Amasyalıdır. Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî Amasya vâlisi iken ilk tevellüd eden şehzâdesidir. Pederinin cülûsunda Edirne sarayına nakledildi. Orada büyüdü. On beş yaşında iken 838 senesi saferinde Edirne’ye da’vet edilen Amasya vâlisi Yörgüç Paşa’nın yerine Amasya vâlisi olup geldi.
Lalası ve müdebbir-i umûru Şeyhî Mahmûd Paşa ve defterdârı da Amasyalı Bahşâyişoğlu Durmuş Çelebi oldu. Dört yıl kadar Amasya’da vâlilik edib 841 senesi zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Müverrih-i meşhûr Amasyalı Şükrullah Çelebi “Behcetü’t-Tevârîh” adlı eserinde şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin [375] Amasya’da medfûn olduğunu yazıyor. Narlı Bahçe Mezarlığının şimâl-i garbiyyesinde kâin kubbe altında medfûn olduğu rivâyeti vardır.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the first prince of Sultan Murad II, born while he was governor of Amasya. When his father ascended the throne he was taken to the palace of Edirne and grew up there. At the age of fifteen, in the month of Safar 838 [September 1434], he came as governor of Amasya in place of Yörgüç Pasha, the governor of Amasya, who had been summoned to Edirne.
His lala and manager of his affairs became Şeyhî Mahmûd Pasha, and his defterdar Durmuş Çelebi of Amasya, of the Bahşâyişoğlu. After serving about four years as governor in Amasya, he died in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah 841 [June 1438]. The famous historian Şükrullah Çelebi of Amasya writes in his work called Behcetü't-Tevârîh that the prince in question is buried in Amasya. There is also a report that he lies under a dome in the northwest of the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tevellüd: birth
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- nakl: carrying, transport
- lala: the statesman responsible for a prince's education and protection
- müdebbir-i umûr: one who manages affairs, administrator
- defterdâr: official in charge of financial matters
- müverrih: historian
- şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyh: the prince in question
- şimâl-i garbî: northwest
Murad II's Eldest Son
Murad II, on turning twelve, had been sent to Amasya with the beylik of the province of Rum, which included the regions of Amasya, Tokat, Sivas, Çorum and Osmancık, and in 824 [1421], on the death of his father Çelebi Mehmed, he ascended the throne in Bursa. Ahmed is his son born during his Amasya years. In present-day dynastic lists he is called "Büyük Ahmed" (Ahmed the Elder) and his birth is given as 1419; this roughly agrees with Hüsameddin's record "he was fifteen in 838". This epithet is used to distinguish him from another, younger brother of the same name, who was born in 1450 and killed in 1451.
The death date appears as 1437 in some lists; the Dhu al-Hijjah 841 that Hüsameddin gives corresponds to May-June 1438. Since the hijri year 841 began in July 1437, the difference between the two dates may arise from converting the hijri year into the Gregorian.
His Relationship with Yörgüç Pasha
Hüsameddin says that the prince came to Amasya in place of Yörgüç Pasha, who had been summoned to Edirne in 838. Yörgüç Pasha was a powerful statesman who had been Murad II's lala since his princely days and who had been made beylerbeyi of Rum in 826 [1423]. But according to Halil İnalcık, in Jumada al-Akhira 840 [December 1436] Karaman forces had pressed "Yörgüç Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Amasya". That is, during the years the prince was in Amasya Yörgüç Pasha continued to bear the title of beylerbeyi of the region. Yörgüç Pasha died in Dhu al-Hijjah 845 [April-May 1442] and was buried in the tomb of the mosque he had built in Amasya. In that case the prince's governorship should be thought of not as a change that abolished Yörgüç Pasha's beylerbeyiship but as a sanjak administration under his supervision. Hüsameddin's record "he was invited to Edirne" may show that Yörgüç was summoned to the centre for a temporary period.
Where His Grave Is
The most noteworthy aspect of the article concerns the place where the prince was buried. Hüsameddin, relying on the Behcetü't-Tevârîh of the fifteenth-century historian Şükrullah, says that the prince is buried in Amasya, and relays a popular report about a dome in the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery. Present-day information, however, points to another place. In the Murâdiye Complex in Bursa, in the square-plan space known as the "Sultan Alâeddin Tomb", added by turning the east window of the Tomb of Murad II into a door, lie three sons of Murad II named Alâeddin, Ahmed and Orhan and a daughter named Şehzade Hatun. Dynastic lists also record that Büyük Ahmed is buried together with his father, that is, in Bursa.
These two pieces of information can be reconciled in several ways: the prince may have been buried first in Amasya and later moved to Bursa, or the sarcophagus in Bursa may be a memorial sarcophagus. No document showing which is correct was found. Whether the dome in the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery still stands today could not be established either.
The Prince Who Followed
The prince whose name is linked with Amasya after Ahmed is Murad II's other son, Alâeddin Ali Çelebi. In 1443, when Karamanoğlu İbrâhim Bey marched on Akşehir and Beyşehir, Murad II set out with the kapıkulu troops and Prince Alâeddin with the Amasya forces. Late in the same year, while fighting the Hungarians at the Izladi Pass, news came that this son, much loved and trusted by the sultan, had died in Amasya, and this news shook Murad greatly. Thus Murad II lost two sons who were in Amasya within five years.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 120–120. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Halil İnalcık, "Murad II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, Ankara 2020. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/murad-ii
- Fahameddin Başar, "Yörgüç Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 43, İstanbul 2013. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yorguc-pasa
- Doğan Yavaş, "Murâdiye Külliyesi (Bursa)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, Ankara 2020. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/muradiye-kulliyesi--bursa
Official sources
Other sources