Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Zulmet-i küfri cihânda hep bozar 'Osmânîler
Hak ta'âlâ bunları dâyim bu ihsânda diler
Kahrı kâfirden gidermek Hak buña itdi nasîb
Hem nizâm-ı şer'i gör kim ne düzer 'Osmânîler
Hak ta'âlâ bunları rahmete mazhar eyledi
İşiginde kul olupdur 'âlim ü sultânlar

In English

1. The Ottomans everywhere in the world break the darkness of unbelief; God Most High ever wishes them in this bounty.

2. God granted them to remove the oppression of the infidel; see too what order of the sacred law the Ottomans set up.

3. God Most High made them the manifestation of mercy; scholars and sultans have become servants at their threshold.

Literary and Historical Commentary

From Mecca to Skopje

The march on Smederevo begins in the hundred and twelfth chapter, on İshak Beg's word. Dracul and his two sons are seized and sent to Gallipoli and Eğrigöz; the despot's two sons are imprisoned in Tokat castle. The despot fortifies his fortresses and goes to Hungary. The khan orders the land of the Laz to be struck, its castles pulled down and its people taken captive; a boy of four is sold at Skopje for twenty akçe. Here the author adds a piece of his own life: İshak Beg has returned from Mecca, "the poor writer came back from Mecca with İshak Beg." An order comes from the khan to İshak Beg to march on Nige Obran and fortify it; the sancak of Germiyan is assigned to him as companion. The governor of Germiyan at the time is Osman Çelebi, son of Umur Beg son of Temürtaş, who would later fall as a martyr at Varna. The author tells how he went "raiding" with İshak Beg's son Paşa Beg and his sword-bearer Toğan. One day lines of infidels appear; the gazis charge with the takbîr and trample the foot soldiers under the horses' hooves; İshak Beg calls, "Enough killing, take captives." The author says: "By God, besides those I killed, the poor writer took five captives and brought them to Skopje. I sold the five for nine hundred akçe." That year Smederevo is taken and the land of the Laz passes into the hands of the people of Islam.

The Ottomans and Order

The lines reach fifteen syllables: this long metre, recalling the "fâ'ilâtün" pattern, is not found in the chapter's other pieces. In the edition the words "cihânda hep bozar" in the first couplet are in italics. The couplets praise the Ottomans as a dynasty that breaks the darkness of unbelief and sets up the order of the sacred law; the third says that scholars and sultans have become servants at their threshold. The use of the word "'Osmânîler", the Ottomans, is one of the rare places in the work that show the dynastic name beginning to become the name of a community. The chapter has a tie to Tokat as well: the Serbian despot's sons are imprisoned in Tokat castle. The province of Rum, as in many places in the work, appears as the region where the Ottomans kept their hostages and captives.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 468-469 (transliterated text, bâb 112).