Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 169 — Feth oldı görüñ İskenderiyye

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

Two couplets in the chapter where Shkodër (İskenderiye of Albania) resists the first siege, is pressed by a siege tower and surrenders by treaty in 883, the Conqueror's last holy war.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Feth oldı görüñ İskenderiyye
Yakın hisârı odur berre bahre

Anı Hak virdi Gāzi Şâh Han'a
Ümîzdür kim döne Firenk beriye

In English

1. See, İskenderiye has been conquered; it is the fortress near to land and sea.

2. God gave it to the Gazi Shah Khan; we hope the Franks will turn back this way.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Siege Tower

Shkodër, called in the work İskenderiyye-i Arnavud, İskenderiye of Albania, falls in the hundred and fifty-fourth chapter at the end of a long siege. Its people are unruly and trust in their fortress. The sovereign gathers the army of Islam, marches crying "Intent of holy war" and falls on the fortress. Cannon are set up, great battles fought; many parts of the fortress and some of its towers are destroyed and assaults are made, but in the author's words, "God did not grant it; they could not take it." A "havale", a siege tower, is built opposite the fortress and able men are placed in it. The provinces round about are conquered and the fortress is left alone. The sovereign returns to his throne. In the end the siege tower and the troops guarding it wear the fortress down. The infidels of the fortress send word to the gazis in command: they will give up the fortress by treaty, but whoever wishes to go shall go, whoever wishes to stay shall stay, and no harm shall touch anyone. The gazis report this to the sovereign at Constantinople; the sovereign agrees. The fortress is surrendered, those who wish to go go, those who wish to stay stay; churches are made mosques and the houses of those who left are given to the gazis. The date is 883 (1478-79). The author adds: "All the holy wars of this Sultan Muhammed were completed at İskenderiye."

The Franks, This Way

The conquest is greeted with only two couplets. The first names İskenderiye's position: it is a fortress near both land and sea. The second presents the conquest as God's gift to the Gazi Shah Khan and ends with a hope: "we hope the Franks will turn back this way." The sense of this line is not explained in the edition; it may be understood as a hope that the Franks will turn back, that is withdraw, or come over to this side. This is the verse that tells of the last link in the Conqueror's holy wars; the next chapter tells of his death. The rhyme between İskenderiyye, bahre and beriye is a loose one.