AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Çelebi — Pir Mehmed Çelebizâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 144 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya a’yanından Selağzı üstünde Câmi-i şerîfi olan Şeyh Hamidoğlu Pir Mehmed Çelebizâde Hoca Ali Çelebi mahdûmu olup Amasya eşrafından iken Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa’ya tekarrub ederek Şehr-emini oldu. 960 senesi şevvalinde Şehzâde’nin i’dâmı üzerine maktûlen vefât etdi. Câmi-i şerîfin haziresinde medfûndur.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Hoca Ali Çelebi, son of Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, son of Şeyh Hamid, one of the notables of Amasya, whose mosque stands above Selağzı. While among the notables (eşraf) of Amasya, he drew close to Prince Sultan Mustafa and became şehremini. In Shawwal 960 [October 1553], upon the prince's execution, he was killed. He is buried in the cemetery of the mosque.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • a'yân: the notables of a city
  • eşrâf: noble, esteemed persons
  • tekarrub: drawing close, winning favour
  • şehr-emîni: the official in charge of a city's buildings, repairs and expenditure
  • maktûlen: having been killed
  • hazîre: small cemetery beside a mosque

The Pir Mehmet Çelebi Mosque

It is highly probable that the mosque in which Ahmed Çelebi is buried is the building known today in the centre of Amasya as the Pir Mehmet Çelebi Mosque; but no document linking the two names could be seen. This mosque, also called among the people the Pazar Mosque, Murat Mosque or Ekin Pazarı Mosque, stands on Yavuz Selim Square, on Mustafa Kemal Paşa Street. It is one of the early Ottoman mosques with a single dome and a single minaret. In front of the square-plan, domed prayer space is a closed last-congregation porch; inside, the dome is reached by Turkish triangles, and the dome drum is octagonal. The thick-bodied minaret at the northwest corner is of brick. On the west side of the mosque lies a small cemetery that has partly lost its character; the grave Hüsameddin mentions must be in this cemetery.

Present-day sources write that when and by whom the mosque was built is not known and that, judging by its architectural traces, it is thought to have been built in the fifteenth-sixteenth century. At this point Hüsameddin's record gains importance: according to him the mosque belongs to the family of Şeyh Hamidoğlu Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, and a member of the family who lived in the mid-sixteenth century was buried in its cemetery. The record does not give the building date of the mosque; it only ties the mosque to this family. The minaret of the mosque, which fell in an earthquake, was rebuilt, the building lost some of its original features in repairs, and the mosque was last restored in 2007 and is open for worship.

Prince Mustafa's Şehremini

Ahmed Çelebi's death falls in the same month as the deaths of Alaca Beyzâde Ahmed Bey and Dâmâd Ahmed Pasha told in the previous two entries. Prince Mustafa was killed on 27 Shawwal 960 [6 October 1553] at the camp near Konya Ereğlisi, and his mirahur and some of his men were slain after him. These three men of Amasya listed by Hüsameddin show that the prince's death had grave consequences for his close circle in Amasya as well. No information on Ahmed Çelebi was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 144–144. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Official sources

Books

Other sources

Volume 6 contents