Amasyalıdır. Esbak Amasya hükümdârı ve beylerbeyi el-Hâc Seyfeddîn Şâdgeldi Pâdişâh bin el-Hâc Musliheddîn Kutluşâh bin Emîr Bahâ’eddîn Kürt Bey’in mahdûmu ve Emîr Seyyidüddîn Mehmed ve Musliheddîn Mustafa Beylerin birâderidir. Pederinin devr-i hükûmetinde devâtdârî, ya’nî mektupçusu ve baş-kâtibi olup Eretna Hân oğlu Emîr Nâsıreddîn Mehmed Bey’e, bâdehû Bâbuk Şahzâde Emîr Alaeddîn Ali Paşa’ya, daha sonra Kastamonu hükûmdârı Candâroğlu Bâyezîd Bey’e dâmâd olarak nüfûz ve kuvvet buldu.
783 senesi rebiülevvelinde Sivas hükümdârı Kadı Burhâneddîn Ahmed Kayseri harbinde pederi esir ve maktûl olduğundan iki sonrakilerin nüfûz ve kuvveti, Amasya ümerâsının ittihâdı ve müzâhereti sâyesinde Amasya Emîr-i Kebîri, ya’nî müstakîllen hükümdârı oldu.
Hatta meşâhîr-i fuzalâdan Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî Miftâhî [359] emîr-i müşârün-ileyhin nâmına şerh etdiği kitâbın birinci varakası zahrına yazdığı şu ibâresiyle i’lân etmişdir: “Bi-resmî hizâneti’l-emîri’l-âlim el-‘âdil, el-mü’eyyed el-muzaffer el-mücâhid el-mürâbıt nusreti’l-guzâti’l-mücâhidîn melîk-i mülûk-i ümerâi’t-Türk ve’l-Ermen fahrü’d-devle ve’d-dîn zahîrü’l-mülûk ve’n-nevâvîn Ahmed Çelebi e’azze’llâhu ensârehû ve dâ’afe iktidârahû”
Ancak bir tarafdan Kadı Burhân, diğer tarafdan Kastamonu Emîri olan kayın pederi Bâyezîd Bey’in, Amasya emâretini istilâya kıyâm etmeleri üzerine muhâfaza-yı mevki’ ve emâret için bunlardan daha kavî olan Osmanlı hükümdârı Sultân Murâd-ı Hünkârın himâyesini 788’da kabûl etdi.
789’da müşârün-ileyh Hünkâr tarafından Amasya beylerbeyi olup 790’da Kosova muharebesine Amasya’dan asker ve erzâk göndermekle iştirâk edib ma’iyyetinde kalan kuvvetle Kadı Burhân’ın tasallutlarına karşı durdu. Bunun için Yıldırım Sultân Bâyezîd Hân’ın cülûsunda pâye-i vezâretle taltîf edildi.
795 senesi evâsıtında Yıldırım Sultân’ın Rumeli gazâsıyla [360] meşgûl olduğu esnâda Kadı Burhân, Amasya vilâyeti mülhakâtından Tokat’ı istilâya kıyâm etdikde ma’iyyetine aldığı kuvvetle Tokat’a gidip Tokat emîri Şeyh Necîb ile birleşti. Bununla beraber Artukâbâd’a gitdi.
Fakat Artukâbâd’a vusûlünde hastalanıp sene-i mezbûre zilhiccesinde orada vefât etdi. Cesedi gâlibâ oraya defnedildi. Amasya’da kabrini çok aradım. Şüphe etdiğim birkaç yeri hafr etdirdim. Bir türlü bulamadım. Benim tahmînime göre Narlı Bahçe Mezârlığının şimâlinde dört sütûn üzerine mebnî bir kubbe içinde medfûn bulunan zât olacakdır. Bu kubbe Amasya vâlisi olan Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in türbesi diye irâe edilmektedir.
Emîr müşârün-ileyh “Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa” diye meşhûr olup âlim, âkil, müdebbir, âdil, halîm, muhibb-i ulemâ ve meşâyih, kerîm bir emîr-i kebîr idi. Zevcelerinden Canıbek Hâtun binti Mehmed Bey bin Eretna Hân ile Dilşâd Hâtun binti Ali Paşa bin Esen Bey bin Babukşâh, kuyûd-ı vakfiyeden anlaşıldı. Mahdûmları Şâdgeldi, Keygeldi, [361] Mehmed, Mustafa, Burak Çelebilerle kerîmesi Ehlî Hâtun pek meşhûrdur.
Çelebiler hamâmı demekle meşhûr olan yukarı hamâm, Çelebi Ahmed Paşa’nın mülkü olup evlâdına intikâl etmişdi. Mu’ahharan Amasya vâlisi olan Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî halîlesi ve Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in vâlidesi Bülbül Hâtun bunların evlâdından mezkûr hamâmı iştirâ ve hayrâtına vakfetmişdi.
Şâdgeldi Bey, Bâyezîd Paşa’nın dâmâdı olup Timûr Hân’ın emriyle Devletşâh üzerine Amasya emîri olmuşdu. Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’ın Amasya’ya vürûduyla münazil olup 816’da halîlesi ve evlâdıyla beraber İznik kasabasına kaldırılmıştı. Mahdûmu Mehmed Bey meşhûrdur.
Keygeldi Bey, Sivas emâretine nasb edilen Şehzâde Sultân Süleyman ma’iyyetine me’mûren Sivas’a gitdiği “Acâ’ibü’l-Makdûr fi Nevâ’ib-i Timûr” adlı eserde Ceygeldi diye mezkûrdur. Amasya civârında Kızılca Çiftliği bunun mülkü olduğundan oraya Keygeldi Çiftliği ve sonra “Keygel” karyesi dendi. Kızılca nâm-ı diğer Keygel karyesi diye mukayyeddir. [362]
Burâk Bey, Osmanlı Devletine pek sâdık bir emîr idi. Bunun evlâdı 1260 târihine kadar Amasya’da yaşadı. Bir kolu da İstanbul’da yaşamakdadır. Bunlara “Ebûbekir Beyzâdeler” denir. Bu sülâleden Hüseyin Paşa, Ömer Paşa, Ebûbekir Paşa pek meşhûrdur.
Dâmâdlarından Yahşî Beyzâde vezîr Bâyezîd Paşa, Eretnazâde Mehmed Bey bin Horus Ali Bey, yine Eretnazâde Abdullah Bey bin Eretna Bey de meşhûr olup Abdullah Beyzâde Ali Paşa ile İbrâhim Bey ve Mehmed Beyzâde Ahmed Bey meşâhîr-i ümerâdandır.
Mu’allimi olan Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî, Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Ebû Nasr el-Hasen bin Abdulmü’min el-Hûyî olup evlâdına “Hûyluoğulları” denmişdir. Bunlara “Kâtîoğulları” ve tahfifen “Katoğulları” da denmekde idi. Mevlânâ Hayreddîn Hızır ibn-i Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî “Hûyluoğlu” demekle meşhûr idi. Bunun mahdûmu Kutbeddîn Mûsâ Çelebi’dir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He is the son of el-Hâc Seyfeddîn Şâdgeldi Pâdişâh, the former ruler and beylerbeyi of Amasya; Şâdgeldi was the son of el-Hâc Musliheddîn Kutluşâh, and Kutluşâh the son of Emîr Bahâeddîn Kürt Bey. He is the brother of Emîr Seyyidüddîn Mehmed and Musliheddîn Mustafa Bey. During his father's reign he was his devâtdâr, that is, his secretary and chief scribe. He gained influence and power by becoming son-in-law first to Emîr Nâsıreddîn Mehmed Bey, son of Eretna Han, then to Bâbuk Şahzâde Emîr Alâeddîn Ali Pasha, and later to Candaroğlu Bâyezîd Bey, ruler of Kastamonu.
When in Rabi' al-awwal 783 [June 1381] his father was taken prisoner and killed in the battle of Kayseri fought with Kadı Burhâneddîn Ahmed, ruler of Sivas, he became, thanks to the influence and power of these last two fathers-in-law and the unity and support of the beys of Amasya, the Emîr-i Kebîr of Amasya, that is, its independent ruler.
Indeed, the well-known scholar Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî Miftâhî proclaimed this in a statement he wrote on the back of the first leaf of a book he commented on in the name of this emir. The meaning of this Arabic statement is as follows: "For the treasury (library) of Ahmed Çelebi, the learned, the just, the one granted God's support, the victorious, the one who wages jihad, who keeps watch on the frontiers, the helper of the ghazis and the mujahids, the king of kings of the Turkish and Armenian emirs, the pride of state and religion (Fahrüddevle ve'd-dîn), the support of kings and deputies; may God make his helpers mighty and multiply his power."
But when on one side Kadı Burhân and on the other his father-in-law Bâyezîd Bey, emir of Kastamonu, tried to seize the emirate of Amasya, in order to protect his position and emirate he accepted in 788 [1386] the protection of the Ottoman ruler Sultan Murâd Hünkâr, who was stronger than these.
In 789 [1387] he was made beylerbeyi of Amasya by the said Hünkâr. In 790 he took part in the Kosovo war by sending soldiers and provisions from Amasya, and with the force that remained with him he stood against the attacks of Kadı Burhân. Because of this service he was rewarded with the rank of vizier when Yıldırım Sultan Bâyezîd Han came to the throne.
In the middle of 795 [1393], while Yıldırım Sultan was busy with the ghazas in Rumeli, Kadı Burhân tried to seize Tokat, one of the places dependent on the province of Amasya. Thereupon Ahmed Pasha went to Tokat with the force he took into his retinue, joined Şeyh Necîb, emir of Tokat, and went with him to Artukâbâd.
But on reaching Artukâbâd he fell ill and died there in Dhu'l-Hijja of the same year [October-November 1393]. His body was most probably buried there. I searched for his grave a great deal in Amasya; I had several places I suspected dug up, but could not find it in any way. According to my guess, the person buried inside a dome set on four columns north of the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery must be him. This dome is shown as the tomb of Prince Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya.
The said emir was known as "Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha." He was a great emir, learned, intelligent, prudent, just, gentle in temper, loving scholars and sheikhs, and generous. Of his wives, the names of Canıbek Hatun, daughter of Mehmed Bey, son of Eretna Han, and Dilşâd Hatun, daughter of Ali Pasha, son of Esen Bey, son of Babukşâh, were learned from waqf records. His sons Şâdgeldi, Keygeldi, Mehmed, Mustafa, and Burak Çelebi and his daughter Ehlî Hatun are very well known.
The Upper Bath (Yukarı Hamam), known as the Çelebiler Hamamı, was the property of Çelebi Ahmed Pasha and had passed to his children. Later Bülbül Hatun, wife of Sultan Bâyezîd II, governor of Amasya, and mother of Prince Sultan Ahmed, bought this bath from their children and endowed it to charitable works.
Şâdgeldi Bey was son-in-law of Bâyezîd Pasha and, by the order of Timur Khan, became emir of Amasya in place of Devletşâh. When Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han came to Amasya he was removed from his post and in 816 [1413-14] was sent with his wife and children to the town of İznik. His son Mehmed Bey is a well-known person.
It is written in the work called "Acâ'ibü'l-Makdûr fî Nevâ'ib-i Timûr" that Keygeldi Bey went to Sivas on duty in the retinue of Prince Sultan Süleyman, who was appointed to the emirate of Sivas; there his name appears as Ceygeldi. Since the Kızılca Farm near Amasya was his property, it was called the Keygeldi Farm, and then the village of "Keygel." In the records it is written as "the village of Kızılca, otherwise Keygel."
Burak Bey was an emir very loyal to the Ottoman State. His line lived in Amasya until 1260 [1844]; a branch of it also lives in Istanbul. They are called the "Ebûbekir Beyzades." Hüseyin Pasha, Ömer Pasha, and Ebûbekir Pasha of this family are very well known.
Among his sons-in-law, the vizier Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd Pasha, Eretnazâde Mehmed Bey, son of Horus Ali Bey, and likewise Eretnazâde Abdullah Bey, son of Eretna Bey, are also well-known people. Abdullah Bey's sons Ali Pasha and İbrâhim Bey and Mehmed Bey's son Ahmed Bey are famous emirs.
His teacher Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî is Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Ebû Nasr el-Hasen bin Abdülmü'min el-Hûyî; his descendants were called "Hûyluoğulları." They were also called "Kâtîoğulları," in short "Katoğulları." The son of Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî, Mevlânâ Hayreddîn Hızır, was known as "Hûyluoğlu." His son is Kutbeddîn Mûsâ Çelebi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- birâder: brother
- devâtdâr: inkwell-bearer; the secretary and chief scribe in charge of the ruler's writing affairs
- emîr-i kebîr: great emir; here, independent ruler
- ittihâd ve müzâheret: unity and support
- varaka zahrı: the back of the leaf
- himâye: taking under protection
- pâye-i vezâret: the rank of vizier
- tasallut: attack, harassment
- mülhakât: places attached to a center
- hafr etdirmek: to have dug
- müdebbir: prudent, capable
- kuyûd-ı vakfiye: waqf records
- kerîme: daughter
- halîle: spouse, wife
- iştirâ: purchase
- münazil: removed from office
- karye: village
- mukayyed: recorded
The Kutluşahs and the Emirate of Amasya
The family to which Ahmed Pasha belonged is a small principality that is called in history books the Kutluşahs or the Şadgeldis and that ruled in Amasya in the middle of the fourteenth century. The origin of this family, which took its name from its founder Hacı Kutluşah, is disputed. Müneccimbaşı records him as "Kutlu Şâh el-Kürdî"; his contemporary Safadî counts him among the Mongol emirs and calls him with the epithet "el-Vaşakî." While relaying these accounts, Hüsameddin argues that Kutluşah was originally a Turk of the Buşaklu clan. The principality was subject in turn to the Eretnids, to Kadı Burhâneddin, and to the Ottomans.
Ahmed Pasha's father Hacı Şâdgeldi was Kutluşah's second eldest son and was brought to the emirate of Amasya in 1359. It is known that he received his education in Amasya from Mevlânâ Fahreddin İlyas, that he initially remained attached to Eretna, and that after his death he acted on his own. In present-day sources Şâdgeldi's successor son is called "Fahreddin Ahmed"; the epithet "Fahrüddevle ve'd-dîn" in the entry is the source of this name.
The Struggle with Kadı Burhâneddin and Ottoman Protection
Hüsameddin ties Şâdgeldi's death to the Kayseri battle in Rabi' al-awwal 783 [June 1381]. The present-day encyclopedia entry on Kadı Burhâneddin also writes that before declaring his rule in Sivas, Kadı Burhâneddin defeated and had killed his main rival, Hacı Şâdgeldi, ruler of Amasya, but places the event in the autumn of 1381. According to the same entry, Şâdgeldi's son Ahmed Bey set out to avenge his father with support from his father-in-law Candaroğlu Kötürüm Bâyezîd, but was routed in 785 [1383-84]. In 1384 Kadı Burhâneddin marched on Amasya and defeated the emir repeatedly. Judging from Hüsameddin's counting Candaroğlu among Ahmed Pasha's enemies in 788, the alliance between father-in-law and son-in-law must have broken down within a few years.
Ahmed Pasha's taking refuge with the Ottomans to escape this pincer is regarded in present-day research too as the beginning of Amasya's entry into Ottoman history. According to the study of Eray Turan and Ayşe Atıcı Arayancan, Emir Ahmed Bey of Amasya, faced with Kadı Burhâneddin's moves, sought the protection of Murad I, who had gained prestige through his ghazas in the Balkans, and after this Prince Bâyezid (Yıldırım) became the first Ottoman sanjak governor sent to Amasya. Another publication notes that Bâyezid was appointed sanjak governor of Amasya in 1386 and in 1389 left the administration of Amasya to Fahreddin Ahmed and took part in the Battle of Kosovo. Hüsameddin does not mention the prince's presence in Amasya in this period and shows Ahmed Pasha directly as an Ottoman beylerbeyi.
A difference of date should be pointed out here. Hüsameddin places the Kosovo war in the year 790; yet the year 790 falls between January 1388 and January 1389 CE. Since the Battle of Kosovo was fought in the summer of 1389, the correct Hijri year is 791. Indeed, in the previous entry Hüsameddin gives the date 791 for Kutlubeyzâde Ahmed Bey, who died at Kosovo.
His Death and the Annexation of Amasya
According to Hüsameddin, Ahmed Pasha joined Şeyh Necîb, emir of Tokat, during Kadı Burhâneddin's attack on Tokat and fell ill and died at Artukâbâd in Dhu'l-Hijja 795 [October-November 1393]. Artukâbâd is the old name of today's Artova district of Tokat; the place name also appears in records as Artukova, and its historical borders include Artova, Sulusaray, Yeşilyurt, and the east of Zile.
This date of death agrees with some sources and not with others. The information that the Kutluşahs Principality was directly annexed to Ottoman lands in 1393 coincides with Ahmed Pasha's dying that year. On the other hand, in the entry on Kadı Burhâneddin it is recorded that, after Timur returned from Erzurum at the beginning of 1394, Kadı Burhâneddin "marched on Emir Ahmed Bey of Amasya, who was attacking his lands." If this record is correct, either Ahmed Pasha is still alive in 1394 or the sources continue to call the Ottoman administrator in Amasya by the old emir's name. Turan and Arayancan, for their part, note that the struggle for influence over Amasya ended only in 1398, when Yıldırım Bâyezid definitively annexed the city to Ottoman borders.
Hüsameddin's guess about the grave is also worth dwelling on. The four-columned dome north of the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery is shown among the people as the tomb of Prince Ahmed. Yet Prince Ahmed, son of Bâyezid II, after being killed in 1513, was buried in his own tomb in Bursa; his mother Bülbül Hatun also settled in Bursa and when she died was buried in her son's tomb. It is therefore clear that the dome in Amasya is not Prince Ahmed's grave. That Ahmed Pasha really lies under this dome is Hüsameddin's own opinion and could not be verified by another source.
The Çelebiler Hamamı and the Bülbül Hatun Waqf
The Çelebiler Hamamı mentioned in the entry also appears in research on the waqf deeds of Bülbül Hatun. Bülbül Hatun stayed with her son Prince Ahmed while he was sanjak governor of Amasya, endowed all her property to the charitable institutions she had built in Amasya and Lâdik, and regulated the functioning of her waqf with two waqf deeds dated 1511 and 1513. According to Ahmet Gündüz's study based on these deeds, there are two baths among the waqf properties: the "new bath" adjoining the imaret, known as the Bülbül Hatun Hamamı, and the "old bath" known as the Çelebiler Hamamı. The latter passed to the waqf through sharia documents, by way of exchange and substitution (istibdal).
Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi also writes that two ruined baths called Çelebiler Hamamı were bought by Bülbül Hatun and added to the waqf after being repaired. One of them is the Lower Bath (Aşağı Hamam), immediately adjoining the mosque; the other is the Upper Bath at the head of the Madenüs Bridge, next to the Seljuk palace. Comparing these records, Gündüz concludes that the building Vâzıh calls the Upper Bath is the "old bath" of the waqf deed, that is, the Çelebiler Hamamı. Thus Hüsameddin's expression "the Upper Bath, famous as the Çelebiler Hamamı" is confirmed both by the waqf deeds and by Vâzıh's account. That an income of 80 kuruş was recorded from the item "Upper Bath in Amasya" in the waqf accounting of 1715 shows that the bath was still operating in the eighteenth century.
Keygel Village
The village bearing Keygeldi Bey's name is today the village of Eskikızılca in the central district of Amasya. The village's name appears in 1926 records as "Kızılca or Geygel." In a study of the renamed settlements of Amasya it is also seen that the former official name of Eskikızılca was Kızılcaatik, that is, "old Kızılca." Hüsameddin's record "Kızılca, otherwise Keygel" shows that this dual name lived on until the early twentieth century.
The Question of His Teacher Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî
The last paragraph of the entry must be read carefully. Hüsameddin counts Ahmed Pasha's teacher Hüsâmeddîn el-Kâtî as the same person as Hasan b. Abdülmü'min el-Hûyî. Yet in present-day sources these two names are placed in different periods. According to records in his works, Hasan b. Abdülmü'min el-Hûyî was a secretary, poet, and lexicographer who lived in the times of Muzafferüddin Yavlak Arslan (1280-1291) of the Çobanoğulları, who ruled in Kastamonu, and his son Emîr Mahmud; he wrote his work Nüzhetü'l-küttâb in 684 [1285] and his treatise Gunyetü'l-kâtib in 690 [1291]. Hüsâmeddin Hasan el-Kâtî, on the other hand, is the author of the first and most famous commentary written on Ebherî's logic book Îsâgûcî; he is recorded as born around 1290 and dead in 1359.
Both dates are incompatible with Ahmed Pasha's emirate (after 1381). Since the dedicatory statement Hüsameddin relays calls Ahmed Çelebi "the king of kings of the Turkish and Armenian emirs," the book must have been placed in his library during his emirate. In that case either the person who wrote the statement is not Kâtî himself but someone from his family (like his son Hayreddin Hızır, whom Hüsameddin mentions), or the book is an old commentary presented to Ahmed Pasha later. This point could not be resolved with the sources; it would be right for the reader to treat Hüsameddin's matching of identities in this part with caution.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 115–116. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Abdülkerim Özaydın, Hatice Tören, "Kadı Burhâneddin", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kadi-burhaneddin
- Eray Turan, Ayşe Atıcı Arayancan, "Yıldırım Bayezid ve Kadı Burhaneddin'in Amasya Üzerindeki Nüfuz Mücadelesi" (abstract). https://www.academia.edu/35561894
- Ahmet Gündüz, "Vakfiyeleri Işığında II. Bayezid'in Eşi Bülbül Hatun Vakıfları", Vakıflar Dergisi, no. 55, June 2021. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1105648
- "Amasya İlinde İsimleri Değiştirilen Yerleşim Yeri Adları Üzerine Bir İnceleme". https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4249891
- Tahsin Yazıcı, "Hûî, Hasan b. Abdülmü'min", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hui-hasan-b-abdulmumin
Official sources
Books
Other sources