AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Pasha — Gümüşlüzâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 118 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

[368] Amasya a’yânından Gümüşlüzâde Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi ibn-i Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi bin Kutbeddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Cibrîl Bey’in mahdûmu ve Şeyhülislâm Celâleddîn Abdurrahman Çelebi’nin birâderidir.

Ammizâdesi Mevlânâ Şücâ’eddîn Ebu’l- Bekâ Pîr İlyâs Halvetî hazretlerinden ve Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hasan el-Hûyî’den ulûm-ı şer’iyye ve edebiyyeyi ahz u ikmâl ederek ders-i âm oldu. Ulemâ arasında zekâ ve faziletiyle iştihâr etdi. Kendisine Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi dendi.

805’de Topal Timûr Hân’ın hafîdi Kara Mehmed Sultân ve mu’allimi Abdulcabbâr el-Mu’tezilî berây-ı teftîş Amasya’ya gelip Timûr’un Amasya vâlisi nasb etdiği Kara Devletşâhı Amasya şehrine yanaştırmayan ulemâyı imtihâna çekdikleri esnâda fazîlet-i ilmiyyesi parlak bir sûretde sâbit olduğundan Amasya belâdan kurtuldu. Bu da üstâdı Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs ile beraber Şirvân’a gönderildi.

808’de Timûr Hân’ın vefâtı üzerine ıtlâk edilip yine üstâdıyla beraber Amasya’ya avdet etdi. Amasya hükümdârı [369] Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân nâmına te’lîf eylediği “Mir’âtü’l-Mülûk” adlı kitabını Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhe takdîm ederek teveccüh-i tâmma mazhar oldu.¹⁹

811’de Çelebi Sultân’ın baş-kâtibi ve müsteşârı olup 816’da müstakillen Osmanlı Pâdişâhı oldukta nişancı olarak dîvân-ı hümâyûn erkânından sayıldı. 822 senesinde vezâreti hâ’iz görülüp 824’de Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî cülûsunda mevkî’i rasânet buldu.

Ancak Sadr-ı a’zam Amasyalı Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd Paşa’nın düzme şehzâde nâmıyla meşhûr Sultân Mustafa’nın harbinde esîr ve maktûl olup Candarlızâde İbrâhim Paşa’nın sadâretinde pîrliği bahânesiyle tekâ’üd edildi. 827 senesi evâhirinde vefât etdi.

Fâzıl, ulûm-ı şer’iyye ve edebiyyede mâhir, muhâzarât ve târîhe vâkıf, edîb, şâir, müdebbir, münşî bir zât idi. Mahdûmları Hüsâmeddîn Hasan, Bedreddîn Mahmûd Beylerdir. Mahmûd Beyzâde Abdullah Bey’in mahdûmu defterdâr Şemseddîn Ahmed Bey 890’da katîlen vefât [370] etdi.

818 senesi zelzelesinde harâb olan ceddi Gümüşlüzâde Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey’in câmi-i şerîfini müceddeden ihyâ etdi. Birâderi Şeyhülislâm ve müfti’s-sakaleyn unvânıyla Ya’kûb Paşa vakfiyesinde mezkûr olan Pîr Abdurrahman Çelebi için Sofular Mahallesi başında Kasr-ı Sûfiyân adlı bir zâviye-i dil-nişîn yaptırdı. Câmi-i şerîfin evkâfını tevsi’ eyledi.

Footnotes

  • 19 Bu kitabın bir nüshası İstanbul’da Yerebatan mevki’inde kâ’in Es’ad Efendi Kütübhânesinde vardır. Bâlâsında ve derûnunda “Ahmed bin Hüsâmeddîn el-Amâsî” yazılıdır.
Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Gümüşlüzâde Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, one of the notables of Amasya; Hüseyin Çelebi was the son of Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi, who was the son of Kutbeddîn Mehmed Çelebi, who was the son of Cibrîl Bey. He was the brother of Şeyhülislam Celâleddîn Abdurrahman Çelebi.

From his cousin Mevlânâ Şücâeddîn Ebü'l-Bekâ Pîr İlyâs Halvetî, and from Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hasan el-Hûyî, he learned and completed the religious and literary sciences and became a teacher of general lectures (ders-i âm). He gained fame among the scholars for his intelligence and merit. He was called Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi.

In 805 [1402-03] Kara Mehmed Sultan, a grandson of Timur the Lame, and his teacher Abdülcebbâr el-Mu'tezilî came to Amasya for an inspection. While they were examining the scholars, who had not let Kara Devletşâh, whom Timur had appointed governor of Amasya, approach the city, Ahmed Çelebi's scholarly superiority showed itself so brilliantly that Amasya was spared a calamity. Ahmed Çelebi was sent to Shirvan together with his teacher, His Eminence Pîr İlyâs.

In 808 [1405-06], on the death of Timur Khan, he was released and returned to Amasya, again with his teacher. By presenting to the sultan his book called "Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk", written in the name of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han, ruler of Amasya, he won the sultan's complete favour.

In 811 [1408-09] he became chief secretary and counsellor of Çelebi Sultan; when the sultan became sole Ottoman sovereign in 816 [1413-14], he was counted among the members of the Imperial Council as nişancı. In 822 [1419] he was seen to hold the rank of vizier, and he kept his place when Sultan Murad II ascended the throne in 824 [1421].

But when the grand vizier Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd Pasha of Amasya was taken prisoner and killed in the war against Sultan Mustafa, known as "Düzme Şehzade" (the False Prince), he was retired on the pretext of old age under the grand vizierate of Çandarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha. He died at the end of 827 [1424].

He was virtuous, a master of the religious and literary sciences, versed in the lore of conversation and in history, a man of letters, a poet, a prudent and powerful master of prose (münşî). His sons were Hüsâmeddîn Hasan and Bedreddîn Mahmûd Beys. Defterdar Şemseddîn Ahmed Bey, son of Abdullah Bey, son of Mahmûd Bey, was killed and gave up his life in 890 [1485].

He renewed the mosque of his ancestor Gümüşlüzâde Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey, which had been ruined in the earthquake of 818 [1415-16]. For his brother Pîr Abdurrahman Çelebi, who is called "Şeyhülislam" and "müfti's-sakaleyn" (mufti of humans and jinn) in the Yakub Pasha waqf deed, he had a heart-gladdening zaviye called Kasr-ı Sûfiyân built at the head of the Sofular Quarter. He also enlarged the mosque's endowments.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • a'yân: the notables of a city
  • ammizâde: paternal uncle's son, cousin
  • ulûm-ı şer'iyye ve edebiyye: the religious sciences and the sciences of language and literature
  • berây-ı teftîş: for inspection
  • ıtlâk: release
  • teveccüh-i tâmm: complete trust and closeness
  • nişancı: the senior official who affixed the tughra to the sultan's decrees and was responsible for the chancery of the Imperial Council
  • vezâreti hâ'iz: holding the rank of vizier
  • mevki'i rasânet buldu: his position was made firm, he kept his post
  • maktûl: killed
  • tekâ'üd: retirement
  • muhâzarât: the store of literary and historical knowledge to be used in conversation
  • münşî: master of official and literary prose
  • katîlen: by being killed
  • müceddeden ihyâ: reviving anew, rebuilding
  • müfti's-sakaleyn: mufti of humans and jinn (a title of praise)
  • zâviye-i dil-nişîn: a lodge pleasing to the heart
  • tevsi': enlarging

The Gümüşlüzâdes

Ahmed Pasha belongs to the Gümüşlüzâdes, one of the most deeply rooted families of Amasya. Present-day research states that this dynasty descends from the Seljuk emir Gümüşlü Muînüddin Yunus Müstevfî (d. 670/1272), and that all members of the family were known by the style Gümüşlüoğlu or Gümüşlüzâde. The family's tie to the Halvetî order is also strong: the Gümüşlüoğlu Tekke, the first tekke built in Amasya specifically for the Halvetîs, stood on the vacant ground to the east and south of the Gümüşlü Mosque, known as "Tâciye". Pîr İlyâs held his retreat (halvet) here and spread his order, and after him Abdurrahman Çelebi took charge of the tekke. No trace of the tekke remains today.

Pîr Abdurrahman Çelebi, named in the article as his brother, is presented in Kadir Özköse's study as the man who became sheikh of the Gümüşlüoğlu Tekke after Pîr İlyâs, also served as mufti in Amasya, wrote Turkish poems under the pen-name "Hüsâmî", and died in 827 [1424]. It is recorded that, as a descendant of Pîr İlyâs, he was also called "Pîrzâde". İsmail İpek, for his part, writes that in 815 [1412-13] Yakub Pasha built and endowed the Çilehane (Yakub Pasha) Tekke for Mufti Gümüşlüzâde Abdurrahman Çelebi; Hüsameddin's remark that "he is called Şeyhülislam in the Yakub Pasha waqf deed" points to this waqf. İpek presents Abdurrahman Çelebi, who succeeded Pîr İlyâs, as the sheikh's deputy, son-in-law and cousin; this relationship agrees with Hüsameddin's counting Pîr İlyâs as Ahmed Pasha's cousin and Abdurrahman Çelebi as his brother. But İpek gives a death date of 903 [1497-98] for the same man; this date is incompatible with Abdurrahman Çelebi's having been mufti at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and he may have been confused with a later member of the family bearing the same name.

Timur's Coming to Amasya and Pîr İlyâs

The examination episode that Hüsameddin tells is one of the best-known stories in Amasya's local history to have taken shape around Pîr İlyâs. After the Battle of Ankara in 1402, Timur's men took Amasya. Present-day sources write that Timur gave Amasya to Tâceddin Devletşah, that the people, displeased with Devletşah, invited Çelebi Mehmed to the city, and that Çelebi Mehmed removed Devletşah and established his dominion in the region in 1403. The man Hüsameddin calls "Kara Devletşâh" must be this Tâceddin Devletşah; according to the article, the reason the scholars of Amasya were examined was that they had kept him out of the city.

In the account compiled by İsmail İpek, Timur examined the scholars of Amasya together with Pîr İlyâs, who was then mufti of Amasya, and one of the questions was "Of the dead of two fighting Muslim armies, which are martyrs?" While the other scholars shrank from answering, Pîr İlyâs answered, "Those who fight for their homeland and die in the way of God are martyrs"; Timur, pleased with the answers, left the city untouched and took Pîr İlyâs with him. Pîr İlyâs stayed with him until Timur died, then returned to Amasya. Hüsameddin gives Ahmed Çelebi too a significant share in this episode and names Shirvan as the place of exile. In İpek's account, however, the name of Timur's governor is given as Melik Nâsırüddin Bahtiyar, different from Hüsameddin's Kara Devletşâh.

On the date of Timur's death one must depart from Hüsameddin. Hüsameddin places this death in 808; yet Timur fell ill at Otrar as he set out on the China campaign and died on 17 Shaban 807 (18 February 1405). The return of Ahmed Çelebi and Pîr İlyâs to Amasya therefore falls within 1405. The date of Pîr İlyâs's death also differs in the sources: Hüsameddin gives 813 [1410] in the first volume of his book, while Lemezât records 837 [1433-34].

Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk

The "Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk" (Mirror of Kings) that Ahmed Pasha presented to Çelebi Mehmed is regarded today as one of the oldest political treatises (siyasetname) written in Turkish. Hüsameddin notes in a footnote that a copy of the work is in the Es'ad Efendi Library at Yerebatan in Istanbul, and that "Ahmed bin Hüsâmeddîn el-Amâsî" is written on its cover and inside. This is the author's name by which the work is still known today. In 2016 the work was published by Mehmet Şakir Yılmaz, with study, text, simplified version and facsimile, under the title "Sultanların Aynası" (The Mirror of Sultans). According to the publisher's presentation, this work, written in the early fifteenth century and presented to Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, stands out for fitting a fairly comprehensive political philosophy into a small volume, and for a long time was not the subject of serious study. The information about the copy that Hüsameddin gave about a century ago shows that he identified the author correctly long before the work came to light again.

His Duties in the Divan and the Death of Bâyezid Pasha

The event that Hüsameddin ties to Ahmed Pasha's retirement is a known turning point of Ottoman history. Bâyezid Pasha, son of Yahşî Bey of Amasya, was Çelebi Mehmed's grand vizier from 1413 to 1421. Bâyezid Pasha, who concealed Mehmed's death until Murad II reached the capital, was sent against Mustafa Çelebi, whom Byzantium had released and who presented himself as a son of Bâyezid the Thunderbolt. The two armies met at the place called Sazlıdere near Gallipoli; when Bâyezid Pasha's soldiers went over to Mustafa's side, the pasha was forced to surrender and, at the instigation of Cüneyd Bey and Evrenosoğlu, was killed at Sazlıdere (824/1421). Mustafa Çelebi was captured the next year and executed at Edirne; the nickname "Düzme" (False) is thought to have arisen after these events. Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha was appointed grand vizier in Bâyezid Pasha's place. Hüsameddin's account agrees with this sequence: with the death of the vizier from Amasya, the influence of the Amasya statesmen under his patronage also appears to have declined.

The Gümüşlü Mosque and Kasr-ı Sûfiyân

Present-day descriptions of the Gümüşlü Mosque state that the mosque was built in 1326 by Tâceddin Mahmud Çelebi, that the original wooden-roofed building collapsed in the earthquake of 1419, and that it was rebuilt a second time in 1491 by Defterdar Mahmud Bey. Hüsameddin, however, places the earthquake in 818 [1415-16] and attributes the rebuilding of the mosque to Ahmed Pasha. The difference of a few years in the date of the earthquake could not be resolved from the sources. The rebuilding of 1491 may be a separate building phase after Ahmed Pasha's repair; that Ahmed Pasha's great-grandson Şemseddîn Ahmed Bey is mentioned as a defterdar suggests that the mosque was looked after by the family through the fifteenth century, but the link of the Defterdar Mahmud Bey of 1491 to this family could not be documented.

Nothing remains today of Kasr-ı Sûfiyân, which he had built for his brother. The Sofular Quarter, where the zaviye stood, still keeps its name. The Sofular Mosque, which still stands in the quarter, was built in 1485 by the beylerbeyi Abdullah Pasha and is a single-domed, single-minaret building with a zaviye. Whether the Abdullah Bey whom Hüsameddin names as Ahmed Pasha's descendant and this Abdullah Pasha are the same person is not stated in the sources.

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