A tunisian ottoman chronicle

This book is the annotated translation of an extract from Ahmad Ibn Abi'l-Dhiyaf's famous chronicle: It'haf ahl al-zaman bi-akhbar muluk Tunis wa 'ahd al-aman (A Present to the Men of Our Times: A History of the Rulers of Tunis and of the Fundamental Pact), known, for the sake of concision, as the It'haf. The extract covers the period corresponding to the rule of Hammuda Pasha Bey, of the Husaynid dynasty (1777-1814), with a one-year sequel for his troubled succession. Ahmad Ibn Abi'l- Dhiyaf, whose long and distinguished career in the Tunisian administration started in 1827, was a privileged observer of the events that marked the last stage of Ottoman domination over the country, almost to its end. Although he was still in his childhood by the end of the period concerned by this extract, he availed himself, for writing its chronicle, of documents from the beylical Secretariat as well as testimonies of his father and other government men of the time.