Amasya Tarihi’nden başka Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn’in tarihçi kimliği ve anlayışının izlerini onun Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni üyesi iken yapmış olduğu çalışmalarından da takip edebilmek mümkündür. Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni, II. Meşrutiyet’in ilanı ve II. Abdülhamid’in tahttan indirilişinin ardından devletin halka millî şuur aşılamak ve vatan sevgisi kazandırmak amacıyla Sultan V. Mehmed Reşad’ın iradesiyle kurulmuştur. Abdurrahman Şeref başkanlığında, başlangıçta “Tarih Komisyonu/Tarih-i Osmanî Heyet-i Tahrîriyesi” ismiyle teşekkül etmiş bir kurumdur. İlk çalışmalarına Vakanüvis Abdurrahman Şeref Bey’in Bâbıâli’deki odasında başlayan encümen bir Osmanlı tarihi yazma hazırlıklarına başlamıştır. Baskı masrafları bizzat Sultan Mehmed Reşad tarafından karşılanacak olan bu çalışmada görev taksimi yapılarak ilk ciltte Osmanlıların Anadolu’ya gelişi ve devletin ortaya çıkışının ele alınması, ayrıca Bizanslılarla Selçuklular hakkında bilgi verilmesi kararlaştırılmıştır. Komisyonun dört aylık çalışması sırasında, Osmanlı tarihini yazmaya yarayacak arşiv belgelerinin tespit ve tasnif sürecinin uzun süreceğinin anlaşılması, bu önemli vazifenin ancak kurumsal bir yapıyla sürdürülebilme zorunluluğu ortaya çıkınca Komisyon, “Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni” adını almıştır (27 Kasım 1909). Hazırlanan tüzükte İmparatorluğu meydana getiren unsurları aynı gaye etrafında ve aynı vatan sevgisiyle bir araya getirebilmek için tarih öğrenmenin gerekliliği üzerinde durulmuş, bundan dolayı ilmî bir cemiyete ihtiyaç duyulduğu kaydedilmiştir. Ayrıca biri başkan on iki uzmandan teşekkül eden encümen üyelerini başlangıçta hükümet seçecek, daha sonra gerektikçe yeni üyeleri encümen kabul edecektir.⁴⁰
Yapılan araştırmalarda, Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn’in encümene üyeliğinin kuruluşundan itibaren değil 1914-1916 yılları arasında gerçekleştiği ve müellifin ilk makalesinin de 1916 yılından sonra yayımlandığı görülmektedir.⁴¹ Encümene vefat eden bir üyenin yerine Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn’in seçilmesinin en önemli nedeninin tarih yazma metodunun encümenin tarih yazma metoduyla uyuşması olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Encümen ayrıca yazılacak tarihin metnine aynen ve tamamen girmeyecek araştırmaları, vesikaları Türkçe ve yabancı lisanlardan tercüme edilmiş risaleleri yayınlayarak, Osmanlı tarihine zemin hazırlamak ve mütalaa meraklılarının bilgilerini genişletmeye, fikirlerini aydınlatmaya hizmet etmeyi amaçlamıştır. Bunun akabinde “Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası” adında bir mecmua çıkarmaya karar vermiştir. Mecmuanın da kaynaklarına bakıldığında matbu tarihlerle birlikte arşiv vesikaları, matbu olmayan yazmalar, tercümeler, kitabeler, mezar taşları ve sikkelerin bulunduğu görülmektedir. Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn de özellikle vakıf kayıtları, şer’iyye sicilleri gibi arşiv belgeleri, Arapça tarih kitapları, kitabeler, mezar taşları vb. tarihin çeşitli kaynakları araştırırken yeni verilere ulaşmıştır. Belki de arşiv belgeleri, kitabeler ve mezar taşları vb. tarihi kaynakları kullanabilme becerisi, ona encümen üyeliği yolunu açtığı gibi Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni’nin yazmayı planladığı fakat muvaffak olamadığı Osmanlı Tarihi’nin Orhan Bey dönemini kapsayan ikinci cildinin terâcim-i ahval kısmını yazmakla görevlendirilmesinin sebebini teşkil etmiştir.⁴²
Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası’nda pek çok makalesi yayımlanan müellifin beş makalesinden dördü biyografik biri de Orhan Bey Vakfiyesi’nin tahlilidir. Bu makalelerde Osmanlı tarihlerindeki bazı yanlışlıkları düzeltmekte veya tarih ilmine yeni bilgiler kazandırmaktadır.
In Modern English
Apart from Amasya Tarihi, it is also possible to trace the marks of Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn's identity and outlook as a historian in the work he did while a member of the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni. The Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni was founded, after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era and the deposition of Abdülhamid II, by the will of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad, with the aim of instilling in the public national consciousness and love of the homeland. It is a body that was first formed under the chairmanship of Abdurrahman Şeref under the name "History Commission / Tarih-i Osmanî Heyet-i Tahrîriyesi." The Encümen, which began its first work in the room of the court historian (vakanüvis) Abdurrahman Şeref Bey at the Sublime Porte (Bâbıâli), set about preparations for writing an Ottoman history. In this work, whose printing costs were to be met by Sultan Mehmed Reşad himself, tasks were divided, and it was decided that the first volume would treat the Ottomans' arrival in Anatolia and the emergence of the state, and would also give information on the Byzantines and the Seljuks. During the commission's four months of work, when it was understood that the process of identifying and classifying the archival documents that could serve for writing Ottoman history would be long, and that this important task could be continued only with an institutional structure, the commission took the name "Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni" (27 November 1909). In the statute prepared, the necessity of learning history was emphasized in order to bring together the elements that made up the empire around the same aim and with the same love of the homeland, and it was recorded that for this reason a scientific society was needed. Moreover, the members of the Encümen, formed of one chairman and twelve specialists, would initially be chosen by the government, and later the Encümen would accept new members as needed.
In the researches done, it is seen that Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn's membership of the Encümen took place not from its founding but between 1914 and 1916, and that the author's first article was published after 1916. It has been assessed that the most important reason for Hüsameddîn's being chosen to replace a member who had died was that his method of writing history agreed with the Encümen's method. The Encümen also aimed to prepare the ground for Ottoman history by publishing researches, documents and treatises translated from Turkish and foreign languages that would not enter the text of the history to be written exactly and in full, and to widen the knowledge and enlighten the ideas of readers with an interest in reading. After this it decided to publish a journal called "Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası." Looking at the sources of the journal, it is seen that together with printed histories there are archival documents, unprinted manuscripts, translations, inscriptions, gravestones and coins. Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn too reached new data while researching archival documents such as waqf records and sharia court registers, Arabic history books, inscriptions, gravestones and various similar historical sources. Perhaps his ability to use archival documents, inscriptions, gravestones and similar historical sources opened for him the way to membership of the Encümen, and was also the reason he was charged with writing the terâcim-i ahvâl (biographies) section of the second volume of the Ottoman History, covering the period of Orhan Bey, which the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni planned to write but did not manage.
Of the five articles of the author, many of whose articles were published in the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası, four are biographical, and one is an analysis of the Orhan Bey Vakfiyesi (waqf deed). In these articles he corrects some errors in Ottoman histories or adds new information to the science of history.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- encümen: council, committee
- vakanüvis: a historian charged with writing the official history of the state
- Bâbıâli: in the Ottoman Empire, the seat of the grand vizierate and central administration
- mecmua: journal
- matbu: printed
- vesika: document
- vakfiye: the founding document of a waqf
- şer'iyye sicili: the register of the kadı courts
- mütalaa: reading, study
- terâcim-i ahvâl: life stories, biographies
The Founding of the Encümen
According to the encyclopedia entry, the Encümen was founded on 14 Teşrinisâni 1325 (27 November 1909), following the Târîh-i Osmânî Heyeti, first set up to write a "perfect" Ottoman history, at the proposal of Grand Vizier Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha and by the will of Sultan Mehmed Reşad. Its statute was prepared by Necip Âsım. The statute states that an Ottoman history conforming to scholarly standards had not yet been written, that the vakanüvis histories were like yearbooks (salname), and that the existing short histories were partial in character. An annual allowance of 10,000 kuruş was set aside from the sultan's private treasury, and the chairman and members of the Encümen were not paid salaries. The first chairman was Abdurrahman Şeref Bey; among the first members were names such as Ahmed Refik, Ahmed Midhat Efendi and Necip Âsım.
Hüsameddin's Membership
The introduction says that Hüsameddin's membership began between 1914 and 1916. The encyclopedia entry, however, mentions him among the auxiliary members; the Hüsameddin entry too says "he was a member from its founding." These two statements contradict the date in the introduction. The difference may arise from the distinction between auxiliary and full membership, or from the records looking at different periods; the sources at hand do not explain it. The date of Hüsameddin's earliest article is therefore also a point that needs separate study.
Why the Volume on the Time of Orhan Gazi Could Not Be Written
The first volume of the Ottoman History, the Encümen's real aim, was written by Necip Âsım and Mehmed Ârif Beys and published in 1917. This volume gave information on the Turks, the Byzantines, the Ottomans' arrival in Anatolia and the emergence of the state, and the Anatolian Seljuks and the beyliks. After the book's publication heavy criticism came; Mehmed Fuad Köprülü argued that the understanding of history in the country was very primitive, and Ahmed Refik wrote that the work had no scholarly character. At the meeting of 19 June 1917 the sections of the second volume, on the period of Orhan Gazi, were commissioned from various people, but no result came of it. The encyclopedia entry ascribes the main reason for this to the fact that the documents and source works were not yet in a usable state. Hüsameddin's being assigned the biography section of this volume shows that one of the parts of the work that could not be written was given to him.
The Journal and Hüsameddin's Articles
The first issue of the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası appeared on 14 April 1910 and was published regularly for eight years. About 280 articles by some fifty authors were published in the journal, the great majority of the authors being members of the Encümen. Hüsameddin's own encyclopedia entry specifically mentions his writings "Koca Mehmed Paşa," "Alâeddin Bey," "Sultan Altunbaş," "Molla Fenârî" and "Orhan Bey'in Vakfiyesi." The count "five articles, four biographical" in the introduction matches these titles: four personal names and one waqf deed. Looking at other sources, it is understood that the journal continued in the Republican period under the name "Türk Tarih Encümeni Mecmuası," that in 1927 the Encümen was re-established under the Ministry of Education (Maarif Vekâleti), and that Mehmed Fuad Köprülü was appointed to its chairmanship.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, Introductory Volume, p. 25–27. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Târîh-i Osmânî Encümeni", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 40, 2011, p. 83-86. (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/tarih-i-osmani-encumeni)
- Turgut Akpınar, "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, 1998, p. 551-552. (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huseyin-husameddin-yasar)