Amasyalıdır. Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi Cemâleddîn Habîb Dede bin eş-Şeyh Nusreddîn Ahmed bin İbrâhim ez-Zilevî mahdûmudur. “Zileli Şeyh Nusret oğlu” demekle meşhûrdur. Amasya’da tahsîl-i ilm ü ma’rifet edib Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân devrinde Hâcegân-ı dîvân-ı hümâyûn idâdına girdi.
Şehzâdeliğinde Amasya vâlisi iken Sultân Murâd Hân-ı Sânî defterdârı olup cülûsunda Edirne’ye giderek meşâhîr-i ümenâdan oldu. 827’de Arpa Emîni görülüp 831 sâline doğru vefât etdi. A’yân-ı hâcegândan Hâcü’l-Harameyn bir zât idi. [371]
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Cemâleddîn Habîb Dede, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge; Habîb Dede was the son of Sheikh Nusreddîn Ahmed, who was the son of İbrâhim of Zile. He is known as "son of Sheikh Nusret of Zile". Having acquired learning and knowledge in Amasya, in the time of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han he entered the ranks of the hâcegân of the Imperial Council, that is, the heads of the council's chancery.
When Sultan Murad II, in his princely days, was governor of Amasya, he became his defterdar; when Murad ascended the throne, he went to Edirne and became one of the well-known stewards (emins, officials in charge of financial matters). In 827 [1423-24] he was seen as Barley Steward (Arpa Emini), and he died around 831 [1427-28]. He was one of the leading men of the hâcegân and a man who had visited Mecca and Medina (Hâcü'l-Harameyn).
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tahsîl-i ilm ü ma'rifet: acquiring learning and knowledge
- hâcegân: the leading Divan scribes and heads of the chancery
- idâd: number, group
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- ümenâ: stewards; trusted officials in charge of financial and administrative matters
- arpa emini: the official who supplied barley and fodder for the palace stables and the army
- Hâcü'l-Harameyn: a pilgrim who has visited Mecca and Medina
The Amasya Mevlevi Lodge and the Family of Sheikh Nusret of Zile
The Amasya Mevlevi Lodge, of which Ahmed Çelebi's father was sheikh, is one of the oldest dervish buildings of the city. According to Abdülhalim Durma's compilation, which also draws on Hüsameddin, the lodge was built in 1314 by Alâeddin Ali Pervane Bey, and its endowments were arranged that year. The building stood near the Hükümet Bridge, on the bank of the Yeşilırmak, east of the Saraçhane Quarter; in old records it appears as "the Mevlevi lodge of the late Alâeddin Pervâne". The presence of the Mevlevis in Amasya is older than this building; documents of 1276, 1284 and 1300 show the names of Mevlevi sheikhs in the city.
Durma, drawing on Hüsameddin, writes that in the time of Şâdgeldi Pasha the sheikh of the Mevlevi lodge was "Zileli Nusretzâde eş-Şeyh Cemâleddin Ahmed Dede", and that after him Sheikh Mehmed Cuî Dede became sheikh. In this article, however, the sheikh's name is given as Cemâleddîn Habîb Dede and his father's name as Sheikh Nusreddîn Ahmed. Since the epithet "Cemâleddîn" and the attribution "son of Nusret" are shared by the two records, it appears that the same person is meant; whether the difference in name arises from Hüsameddin's entries in two separate places or from confusion in transmission could not be determined. Durma also suggests that this Cemâleddin Dede may be the person whom the emir of Amasya, defeated by Kadı Burhâneddin, sent in 1387 as an intermediary for peace, and notes that in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname Sheikh Nusret is named as one of the caliphs of Ahmed Yesevî who came from Khorasan with Hacı Bektaş Velî. This last is a legendary account.
The later history of the Mevlevi lodge is also briefly known: it burned in 1602, and in 1637 the former grand vizier Bayram Pasha, while bringing water to Amasya at his own expense, also had a new Mevlevi lodge built together with a caravanserai.
The Titles "Hâcegân" and "Arpa Emini"
The job titles given to Ahmed Çelebi in the article call for care from the reader. The arpa emini is a palace official charged with supplying the barley and fodder needed for the palace stables, the army and the animals of statesmen coming to the capital; together with the stewardships of the Şehremaneti, the Matbah-ı Âmire and the Mint, it is counted as one of the four stewardships attached to the palace. But the date on which this stewardship was established is not known; its name is encountered in the sources from the sixteenth century onward. The term "hâcegân", for its part, began to be used to describe the scribes and heads of the chancery of the Imperial Council only from the late sixteenth century.
Hüsameddin's use of these titles for an official of the 1420s can therefore be explained in two ways: either in the document he had, an official in charge of barley and fodder matters was recorded under this name, or Hüsameddin wrote in the terms of a later period. Although the phrase in the article "seen as Barley Steward in 827" points to a document, the name of the document is not given, so this point could not be verified.
That Ahmed Çelebi was defterdar to Murad II during his princely days also agrees with the known events of the period; Murad was sent to the governorship of Amasya after his father Mehmed Çelebi became sultan, and ascended the throne in 1421. No information about Nusretzâde Ahmed Çelebi was found other than what Hüsameddin gives.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 118–118. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources