Yıldırım Sultân Bâyezîd Hân'ın şehzâdesidir. 801 senesi şevvâlinde Amasya vâlîsi olup zilka'de ayında Amasya'ya büyük bir ihtişâm ve saltanatla geldi. Ma'iyyetinde bir sekbânbaşı, mikdâr-ı kâfî yeniçeri askeri vardı. Konya beylerbeyi Alî Paşa Amasya muhâfızı ve şehzâde lalası olup yerine Hasan Bey Konya beylerbeyi oldu.
Şehzâdenin vürûdundan biraz sonra zâten hasta olan Amasya kadısı Muslihzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi vefât edib yerine kibâr-ı ulemâdan İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi bin Muhammed Çelebi Amasya kadısı oldu. Amasya'da ilk sekbânbaşı nâmına yeniçeri serdârı Kabûlî Ağa demekle meşhûr bir zât görüldü.
Kutlu Paşa'nın birâderi olan Yâkût Paşa, şehzâde Çelebi Sultân ile beraber Bursa'dan gelmişdi. Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd, Taşanzâde [158] Ahmed, Hacı Beyzâde Kâsım, Osmân Paşazâde Hasan Beyler şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin ma'iyyeti ümerâsından ma'dûd idiler.
Amasya'da büyük bir şöhreti hâ'iz olan Şeyh Şihâbeddîn Şâdî Çelebi Amasya'dan kaldırılıp el-yevm "Şeyh Şâdî Köyü" denilen çiftliğine gönderildi. Bu zât, Hacı Bayrâm Velî şeyhi idi. Tokatî Şeyh Abdulmennân bin Alî mahdûmu bir pîr-i muhteremdi.
Müverrih-i meşhûr Ahmed bin Arabşâh, "Acâ'ibü'l-Makdûr Fî Nevâ'ibi Timûr" adlı eserinde Sivas'a vâlî nasb edilen şehzâdenin Mustafa Bey olmayıp Emîr Süleyman Bey olduğunu yazıyor ve diyor ki:
"Sultân Bâyezîd ibni Osmân, Sivas'a ekber evlâdı olan Emîr Süleyman'ı nasb edib ma'iyyetine kibâr-ı ümerâdan Ya'kûb bin İdrîs, Evranis (Evranos) Hamza bin Cebbâre, Koç Alî, Mustafa bin Devâtdâr Beyler'i⁵⁴¹ beyleri terfîk etdi".
Şehzâde Çelebi Sultân Mehmed'in Amasya'ya geldiği zamân Merzifon ve Gümüş emîri Abâdoğlu Hacı Mehmed Bey, Lâdik emîri Yenibeyzâde Mes'ûd Bey, Mecidözü emîri Abdülmecîd Bey, Köprü emîri Taşanoğlu Alî Bey, Zeytûn emîri Araboğlu Zekeriyyâ Bey ve Osmâncık emîri Beyleroğlu Mahmûd Bey'di.
Şehzâde Çelebi Mehmed, 788 senesinde doğmuş olup Amasya'ya [159] geldiği zamân on üç yaşında bir genç idi. Lalası Alî Paşa gâyet şecî' ve müdebbir bir zât idi. Bundan evvelki lalası Yâkût Paşa da meşâhîr-i şüc'ândan idi. Alî Paşa müdebbir-i memleket, Yâkût Paşa muhâfız-ı vilâyet sayılırdı. Şehzâdenin mu'allimi Niğdelioğlu Sofî İmâdeddîn Bâyezîd Çelebi idi.
Şehzâde Mehmed'in Amasya'ya vürûdu, Amasya vilâyetinde Kutlu Şâh sülâlesinin hükûmet ve emâretine hitâm verildiğini i'lân etmişdi. Elli dört yıldan beri devâm eden bir emâretin hitâmı, Amasya'da Osmanlı hânedânı lehine bir te'sîr uyandırmışdı.
Bu hânedânı Amasya'da en ziyâde müdâfa'a edenler Gümüşlüzâde, Sunkurzâde, Torumtayzâde, Halifetzâdeler'di. Amasya'nın en eski, en zî-nüfûz hânedânları da bunlardı. Kutlu Şâh sülâlesine tarafdâr olanlar da vardı. Şeyh Şâdî Çelebi bunlardandı.⁵⁴²
802 senesinde Zeytûn emîri Zekeriyyâ Bey, pederinin Arablı kasabasında binâ eylediği câmi-i şerîf ve mektebini müceddeden i'mâr edib bunların mesâlihine emlâkini vakf etdi. Zeytûn kadısı Fahreddîn Muhammed Çelebi bin Ahmed tarafından vakfiyesi tanzîm edildi.
Şehzâde Çelebi Sultân Mehmed, Amasya'da bütün beyzâdeleri ma'iyyetine kabûl edib onları taltîf ederek bunlar dolayısıyla halkı kendisine ısındırmakda idi. [160]
Karamânîler'in ve Kadı Burhân'ın ortadan kalkmasıyla meydânı boş bulan Dulkadiroğlu Süli Bey, şehzâde Mustafa Bey'in ma'iyyeti tarafından 802 senesinde tutulup Amasya'ya irsâl edilmişdi. Suli Bey, Amasya'da bir müddet ikâmet edib sonra afv edilerek vatanına gitdi.
Bu sene Amasya'da ikâmete me'mûr olan sâbık Konya kadısı Hüsâmzâde Pîr İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi vefât edib Halifet Gâzi türbesi karşısında Kadılar Türbesi'ne defn edildi.⁵⁴³
Yine bu sene Divriği, Derende, Malatya tarafları da Osmanlı Türkleri'nin idâresi altına girip Sivas vilâyetinin dâ'iresi Erzincân'a kadar uzanmış, burada teferrüd ederek halkı soyan derebeylerinin nüfûzuna hitâm verilmişdi.
Fakat Aksak Timur'un önünden kaçan Irâk hükümdârı Sultân Ahmed Celâyirî ile Âzerbaycân hükümdârı Karakoyunlu Kara Yûsuf Sultân, Yıldırım Bâyezîd'e ilticâ etmişlerdi. Timur Hân, bunları Sultân Bâyezîd'den dürüştâne sözlerle taleb ediyordu.
Aralıkda cereyân eden muhâberât-ı siyâsiyye, âteşîn sözlerle harbin zamân-ı hulûlünü takrîb etmekde idi. 803 senesinde Aksak Timur'un Erzurum'a kadar geldiği şâyi' oldukda her tarafda sefer tedârikâtı başlamış, halk üzerine müdhiş bir kâbûs gibi çöken korku herkesi sarsıyordu. [161] Çünkü Timur'un uğradığı her yer harâbe-zâra dönüyordu.
Halkın bu kadar korkusu boş değildi. Aksak Timur, 803 senesi evâhirinde Sivas şehrine ansızın bir baskın yapdı. Kaçabilenler kurtuldu. Kaçamayanlar tekmîl kılıçdan geçdi. Beşikde yatan çocuklar bile kesildi. Sivas'ın altı üstüne geldi. Sivas'dan kaçıp gelenlerle Amasya mahşere döndü.
Aksak Timur, askerini iki koldan Ankara'ya sevk edib bir kolu Kemâh, Erzincân, Niksâr, Canik, Çankırı üzerinden Ankara'ya yürütdü. Diğer kolu da Erzincân, Sivas, Tokat, Kayseriyye üzerinden Ankara'ya sürdü. Bu iki kol da uğradığı yerleri vîrân ediyorlardı.
Şu hâlde Amasya vilâyeti Aksak Timur'un askeriyle her tarafdan çevrilmiş bir hâlde kaldı. Amasya şehzâde Çelebi Sultân'ın karargâhı, İç Anadolu'nun merkezi olduğu cihetle Moğol askerinden kaçanlar Amasya vilâyetine cân atıyorlardı.
Amasya vâlîsi Çelebi Sultân Mehmed, topladığı askerin başına geçip bütün ma'iyyetiyle 804 senesi zilka'desinde Amasya'dan çıkıp Ankara'ya doğru hareket etdi. İkinci lalası Yâkût Paşa'yı Amasya muhâfızı olarak bırakdı. Yâkût Paşa, vâlî kâ'im-makâmı oldu.
Yıldırım Hân, bütün kuvvetini toplayıp Ankara civârında Çubuk Ova'da karargâhını kurdu. Timur, Yıldırım'a karşı durdu. Türk ile Tatar arasında muhârebe 804 senesi zilhiccesinin on dokuzuncu [162] cum'a günü başladı. Timur Yıldırım'ı vurdu. Türkler dağıldı. Yıldırım Hân esîr oldu.
Cengiz ile Timur, Türklük için birer müdhiş âfet olmuşdu. Timur, Cengiz'in Mâverâ'ü'n-Nehr'e ve şark Türkleri'ne yapdığı vahşetleri ayniyle Anadolu'ya ve garb Türkleri'ne icrâ etdi. Sivas, Kayseriyye ve Bursa birer vahşetgâh oldu. Moğol vahşeti olanca kuvvetiyle kendini gösterdi.
Amasya a'yânından Divriklizâde Şeyh Yârî Çelebi Bursa'dan, Kutlu Paşa ile Kaya Paşa Ankara harbinden Amasya'ya geldi. "Yârî-i Şîrâzî" demekle meşhûr olan şeyhu'l-muhakkikîn Yâr Alî Çelebi, Bursa'da şeyhu'l-islâm mevki'inde bulunuyordu.
Osmanlı şehzâdelerinden her biri bir tarafa gitdiği esnâda Amasya vâlîsi şehzâde Çelebi Sultân Mehmed de Bolu'ya gidip orada ahvâlin inkişâfını bekliyor, Timur'un kahrından kaçıp kendisini gizliyordu. Amasya vilâyeti Yâkût Paşa'nın idâresinde kalmışdı.
Amasya a'yânı Yâkût Paşa'yı kendilerine emîr nasb ederek netîce-i ahvâle intizâr etmişlerdi. Binâ'en-aleyh Yâkût Paşa, Amasya vâlîsi ve emîr-i kebîri olarak idâre-i umûr-ı hükûmet etmekde idi.
In Modern English
He is the son of Yıldırım Sultan Bâyezîd Han. In Shawwal 801 he became governor of Amasya, and in the month of Zilkade he came to Amasya with great splendor and sovereignty. In his retinue were a sekbanbaşı and a sufficient number of janissary troops. Alî Pasha, beylerbeyi of Konya, became guardian of Amasya and the prince's lala, and Hasan Bey became beylerbeyi of Konya in his place.
A little after the prince's arrival, İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi bin Muhammed Çelebi, one of the great scholars, became judge of Amasya in place of the judge of Amasya, Muslihzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi, who was already ill and died. The first sekbanbaşı seen in Amasya, a janissary commander, was a person known by the name Kabûlî Ağa.
Yâkût Pasha, brother of Kutlu Pasha, had come from Bursa with Prince Çelebi Sultan. Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd, Taşanzâde Ahmed, Hacı Beyzâde Kâsım, and Osmân Paşazâde Hasan Beys were counted among the emirs in the retinue of the said prince.
Şeyh Şihâbeddîn Şâdî Çelebi, who had great fame in Amasya, was removed from Amasya and sent to his farm called today "Şeyh Şâdî Köyü" (Sheikh Şâdî Village). This person was the sheikh of Hacı Bayrâm Velî. He was a respectable old man, the son of Şeyh Abdulmennân bin Alî of Tokat.
The famous historian Ahmed bin Arabşâh, in his work "Acâ'ibü'l-Makdûr Fî Nevâ'ibi Timûr," writes that the prince appointed governor of Sivas was not Mustafa Bey but Emîr Süleyman Bey, and says:
"Sultan Bâyezîd bin Osmân appointed his eldest son Emîr Süleyman to Sivas and had him accompanied by adding to his retinue the great emirs Ya'kûb bin İdrîs, Evranis (Evranos) Hamza bin Cebbâre, Koç Alî, and Mustafa Bey, son of Devâtdâr."
When Prince Çelebi Sultan Mehmed came to Amasya, the emir of Merzifon and Gümüş was Abâdoğlu Hacı Mehmed Bey, the emir of Ladik Yenibeyzâde Mes'ûd Bey, the emir of Mecidözü Abdülmecîd Bey, the emir of Köprü Taşanoğlu Alî Bey, the emir of Zeytûn Araboğlu Zekeriyyâ Bey, and the emir of Osmâncık Beyleroğlu Mahmûd Bey.
Prince Çelebi Mehmed was born in 788 and was a youth of thirteen at the time he came to Amasya. His lala Alî Pasha was an extremely courageous and prudent person. His earlier lala Yâkût Pasha was also among the famous warriors. Alî Pasha was regarded as the administrator of the country, Yâkût Pasha as the protector of the province. The prince's teacher was Niğdelioğlu Sofî İmâdeddîn Bâyezîd Çelebi.
Prince Mehmed's arrival in Amasya announced the end of the government and emirate of the Kutlu Şâh line in the province of Amasya. The ending of an emirate that had lasted fifty-four years aroused an effect in Amasya in favor of the Ottoman dynasty.
Those who defended this dynasty most in Amasya were the Gümüşlüzades, Sunkurzades, Torumtayzades, and Halifetzades. These were also the oldest and most influential dynasties of Amasya. There were also those who favored the Kutlu Şâh line. Şeyh Şâdî Çelebi was one of them.
In 802 Zekeriyyâ Bey, emir of Zeytûn, repaired again the mosque and school that his father had built in the town of Arablı and endowed his properties for their expenses. His endowment deed was drawn up by Fahreddîn Muhammed Çelebi bin Ahmed, judge of Zeytûn.
Prince Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, accepting all the beyzades into his retinue in Amasya and rewarding them, was warming the people to himself through them.
Dulkadiroğlu Süli Bey, who had found the field empty with the disappearance of the Karamanids and Kadı Burhân, was captured in 802 by the retinue of Prince Mustafa Bey and sent to Amasya. After staying in Amasya for a while, Suli Bey was pardoned and went to his homeland.
This year the former judge of Konya, Hüsâmzâde Pîr İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi, who had been assigned to reside in Amasya, died and was buried in the Tomb of the Judges opposite the Tomb of Halifet Gâzi.
Likewise this year the surroundings of Divriği, Derende, and Malatya also came under the administration of the Ottoman Turks, and the border of the province of Sivas extended as far as Erzincan. Here the influence of the local lords who acted arbitrarily and robbed the people was ended.
But Sultan Ahmed Celâyirî, ruler of Iraq, and Karakoyunlu Kara Yûsuf Sultan, ruler of Azerbaijan, fleeing before Aksak Timur, had taken refuge with Yıldırım Bâyezîd. Timur Han was demanding them from Sultan Bâyezîd in harsh words.
The political correspondence carried on in the meantime was bringing the time of war closer with fiery words. In 803, when the news spread that Aksak Timur had come as far as Erzurum, preparations for a campaign began everywhere, and the fear that settled upon the people like a terrible nightmare shook everyone. For every place Timur visited turned to ruin.
The people's great fear was not in vain. Aksak Timur, at the end of 803, made a sudden raid on the city of Sivas. Those who could flee were saved. Those who could not were put to the sword in a mass. Even children lying in cradles were killed. Sivas was turned upside down. Amasya became a place of resurrection with those who had fled from Sivas.
Aksak Timur sent his troops to Ankara in two columns; one column he marched to Ankara by way of Kemah, Erzincan, Niksar, Canik, and Çankırı. The other he drove to Ankara by way of Erzincan, Sivas, Tokat, and Kayseri. Both of these columns were destroying the places they visited.
In this situation the province of Amasya was left surrounded on every side by Aksak Timur's troops. Since Amasya was the headquarters of Prince Çelebi Sultan and the center of Inner Anatolia, those fleeing the Mongol troops took refuge in the province of Amasya.
Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, governor of Amasya, placing himself at the head of the troops he had gathered, set out from Amasya with all his retinue in Zilkade 804 and started toward Ankara. He left his second lala Yâkût Pasha as guardian of Amasya. Yâkût Pasha became deputy governor.
Yıldırım Han, gathering all his force, set up his camp in the Çubuk Plain near Ankara. Timur stood against Yıldırım. The war between Turk and Tatar began on the nineteenth Friday of Zilhicce 804. Timur defeated Yıldırım. The Turks were scattered. Yıldırım Han was taken captive.
Genghis and Timur had each been a terrible calamity for Turkishness. Timur applied exactly the savagery Genghis had committed against Transoxiana and the eastern Turks to Anatolia and the western Turks. Sivas, Kayseri, and Bursa became places of savagery. Mongol savagery showed itself with all its force.
Among the notables of Amasya, Divriklizâde Şeyh Yârî Çelebi came to Amasya from Bursa, and Kutlu Pasha and Kaya Pasha from the Battle of Ankara. Yâr Alî Çelebi, known by the name "Yârî-i Şîrâzî," the sheikh of the researchers, held the office of şeyhülislam in Bursa.
While each of the Ottoman princes went his own way, Prince Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, governor of Amasya, went to Bolu and waited there for the situation to develop, fleeing Timur's wrath and hiding himself. The province of Amasya had been left under the administration of Yâkût Pasha.
The notables of Amasya, appointing Yâkût Pasha emir over themselves, set about waiting for the outcome. Thereupon Yâkût Pasha, as governor and great emir of Amasya, was conducting the affairs of government.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- sekbanbaşı: head of the sekban companies among the janissary units
- lala: official in charge of a prince's education and administration
- vürûd: coming, arrival
- hânedân: dynasty, lineage
- mektep: school
- vakıf, vakfiye: property donated for charitable purposes; the written document of it
- derebeyi: local lord who acts arbitrarily in his own region
- şeyhülislâm: head of the ilmiye class
- vilâyet: province, administrative region
Çelebi Mehmed's Arrival in Amasya
Çelebi Mehmed is the sultan known today as Mehmed I. According to present-day encyclopedia information he was born in 788 (1386) or 789 (1387) and is the fourth son of Yıldırım Bayezid. In Shawwal 801 (June 1399) he was sent as governor to the province of Rum, which included Amasya, Tokat, Sivas, and Ankara and had formerly been land of the Eretna dynasty. Hüsameddin also gives the same year and month. His writing 788 as the birth year and stating that he was thirteen years old on arrival is consistent with this information.
According to one study, in the face of the Timur danger it was thought suitable to give Amasya, which had a strategic position on the eastern border, to a prince, and Çelebi Mehmed was assigned as second sanjak bey. In the Interregnum after the Battle of Ankara he made Amasya his center, and when he became sultan in 1413 he appointed his lala Yörgüç Pasha beylerbeyi of Amasya.
The Local Dynasties of Amasya
The end of the Kutlu Şâh line, which Hüsameddin calls the "fifty-four-year emirate," is an important turning point in the present-day account as well. According to the same encyclopedia entry, Kara Devletşah, Kubad-oğlu, Mezid Bey, and the Taşan family were local dynasties that, after the Battle of Ankara, accepted Timur's sovereignty and opposed Ottoman administration. Mehmed, too, accepted Timur's sovereignty and legitimized his administration in the Tokat-Amasya region. Here, while establishing his authority against his rivals, religious scholars and the notables of the city supported him; for this information the same entry relies on the third volume of Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi (p. 157-198).
The district emirs Hüsameddin lists (Merzifon-Gümüş, Ladik, Mecidözü, Köprü, Zeytun, Osmâncık) were not found in detail in present-day sources. No information was found in another source either on the mosque, school, and endowment deed of Zekeriyyâ Bey, emir of Zeytûn, at Arablı.
The Timur Danger and Amasya
In the local official historical narrative it is written that Timur's troops besieged Amasya for seven months. Hüsameddin does not speak of such a siege in this entry; he narrates that Amasya was left surrounded on every side by Timur's troops and filled with those who had fled from Sivas. That the Battle of Ankara ended in 1402 with Timur's victory and that Yıldırım Bayezid was taken captive is the same in all sources.
Yâkût Pasha's Imaret
The name of Yâkût Pasha, mentioned in the entry, lives on in Amasya today: according to one study, Sinaneddin Yakut Pasha, son of Hacı Kutlu Şehzade Süleyman Şah, emir of Amasya, had an imaret built in 1413 in the Yakutiye quarter. The same study records that among the emirs of Çelebi Mehmed's time, Yakup Pasha in 1412 and Yahşi Beyzade Bayezid Pasha in 1414 had imarets built in the quarters named after themselves. These persons, whose names Hüsameddin mentions, thus left traces not only in the records but in the names of quarters.
Hüsameddin's Footnotes
The footnotes state that Ya'kûb bin İdrîs is Ya'kûb Pasha, known as Yazarlıoğlu, that "Ya'kûb Pasha bin İdrîs" is written in his endowment deed, and that Koç Alî Bey is the son of Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha and brother of Mustafa Bey. The author says that the disappearance of the inscriptions, graves, and even endowment deeds belonging to the works of the Hacı Şâdgeldi line can be counted as a result of the thinking of this period. Regarding his grave in the Tomb of the Judges, he notes that it is written on black marble that he was a judge of Konya and died at the age of fifty-four, and that İsmâ'il Hakkı Bey, unable to read it, took the phrase meaning "at the age of fifty-four" to be the year.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 451–453. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources