a
common ideal. Researchers hope Enderun school culture will also be investigated
thoroughly in the future.
30
Corlu, M. Sencer; Burlbaw, Lynn, M.; Capraro, Robert M; Corlu, M. Ali & Han, Sunyoung.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors thank Dr. Necati Aktas for his invaluable support in the translation of Umdetul Hisab and Samed Maltabas for his help in dealing with Matraki’s mathematics. Korean
translation of this paper is available at http://people.tamu.edu/~sencer/enderun.htm.
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