The Battle of Ankara was fought on the Çubuk plain on 28 July 1402 and ended with Bayezid I (Yıldırım, "the Thunderbolt") taken prisoner by Timur. Bayezid left behind six sons: Süleyman, İsa, Musa, Mehmed, Mustafa and Kasım. After his victory Timur took the territories of the Anatolian beyliks away from the Ottomans and returned them to their former rulers, then shared out what remained among Bayezid's sons. In Fahameddin Başar's words, the centralized state that Yıldırım had built was threatened with disintegration, and the danger was overcome only thanks to the Ottomans' firm foothold in Rumeli. The eleven years between 1402 and 1413 are known in Ottoman history as the Interregnum (Fetret Devri).

Of the princes, Süleyman held Edirne, İsa held Bursa and the Balıkesir region, and Musa, released by Timur, ruled briefly in Bursa. The fourth son, Mehmed, took control of the Amasya and Sivas region. All the princes aimed at Bursa, the first Ottoman capital, but Mehmed differed from his brothers in having a homeland to return to when he lost a battle. In these years Amasya offered Mehmed more than its citadel walls and its plain. It gave him a cadre of officials, a system of finance, an army and a circle of legitimacy, and most of these existed before he arrived. The sources do not always agree on the order or the details of events. These differences are noted in the relevant places and again in a separate section near the end.

Amasya Before Ankara

Çelebi Mehmed was born in 1386 or 1387, the fourth son of Bayezid and a concubine named Devlet Hatun. According to Halil İnalcık, in June 1399, three years before Ankara, he was sent as governor to the province of Rum, which had formerly belonged to the Eretna dynasty and which took in Amasya, Tokat, Sivas and Ankara. Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi gives the background to this appointment in more detail. After the death of Kadı Burhaneddin in 1398 the Ottomans had taken Sivas, while in Amasya the Kutlu Şah dynasty, which had ruled for fifty-four years, still held its place. When it became clear that Timur was approaching from the east, it was judged unsafe to leave members of that dynasty on the frontier. Administration was handed to princes, and the Kutlu Şah family members were settled in Bursa and Edirne.

Hüsameddin dates the appointment to Şevval 801 (June 1399) and writes that the prince arrived in Amasya in Zilkade with great pomp. He brought a sekbanbaşı and a sufficient number of janissaries. Çelebi Mehmed was thirteen at the time, so the real work of government was done by the lalas (tutor-guardians) assigned to him. Ali Paşa, beylerbey of Konya, was both the garrison commander of Amasya and the prince's lala. His earlier lala had been Yakut Paşa, the brother of Kutlu Paşa. Yakut Paşa came from the line of Hacı Kutlu Şah, the emir of Amasya, and was regarded as an Amasyan raised from childhood in the Ottoman palace. The prince's teacher was a scholar from Amasya, Niğdelioğlu Sofi İmadeddin Bayezid Çelebi. In the districts of Merzifon, Gümüş, Ladik, Mecidözü, Köprü, Zeytun and Osmancık there were local lords. Hüsameddin names them one by one, because in the years of the Interregnum these lords were to be both the prince's helpers and, at times, his troubles.

Amasya's own notables stood with the Ottoman dynasty as well. According to Hüsameddin, those who defended the dynasty most firmly were the Gümüşlüzades, Sunkurzades, Torumtayzades and Halifetzades, the oldest and most influential families of the city. Others leaned toward the Kutlu Şah line, among them Şeyh Şadî Çelebi, who after the prince's arrival was removed from the city and sent to his own farm. In other words, Mehmed did not arrive in an empty city. He landed in the midst of a governing class that could be useful to him, and part of which would rise with the prince.

While Timur Roamed Anatolia

According to Hüsameddin, in the year 803 the news spread that Timur had come as far as Erzurum, and toward the end of the year a sudden raid was made on Sivas. The people of Sivas were put to the sword, those who could flee took refuge in Amasya, and the city filled with refugees. Timur sent his army toward Ankara in two columns, one by way of Erzincan, Niksar, Canik and Çankırı, the other by way of Sivas, Tokat and Kayseri. Amasya lay between the two. In Zilkade 804 Mehmed set out from Amasya for Ankara with the troops he had gathered, leaving Yakut Paşa in charge of Amasya as his deputy. Yıldırım's army was routed on the Çubuk plain.

The sources differ over where Mehmed went after the battle. Başar writes that he withdrew directly to the Amasya and Sivas region and stayed there quietly. Hüsameddin says that the prince went to Bolu and hid from Timur's wrath, while Amasya remained under Yakut Paşa's administration. The two accounts do not entirely exclude each other, since Hüsameddin's narrative states plainly that the prince was outside Amasya for a time and that Amasya was for a while without its prince. İnalcık adds that the prince accepted Timur's suzerainty and thereby legitimized his position in the Tokat and Amasya region.

While Timur redistributed Anatolia among the former beys and the local lords who had joined his army, he gave the emirate of Amasya to Kara Devletşah. Kara Devletşah came from the Bahtiyaroğlu family that had ruled in Ankara before the Ottomans. Hüsameddin portrays him as cruel and untrustworthy. With roughly twelve thousand horsemen he camped at the village of Hakala, took Suluova, and began to rule the surrounding districts from there. Amasya was at this point a city with two rulers. Yakut Paşa held sway inside the city and the citadel, and Kara Devletşah outside them. The notables of Amasya closed the passes and pledged one another not to submit to Kara Devletşah. The müftü Gümüşlüzade Şücaeddin İlyas, Şihabeddin Ahmed, sheikh of the Hankâh-ı Mesudî, the teacher Şemseddin Ahmed (known among the people as Şeker Çelebi) and Tacüddin İsrafil of Ladik led this alliance. The lords of Ladik, Mecidözü and Köprü also supported it from outside.

Timur's Son in Amasya: The Scholars' Examination

Kara Devletşah reported the situation to Timur. The people of Amasya also sent a petition, saying in effect: "Send us an ordinary slave and we will obey, only spare us from obeying the tyrant Kara Devletşah." According to Hüsameddin, citing Yezdî's history, Timur sent his son Kara Mehmed Sultan and his teacher Numaneddin Abdülcebbar el-Mutezilî to Amasya with a military force. The delegation entered the city in the autumn of 1402. Yakut Paşa sensed the danger and went to Bolu, to Prince Mehmed. The scholars and notables of Amasya were gathered, asked why they had resisted the decree, and then the ulema were put ten questions on the rational and the transmitted sciences. Hüsameddin describes Timur's custom as follows: he tested the scholars of any place he came to, and if they could answer he spared the town from plunder, and if they could not, he had it plundered and its people massacred.

The müftü Pir Şücaeddin İlyas answered the questions without hesitation. Hüsameddin takes the episode from the biographical entry in Kâtib Çelebi's Süllemü'l-vusûl, and adds that Ibn Shihna also records Timur's custom. That Şeker Çelebi was a powerful orator who could speak three languages also helped to persuade the delegation. Kara Mehmed Sultan accordingly appointed Şadgeldi Bey, of the line of Hacı Kutlu Şah, as emir of Amasya in place of Kara Devletşah. Şadgeldi Bey was the son of Devatdar Ahmed Paşa and the son-in-law of Bayezid Paşa. Amasya paid a heavy indemnity for the delegation's expenses. By Timur's decree Pir İlyas was exiled to Şirvan. Şeker Çelebi and Saru Şeyh, suspicious of the delegation's conduct, had slipped away at night, one to Jerusalem and the other to Aleppo. After Timur's death Pir İlyas was released and returned to Amasya in 809 (1406). The city had come out of the examination without being plundered, but Kara Devletşah had not left Hakala.

Inviting the Prince

The leading men of Amasya held a long meeting under Şadgeldi Bey's chairmanship. Those whose words carried weight included the beys Yazarlızade Yakub, Atabeyzade Yörgüç, Sunkurzade Enişte Asayiş, Melik İsmail and Torumtayzade Ebubekir, together with the müftü and the ulema. They decided to invite Prince Çelebi Mehmed from Bolu to Amasya. In Hüsameddin's account the reasoning was twofold. The prince had troops with him, and their commanders were men of Amasya. And the tyranny of the lordlings springing up everywhere could be stopped only if the prince came and set up order. İnaloğlu İbrahim had settled in Tokat, Köpekoğlu Süli in Çorum, Gözleroğlu Ali in Ladik, Köpekoğlu Hasan in Turhal and Köpekoğlu Hüseyin in Artukabat. The delegation was headed by Yusuf Asayiş Bey, nephew and son-in-law of Yahşi Bey, the father of Bayezid Paşa, who was known as Enişte ("brother-in-law") Asayiş.

The invitation carried a condition. The prince was to give up the habits of pleasure and drink to which he was accustomed, and not to let his slaves loose on the people. In Hüsameddin's narrative this condition defines the relationship of Amasya's notables with the prince. The people looked on him not merely as a member of the dynasty but as a prospective ruler to whom they could set their own terms. İnalcık likewise writes that Mehmed relied on the support of the ulema and the city notables in establishing his authority against his rivals in the Tokat and Amasya region, and cites the third volume of Amasya Tarihi as the source. He adds that the local beys lacked the legitimacy that an Ottoman prince possessed.

İsfendiyar Bey, ruler of Kastamonu, wanted Şadgeldi Bey, his nephew by his sister, and through him Amasya, to submit to him, and promised to drive out Kara Devletşah. The notables of Amasya did not accept the offer. When the prince set out, İsfendiyar sent his other nephew, Kutaroğlu Yahya Bey, to the Osmancık area. With Mehmed were about five hundred horsemen, his lala Ali Paşa, Yakut Paşa and Bayezid Paşa. This small force scattered Yahya Bey's thousand men and advanced as far as Osmancık. Hacı Mehmed Bey, lord of Merzifon and Gümüş, and his brother Abdullah Bey at Hakala informed the prince of the arrangements. Kara Devletşah and his retinue were seized and killed while they were being made drunk at a banquet prepared for them. His cavalry was dispersed. In Hüsameddin's account this happened in Şevval 805, that is, in the spring of 1403.

The people of Amasya welcomed the prince at Hakala, and a banquet was held in front of the Amasya gorge. According to Hüsameddin, who draws on İdris-i Bitlisî's Tarih-i Osmanî, the müftü Gümüşlüzade Abdurrahman Çelebi conveyed to the prince the terms agreed in the Amasya council. Mehmed accepted them gladly, dismounted, performed his ablutions, prayed two rak'ahs, and in the presence of the müftü and the notables repented of every prohibited habit. Then he entered Amasya.

The Amasya Emirate

From this point Mehmed settled in Amasya as an independent emir. Hüsameddin gives a detailed account of the cadre that formed around him. His lala Ali Paşa was vizier, and Yakut Paşa became beylerbey and garrison commander of Amasya. Hacı Halil Efendi, the kadi of Gümüş, who drew the prince's attention by his intelligence and skill in writing, was made nişancı (chancellor). The defterdar (treasurer) was Gümüşlüzade Hace Celal Çelebi. Sofi Bayezid Çelebi was in appearance the royal tutor and in practice the prince's chief adviser. Mehmed was by now approaching seventeen and was married to Şehzade Hatun, sister of Şadgeldi Bey and youngest daughter of Devatdar Ahmed Paşa. The marriage was a bond of kinship between the former emir of Amasya and the new prince. In June 1404 a son was born to him in Amasya and was named Murad. Hüsameddin records that Şehzade Hatun is believed to have been Murad's mother. The TDV entry on Murad II gives no firm verdict on his mother's identity: it describes him as born of a concubine and notes Hüsameddin's claim.

According to Hüsameddin this structure was a broad emirate centred on Amasya. Within its borders lay the provinces of Amasya, Sivas, Tokat, Çorum, Canik, Karahisar-ı Şarkî and Ankara. At the same time Süleyman was in Edirne as ruler of Rumeli, İsa in Bursa as ruler there, the Karamanids back in Konya, and the other old beys again in their own beyliks. The unity that the Ottoman Turks had tried to build had been shattered by Timur's blow, and Amasya was the centre of one of its fragments.

Mehmed's first task in Anatolia was to clear the inside of his own borders. In 806, according to Hüsameddin, İnaloğlu İbrahim Bey, who dominated the Tokat area, was routed by the force that came from Amasya together with Kutlu Paşa's troops. İbrahim Bey is said to have had some twenty thousand horsemen. At Samsun the revolt of Kubadoğlu Ali Bey was put down and the emirate of Samsun was given to Taşanzade Ahmed Bey. Around Karahisar-ı Şarkî the raids of Gözleroğlu were stopped. The Taşanoğulları, who controlled Köprü, Havza and Zeytun, submitted. Mezid Bey of Kürt origin, the beylerbey of Sivas, was pardoned several times and left in his post despite the incitement of the Köpekoğulları and of those who wished to put forward Kadı Burhaneddin's son. By the end of these purges, in Hüsameddin's words, the Amasya government had made itself known on every side and had won the trust of the beys.

Money, Soldiers and Scholars

The greatest problem of the emirate was money. Hüsameddin writes that Timur had collected the cash held by the population under various pretexts, and that gold and silver had become hard to find. The defterdar Hace Celal Çelebi approached the task as a patient and thrifty accountant. The mint of Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa continued to be run by Mağribî İlyasoğlu Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi and struck silver akçes, so that Mahmud Çelebi became known by the nickname "Darbhaneci" (the mint man). In addition, according to Hüsameddin, paper money called "çav" or "çavik" was issued and put into circulation in place of gold and silver coin. Hace Şemseddin Mehmed Çelebi of Bukhara was put in charge of this, and in Amasya he was called "Çavikçi." This information about paper money printed in Amasya rests on Hüsameddin. It does not appear in the entries by İnalcık and Başar, and should therefore be read as a practice reported by Hüsameddin rather than as an established fact.

The army was divided into two parts. Horsemen counted as sipahis and foot soldiers as janissaries. Bayezid Paşa is remembered as an expert in cavalry and the sekbanbaşı Kabuli Ağa as one in infantry. The soldiers drilled every day on Amasya's archery ground and held manoeuvres at Suluova. Hüsameddin also writes that new cannon were cast in Amasya and that the prince's success owed much to them, but he cites no other source for the claim. The story of boys whose moustaches had barely begun to grow pressing an iron comb to the upper lip and saying "an iron comb stays in my moustache" to be accepted for military service is an anecdote taken from Ata Bey's Enderun Tarihi. Whatever its truth, it shows the influence of the ulema over the people and how highly soldiering was regarded in this milieu.

The ulema were more than a moral support for this order. Among the names Hüsameddin gives are the müftü Gümüşlüzade Abdurrahman Çelebi, Tokatlı Kara Sinan, a pupil of Taftazani, the preacher Ömer, İsrafil of Ladik, Halifetzade Hasan, the khatib Abdülkadir, and Muslihzade Abdulhay and Muhammed Şah. Sabuncuoğlu İlyas Çelebi of Amasya became the prince's chief physician. The poet Ahmedî, who was a secretary of the divan, died in Amasya in 814 and the poet Mahmud Gubarî Çelebi became secretary in his place. The defterdar Hace Celal Çelebi also had a Halveti lodge built in the Gümüşlüzade quarter for his relative Pir Şücaeddin İlyas.

The most striking judgment Hüsameddin writes is that these ulema were occupied with three problems left behind by the Timurid disaster. General morality had been shaken, callous lordlings and faithless bandits were ravaging every region, and private interests were setting everyone against one another. The scholars instilled religious and moral virtues in the people and spread the idea of soldiering and self-sacrifice. These sentences also reflect the author's own view of history, since Hüsameddin wants to see Amasya as the place where Turkish unity was rebuilt. Knowing this perspective helps the reader judge the tone of the details he reports.

Timur's Invitation

Mehmed's success in Amasya drew Timur's attention. According to Hüsameddin, Timur summoned the prince to him with the apparent promise of making him a son-in-law, and the envoy he sent, Hace Muhammed, brought many documents attesting that his intentions were not hostile. The notables of Amasya did not think accepting the invitation wise, but to refuse a man like Timur outright was not prudent either. So the prince appeared to accept. Secret instructions were sent to the beys along the road, and some staged clashes were arranged to show the envoy that the road was dangerous. Seeing the attacks of Kara Yahya Bey and Savcıbeyzade Ali Bey, the envoy was convinced that it was impossible to go further. The prince returned from Osmancık to Amasya, and Sofi Bayezid Çelebi was sent to Timur with gifts and apologies. The episode is an example of Mehmed's balanced policy, in which he recognized Timur's suzerainty while avoiding falling under his control.

The Struggle for Bursa

Mehmed's real objective was to take Bursa, and most of the Interregnum years revolved around that aim. According to Başar, Mehmed first proposed to his brother İsa that they share Anatolia, and when İsa refused the two brothers met at Ulubat. Mehmed defeated İsa, entered Bursa and proclaimed his sovereignty there in 1404. İsa's attempt to return with Süleyman's support was frustrated by the resistance of the people of Bursa, and İsa, captured at Eskişehir, was strangled in 1405-1406. Hüsameddin places this battle in 807 and writes that Mehmed's lala Ali Paşa fell at Ulubat and that Yakut Paşa became vizier in his place.

After these events Süleyman crossed to Anatolia and took Bursa, then advanced on Ankara. According to Başar, Mehmed could not resist and withdrew to Amasya, was defeated again a year later on the plain of Yenişehir, and again returned to Amasya. Hüsameddin gives the same picture from the standpoint of the Amasya commanders. On the advice of commanders such as Bayezid Paşa and Mukbil Bey, Mehmed, although he wished to fight, was persuaded to return to Amasya. These retreats show how serviceable Amasya was to Mehmed. Each loss ended with rest, fundraising and the renewal of troops at the same base.

While Mehmed was occupied with Bursa, the Amasya government had troubles of its own around Tokat and Sivas. The Köpekoğulları urged Mezid Bey, the beylerbey of Sivas, to declare independence, and the Karamanids also gave Mezid Bey hope. Bayezid Paşa returned quickly from Ankara and, together with Mehmed, defeated the Köpekoğulları at Kazova. As Hüsameddin tells it, when Mezid Bey heard what had befallen the Köpekoğulları he broke with them and renewed his loyalty, and at Yakut Paşa's request he was pardoned. Later the attempt to put forward Zeynelabidin Ali Şah, the son of Kadı Burhaneddin, was again put down by a force Bayezid Paşa sent to Sivas. This part of the story shows that Amasya, together with the prince, established a security order in Central Anatolia, and also that this order was constantly tested while Mehmed was busy with Bursa.

Sending Musa to Rumeli

Mehmed used another brother to draw Süleyman toward Rumeli. According to Başar, he sent Musa Çelebi, who was with Karamanoğlu Mehmed Bey, to Rumeli by way of Wallachia with a small force, on condition that he remain subordinate to him. İnalcık's entry on Mehmed I states that Musa reached Wallachia by sea in 1406 at the invitation of the Wallachian voivode Mircea. Başar's entry on the Interregnum dates this crossing to 1409. According to Hüsameddin, Musa came to Amasya after his father's death and was reunited with his brother, and Mehmed sent him to Rumeli in 813 (1410-1411) together with Şah Melik Bey of the house of Şadî, who was Musa's lala. These differences in dates show that in large events the sources do not fully coincide. What all three accounts share is that Musa crossed to Rumeli with Mehmed's backing.

Musa succeeded in Rumeli. He defeated Süleyman and in 1411 had coins struck in his name at Edirne and proclaimed his rule. In Hüsameddin's view this was the moment a prince charged with conquering on Mehmed's behalf began to act independently, which put Şah Melik in a difficult position. Musa made Şah Melik his vizier and Şeyh Bedreddin Mahmud his kazasker. Musa's harsh conduct, however, alienated the frontier lords of Rumeli. İnalcık writes that Musa's autocratic and centralizing policy offended the frontier beys who held their positions by inheritance and pushed them toward Mehmed's side.

The Road to Çamurlu

In October 1412 Mehmed crossed to Rumeli on Byzantine ships and was defeated by Musa at İnceğiz near Çatalca. Hüsameddin calls this battle İncügez and reports that Yakut Paşa, the vizier who had come from Amasya, died there. Mehmed fled with a small force to Istanbul and returned to Anatolia. According to Hüsameddin he came back to Amasya after the defeat. In the next preparation Hacı Halil Paşa and Bayezid Paşa wrote letters to the beys of Rumeli advising them to obey Mehmed, and received favourable replies. Mehmed crossed to Rumeli a second time, through the mediation of Gazi Evrenos Bey drew the Serbs and most of the Rumeli beys to his side, and obtained auxiliary forces from Nasırüddin Bey of the Dulkadirids.

The clash took place on 5 July 1413 at Çamurlu, in the plain south of Sofia near Samokov. Musa fought bravely with his few janissaries, but his forces broke up. While he was trying to flee wounded toward Wallachia he was captured by Bayezid Paşa, Mihaloğlu Yahşi Bey and Burak Bey, and it is reported that he was strangled in Mehmed's presence. Hüsameddin writes that Musa was strangled with the string of his own bow. Mehmed proclaimed himself sole ruler of the Ottoman realm at Edirne.

Hüsameddin presents this victory as Amasya's own achievement. In his view, those who worked most self-sacrificingly for Mehmed's independence and for unity among the Ottoman Turks were above all the people and notables of Amasya and Tokat. He writes that it was the people of Amasya who made good, in the short span of eleven years, the blow that Timur had dealt. Because this statement is a historian's judgment about his own city, it reflects the outlook of local historiography and should be read within that frame. Even so, the information he gives about the cadre supports it to a degree. Many of Mehmed's most important helpers really did come from Amasya.

After 1413

According to Hüsameddin, when Mehmed came to the throne he kept as grand vizier Hacı Halil Paşa of the İmamzade family, whom Amasya had raised, appointed Bayezid Paşa beylerbey of Rumeli, and Yörgüç Paşa beylerbey of Amasya. At this point Hüsameddin objects to the view in Türkiye Tarihi that Çandarlızade İbrahim Paşa was the first grand vizier, noting that Hacı Halil Paşa is called vizier in a waqf deed of 818 and grand vizier in a deed of 820 drawn up after his death. The TDV entry on Bayezid Paşa, however, shows him appointed grand vizier and beylerbey of Rumeli in 1413. The difference between these accounts is a point on which the sources part ways over the order of the grand viziers. What both agree on is that Bayezid Paşa rendered great service in Çelebi Mehmed's effort to restore the state.

Bayezid Paşa is called an Amasyan in the sources because he was born in Amasya; his father's name was Yahşi. The TDV entry says he may well have been of Albanian origin. Hüsameddin opens a dispute here and says he is astonished at the claims of Solakzade that Yörgüç Paşa and Bayezid Paşa were not Turks, reminding the reader that in Yörgüç Paşa's waqf deed his father's name is given as Abdullah and it is expressly stated that his ancestors were Muslims. On the question of descent the sources part company here and no firm conclusion can be drawn.

Yörgüç Paşa was the son of Atabeyzade Abdullah Bey and the son-in-law of Mustafa Bey, son of Şadgeldi Paşa, emir of Amasya. He had served in the prince's personal retinue and as his lala, and according to Hüsameddin he became beylerbey of Amasya in Cemaziyelahir 816 as a reward for his services. In his time the province of Amasya consisted of the sanjaks of Amasya, Sivas, Tokat, Karahisar-ı Şarkî, Canik and Çorum, and was called the "Province of Rum" (Rumiyye Vilayeti). According to the TDV entry on Amasya, until the middle of the sixteenth century the city was among the chief centres to which Ottoman princes were sent to gain administrative experience, and from Çelebi Mehmed onward Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II all served here as sanjak governors.

Buildings and Endowments

The Amasya of the Interregnum years and after was not occupied only with raising soldiers and money. A good many charitable works also appeared in this period. According to Hüsameddin, Yakut Paşa completed his lodge, soup kitchen and school in Amasya and had his waqf deed drawn up in early 810. The lodge was assigned to Yar Ali Çelebi of Divriği, known as Yari-i Şirazî. The mosque, madrasa and lodge that Yakub Paşa Yazarlıoğlu, beylerbey of Ankara, had begun near the Beyler Sarayı were completed and endowed in 815. Bayezid Paşa endowed the mosque, soup kitchen and madrasa he built in Amasya in 820, and the name of the architect appears in one of the inscriptions dated 817 (1414). According to the TDV entry on the Mehmed I Madrasa, the architect Ebû Bekir b. Muhammed Hamza el-Müşeymeş also designed the madrasa in Merzifon that Çelebi Sultan Mehmed began in 1414 and Umur Bey b. Ali completed in 1417. This madrasa, with its open courtyard and four iwans, was known among the people as the Merzifon Sultaniyye. Its resemblance to the Hacı Halil Paşa Madrasa at Gümüşhacıköy, built nearby in 1413-1415, is striking. All these buildings are products of the wish of the ruling cadre that emerged from the Interregnum to leave lasting works in their own homeland.

Amasya as a Home for Princes

After Mehmed took the throne, Amasya's fate merged with the tradition of training princes. His son Murad, born in Amasya in 1404, was sent to Amasya at the age of twelve with the governorship of the province of Rum. Hüsameddin dates this appointment to Rebiülevvel 818 (1415) and writes that Şücaeddin İlyas Çelebi b. Hızır, his teacher from Amasya, came with the prince. In the same year a great earthquake struck Amasya. According to Hüsameddin the city was left in ruins, many mosques and buildings collapsed, and the kadi Rükneddin Mahmud el-Buhârî, Pir Şerefeddin Hamza Çelebi and other distinguished persons died. The people lived in tents for about three months. The Kara Tatars of the İskilip region also pressed on the area at this time, and Murad was sent from Edirne to Amasya for that reason. Melik İsmail Bey, the garrison commander of Amasya, scattered the Kara Tatars in 819 and rose in the eyes of the prince and the people.

When Çelebi Mehmed died at Edirne on 25 June 1421, Murad was in Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that the chief taster Elvan Bey came to Amasya with the letter inviting Murad to the throne, and that Murad set out toward Edirne that same day. According to the TDV entry on Bayezid Paşa, the death was kept secret for forty days until Murad arrived. Since the release of Düzme Mustafa was expected, this concealment was meant to prevent civil strife. According to Hüsameddin, Murad was born in Amasya and grew up there. Çelebi Mehmed's choice of Amasya, and Amasya's standing by him, laid the ground for the later centuries in which the sanjak was regarded as the chief place of education for princes.

The Amasya Cadre in Later Years

Mehmed's reign did not pass without trouble even after the Interregnum. According to İnalcık, in 1416 the appearance of Düzme Mustafa and the revolt of Şeyh Bedreddin brought a new civil war. These events took place after 1413, when the Interregnum had ended and Mehmed was sole ruler, and so are not counted as part of the Interregnum. Bayezid Paşa, who had a part in the Şeyh Bedreddin affair, was of Amasya origin. The TDV entry on Murad II says that Amasya and Sivas forces under Bayezid Paşa were sent toward Saruhan and İzmir to suppress the revolt of Börklüce Mustafa. According to the same source, when Murad left Amasya the Kara Tatars of the region caused disorder, and Murad had to return to Amasya with Bayezid Paşa. In 1421, when Bayezid Paşa was sent against Düzme Mustafa, most of his soldiers went over to the other side, he surrendered, and was killed the next day.

İnalcık's Mehmed I entry offers the following overall assessment. The central question of Mehmed's reign was the Ottoman state's re-emergence as the dominant power in Anatolia and the Balkans after the catastrophe of 1402. The dynasty re-established its position as the only source of legitimacy over feudal lords and the other dynasties of the region, and the sipahis and kapıkulus saw that their own status depended on the existence of the central government. The tahrir and timar system was developed and widely applied in this period. Amasya's share in this process is that the city gave Mehmed a ruling cadre and a stable base. Many other factors rebuilt the state, but without Amasya in the prince's hands it would have been hard for him to struggle for so many years over Bursa.

Where the Sources Part Ways

The sources used here complement one another, but in places they diverge. Whether Mehmed went after Ankara to the Amasya and Sivas region or first to Bolu is told differently by Başar and Hüsameddin. The date of Musa's crossing to Rumeli appears in three forms: 1406, 1409 or 1410-1411. The details of the defeat at İnceğiz and of how Musa met his death at Çamurlu differ. On the order of grand viziers, whether Hacı Halil Paşa or Bayezid Paşa came first, the TDV and Hüsameddin do not agree. Items such as the paper money and the casting of cannon are found only in Hüsameddin and could not be verified from another source.

Chronology

June 1399: Çelebi Mehmed is sent as governor to the province of Rum, which includes Amasya, Tokat, Sivas and Ankara; he arrives in Amasya in Zilkade.

28 July 1402: Battle of Ankara; Bayezid I is taken prisoner.

Autumn 1402: Timur's son Kara Mehmed Sultan comes to Amasya; the scholars are examined (Hüsameddin).

Spring 1403: Kara Devletşah is killed; Mehmed enters Amasya and takes up the emirate (Hüsameddin).

June 1404: Prince Murad (later Murad II) is born in Amasya.

1404: Mehmed defeats İsa at Ulubat and proclaims his rule in Bursa.

1405-1406: İsa Çelebi is captured at Eskişehir and strangled.

1406-1411: Musa Çelebi crosses to Rumeli; the exact date differs among the sources.

17 February 1411: Musa proclaims his rule at Edirne.

October 1412: Mehmed is defeated by Musa at İnceğiz.

5 July 1413: Battle of Çamurlu; Musa is defeated and killed; Mehmed becomes sole ruler.

1414-1417: The Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa is built at Merzifon.

1415: A great earthquake in Amasya; Prince Murad comes to Amasya as governor (Hüsameddin).

25 June 1421: Çelebi Mehmed dies at Edirne; Murad is summoned from Amasya to the throne.

Sources

Primary sources

  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. III (sections on the period of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed).

Other sources