AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Çelebi — Kocacık Hoca el-Hâc

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 121 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya’nın a’yân-ı tüccârından Hoca Mehmed Çelebi oğludur. Bu da meşâhîr-i tüccârdan olup kendisine mensûb olan mahallesinde bir mescid-i şerîf yaptırdı. Vakfiyesini 871 senesi rebiülevvelinde tanzîm ederek ba’dehû vefât etdi. Dindâr ve sâhib-i hayr bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Hoca el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi ve bunun mahdûmu Hoca el-Hâc İbrâhim Çelebi ma’rûfdur.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Hoca Mehmed Çelebi, one of the leading merchants of Amasya. He himself was also one of the well-known merchants; he built a mescit in the quarter called by his name. He drew up his waqf deed in the month of Rabi' al-awwal 871 [October-November 1466] and died after this. He was a pious and charitable man. His son Hoca el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi and the latter's son Hoca el-Hâc İbrahim Çelebi are well-known people.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • a'yân-ı tüccâr: the leading merchants
  • meşâhîr-i tüccâr: well-known merchants
  • mescid-i şerîf: mescit; a small place of worship with no minbar, where the Friday prayer is not performed
  • vakfiye: the founding document showing a waqf's conditions, revenues and staff
  • sâhib-i hayr: a man of charity, philanthropist
  • ma'rûf: known, well-known

The Kocacık Mescit and the Kocacıkoğulları

The article does not name the quarter or the mescit; but when the epithet "Kocacık Hoca" in the title is read together with a record by Hüsameddin elsewhere in the work, it is understood that the building in question is the Kocacık Mescit. In the article on İbrahim Çelebi, Hüsameddin writes that İbrahim Çelebi, son of Kocacıkoğlu Hoca Mehmed Çelebi, one of the well-known merchants, rebuilt "the Kocacık Mescit built by his grandfather", endowed three shops and from their income fixed salaries of staff for the mescit's expenses, and died after 931 [1524-25]. He adds that the family appears in official records as "Kocacıkoğlu" and that they were called "Kocacıkoğulları".

These two records complement each other. Ahmed Çelebi's son is Hoca el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi, and his son is Hoca el-Hâc İbrahim Çelebi; İbrahim Çelebi's "grandfather" is then the subject of this article, Ahmed Çelebi. That in both records the father's name is Hoca Mehmed Çelebi may at first sight cause confusion; but İbrahim Çelebi's having died after 931 shows that he is not the brother but the grandson of Ahmed Çelebi, who died after 1466. Thus Ahmed Çelebi built the mescit before 1466, and after more than half a century his grandson renewed it and supported it with new income. This family, which looked after the same mescit for three generations, is a fine example of how a quarter mescit was kept alive in the hands of a merchant dynasty.

No information on the present state of the mescit was found in a reliable source. No record about Ahmed Çelebi himself could be found apart from Hüsameddin.

Bibliography

Volume 6 contents