Amasya’da Selağzı’nın üstünde dere kenârında câmi-i şerîfi olan el-Hâc Hâce Pir Mehmed Çelebi bin el-Hâc Hâce Süleyman Çelebi bin Mevlânâ Kemâleddîn Ahmed Çelebi bin eş-Şeyh Hâmîdüddîn Abdülhamîd bin el-Hâc Ahmed Baba bin Mehmed el-Husrev Şâhî mahdûmudur.
Hâcegân-i Dîvân-ı hümâyundan Yenicelioğlu Mehmed Çelebi kerîmesini tezevvüc edib pederinin 918’de irtihâline binâen metrûkât-ı cesîmesine vâris olarak meşâhîr-i tüccârdan ve a’yândan oldu. Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’e mebâliğ-i külliye ikrâz eylediğinden dolayı 919’da hapsedildi. [408] 921’de Çaldıran seferinden avdetinde Sultân Selîm Han Amasya’ya geldikte Anadolu Defterdârı olan kayın pederi Memi (Mehmed) Çelebi’nin şefâatı ve Baş Defterdâr Amasyalı Pîrî Mehmed Paşa’nın arzı üzerine perişân hâline rahmeten affa nâil olmakla beraber Sultân Ahmed’e Beytü’l-mâl nâmına ikrâz eylediği mebâliğ-i külliyesi de verildi.
922’de teşekküren Hicâz’a gitdi. Avdetde pederinin evkâfını hüsn-i idâre ederek ticâretini genişletdi. Mükerreren Amasya Şehremîni olup 931 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i a’yân ve eshıyâdan zî-servet ü sâmân bir zât idi.
Mahdûmları el-Hâc Hasan, Hüseyin Çelebiler ve dâmâdı meşhûr Yeniceli oğlu İskender Çelebi bin Mûsâ Çelebi ve birâderi de el-Hâc Hüseyin Çelebi’dir. Mahdûmu Hüseyin Bey İskender Çelebi’nin kayını olduğu münâsebetle 941 ramazânında müşârün-ileyhin i’dâmını müteâkib Bağdâd’da salben i’dâm edildi.
In Modern English
He was the son of el-Hâc Hâce Pir Mehmed Çelebi, who has a mosque beside the stream above Selağzı in Amasya; Pir Mehmed Çelebi was the son of el-Hâc Hâce Süleyman Çelebi, son of Mevlânâ Kemâleddîn Ahmed Çelebi, son of eş-Şeyh Hâmîdüddîn Abdülhamîd, son of el-Hâc Ahmed Baba, son of Mehmed el-Husrev Şâhî.
He married the daughter of Yenicelioğlu Mehmed Çelebi, one of the hâcegân (senior clerks) of the Divan-ı Hümayun. When his father died in 918 [1512], inheriting the great estate left behind, he became one of the well-known merchants and notables of the city. Because he lent a large amount of money to Prince Sultan Ahmed, he was imprisoned in 919 [1513]. In 921 [1515], when Sultan Selim Khan came to Amasya on his return from the Çaldıran campaign, through the intercession of his father-in-law Memi (Mehmed) Çelebi, who was the defterdar of Anatolia, and at the presentation to the sultan by the chief treasurer Pîrî Mehmed Pasha of Amasya, he was pardoned out of pity for his wretched state; in addition, the large sums he had lent to Sultan Ahmed were paid back to him from the account of the Beytülmal (state treasury).
In 922 [1516] he went to the Hijaz in gratitude. On his return he managed his father's waqfs well and expanded his trade. He was several times şehremini of Amasya and died after 931 [1524-25]. He was among the well-known notables and generous men of the city, a man of wealth and property.
His sons are el-Hâc Hasan and Hüseyin Çelebi; his son-in-law is the famous Yenicelioğlu İskender Çelebi bin Mûsâ Çelebi, and his brother is el-Hâc Hüseyin Çelebi. His son Hüseyin Bey, because he was İskender Çelebi's brother-in-law, was executed by hanging in Baghdad after the execution of the said man in Ramadan 941 [March 1535].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Hâcegân-ı Dîvân-ı hümâyun: the senior clerks of the Divan-ı Hümayun
- kerîme: daughter
- tezevvüc: marriage
- metrûkât-ı cesîme: a great inheritance
- a'yân: the notables of a city
- mebâliğ-i külliye: a large amount of money
- ikrâz: lending money
- avdet: return
- şefâat: intercession, asking for someone's pardon
- arz: a request presented to the sultan
- Beytü'l-mâl: the state treasury
- teşekküren: in gratitude
- hüsn-i idâre: good administration
- mükerreren: several times
- eshıyâ: generous men
- zî-servet ü sâmân: possessing wealth and property
- kayın: the brother of one's spouse
The Family's Mosque: the Pir Mehmet Çelebi Mosque
In the center of Amasya there is a single-domed mosque known today as the Pir Mehmet Çelebi Mosque, also called the Pazar Mosque, the Murat Mosque, and the Ekin Pazarı Mosque. Present-day sources say that it is not known when and by whom this mosque was built, and that judging by its architectural features it may have been built in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Built of rubble stone, its square-plan prayer hall is covered with a dome on an octagonal drum. The middle of the last-congregation porch in front, with brick arches, is covered with a mirrored vault and its sides with a dome each; above the arches a panel decorated with brick motifs extends along the facade. Its thick-bodied, single-balcony brick minaret is at the northwest corner. The minaret that collapsed in an earthquake was rebuilt, and with the repair of 2007 the shapes of the arches and some original features were spoiled.
Hüsameddin's phrase "el-Hâc Hâce Pir Mehmed Çelebi, who has a noble mosque beside the stream above Selağzı" gives a clue to the identity of this mosque, whose founder is unknown. Since Ahmed Çelebi's father Pir Mehmed Çelebi died in 918 [1512], that the mosque was built at the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century also agrees with architectural dating. Nevertheless it is not certain that the present mosque is the building Hüsameddin means; this is only an inference based on the similarity of name and period.
The Cost of the Struggle for the Throne to a Merchant of Amasya
The most striking aspect of the entry is that it shows how the struggle for the throne among the sons of Bayezid II was reflected on the notables of the city. Prince Ahmed had been in Amasya as sanjak bey, and was the prince to whom his father Bayezid II is known at one point to have thought of leaving the sultanate. When Selim took the throne, the struggle between them ended on 15 April 1513 with Ahmed's defeat on the Yenişehir plain. Ahmed Çelebi's imprisonment in 919 [1513] falls immediately after this defeat; his having lent money to the prince must have made him, in the new sultan's eyes, a supporter of the opposing side.
Selim the Grim returned to Amasya after the Battle of Çaldıran on 16 Şevval 920 (4 December 1514) and spent the winter here. Ahmed Çelebi's pardon coincides with this winter period. Pîrî Mehmed Pasha, among those who interceded for his pardon, is the statesman who would later become grand vizier. According to present-day sources he was probably born in Konya; because his father, the Khalwati sheikh Cemâl-i Halvetî, was in Amasya, he began his madrasa education here and for a time worked as a clerk at the Amasya Court. Hüsameddin's calling him "of Amasya" comes from this tie of upbringing. After Selim's accession he became chief treasurer, took part in Çaldıran as defterdar of Rumeli, and on 25 Şaban 920 (15 October 1514) was appointed to the vizierate. Therefore at the time the sultan was in Amasya, Pîrî Mehmed Pasha was already a vizier; the title "Baş Defterdâr" in Hüsameddin belongs to his previous post. No other record was found of the father-in-law Memi (Mehmed) Çelebi's defterdarship of Anatolia.
The Defterdar İskender Çelebi and the Death of Hüseyin Bey
İskender Çelebi, mentioned as Ahmed Çelebi's son-in-law, is Chief Treasurer İskender Çelebi, one of the most powerful finance men of the age of Süleyman the Magnificent. According to Peçevî he was trained by Hain Ahmed Pasha; he entered the defterhane as an apprentice and rose to the chief treasurership. He was long a close friend of Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrâhim Pasha and reached such wealth and influence that it was said he had seven thousand men in his retinue. He protected, trained, or introduced to the great men of state many poets of the time, Hayâlî foremost. During the Irakeyn Campaign he fell out with İbrâhim Pasha, the problems in the army's movement were laid to his charge, he was dismissed on 24 October 1534, and four months and twenty days after his dismissal he was executed by hanging at the Horse Market in Baghdad.
This date agrees with the Ramadan 941, that is March 1535, given by Hüsameddin. Hüsameddin's record is important in that it reports that this execution was not limited to İskender Çelebi alone, and that Hüseyin Bey of Amasya, his brother-in-law, was hanged in Baghdad at the same time. This second execution was not encountered in other sources. Hüsameddin's calling İskender Çelebi "Yenicelioğlu," and the fact that his father-in-law Ahmed Çelebi was also son-in-law of Yenicelioğlu Mehmed Çelebi, suggests that the two families formed an interlocking web of kinship around the clerkships of the Divan-ı Hümayun.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 129–130. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources
Books
Other sources