Türkmen ümerâsının meşâhîrinden Bâburlu kabîlesi re’isi Emîr Hüsâmeddîn Bîçâr Bey bin Bahtiyâr Bey’in mahdûmu Emîr Bahâdır Bey’in oğludur. Sâhib-i a’zam Mü’ineddîn Süleyman Pervâne Bey’in Moğol hükümdârı Abaka Hân tarafından 676 senesi muharreminde i’dâm edildiğine binâen cedd ü pederiyle beraber Mısır’a küçük iken firâr etdi.
Orada büyüdü. Moğol hükümdârı Mahmûd Gazan Hân ile Mısır hükümeti arasında cereyân eden 702 senesi ramazânında muharebede Mısır Türkmenleri ile beraber Moğol askeriyle harb etdi. Türkler muharebeyi kazandıkları cihetle nâ’il-i emâret oldu.
Bundan sonra Sultân Tâceddîn Altunbaş Selçukî’ye Amasya Simre’sinde saltanat verildikde Mısır’dan avdetle müşârün-ileyhin hizmetine girdi. 716’da hal’inden sonra vefât etdi. Amasya’da “Bîçâroğlu” demekle meşhûr bir emîr idi. Mahdûmu Emîr Şerefeddîn Hamza Bey’dir.
In Modern English
He is the son of Emîr Bahâdır Bey, son of Emîr Hüsâmeddîn Bîçâr Bey bin Bahtiyâr Bey, one of the famous Turkmen emirs and chief of the Bâburlu tribe. When the grand vizier Mü'ineddîn Süleyman Pervâne Bey was executed by the Mongol ruler Abaka Khan in Muharram 676 [June 1277], he fled to Egypt as a small child together with his grandfather and father.
He grew up there. In the war fought in Ramadan 702 [April-May 1303] between the Mongol ruler Mahmûd Gazan Khan and the Egyptian state, he fought against the Mongol soldiers together with the Turkmens of Egypt. Because the Turks won the war, he was given an emirate.
After this, when Sultan Tâceddîn Altunbaş Selçukî was given rule over the Simre of Amasya, he returned from Egypt and entered his service. He died after the sultan was deposed in 716 [1316-17]. He was an emir known in Amasya as "Bîçâroğlu." His son is Emîr Şerefeddîn Hamza Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ümerâ: emirs, beys
- re'is: head, leader
- sâhib-i a'zam: grand vizier
- cedd ü peder: grandfather and father
- nâ'il-i emâret olmak: to attain an emirate
- avdet: return
- müşârün-ileyh: the person mentioned
- hal': deposition from the throne
- Simre: the administrative region comprising Amasya and its surroundings
Hüsameddin Baycar and the Refuge with the Mamluks
Şehâbeddîn Ahmed Bey's grandfather, Hüsameddin Bîçâr, is known in present-day research as Hüsameddin Baycar and is one of the fairly well-documented emirs of the Seljuk era. According to Efe Durmuş's study, Baycar must have been one of the Khwarazmian soldiers who came to Anatolia with Celâleddin Harezmşah; he entered the service of Alâeddin Keykubad and in time rose to the subaşılık (police command) of Harput. His son Bahaeddin Bahadır was also subaşı of Diyarbekir. Hüsameddin's presentation of him as a Turkmen emir, "chief of the Bâburlu tribe," departs from this view; Durmuş also puts forward the Khwarazmian origin not as certain knowledge but as a conjecture.
Father and son were among those who secretly agreed with the Mamluk Sultan Baybars, together with Muînüddin Pervâne, Hatıroğlu Şerefeddin, and other Seljuk emirs, to drive the Mongols out of Anatolia. According to Aksarâyî's account, Baycar collected a year's taxes of Diyarbekir and set out with his army in the direction of Damascus; on 13 Muharram 675 [June 1276] the family met Baybars at Aleppo, asked permission to take refuge in his country, and then reached Cairo. Baybars appointed father and son as commanders and took Baycar's grandsons with him; but in the sources Durmuş cites the names of these grandsons are given as Muînüddin and Muzafferüddin, and the name Şehâbeddîn Ahmed is not mentioned.
There is an important difference of date here. Hüsameddin says that the family fled to Egypt upon Pervâne's execution and places the execution in Muharram 676. Yet Pervâne was executed on the order of Abaka Khan on 1 Rabi' al-awwal 676 [2 August 1277], and the Baycar family's arrival in Aleppo is about a year before this. That is, the family left Anatolia not after Pervâne's death but as part of the Mamluk alliance in which he too was involved.
The Battle of Shaqhab and the Return to Amasya
The battle of Ramadan 702 that Hüsameddin mentions is the Battle of Shaqhab, fought south of Damascus on the plain of Marj al-Suffar. The battle began on 2 Ramadan 702 [20 April 1303], and the army of Qutlugh-shah, commander of Ghazan Khan, was scattered in a heavy defeat by the Mamluks. After this battle the Ilkhanids did not mount a serious campaign against Syria. That Ahmed Bey took part in this battle could not be verified in another source.
Tâceddin Altunbaş, whose service Ahmed Bey entered on returning to Amasya, was the son of Mesud II, the last Seljuk sultan. According to research, Altunbaş established his rule in Amasya between 1312 and 1316, when the influence of the Mongol governors had waned; these dates agree with the record of deposition in 716 that Hüsameddin gives. Waqf deeds of Altunbaş dated 1355 show that he was still mentioned later as ruler of the Simre. Durmuş reports that Hüsameddin writes that the Baycar line was famous in Amasya and, divided into two branches, Hamza Pashazade and İsmail Pashazade, continued until 1520. Şerefeddîn Hamza Bey, mentioned as Ahmed Bey's son, may be the head of one of these branches; but no document confirming this was found.
Bibliography
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