Kastamonu havâlisinde meskûn Atâllu aşîreti ümerâsından “Emîr Necmeddîn Ömer bin Süleyman el-‘Atâl mahdûmudur. İkinci Mes’ûd Selçûkî hizmetinde tefeyyüz ederek şehzâdesi Sultân [10] Altunbaş Gâzi Çelebi’ye Atabeg olduğu münâsebetle “Atabeg” diye meşhûr oldu.
719’da Sultân Altunbaş’ın firâr ve ihtifâsında Sivas vâlisi Emîr Çobanzâde Timûrtaş Bey’e intisâb ederek 722 senesi rebiülevvelinde Amasya Emîri oldu. Beş yıl kadar Amasya vilâyetini hüsn-i idâre edib 727 senesi evâsıtında Timûrtâş Bey’in Mısır’a firârı üzerine Karamânzâde Yahşî Bey’in harbinde mecrûhan vefât etdi.
Emîr-i müşârün-ileyh, âlime ve ulemâya muhib olduğundan Amasya’nın Sığır Pazarı altında dere kenarında âlî bir medrese binâ etdi. Emlâk ü arâzisini bu medresenin mesâlihine vakfederek evâil-i safer 727 senesinde vakfiyesini tanzîm etdirdi. Tevliyeti kendisinden sonra mahdûmu Emîr Hayreddîn Hızır Bey’e ve ba’dehû ekber-i ebnâsına şart etdi. Hafidî Emîr Şücâ’eddîn İlyâs ibn-i Hızır Bey 769’da vakfına mütevellî idi. Diğer mahdûmu Emîr ‘İmâdeddîn Ömer Beydir.
Emîr-i müşârün-ileyhin evlâdına “Atabeyoğulları” ve “Atabeyler” denirdi. İlyas Beyzâde Hızır, Abdî Beylerden [11] Emîr Muîneddîn Abdullah, Abdî Bey, 802 senesinde mütevellî iken tarafından Mevlanâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi Atabeg müderrisi tayîn edildiğine dâir kayd-ı resmî görüldü. 804’de Timur harbinde şehîd oldu. Oğulları İlyâs Bey’le Yörgüç, Hızır Paşalardır. Tevliyet İlyâs Bey’in evlâdına intikâl etdi.
In Modern English
He is the son of "Emîr Necmeddîn Ömer son of Süleyman el-'Atâlî", one of the emirs of the Atâllu tribe living around Kastamonu. Rising in the service of Mes'ûd II the Seljuk, he became atabeg (tutor of the prince) to the latter's prince Sultan Altunbaş Gâzi Çelebi, and so became known as "Atabeg".
When Sultan Altunbaş fled and went into hiding in 719 [1319-20], he attached himself to the governor of Sivas, Emîr Çobanzâde Timurtaş Bey, and in Rebîülevvel 722 [1322-23] became emir of Amasya. After governing the province of Amasya well for about five years, in the middle of 727 [1326-27], when Timurtaş Bey fled to Egypt, he was wounded in a battle with Karamanzâde Yahşî Bey and died.
Since the said emir was fond of scholarship and scholars, he had a lofty madrasa built below the Sığır Pazarı of Amasya, by the stream. He endowed his property and land to the needs of this madrasa and had its deed of endowment drawn up in the early days of the month of Safer 727. He stipulated that the administration (mütevelliyet) should pass after him to his son Emîr Hayreddîn Hızır Bey, and after him to the eldest of his sons. His grandson Emîr Şücâ'eddîn İlyâs son of Hızır Bey was administrator of his waqf in 769 [1367-68]. His other son is Emîr 'İmâdeddîn Ömer Bey.
The line of the said emir was called "Atabeyoğulları" and "Atabeyler". Among these were İlyas Beyzâde Hızır and, among the Abdî Beys, Emîr Muîneddîn Abdullah. An official record was seen that Abdî Bey, while administrator in 802 [1399-1400], appointed Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi as müderris of the Atabeg (madrasa). In 804 [1401-02] he fell as a martyr in the battle with Timur. His sons are İlyâs Bey and Yörgüç and Hızır Pashas. The administration passed to the line of İlyâs Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- atabeg: a high official who looked after a prince's education and acted on his behalf
- intisâb: attachment
- firâr ve ihtifâ: flight and going into hiding
- hüsn-i idâre: good administration
- mecrûhan: wounded
- muhib: fond of, devoted
- vakfiye: deed of endowment
- tevliyet: the duty of administering a waqf, mütevelli-ship
- ekber-i ebnâ: the eldest of the sons
- evâsıt: the middle (of a period)
- kayd-ı resmî: official record
The Atabey Madrasa and the Atabeyzades
Nasıreddin Ahmed Atabey served as governor of Amasya for five years between 1322 and 1327. The dates 722-727 [1322-1327] that Hüsameddin gives coincide with these research results. The madrasa the emir had built in Amasya is known as the Atabey Madrasa. That the emir endowed all his land and property to this madrasa is also stated in the same terms in studies. Atabey's sons gained a respected place among the people of Amasya and were among the families that behaved with restraint in the acceptance of Ottoman rule. This attitude enabled the family to receive important posts in the Ottoman period as well.
The family proceeds in two branches: the descendants of Yörgüç Pasha were called Yörgüç Paşazades, and the children of his brother Hızır Pasha Hızır Paşazades. The Yörgüç Pasha branch is the more famous. In the fifteenth century the post of prince's tutor (lala) came to be almost peculiar to the Atabeyzades. The Yörgüç and Hızır Pashas whom Hüsameddin mentions among the sons of Abdî Bey are the heads of these two branches.
Timurtaş, Altunbaş and the Confusion of the Period
Timurtaş is the son of Çoban Noyan, the Ilkhanid governor of Anatolia, and served as governor in Sivas. Altunbaş, for his part, is a ruler of Seljuk descent in Amasya. Another source says that Altunbaş took the Seljuk throne in Amasya in the summer of 1337; Hüsameddin, however, gives Altunbaş's flight in 719 [1319-20]. These two dates differ from each other and which one is correct could not be determined here. In the same period the emirate of Hacı Şadgeldi began much later, in 1359.
Even so, the waqf information Hüsameddin gives is important. It is related that besides the madrasa, lodge and mosque that Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha built himself, there were in Amasya the Gıyasiye, Halfetiye, Torumtaiye and Atabegiye madrasas. This shows that the Atabey Madrasa existed in the late fourteenth century.
The Name in the Deed of Endowment
According to a footnote in the original text, the emir's name was seen in his deed of endowment in the form "Necmeddin Ömer son of Süleyman el-'Atâlî"; el-'Atâlî is the Arabic form of the word Atallu. Ahmed Bey's own name is called Nâsıreddîn in the heading, while his father's name is Necmeddîn Ömer.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
Other sources