Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Kıralın Üngürüz'üñ [Engürüz] basmış-ıdı
Süleymân Beg yayını yasmış-ıdı
Ve hem İflak da korkutmış-ıdı
Niçe kerre ilin ürkütmiş-idi
Dahı Sultân Muhammed-ilen turışdı
Kırıldı leşkeri eyü urışdı
Özi başın halâs eyledi yagıdan
Bu kâfirdür niçe leşker tagıdan
Bâyezîd han heybeti anı kaçurdı
Anı Lih banuñ iline göçürdi
'Âşıkî yaz bu hanuñ şevketini
Kulı 'Ali'de olan himmetini
Bu hanuñ himmeti her kulına var
Velî bu kul idinmiş himmeti yâr
Karaman'da odur Varsagı kıran
Vidin'den Üngürüz'e kılıç uran
Üçinci mansıbda feth-i devlet
Ziyâde oldı Hakdan fazl-ı ni'met
Niçe yüz biñ kulı var devlet issi
Velî şimdi 'Ali'nüñ a'lâ desti

In English

1. He had fallen upon the king of the Hungarians; he had broken the bow of Süleyman Beg.

2. And he had frightened Wallachia too; many a time he had put its land to fright.

3. And he fought with Sultan Muhammed; his army was broken, he fought well.

4. He saved his own head from the enemy; this is an infidel who scattered many an army.

5. The majesty of Bayezid Khan made him flee; it drove him to the land of the Polish ban.

6. Âşıkî, write of this khan's might, and of the zeal in his slave Ali.

7. This khan's zeal reaches every slave of his; but this slave has taken zeal as his friend.

8. It is he who broke the Varsak in Karaman; he who struck with the sword from Vidin to the Hungarians.

9. In his third office there came the conquest of fortune; grace and bounty from God increased.

10. The lord of fortune has many hundred thousand slaves; but now Ali's is the uppermost hand.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Throne of Moldavia

Ali Beg crosses the Danube and enters Wallachia; the lords and cavalrymen of Wallachia come and join him. On the twenty-fifth day of Şaban they enter the province of Moldavia. Many lords of Moldavia submit, but the lord of Moldavia has vanished; for days mountains, valleys and plains are searched, and no trace of him is found. At last an infidel of his army is captured and says, "He fled; he went to the land of the Poles." The governor-general orders the gazis to strike the province; countless spoils are taken of gold, silver, cloth and fair captives. The author adds that the gazis did not even care to drive off four-footed beasts, saying they fetched too little. The governor-general burns and pulls down the throne of Moldavia, lays waste its pavilions and palaces, and burns many towns and villages. Then comes a question: "What sort of infidel is this lord of Moldavia, that these things befell his land and his head?" The answer is given "in verse". The date is 890 (1485).

An Answer in Verse

This piece is a mesnevi: each couplet rhymes within itself. The first five couplets list the past of the lord of Moldavia: he fell upon the Hungarian king, broke the bow of Süleyman Beg, frightened Wallachia, fought with Sultan Muhammed and, though his army was broken, saved his head. In the fifth, Bayezid Khan's majesty made him flee and drove him to the land of the Polish ban. In the edition the reading "Engürüz" is set in square brackets beside the word "Üngürüz" in the first couplet. The second half praises Ali Beg. The khan's zeal reaches every slave of his, but Ali Beg has taken zeal as his friend; it is he who broke the Varsak in Karaman and struck with the sword from Vidin to the Hungarians. The phrase "third office" in the ninth couplet may point to Ali Beg coming to this post for the third time or to his third appointment; it is not explained in the edition. The last couplet says the "lord of fortune" has hundreds of thousands of slaves, but now Ali's hand is uppermost. Standing after the closing note of the S manuscript, the mesnevi can be tied to Âşıkpaşazâde only by attribution.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 558-559 (transliterated text, bâb 164).