AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Bey of Girab

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 148 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya’nın İnepazar nâhiyesinde (Girâb) diye meşhûr olan köyden Mehmed Çavuş’un oğludur. Züamâdan olup haylî muhârebâta girdi. Şirvân muhârebâtında mîrlivâ olup 992’de vefât etdi. Yiğit, servet ve sâmânı düzgün ve dindâr bir zât idi. Girâb Karyesinde bir câmi-i şerîf ve yanında bir mekteb yaptırıp Girâb mâlikânesini hayrâtına vakfetdi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Mehmed Çavuş from the village known as Girab in the nahiye of İnepazar in Amasya. He was one of the zeamet holders and took part in a great many battles. He became a sanjak governor in the Shirvan wars and died in 992 [1584]. He was a brave man, of ample wealth and means, and a devout one. In the village of Girab he built a mosque and, beside it, a school (mektep); he also endowed his property in Girab as a waqf for these charitable works.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • nâhiye: an administrative unit made up of several villages, attached to a kaza
  • züamâ: holders of zeamets (military fiefs with high revenue)
  • muhârebât: wars
  • mîrlivâ: sanjak governor
  • servet ve sâmân: property and possessions, wealth
  • mâlikâne: land and revenue held as private property
  • hayrât: charitable works

The Village of Girab and the Nahiye of İnepazar

The Girab named in the entry is today the village of Yeşilöz, attached to the Central district of Amasya. The village name still appears as "Girap" in the records of 1928; the name Yeşilöz was given later. Yeşilöz is a small village at an altitude of about 850 metres, with a population of 202 in 2022. The place Hüsameddin calls the "nahiye of İnepazar" is today's Ezinepazar. The name Ezinepazar appears as "Ezinepazarı" in the records of 1602 and means "Friday market"; Hüsameddin's spelling "İnepazar" is a shortened form of the same name. Ezinepazar became a town (belde) in 1987 and returned to village status in 2013 as its population declined. Yeşilöz and Ezinepazar are two nearby settlements, which shows that the nahiye given by Hüsameddin agrees with present-day geography.

The Shirvan Wars

The Shirvan wars, in which Ahmed Bey rose to the rank of sanjak governor, were the Caucasian front of the Ottoman-Safavid war that began in 1578. On the road opened by Lala Mustafa Pasha, Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha tried for five years to hold Shirvan and Dagestan, and in May 1583, with the battle of Meshale, he drove the Safavids out of Shirvan. In these wars the timar and zeamet cavalrymen (sipahi) of Anatolia were continually sent to the front; that the son of a village çavuş like Ahmed Bey should rise to a sanjak governorship in this way is a typical career of the period. His death date, 992 (1584), falls just after Osman Pasha left the Caucasus.

The Mosque and the School

Hüsameddin writes that Ahmed Bey built a mosque and a school in his village and endowed his property in Girab for them. No information was found on whether this mosque is still standing today, or on whether the present mosque in the village was built in its place. No information on Ahmed Bey or his waqf could be found in other sources either.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 148–148. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 6 contents