Âşıkî, Manzume 151: Bir seferde üç vilâyet feth iden…

Manzume 151 — Bir seferde üç vilâyet feth iden sultân budur

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Three long-lined couplets on Sara Hatun's embassy, the crossing of the Bulgar Dağı and the surrender of Trebizond, when three provinces fell in one campaign.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bir seferde üç vilâyet feth iden sultân budur
Kâyinâtda lutf u ihsân bedl iden sultân budur

Mazhar-ı lütfı vü kahrı Hak bu hanı eyledi
Feth iden iklîmlere 'adli iden sultân budur

Bil bu Âl-i 'Osmân içre her gelen artuk gelür
Bil bu devrân içre kim artuk olan sultân budur

In English

1. This is the sultan who conquered three provinces in one campaign; this is the sultan who scatters grace and bounty in all creation.

2. God made this khan the manifestation of His grace and His wrath; this is the sultan who brings justice to the lands he conquers.

3. Know that in this House of Osman each who comes is greater; know that in this age the sultan who is greatest is this one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

These Toils Are in the Path of Faith

The road to Trebizond, in the hundred and thirty-fifth chapter, opens with an embassy: Uzun Hasan sends his mother Sara Hatun and the lord of Çemişkezek, Şeyh Kürt Hasan, as envoys. As the army crosses the Bulgar Dağı, the sovereign goes on foot. Sara Hatun asks the sovereign why he suffers these toils and receives the answer, "these toils are in the path of the faith." Trebizond surrenders; the empty houses of the infidels are given as property to the Muslims who come, and the fortress is strengthened. On the way back the sovereign comes out at Sonısa. Kızıl Ahmed is given a fief in Rumelia; but he goes to Bolu to gather his household and flees by night to Karaman, and from there to Uzun Hasan, staying with him until the reign of Sultan Bayezid. İsmail Beg, as a precaution lest he too flee like Kızıl Ahmed, is moved from Yenişehir to Plovdiv and lives there in peace until he dies.

Three Provinces

The great campaign is fitted into a single sentence: this is the sultan who conquered three provinces in one campaign. As the chapter heading also said, Sinop, Koylıhisar and Trebizond were taken in one campaign; the author gives the date of this campaign as 865 (1460-61). The lines are longer than in most verses of the work, and each ends with the refrain "sultân budur", this is the sultan; this gives the verse the manner of a eulogy. The second couplet names the ruler's two faces together: God made him the manifestation of His grace and His wrath. He brings justice to the lands he conquers. The third carries a judgement on the dynasty: each who comes of the House of Osman is greater than the one before. This is a brief expression of the work's view exalting the continuity of the dynasty. The rhyme words are sultân, ihsân and sultân again; no line is without the refrain "budur".