Amasyalıdır. Selâtîn-i Osmâniyyeden İkinci Sultân Bâyezîd Hân ibn-i Fâtih Sultân Mehmed Hân-ı Sânî bin Sultân Murâd Hân-ı Sânî şehzâdesidir. 870’de Amasya’da doğdu. 878’de emr-i mesnûn-ı hıtânı İstanbul’da icrâ edilip Amasya’ya gönderildi. 880’de Amasyalı Pîr İmâm Mezîdzâde Şerefeddîn Ya’kûb Çelebi hizmet-i ta’limine me’mûr oldu.
886 senesi rebiülevvelinde Sultân Bâyezîd Hân Amasya’dan İstanbul’a gidip taht-ı saltanata cülûs etdikte yerine Amasya vâlisi [399] ve Candarlızâde İbrâhim Paşa da lalası ve müdebbir-i umûru, Yörgüç Paşazâde Süleyman Paşa vilâyet muhâfızı, Hacı Beyzâde Tâcî Bey nişâncısı, Hacı Sinan Beyzâde Abdullah Bey de defterdârı oldu.
887’de İbrâhim Paşa İstanbul’a gidip yerine defterdâr Abdullah Paşa lalası ve müdebbir-i umûru oldu. Yeniceli Mûsâ Çelebi defterdârı olarak teayyün etdi. 889 senesi muharreminde Amasyalı Hızır Paşazâde Mehmed Paşa lalası ve müdebbir-i umûru olarak İstanbul’dan geldi. Abdullah Paşa, Anadolu beylerbeyi olup Hatîb Kâsım Efendi de mu’allimi oldu.
890’da Süleyman Paşa İstanbul’a gitdi. 894’de mu’allimi Hatîb Kâsım Efendi vefât eylediğinden Birgilizâde Mustafa Efendi mu’allimi olarak İstanbul’dan geldi. Amasya’nın kibâr-ı ulemâ ve fuzalâsına nisbetle genç ve mu’îd çağında sayılırdı. Biraz da mağrûr ve müteazzım bir zât idi.
896’da şehzâdeleri Murâd ve Alâeddîn Beylere sünnet düğünü tertîb eylemişdi. Mu’allim-i mûmâ ileyhin Amasya fuzalâsına karşı te’azzum ve tasaddur-ı dâ’iyesi ve ulemânın da te’annüdü oldukça mühim bir vak’aya sebebiyet verdiğinden mu’allimin azliyle Pîr İmâm [400] Mezîd oğlu Şerefeddîn Ya’kûb Efendi mu’allim oldu.
Senelerden beri saray muhâfızı olan Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Bey Tokat sancağı beyi olup gitdi. Yerine Dizdârzâde Mustafa Bey saray muhâfızı oldu. Amasya’da mukîm olan Şehzâde Sultân Selîm, Şehenşâh, Alemşâh, Korkud Çelebilerden her biri birer büyük sancağa vâlî ve emîr gönderildi.
898’de Nişâncı Hacıbeyzâde Tâcî Bey Emîr-i divân olup Tâceddîn Paşa unvânını aldı. Ulemâ-yı A’câmdan Ahmed bin Kutbeddîn el-Câmî de nişâncı olup “Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi” dendi. Sadr-ı esbak Amasyalı İshâk Paşazâde Pîrî Bey defterdâr olup selefi Yeniceli Mûsâ Çelebi İstanbul’a gitdi.
904’de lalası Vezîr Mehmed Paşa’nın vefâtı üzerine Emîr-i Divân Tâceddîn Paşa lalası olup saray muhâfızı olan Mustafa Paşa emîr-i divân ve ve Âbâdzâde Kâsım Paşa da saray muhâfızı oldu. Ancak nişâncı Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi fevkalâde yüz bulup erkân-ı divânı şehzâdeye fazla si’âyet etmeye başladı.
905’de Tâceddîn Paşa, Kefe beylerbeyi olup [401] yerine Hakalalı Âbâdoğlu Kâsım Paşa bin Abdullah Bey vezîr ve lalası ve nişâncı Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi de azledilip yerine kudâtdan Sibekzâde Ahmed Efendi nişâncı oldu.
908’de vezîr Kâsım Paşa’nın husamâsı olan A’câmın ilkâât-ı bed-hâhanesiyle şehzâdeyi igzâb eylediğinden bi’z-zarûre Trabzon’a vâlî Şehzâde Selîm Hân’ın nezdine firâr ve ilticâ etdiği esnâda emîr-i divân olan Karagöz Ahmed Ağazâde Mustafa Paşa vezîr ve lalası oldu.
909 senesi şevvâlinde vezîri Mustafa Paşa İstanbul’a gidip yerine emîr-i divân olan Yularkısdı Sinan Paşa vezîr ve lalası ve 910’da nişâncı Ahmed Efendi’den vefâtıyla Amasyalı ulemâdan Münîrî Mehmed Çelebi nişancı ve alaybeyi Acem Alizâde Bâlî Bey de emîr-i divân ve Amasyalı Yahşî Beyzâde Ahmed Bey de saray muhâfızı oldu.
Bu hey’et kendisini hüsn-i idâre ederek icrâ-yı saltanat etmekde iken iki mes’ele huzur ve zevkini ihlâl ediyordu: Biri birâderi Sultân Selîm Hân’ın kıyâmı, diğeri de [402] Şâh İsmâil Safevî hesâbına Şi’îlerin isyânı idi. Bunların her ikisi de pek mühimdi.
916’da kendisini pek ziyâde bî-huzûr eden birinci mes’eleyi halletmek üzere şehzâdesi Sultân Murâd’ı Amasya’da kâ’im-makâm nasb ederek Üsküdâr’a gitdi. Pederinin taht-ı saltanatı kendisine ferâgat edeceğini umardı. Sultân Bâyezîd de bu fikir ve niyetde idi.
Lâkin Şi’îlerin isyânı Anadolu’da bir herc ü merc uyandıracak derecede kesb-i ehemmiyet etmişdi. Binâen’aleyh yeniçeri ağası Dukakinzâde Ahmed Ağa’nın tertîbinden ileri geldiği zann edilen yeniçeri zâbıtânının müdâhalesi cülûsa mâni’ oldu. Cülûs-ı erbâb isyânın tenkiline ta’lîk edilerek bil-mecburiye Amasya’ya döndü.
917’de Sadr-ı a’zam Atik Ali Paşa âsilerin üzerine serdâr olup ordusuyla Amasya’ya geldi. Edilen muharebede Serdâr Ali Paşa şehîd ve ordusu mağlûben târâç edildiğinden büyük ümitsizliklere dûçâr oldu. [403]
Bu esnâda birâderi Sultân Selîm Hân’ın cülûs için Edirne’den hareketle İstanbul’a tekarrüb etdiğini duydu. Tekrâr Üsküdâr’a koştu. Maltepe’ye vusûlünde 918 saferinin yedinci günü birâderinin tahta cülûs etdiğini haber aldı.
Bu hâdiseden fevkalâde müte’essir olup Maltepe’den döndü. Bursa, Ankara, Konya gibi eyâlât-ı cesîmeye kendi tarafından vâliler nasb ederek Amasya’ya gelip i’lân-ı saltanat etdi. Nâmına hutbe okutdu. Birâderini tanımadı. Her tarafdan kuvvetlerini cem’ ederek büyük bir ordu ile İstanbul üzerine yürüdü.
Amasya havâlisinde bir avuç denecek kadar mikdârı az olan âsilere mağlûb ordusu Eskişehir önünde birâderi Sultân Selîm Hân ordusuna karşı duramadı. Yine mağlûb olup esir oldu. 918 senesi zilhiccesinde birâderinin fermânı ile boğuldu. Cenâzesi Bursa’ya gönderilip zilhiccenin on dokuzuncu günü Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî türbesine defnedildiği Bursa sicilinde görüldü. [404]
Âlim, Arab u Acem edebiyâtına vâkıf, şâir, tab’an kerîm, adl ü hakkaniyeti sever, ulemâ ve meşâyîhe muhib, Acemlere pek mâ’il, zevk ü sefâya mübtelâ, azmi kavî, kalb ü re’yi za’if idi. Bu yüzden kendisini ve Amasya’yı felâkete sürükledi.
Akdağ eteğinde kâin Zana karyesiyle Ziyare Mahallesi’nde birer câmi-i şerîfi olduğu vakfiyeden anlaşıldı. Vâlidesi Bülbül Hâtun’un Amasya’da câmi ve mekteb ve imâreti, Lâdik kasabasında câmi-i şerîf ve hamâmı olduğu vakfiyesinde mezkûrdur.
Şehzâdeleri Murâd, Osmân, Alâeddîn, Süleyman, Kâsım, Hızır, Bâyezîd Beylerle kerîmeleri Gevherhan, Neslihân Sultânlar ma’rûfdur. Dâmâdları da Şâdgeldi ahfâdından Nasûh Beyzâde Süleyman Bey ve Yularkısdı Sinan Paşazâde Mustafa Bey olduğu da 927 Rebiülevvel târîhli enderûn-ı vezâ’if defterinde muharrer görüldü. Bunların terâcim-i ahvâli ve evlâdı aşağıda gelir. [405]
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He is the prince of Sultan Bayezid II, one of the Ottoman sultans, son of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (Mehmed II), son of Sultan Murad II. He was born in Amasya in 870 [1465-66]. In 878 [1473-74] his circumcision ceremony was held in Istanbul and he was sent back to Amasya. In 880 [1475-76] Pîr İmâm Mezîdzâde Şerefeddîn Ya'kûb Çelebi of Amasya was charged with teaching him.
When in the month of Rebîülevvel 886 [May 1481] Sultan Bayezid Khan went from Amasya to Istanbul and sat on the throne of the sultanate, he became governor of Amasya in his place. Candarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha became his lala and manager of his affairs, Yörgüç Paşazâde Süleyman Pasha the guardian of the province, Hacı Beyzâde Tâcî Bey his nişancı, and Hacı Sinan Beyzâde Abdullah Bey his defterdar.
In 887 [1482-83] İbrâhim Pasha went to Istanbul; in his place the defterdar Abdullah Pasha became lala and manager of his affairs. Yeniceli Mûsâ Çelebi was appointed defterdar. In Muharrem 889 [February 1484] Hızır Paşazâde Mehmed Pasha of Amasya came from Istanbul as lala and manager of his affairs. Abdullah Pasha became beylerbeyi of Anatolia, and Hatîb Kâsım Efendi became the prince's teacher.
In 890 [1485] Süleyman Pasha went to Istanbul. In 894 [1488-89], when his teacher Hatîb Kâsım Efendi died, Birgilizâde Mustafa Efendi came from Istanbul as his teacher. This man was considered young by the great scholars and learned men of Amasya, though he was still seen as being at the age of a muîd. He was also somewhat proud and thought himself great.
In 896 [1490-91] the prince had arranged a circumcision feast for his sons Murâd and Alâeddîn Beys. Because the said teacher's showing off greatness before the scholars of Amasya and his eagerness to take precedence, and the scholars' stubbornly resisting it, led to a rather serious incident, the teacher was dismissed and Şerefeddîn Ya'kûb Efendi, son of Pîr İmâm Mezîd, was appointed teacher.
Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Bey, who had been for years the palace guardian, went as sanjak bey of Tokat. In his place Dizdârzâde Mustafa Bey became palace guardian. Prince Sultan Selîm, Şehenşâh, Alemşâh, and Korkud Çelebi, who were living in Amasya, were each sent as governor and bey to a great sanjak.
In 898 [1492-93] the Nişancı Hacıbeyzâde Tâcî Bey became divan emir and took the title Tâceddîn Pasha. Ahmed bin Kutbeddîn el-Câmî, one of the Persian scholars, became nişancı; he was called "Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi." The former grand vizier's son, İshâk Paşazâde Pîrî Bey of Amasya, became defterdar; the previous defterdar Yeniceli Mûsâ Çelebi went to Istanbul.
In 904 [1498-99], on the death of his lala Vizier Mehmed Pasha, the divan emir Tâceddîn Pasha became his lala; the palace guardian Mustafa Pasha became divan emir, and Âbâdzâde Kâsım Pasha became palace guardian. But the nişancı Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi gained extraordinary favor with the prince and began to complain excessively to him about the leading men of the divan.
In 905 [1499-1500] Tâceddîn Pasha became beylerbeyi of Kefe; in his place Kâsım Pasha, son of Hakalalı Âbâdoğlu Abdullah Bey, became vizier and lala. The nişancı Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi was also dismissed, and in his place Sibekzâde Ahmed Efendi, one of the kadıs, became nişancı.
In 908 [1502-03], because the Persians who were enemies of Vizier Kâsım Pasha angered the prince against him with their ill-intentioned suggestions, Kâsım Pasha, left helpless, fled and took refuge with Prince Selîm Khan, the governor of Trabzon. At this time Karagöz Ahmed Ağazâde Mustafa Pasha, who was then divan emir, became vizier and lala.
In Şevval 909 [March-April 1504] Vizier Mustafa Pasha went to Istanbul; in his place the divan emir Yularkısdı Sinan Pasha became vizier and lala. In 910 [1504-05], on the death of the nişancı Ahmed Efendi, Münîrî Mehmed Çelebi, one of the scholars of Amasya, became nişancı, the alaybeyi (commander of the parade) Acem Alizâde Bâlî Bey became divan emir, and Yahşî Beyzâde Ahmed Bey of Amasya became palace guardian.
While this body of men governed the prince well and he carried on his rule, two matters disturbed his peace and pleasure: one was the revolt of his brother Sultan Selîm Khan, the other the rebellion of the Shiites on behalf of Shah İsmâil Safavi. Both of these were very important.
In 916 [1510-11], to resolve the first matter, which troubled him greatly, he went to Üsküdar, leaving his son Sultan Murâd in Amasya as deputy in his place. He hoped his father would leave the throne of the sultanate to him. Sultan Bayezid too was of this thought and intention.
But the Shiite rebellion had become so important that it caused great confusion in Anatolia. For this reason the intervention of the Janissary officers, thought to have been arranged by the Janissary Ağa Dukakinzâde Ahmed Ağa, prevented his accession. His accession was postponed until after the suppression of the rebels, and the prince was forced to return to Amasya.
In 917 [1511-12] Grand Vizier Atik Ali Pasha came to Amasya with his army as commander against the rebels. In the battle fought, the commander Ali Pasha fell as a martyr and his army was defeated and dispersed; at this the prince was seized by great despair.
At this time he heard that his brother Sultan Selîm Khan had set out from Edirne to take the throne and was approaching Istanbul. He rushed once more to Üsküdar. When he reached Maltepe, on the seventh day of Safer 918 [24 April 1512] he learned that his brother had ascended the throne.
Extremely affected by this event, he turned back from Maltepe. Appointing governors on his own side to the great provinces such as Bursa, Ankara, and Konya, he came to Amasya and proclaimed his sultanate. He had the sermon read in his name and did not recognize his brother as sultan. Gathering his forces from every side, he marched on Istanbul with a great army.
His army, which had been defeated by rebels so few around Amasya that they could be called a handful, could not stand before the army of his brother Sultan Selîm Khan at Eskişehir. He was defeated again and taken prisoner. In Zilhicce 918 [February-March 1513] he was strangled by his brother's decree. It was seen in the Bursa court register that his body was sent to Bursa and on the nineteenth day of Zilhicce was buried in the tomb of Sultan Murâd II.
He was a scholar; he knew Arabic and Persian literature and composed poetry. He was generous by nature, loved justice and fairness, and felt affection for scholars and sheikhs. He was very inclined toward the Persians and was fond of entertainment and pleasure; his determination was strong, but his heart and his judgment were weak. For this reason he drove both himself and Amasya to disaster.
It was understood from the waqf deed that he had a mosque each in the village of Zana at the foot of Akdağ and in the Ziyare quarter. It is written in the waqf deed of his mother Bülbül Hatun that she had a mosque, a school, and an imaret in Amasya and a mosque and a bathhouse in the town of Lâdik.
His sons Murâd, Osmân, Alâeddîn, Süleyman, Kâsım, Hızır, and Bâyezîd Beys and his daughters Gevherhan and Neslihan Sultans are known. It was seen written in the register of Enderun duties of Rebîülevvel 927 [February-March 1521] that his sons-in-law were Nasûh Beyzâde Süleyman Bey, of the descendants of Şâdgeldi, and Yularkısdı Sinan Paşazâde Mustafa Bey. Their life stories and children will come below.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- selâtîn-i Osmâniyye: the Ottoman sultans
- emr-i mesnûn-ı hıtân: the Sunnah-prescribed act of circumcision, the circumcision ceremony
- hizmet-i ta'lîm: teaching, the duty of instruction
- lala: the statesman who raises a prince and runs the affairs of his sanjak
- müdebbir-i umûr: manager of affairs
- teayyün etmek: to be appointed, to be designated
- mu'îd çağı: the age of a muîd; a youth still reckoned as a müderris's assistant
- müteazzım: one who thinks himself great
- te'azzum ve tasaddur dâ'iyesi: showing off greatness and eagerness to take precedence
- te'annüd: stubborn resistance
- emîr-i dîvân: the bey at the head of the prince's divan
- si'âyet: slandering and denouncing someone, informing
- husamâ: adversaries, enemies
- ilkâât-ı bed-hâhâne: ill-intentioned suggestions
- igzâb: making angry
- kâ'im-makâm: one who acts as deputy for someone
- herc ü merc: confusion, turmoil
- kesb-i ehemmiyet: gaining importance
- tenkîl: suppressing, punishing a rebellion
- ta'lîk: postponing, deferring
- târâç: plunder, dispersal
- tekarrüb: approaching
- eyâlât-ı cesîme: great provinces
- mâ'il: inclined, fond
- kalb ü re'y: heart and judgment, courage and power of decision
- enderûn-ı vezâ'if defteri: the register in which the salaries given to those in the inner service of the palace were recorded
His Birth and the Sanjak Governorship of Amasya
The birth year of Prince Ahmed is given in the sources as around 1465 or 1466; Hüsameddin's date of 870 covers both years. He was born in the years when his father Bayezid II was sanjak bey in Amasya, and he was his father's eldest surviving son. The circumcision ceremony that Hüsameddin says was held in Istanbul matches the event Feridun Emecen recounts on the basis of Kemalpaşazâde: Mehmed the Conqueror summoned the children of his son Bayezid, that is Ahmed, Korkut, Selim, Mahmud, and Âlemşah, to Istanbul together with Oğuz Han, son of Cem Sultan, showed them great attention, and had them circumcised.
According to Selim Özcan's finding, the prince who served longest as sanjak bey in Amasya is Prince Ahmed, for nearly thirty years. This long period left traces in the city. When his father ascended the throne in 1481, the foundation of the complex to be built in Amasya in his memory was laid by Prince Ahmed, and the building was completed in 1486. According to the Amasya author Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi, Bayezid II had ordered Prince Ahmed and his lala Mehmed Pasha to build this mosque, imaret, and madrasa. Mustafa Çağhan Keskin, recalling that the prince was still a child at the time, thinks the real person responsible for the construction was the lala Mehmed Pasha. Amasya Castle was also repaired in 1511, during Prince Ahmed's sanjak governorship. Some of the city's vineyards appear in the records of 1576, near the Savadiye quarter, under the name "Şehzade Ahmed Vineyards."
The Lalas: Hüsameddin and the Archival Records
The detailed list Hüsameddin gives of the prince's divan rests largely on local sources and waqf deeds. Nejat Göyünç's study, based on the timar ruznamçe registers, partly confirms and partly corrects this list. According to Göyünç, Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha, by Taşköprizâde's record, remained the prince's lala until he became kazasker in 890 [1485-86]; Hüsameddin, however, says he went to Istanbul in 887. In the archival records, Sinan Bey, nicknamed Yularkısdı, appears as lala in 1486-87; in a document in the Topkapı Palace Archive Prince Ahmed objected to this appointment in words to the effect of "I have heard some things about him, I am not content with his being lala." Sinan Bey moved to the sanjak governorship of Kayseri at the end of 1487 and in 1488 was among those who fled in the battle of Ağaçayırı against the Mamluks. After this interval, which does not appear at all in Hüsameddin's record, the appointment of Hızır Beyoğlu Mehmed Pasha to the lalaship is dated 23 June 1488 according to the record of a has (revenue grant) of 459,550 akçe assigned to him. Hüsameddin, however, writes that Mehmed Pasha came to Amasya in Muharrem 889 [February 1484]. According to Hoca Sâdeddin Efendi too, Mehmed Pasha was dismissed from the vizierate in 890 [1485] and appointed lala to Prince Ahmed. The sources agree on Mehmed Pasha's year of death: according to Ayvansarâyî's record too he died in Amasya in 904 [1498].
It is highly probable that Yularkısdı Sinan Pasha, whom Hüsameddin made lala in 909, and Yularkısdı Sinan Bey, mentioned by Göyünç, are the same person; in that case the lala the prince had once not wanted returned to his side years later. Yularkısdı Sinan Paşazâde Mustafa Bey, mentioned among the sons-in-law, also belongs to this family.
The Prince's Circle
Prince Ahmed, like his father, gathered poets and scholars at his court. The famous woman poet of Amasya, Mihrî Hatun, was present at his assemblies and presented most of her qasidas to him. Among his teachers are Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, whom Hüsameddin mentions, and his son Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, who later rose to a müderrisship of the Sahn-ı Semân. Hüsameddin's describing the prince as "very inclined toward the Persians" is treated more openly in the volume of the work narrating the history of Amasya: there it is related that the prince's physician Kutb-ı Şirvânî and his nişancı Ahmed-i Câmî exalted Persian literature, language, and statesmen in the prince's eyes, and that in these years when Safavid propaganda was spreading, the Persians who came to Amasya looked out for one another. Hüsameddin's harsh assessment on this matter is his own interpretation, from his own point of view, of the political picture that prepared the prince's end.
The Struggle for the Throne
The main line of events agrees with other sources, but there are differences in some dates. According to Şerafettin Turan, Bayezid II, whose health had deteriorated with age and with his gout (nikris), wanted to place on the throne his eldest son Ahmed, who resembled him in behavior; this inclination began an early struggle among his sons. Ahmed's strongest supporter was Grand Vizier Hadım Ali Pasha. When the Şahkulu revolt broke out in the spring of 1511, the failure Prince Ahmed showed in suppressing the revolt increased Selim's chances. When Ahmed was summoned to Istanbul, the Janissaries rose on 21 September 1511 and plundered the houses of his supporters; Ahmed, who had come as far as Üsküdar, turned back without being able to enter the city. Hüsameddin places this first journey to Üsküdar in 916; the date of the events in other sources is 917 [1511].
The grand vizier Hüsameddin calls "Atik Ali Pasha" is none other than Hadım Ali Pasha. His death is told differently in the sources. According to Hüsameddin, Ali Pasha came to Amasya, fell as a martyr in the battle, and his army was routed. According to other sources, however, in the battle fought at the place called Gökçay (Çubukova) near Sivas the Ottoman army defeated Şahkulu's forces, but Ali Pasha, who was severely wounded, was brought to Amasya for treatment and died there shortly after. His body was buried in Amasya in the tomb next to the Kurtboğan Tomb.
The date Hüsameddin gives for Selim's accession, 7 Safer 918 [24 April 1512], agrees exactly with the other sources. According to Feridun Emecen, after this Ahmed settled in Konya and began to act like a ruler, and sent his son Alâeddin to Bursa. When Selim the Grim crossed into Anatolia, Ahmed withdrew first to Ankara, then to Amasya and Darende. While Selim spent the winter in Bursa, Ahmed again took Amasya under his control. Deceived by letters that reached him, he marched on Bursa with the troops he had gathered. According to some sources these letters were forged ones that Selim had had written in the voice of his own viziers, promising that when the battle began they would go over to Ahmed's side.
On the place and date of the last battle, Hüsameddin's record differs from the other sources. Hüsameddin writes that the battle was fought before Eskişehir and that the prince was strangled in Zilhicce 918 [February-March 1513]. In the other sources the battle takes place on the Yenişehir plain of Bursa and the date falls in the month of Safer of 919: Feridun Emecen gives 8 Safer 919 [15 April 1513], other sources the date 24 April 1513. At the battle of Yenişehir, Ahmed's numerous but disorderly forces were scattered before Selim's army, small in number but orderly and superior in firepower. Ahmed, who tried to flee, was caught together with his son Osman and, according to some sources, strangled with a bowstring by the Kapıcıbaşı Sinan Ağa. The burial date that Hüsameddin bases on the Bursa register falls about two months before the accepted date of the battle; the source of this difference could not be determined.
His Tomb in Bursa
Hüsameddin says the prince was buried in the tomb of Sultan Murad II. Prince Ahmed lies today in a separate tomb bearing his own name within the Muradiye Complex in Bursa. This tomb was built by the decree of Selim the Grim dated 919 [1513]. The building, with an octagonal plan, covered by a lead-clad dome and built of cut stone and brick, has its interior walls covered with turquoise hexagonal tiles. There are six sarcophagi in the tomb: Prince Ahmed, his mother Bülbül Hatun, his brother Şehinşah, Şehinşah's son Mehmed, and Selim's other brother Prince Korkut are buried here; to whom the sixth sarcophagus belongs is not known. Hüsameddin's expression "the tomb of Sultan Murad II" may mean the Muradiye Complex in which this tomb stands.
The Works of Bülbül Hatun and of the Prince
The prince's mother Bülbül Hatun stayed beside her son while he was sanjak bey in Amasya. According to Ahmet Gündüz's study based on waqf deeds, she endowed all her property for the upkeep of the charitable institutions she had built in Amasya and Lâdik and had two waqf deeds drawn up, in 1511 and 1513. According to these deeds she had a mosque, an imaret, a boys' school (sıbyan mektebi), and a fountain built in Amasya, and a mosque and an imaret in Lâdik. The bathhouse Hüsameddin mentions for Lâdik does not appear in this study, and the imaret is not in Hüsameddin's record for Lâdik.
The building in Amasya is the Hatuniye Mosque on the north bank of the Yeşilırmak in the Hatuniye quarter, and it stands today. The imaret is recorded as built in 1509. According to İ. Aydın Yüksel's description, the mosque consists of two small domes one behind the other and vaulted sections beside them; to its east is the Enderun Mosque, left from the Danishmendids, and to its west the Yıldız Bathhouse of the Seljuk period. Hüsameddin recorded that the school was of masonry and sound, and still in use as a school in 1300 [1882]. The original inscription over the door has been lost, and in 1980 an Arabic prayer meaning "O You who open the doors, open for us the door of good" was written in its place.
No information was found in other sources about the mosques in the village of Zana and the Ziyare quarter that are said to belong to Prince Ahmed himself.
His Children
The list of children Hüsameddin gives does not match exactly the lists in other sources. In some sources Prince Ahmed's sons are counted as Süleyman, Alâeddin, Osman, Murad, Mehmed, Mustafa, and Kâsım; among his daughters Kamerşah and Fatma Sultans are mentioned. The Hızır and Bâyezîd Beys and the Gevherhan and Neslihan Sultans that Hüsameddin mentions do not appear in these lists. On the fate of his sons the sources say the following: Murad went over to Nur Ali, one of the Safavid caliphs, against Selim, then took refuge with Shah İsmail, and died after serving some years as an administrator in Iran. Alâeddin and Süleyman fled to Egypt and died there in a plague epidemic. Kâsım too took refuge in Egypt. Osman, however, was caught with his father, killed, and buried in Amasya. At the end of the entry Hüsameddin announces that the biographies of these persons will be given separately.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Feridun Emecen, "Selim I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/selim-i
- Şerafettin Turan, "Bayezid II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayezid-ii
- Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 5. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/19685
- Mustafa Çağhan Keskin, "II. Bayezid Dönemi Amasya Çevresinde Yerel Bir Bani: Hızır Paşa Oğlu Mehmed Paşa", Art-Sanat, 5 (2016), p. 63 ff. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/780412
- Nejat Göyünç, "Timar Ruznamçe Defterleri'nin Biyografik Kaynak Olarak Önemi", Belleten, LX/227 (1996). https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin/2371/tur
- Ahmet Gündüz, "Vakfiyeleri Işığında II. Bayezid'in Eşi Bülbül Hatun Vakıfları", Vakıflar Dergisi, 2021. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/vakiflar/article/738054
- İ. Aydın Yüksel, "Hatuniye Camii (Amasya)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 16, Istanbul 1997, p. 500-501. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hatuniye-camii--amasya
Official sources
Books
Other sources