This presentation will examine the influence of late fifteenth-century Persian scholarly and courtly circles on the formation of an Ottoman legitimating ideology at the turn of the sixteenth century by considering the life and work of Idris Bidlisi (d. 1520). Through his authorship of Hasht Bihisht, a major history of the Ottoman dynasty, Idris Bidlisi became a well-regarded Ottoman historian of the sixteenth century and a prominent contributor to a new Ottoman conception of rule. Despite the inclusion of his work in the Ottoman historiographic canon, Idris’ upbringing, education, and formative professional activities all unfolded within the western Iranian context of the Aqquyunlu court. These experiences were fundamental in conditioning Idris’ scholarly and professional outlook and highlight the extent to which the Ottoman dynasty’s ideological platform of the sixteenth century depended upon broader political and intellectual currents within Islamic lands. The presentation will demonstrate how Idris’ networks of scholarly and professional affiliation conditioned his thinking on the nature of rule. Idris’ appraisal of his own life as presented in a number of his unedited works focuses on a central personal tension between an intention to pursue a mystical path of learning and a desire to seek the limelight of the court through sultanic service. Indeed, his own scholarly and professional trajectory was molded as much by his educational and mystical experiences under the direction of his learned and pious father, as by the literary proclivities and ideological emphases of the Aqquyunlu chancery at the court of Sultan Ya‘qub. Idris’ vision for rule as presented in Hasht Bihisht clearly reflects both of these experiences. In the work, Idris presents a theory of kingship for the Ottomans that emphasizes the cosmic role of a ruler in ordering man’s political affairs. The theory draws on Sufi vocabularies to articulate the specific characteristics of virtuous rule. Idris’ experiences within the politically unstable Aqquyunlu court helped him identify the practical consequences of such rule. For Idris, justice remained the fundamental concern of governance and could be assured only through the establishment of a strong central state grounded in the shari‘a.