AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Arslan Bey — Bîçârzâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 15 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Hacı Şadgeldi Pâdişâh ümerâsından olup 788’de Sultân Murâd Hân’a bey’at eden Bîçâr Bey bin İsmâil Bey’in mahdûmudur. Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’a arz-ı hizmet ve sadâkat ederek ümerâdan oldu. Ba’dehû Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî’ye hizmet edib 729 senesinde Rumeli vak’asında Türklük tarafdârı olduğundan menkûb oldu. Ba’dehû Karahisar-ı Devle sancağı dâhilinde Tavşanlı nahiyesinde ikâmete me’mûr olup orada mensiyâne imrâr-ı hayat ederek 838 sâlinde vefât etdi. Orada câmi’ ve türbe binasıyla 836’da emlâkini bu hayrâtı mesâlihine vakfetdi. Birâderi [17] Hamza ve İsmâil Beylerdir. Vakfiyesi kuyûd-ı vakfiye idâresinde müsecceldir. Bunlara târîhen “Bîçâroğulları” denirdi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He is the son of Bîçâr Bey son of İsmâil Bey, one of the emirs of Hacı Şadgeldi Padişah, who pledged allegiance (bey'at) to Sultan Murad Khan in 788 [1386-87]. By offering service and loyalty to Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan, he became one of the emirs. Later he served Murad II and in 729 [1328-29] was punished because in the Rumelia affair he took the Turkish side. Then he was assigned to live in the district of Tavşanlı within the sanjak of Karahisar-ı Devle, and, passing his life there forgotten, died in 838 [1434-35]. He had a mosque and tomb built there, and in 836 [1432-33] endowed his property to the needs of these charities. His brothers are Hamza and İsmâil Beys. His deed of endowment is recorded in the waqf records administration. In history these were called "Bîçâroğulları".

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • bey'at: oath of allegiance, recognition of a ruler
  • arz-ı hizmet ve sadâkat: offering service and loyalty
  • menkûb: one on whom disaster has fallen, punished
  • mensiyyen: forgotten
  • imrâr-ı hayat: passing one's life
  • mesâlih: needs, affairs
  • kuyûd-ı vakfiye: waqf records

Traces in Tavşanlı

There is an Arslan Bey whose name is still remembered in Tavşanlı today, and he appears to be related to Hüsameddin's entry. Local records state that on the site of the Great Mosque (Ulu Camii) in Tavşanlı stood the first mosque built by Arslan Bey, that this mosque, known as the Dedebali Mosque, was built in 1430, that Arslan Bey died in 1432, and that his grave is in the tomb in the garden of the Great Mosque. The present Great Mosque was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, in the time of Abdülhamid II, on the foundations of the old mosque, and was repaired in 1883.

This information coincides with what Hüsameddin describes, but is not exactly the same. Hüsameddin speaks of the building of a mosque and tomb and of a waqf in 836 [1432-33], and gives his death as 838 [1434-35]. The death year in the Tavşanlı records is 1432, and the two dates differ by two or three years. Since the name Bîçâr does not appear in the Tavşanlı records, it is highly probable but not certain that this is the same Arslan Bey.

Inconsistencies in the Dates

The text writes that Bîçâr Bey's father pledged allegiance to Sultan Murad in 788 [1386-87], and that Arslan Bey served Murad II and was punished in the Rumelia affair in the year "729". Murad II reigned in the first half of the fifteenth century; for this reason the date 729 [1328-29] does not agree with this sultan's reign and is most probably an error for "829" [1425-26]. This is an inference; we do not know what the manuscript says.

The Rumelia affair that led to his being sent into exile "because he was a partisan of the Turks" is not detailed in the text and could not be determined from another source. For his brothers Hamza and İsmâil Beys too no separate record was found.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 15–15. amasya.bel.tr

Official sources

Other sources

Volume 6 contents