Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bu fethi kim fütûh itdi Murâd Han
Kopan nesli ki kopdı oldı hakan
Bu nesli Hak mu'în itdi îmâna
Ki İslâm zâhir oldı dökile kan
Muhammed ümmetinde bil bu hanlar
Vîrân iklîmlere bunlar ola cân
Bu âlüñ sevgüsi hayât-ı cândur
Bu âlı sevmeyendür ehl-i ziyân

In English

1. This conquest that Murad Han achieved: the line that broke forth broke forth and became khan.

2. God made this line a helper to the faith, so that Islam appeared, (for which) blood is shed.

3. Know that these khans are of the community of Muhammad; may they be life to ruined lands.

4. Love of this house is the life of the soul; whoever does not love this house is among the losers.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Edirne

Coming from Bırgoz to Eski in the forty-fourth chapter, Murad Han finds it empty too. The infidels of the abandoned fortresses have gathered in Edirne. The khan gives his tutor Şahin an army and sends him to Edirne; the infidels meet him with a great force, but are routed in battle and flee into the fortress. Şahin sends heads to the khan and reports the victory; Hacı İlbegi and Gazi Evrenez also go before the khan and bring him to Edirne. The Maritsa is in full flood at the time; the tekfur of Edirne boards a boat by night and flees to İnez (Enez). When the situation is understood in the morning, the gates of the city are opened and the city is surrendered. The author dates the conquest to 761 (1359-60), at the hands of Sultan Murad Han, son of Orhan.

A Duty of Love

Here the conquest of Edirne is tied to the praise of the dynasty. In the first couplet the verb "kopmak" is used again: the line that broke forth from Gök Alp has now become khan. The second couplet ties the conquest to the appearance of Islam, the third ties the khans to the community of Muhammad. The last couplet is one of the plainest statements of dynastic loyalty in the work: love of this house is the life of the soul, and whoever does not love it is "ehl-i ziyân", among the losers. Âşıkpaşazâde's statement in the opening mesnevi that his family was born together with the House of Osman allows this couplet to be read also as a personal testimony. Han, hakan, îmâna, kan, cân and ziyân line up in the rhyme. That Edirne would become the Ottoman capital is not said in the prose; but later chapters tell of Murad sitting "on the throne of Edirne".

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 381-382 (transliterated text, bâb 44).