Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Paşalar bunçılayın tedbîr itdi
Velî ne kim olur bil takdîr itdi
Konuldı Evrenezoglı ucında
Buyurdı han aña kim akın itdi
Dahı İflak temerrüd itse katı
Firîz Beg dahı İflak'a yas itdi
Hemîşe İflak işi egrilikdür
Firîz anuñ-ıçun çok akın itdi

In English

1. The paşas laid plans in this way; but know that whatever comes to pass, destiny brought it about.

2. Evrenezoğlu was placed on the frontier; the khan commanded him, and he raided.

3. If Wallachia resists more stubbornly, Firuz Beg too has plunged Wallachia into mourning.

4. Wallachia's affairs are always crooked; that is why Firuz raided so often.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Borders and Raids

With Murad settled at Edirne, the eighty-seventh chapter turns to embassies: envoys are sent to the infidel lords round about. Niş Toğan goes to the Serbian despot; the despot too sends an envoy with a letter of victory and congratulations on the throne, saying that if they leave him the land this side of Sofia he will give more than its revenue in return, and his daughter as well; the paşas accept. Fazlullah, kadı of Gekbuze, is sent to the tekfur of Constantinople, since the tekfur has long trusted him. The tekfur asks that, as so much land has been given to the despot, the land this side of Vize be given to him too; the kadı says that Çorlu has been made the border and İnceğiz given as well, and the pact is made on that basis.

Plan and Destiny

Diplomacy and war both fit within a frame of four couplets. The first couplet ties all these pacts to the paşas' planning and at once recalls destiny. The second says that Evrenezoğlu was placed on the frontier and raided. The third and fourth are given to Wallachia: if Wallachia resists, Firuz Beg plunges it into mourning; Wallachia's affairs are always crooked, and for that reason Firuz raided often. Firuz Beg is a frontier lord who was sent to Vidin in the time of Yıldırım Bayezid and raided Wallachia; the work shows him in this role across several generations. The refrain "itdi" recurs at the end of every couplet; "yas itdi" in the third couplet, plunged into mourning, is a harsh phrase describing the grief a raid leaves behind.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 438 (transliterated text, bâb 87).