"Jalaleddin"  was the first of Raffi's famous works of historical fiction. Its title is based on the name of Sheikh Jalaleddin, a Kurdish chief who led his forces on a violent campaign against Armenian and Assyrian villages in the eastern part of Van province at the beginning of the last Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). While the story is fictional, Raffi based the historical details on eyewitness accounts.