Persian MS 947 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)

Summary of Contents: This sole surviving copy of the initial portion of the Vasā'il al-Rasā'il va Dalā'il al-Faz̤a'il (Pretenses of Letters and Proofs of Bounties) by Khwarazmian-era secretary Nūr al-Dīn Munshī fl. 13th cent. documents events during the reign of his patron, the final ruler of the dynasty Jalāl al-Dīn Mingburnu (r. 1220–1231) and his brother Ghīyās̱ al-Dīn Pīr Shāh (fl. early 13th cent.). While undated, the paper, ink, and script all suggest that the volume likely dates to the medieval period, and the İzzet Koyunoğlu Foundation library in Konya, Turkey holds the corresponding latter half of the manuscript. Together, the complete work contains four chapters of proverbs and metaphors, correspondence and responses, spiritual treatises and studies, and stories and letters written to caliphs, kings, and their servants. Considered together, this work not only sheds valuable light on the the decline of Khwarazm and Mongol ascendancy, but also emergence of ornate prose during the medieval period, emulated by successive dynasties.