AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Anûştekîn Gâzi, Nûştekîn

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 369 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi kölesi Amasya’nın fethinde büyük hizmetler edib Merzifon emâretinde hayli müddet kaldı. Ba’dehû Amasya cândârı ya’nî şehir muhâfızı oldu. 540 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. El-yevm Suluova Argûma nâhiyesinde Nûştekîn yâdedilen karye bunun çiftliği idi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was a slave of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi. Having rendered great services at the conquest of Amasya, he stayed for a considerable time in the emirate of Merzifon. Afterwards he became the cândâr of Amasya, that is, the warden of the city. He died after 540 [1145-46]. The village called Nûştekîn today in the Argûma subdistrict of Suluova was his farm.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • melik: ruler, bey
  • emâret: emirate, the governing of a place
  • cândâr: by the text's own explanation, the warden of the city
  • el-yevm: today
  • nâhiye: subdistrict, a subdivision of the district
  • karye: village
  • yâdedilen: called, mentioned

The Dânişmendids and the Conquest of Amasya

There is no certain information about when and by whom Amasya was conquered. Persian sources say that after the victory of Malazgirt, Kayseri, Tokat, Sivas, Amasya and Niksar were left to Dânişmend Gazi. The Dânişmendnâme, on the other hand, is an epic account made up of conquest legends and is not regarded as a historical source. A recent study writes that Amasya was taken in 1075 by İltekin Gazi, one of the Dânişmendid commanders, known as the "conqueror of Amasya". It is also known that Merzifon was conquered after Malazgirt by İltegin Gazi, one of the Dânişmend emirs, and that his son Hüseyin Gazi lived there for a long time; the place where he lived was later called Sihâmüddevle, that is, today's Samadolu quarter. Dânişmendid rule in Amasya lasted until Kılıcarslan II annexed these lands.

About Anûştekîn Gâzi

No Dânişmendid emir named Anûştekîn was found in the searches. The Merzifon emirate Hüsameddin mentions may be a post belonging to the time of İltegin Gazi, the conqueror of Merzifon, and his son Hüseyin Gazi; but no source makes this connection, and it is an inference. The dates in the text also draw attention: that a man who took part in the conquest of Amasya as a slave of Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi died after 540 [1145-46], that is, about seventy years after the conquest, points to a rarely seen lifespan. The word "slave" may mean that the man was attached to the dynasty; the text does not explain this.

The Village of Nûştekîn and the Argûma Subdistrict

In Ottoman records Argoma appears as a subdistrict north of Amasya. In the 17th century the district of Merzifonâbâd was formed from some villages of this subdistrict; it was abolished in 1880 and its villages were attached to Merzifon and Gümüş. It is also written that Argoma was a subdistrict between 1490 and 1500 and today lies within the center of Merzifon. The old name of Suluova is said to be Arguma; the settlement became a district center only in a later period. That Hüsameddin's phrase "the Argûma subdistrict of Suluova" may have arisen from two separate places being mentioned close together is an inference. No village by the name of Nûştekîn was found in the searches; the name may have changed, but no record confirms this.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 7 contents