In the Ottoman state, princes eligible for the throne were sent with their tutors to provinces in Anatolia to learn the business of government. Amasya was, together with Manisa, among the most important of these provinces; in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many princes governed here, and several were born in the palace of the city. Amasya's name as the "City of Princes" derives from this long tradition. This section treats one by one the lives of the princes who were born in Amasya or served there.
Among those who became sultan are Çelebi Mehmed, who made Amasya his base during the Interregnum and reunited the state, Murad II, born in Amasya, Mehmed II, who governed Amasya as a boy, Bayezid II, who spent many years in the city, and Selim I, born in Amasya. The lives of princes who never reached the throne are also here; foremost among them are Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II and governor of Amasya for thirty years, the scholar and poet Prince Korkut, and Süleyman the Magnificent's sons Prince Mustafa and Prince Bayezid.
Lesser-known princes have their own articles as well: Murad II's sons Ahmed Çelebi and Alaeddin Ali Çelebi, Bayezid II's Amasya-born sons Abdullah, Alemşah, Şehinşah and Mahmud, and Prince Ahmed's son Murad, who took refuge with the Safavids. These biographies complement the articles in the History of Amasya section on the system of provincial governorships, the institution of the tutor, princely ceremonies and the struggles for the throne.