Amasyalıdır. Esbak Amasya vâlisi Pervâne Beyzâde Mühezzebeddîn Mes’ûd bin Emîr Azîzeddîn Mehmed Bey’in mahdûmu ve bâlâ daki [337] Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Bey’in yeğenidir. Halk arasında “Gâzi Çelebi” demekle meşhûrdur. Amcasının yanında tahsîl ü terbiye gördü. Anadolu nâzırı ve Amasya vâlisi İşboğa Noyin’e dâmâd oldu.
716’da amcasının Amasya’ya azîmetinde Sinop emâreti kâ’im-makâmı olup Ahmed Bey’in vefâtında Sinop emîri oldu. Trabzon krallarıyla muhârebeler ederek onlara galebe edib “Gâzi Çelebi” unvânını aldı. Yedi yıl kadar Sinop emâretini güzel idâre etdi.
Ancak 723 senesinde karşı yakadan gelen küffârın ansızın hücûmu üzerine şehîden vefât etdi. Sinop’da medfûndur. Türbesi vardır. Türbesini ziyâret eden meşâhîr-i müdekkîkinden Ahmed Tevhîd Efendi kardeşimizin tedkîkinde seng-i mezârında: “Gâzi Ahmed Çelebi bin Mes’ûd Çelebi” olduğu ve 723’de vefât etdiği yazılı görülmüşdür.¹⁸ Mahdûmu Alemüddîn Süleyman Bey’dir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He is the son of Pervâne Beyzâde Mühezzebeddîn Mes'ûd, the former governor of Amasya; Mes'ûd was the son of Emîr Azîzeddîn Mehmed Bey. He is the nephew of Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Bey, whose biography appeared above. Among the people he is known as "Gâzi Çelebi." He studied and was raised under his uncle. He became son-in-law to İşboğa Noyin, the overseer of Anatolia and governor of Amasya.
In 716 [1316-17], when his uncle went to Amasya, he became his deputy (kaymakam) in the emirate of Sinop; and upon Ahmed Bey's death he became emir of Sinop. He fought the kings of Trebizond and defeated them, and took the title "Gâzi Çelebi." He governed the emirate of Sinop well for about seven years.
But in 723 [1323], in a sudden attack by infidels who came from the other side of the sea, he fell as a martyr. He is buried in Sinop and has a tomb. In the examination of our brother Ahmed Tevhîd Efendi, one of the famous and meticulous researchers, who visited his tomb, it was seen that the gravestone reads "Gâzi Ahmed Çelebi bin Mes'ûd Çelebi" and records that he died in 723. His son is Alemüddîn Süleyman Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- esbak: previous, former
- mahdûm: son
- bâlâda: above (in an earlier entry of the book)
- tahsîl ü terbiye: education and upbringing
- nâzır: a high official in charge of the administration of a region
- emâret: emirate, administration of a principality
- kâ'im-makâm: deputy, one who acts in someone's place
- galebe etmek: to prevail, to defeat
- küffâr: infidels; here, Christian seamen
- medfûn: buried
- meşâhîr-i müdekkikîn: famous, meticulous researchers
- seng-i mezâr: gravestone
The Last Pervâneoğlu Lord of Sinop
Gazi Çelebi is the last lord of the Pervâneoğulları Principality, which descended from the grandsons of the Seljuk vizier Muînüddin Süleyman Pervâne and ruled from Sinop between 1277 and 1322. According to present-day research, his father Mühezzebüddin Mesud died in Sinop in 700 [1300], and Gazi Çelebi succeeded him. About two years before his death, Mesud Bey had fallen into a trap set by the Genoese, was taken to Caffa, and was freed only by paying a ransom of 900,000 dirhams. It is understood that Gazi Çelebi's rule began with a reckoning with the Genoese who had abducted his father.
What distinguishes Gazi Çelebi from the other Anatolian lords is that he sought his power at sea rather than on land. Thinking that conflict with the Ilkhanids on land would bring him trouble, he turned toward the eastern and northern shores of the Black Sea. First, having come to an agreement with the Greek emperor of Trebizond, he mounted an expedition against the Genoese port of Caffa in Crimea and defeated the Genoese fleet there; it is recorded that in 1314 he raided Caffa again and captured four Genoese ships. It is known that he had at least eight galleys at the beginning of 1313; this is a remarkable naval power among the principalities of his time. Later his relations with Trebizond soured and in 1319 he attacked Trebizond. Hüsameddin's words "he fought the kings of Trebizond and defeated them" coincide with these events.
Ibn Battuta writes that when he came to Sinop Gazi Çelebi was remembered as a brave and great warrior. According to what the people of the city told, during battle he would take a spear in his hand and swim underwater to pierce the hulls of enemy ships. This account shows that only about ten years after his death he had become a semi-legendary figure.
Differences Between Hüsameddin's Account and Present-Day Knowledge
Several points of the entry differ from present-day research. The first is the genealogy. Hüsameddin counts Mesud Bey as the son of Azîzeddîn Mehmed Bey and Gazi Çelebi as the nephew of Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Bey. Yet recent research states that the founder of the principality, Muînüddin Mehmed, died in Konya in 696 [1297] and was succeeded by Mesud, the son of his brother Mühezzebüddin Ali. In that case Mesud's father is Ali. Because the inscription of the Pervâne Madrasa in Sinop introduces Gazi Çelebi only as "son of Mesud," debate continues on the earlier generations.
The second is the length of his rule. Hüsameddin writes that Gazi Çelebi became his uncle's deputy in 716 and governed Sinop for about seven years. Present-day sources, on the other hand, accept that he succeeded his father in 1300 and ruled for about twenty-two years until 1322. His uncle Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Bey's emirate of Sinop could not be verified in other sources.
The third is the manner of death. Hüsameddin says he fell as a martyr in a raid by the enemy from the opposite shore. According to contemporary research, in 1322 Gazi Çelebi repelled a Genoese attack on Sinop and took the captain of the Genoese fleet prisoner, but died the same year by striking his head against a tree during a hunt. That the Genoese attack was in the same year suggests that the two accounts may have become mixed.
The fourth is his children. Hüsameddin writes that his son was Alemüddîn Süleyman Bey. Present-day sources, however, state that Gazi Çelebi had no male child and that after his death his daughter governed the principality for a short time. Süleyman Bey of the Candaroğulları in Kastamonu, fearing that Sinop would fall into the hands of Trebizond, annexed the city to his country, and thus the Pervâneoğulları Principality came to an end in 722 [1322]. That Sinop was for a time called "Hatun-ili" (the land of the lady) is thought to be a remnant of this short rule by his daughter.
His Tomb and Gravestone
Gazi Çelebi's tomb is inside the Pervâne Madrasa, which his great-grandfather Süleyman Pervâne had built in Sinop and which, according to its inscription, was completed in 661 [1262-63]; it can still be visited today. One of the graves in the tomb is claimed to belong to his daughter. On the south face of the gravestone, in the form of a long Seljuk-style sarcophagus, one reads "This is the grave of Gazi Çelebi, son of Mesud Çelebi; may God make their earth pure," and on the north face the date of death.
There is a noteworthy detail concerning the date. Hüsameddin gives the date 723 based on Ahmed Tevhîd Efendi's reading and, in a footnote, corrects the fact that in the third volume of his book this number was misprinted as 728. In present-day publications, however, the inscription is read as 722 [1322-23]; Gazi Çelebi's death is also generally accepted as 722/1322. The name "Gâzi Ahmed Çelebi" in Ahmed Tevhîd's reading does not appear in new readings either; the inscription says only "Gazi Çelebi." Ahmed Tevhîd's article on the Pervânezades of Sinop, published in the first volume of the Târîh-i Osmânî Encümeni Mecmuası (1328), is among the first studies still consulted on this subject today.
There is also a tradition that Gazi Çelebi, whose name appears in Genoese documents as "Zalabi," was a son of the Seljuk sultan Mesud II; researchers state that this is not correct.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 109–109. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- "Pervâneoğulları", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 34, İstanbul 2007, p. 245-246. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/pervaneogullari
- "Sinop", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sinop
- "Gazi Çelebi" (general encyclopedia entry; based on E. Zachariadou, "Sinoplu Gazi Çelebi", Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi, 16/1, 2001, p. 221-224). https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazi_Çelebi
Books