Müverrih-i meşhûr Amasyalı Bâlî Ahmed Çelebizâde Şükrullah Çelebi bin Şehâbeddîn Ahmed Bâlî Çelebi bin Zeynüddîn Siyavuş Çelebi bin eş-Şeyh İzzeddîn Evrân Çelebi bin Doğan es-Silifrî mahdûmudur. Ceddi Bâlî Çelebi, Mü’eyyedzâdelerin ceddi olan [390] eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Ali Yârî Çelebi birâderidir.
Ulemâ-yı asrdan tahsîl-i ulûm edib Edirne’de müderris, ba’dehû kadı oldu. 879’da Şehzâde Sultân Cem Çelebi Konya vâlisi olup Konya Kadısı İbrâhim Paşa bin Mehmed Çelebi bin Muhsin Çelebi de vezîri ve müdebbir-i umûru oldukda Konya kadısı ve kaz’askeri oldu.
886 senesi rebiülevvelinde Amasya vâlisi Sultân Bâyezîd Hân-ı Sânî İstanbul’a gelip taht-ı Osmâniyye cülûs etdikde birâderi şehzâde Sultân Cem Konya’da i’lân-ı saltanât ederek 887 de sâhib-i tercemeyi sefâretle Sultân Bâyezîd’in nezdine gönderdi.
İbtidâ Sultân Bâyezîd’in izzet ve ikrâmını gördü. Sultân Cem’in matlabını, ya’nî memâlik-i Rumeli’de Sultân Bâyezîd ve memâlik-i Anadolu’da Sultân Cem icrâ-yı hükûmet etmek üzere memâlik-i Osmâniyyenin taksîmini arz etdikde derhâl habs edildi. 888 senesinde Sadr-ı a’zam İshâk Paşa’nın şefâ’atiyle mahbusdan çıkdı. 892’de ma’zûlen vefât etdi. [391]
Kibâr-ı ulemâ ve üdebâdan zarîf, natûk, fâzıl, muhâzarâta vâkıf, gâyet kâmil bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Ubeydullah Efendi de kudâtdan olup Amasya’da bir câmi-i şerîfi vardır. Bunun hafîdi es-Seyyid Şükrullah Efendi bin Yahyâ Çelebi bin Mehmed Çelebi bin Ubeydullah Efendi 1011’de muhterık olan bu câmii tecdîden i’mâr etmişdir. Asrımızda Saraçzâde Yaşar Mehmed Efendi bu zâtın ahfâdından olduğunu iddi’â ederdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Şükrullah Çelebi, the famous historian from Amasya, Bâlî Ahmed Çelebizâde. Şükrullah Çelebi was the son of Şehâbeddîn Ahmed Bâlî Çelebi; he of Zeynüddîn Siyavuş Çelebi; he of eş-Şeyh İzzeddîn Evrân Çelebi; and he of Doğan es-Silifrî. His grandfather Bâlî Çelebi was the brother of eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Ali Yârî Çelebi, the ancestor of the Müeyyedzâdes.
Acquiring learning from the scholars of his time, he became müderris at Edirne and then kadı. In 879 [1474-75], when Prince Cem Sultan became governor of Konya and the Kadı of Konya, İbrâhim Pasha bin Mehmed Çelebi bin Muhsin Çelebi, became his vizier and manager of his affairs, the subject of this entry became kadı and kazasker of Konya.
In the month of Rebîülevvel 886 [1481], when the governor of Amasya, Sultan Bayezid II, came to Istanbul and sat on the Ottoman throne, his brother Prince Cem Sultan proclaimed his sultanate in Konya and in 887 [1482] sent the subject of this entry as envoy to Sultan Bayezid.
At first he received Sultan Bayezid's respect and hospitality. But when he presented Cem Sultan's request, that the Ottoman realm be divided so that Sultan Bayezid would rule over the lands of Rumeli and Sultan Cem over the lands of Anatolia, he was imprisoned at once. In 888 [1483] he was released from prison through the intercession of Grand Vizier İshâk Pasha. In 892 [1487] he died without office.
He was one of the great scholars and men of letters; a refined, eloquent, virtuous man, well versed in conversation and wit, and extremely mature. His son Ubeydullah Efendi was also among the kadıs; he has a mosque in Amasya. His descendant es-Seyyid Şükrullah Efendi bin Yahyâ Çelebi bin Mehmed Çelebi bin Ubeydullah Efendi repaired this mosque, which burned in 1011 [1602-03]. In our time Saraçzâde Yaşar Mehmed Efendi used to claim to be descended from this man.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- müverrih: historian
- cedd: grandfather, ancestor; birâder: brother
- müdebbir-i umûr: one who runs affairs, administrator
- kaz'asker: kazasker; here the military judicial official attached to the prince
- i'lân-ı saltanat: proclaiming one's sovereignty
- sefâret: embassy, mission as envoy
- izzet ve ikrâm: respect and hospitality
- matlab: request, demand
- memâlik: realms, lands; taksîm: division
- şefâ'at: intercession, pleading for someone's pardon
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed, without office
- natûk: eloquent, speaking well and effectively
- muhâzarât: knowledge of witticisms, stories, and poetry for use in conversation
- hafîd: grandson; ahfâd: grandsons, descendants
- muhterık: burned
- tecdîden i'mâr: repairing by renewing
His Father Şükrullah and the Behcetü't-tevârîh
The father of the subject of the entry, Şükrullah, is the author of the Persian Behcetü't-tevârîh, one of the earliest sources on the Ottoman dynasty. By his own account he was born in 790 [1388] and entered Ottoman service in 812 [1409]. In the time of Murad II he was kadı of Bursa, and he was sent as envoy to Karamanoğlu İbrahim Bey in 1444 and to the Kara Koyunlu ruler Cihan Shah in 1448. He relates that at Cihan Shah's court he was shown a Uyghur-script Oghuz history that told of the kinship between the Ottomans and the Kara Koyunlu. He began his work in Muharrem 861 [December 1456] and presented it to Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha. It is noted that Şükrullah was also interested in music and translated Safiyyüddin Urmevî's Kitâbü'l-edvâr into Turkish.
The sources disagree over the date of Şükrullah's death. According to Bursalı Mehmed Tâhir and Hoca Sâdeddin he died in 894 [1489] and was buried in the Şeyh Vefa cemetery in Istanbul; Hüsameddin, however, gives his death as 864 [1459-60]. Some researchers also think that he cannot have lived long after 868 [1464]. Ramazan Kamiloğlu reports that Hüsameddin records Şükrullah's two sons as Muhyiddin Mehmed and Şemseddin Ahmed; the subject of this entry is the second.
Differences in the Chain of Descent
Hüsameddin gives the name of Şükrullah's grandfather as Zeynüddîn Siyavuş. Yet in some sources his grandfather's name appears as Zeynüddin Zeki. According to the genealogy arranged by Nihal Atsız, Evran of Divriği had two sons named Zeynüddin Zeki and Zeynüddin Siyavuş; Şükrullah's father Şehâbeddin Ahmed is the son of Zeki, while Yâr Ali is the son of Siyavuş. According to this genealogy Bâlî Çelebi and Ali Yârî Çelebi are first cousins. Hüsameddin, however, counts the two as brothers. It is also reported that Şükrullah read Arabic and Persian literature under Ali Yâr Çelebi. In the genealogical record that Kamiloğlu conveys from Hüsameddin, the topmost ancestor of the line appears as "Doğan es-Salgûrî ed-Dıfrığî" (of the Salur tribe, from Divriği); the nisba "es-Silifrî" in this entry should be read in comparison with that record.
The family is also related to the Müeyyedzâdes of Amasya. According to Hüsameddin, Yâr Ali Çelebi became son-in-law to Şemseddin Müeyyed Çelebi, one of the Kâzerûniyye sheikhs, and the line descending from this marriage was called Müeyyedzâde. Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, the famous kazasker of the time of Bayezid II, is of this line.
Cem Sultan's Envoy
The most important event in the life of the subject of the entry is the embassy he carried out on behalf of Cem Sultan. When his father died, Cem was sanjak bey in Konya; he proclaimed that he had taken the throne and marched on Bursa, stayed in the city eighteen days, and had coins struck and the sermon read in his name. After suffering a heavy defeat at Yenişehir in June 1481, he withdrew first to Konya and then to Egypt; in 1482 he tried with Karamanoğlu Kasım Bey to take Konya but did not succeed, and in July of the same year he crossed to Rhodes.
The date and place of the embassy are given differently in the sources. According to Nihal Atsız's account, after seizing Bursa Cem sent a delegation to Bayezid; in this delegation, together with Selçuk Sultan, daughter of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed (in some sources called the daughter of Mehmed the Conqueror), and Mevlânâ Ayas, there was also Ahmed Çelebi, son of Şükrullah. Kamiloğlu places this event in 886 [1481-82]; in another source it is written that Ahmed Çelebi was sent, together with Selçuk Sultan, by Cem, who had captured Bursa in 1483, to make an agreement. Since the days when Cem was in Bursa fell in the summer of 1481, a delegation sent from Bursa must also have set out at this date. Hüsameddin, however, ties the embassy to 887 [1482] and to Konya. The proposal the envoy carried, that the realm be shared between the two brothers as Rumeli and Anatolia, was, as Hüsameddin also relates, one that Bayezid did not accept.
Considering that İshak Pasha, who freed Ahmed Çelebi from prison, withdrew from the grand vizierate in the summer of 888 [1483], Hüsameddin's placing this release in 888 coincides with the last months of the grand vizier's tenure.
The Mosque of Ubeydullah Efendi
No record was found outside Hüsameddin of the mosque in Amasya of the subject's son Ubeydullah Efendi and of its repair after the fire of 1011.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 124–125. amasya.bel.tr
Books
- Sara Nur Yıldız, "Şükrullah", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 39, 2010, p. 257-258.
- Mahmut H. Şakiroğlu, "Cem Sultan", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 7, 1993.
- Hasan Aksoy, "Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, p. 483-485.
- "İshak Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 22, 2000, p. 537-538.
Other sources
- Ramazan Kamiloğlu, "Amasyalı (Ahmedoğlu) Şükrullah'ın Hayatı ve Eserleri", 2008 (isamveri.org).