AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ebû Müslim Çelebi — Sefer Şâhoğlu

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 105 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Merzifonludur. Sultân Yıldırım Bâyezîd Hân tarafından Mısır’a sefâretle giden Merzifonî Mevlânâ Cemâleddîn Safer Şâh oğlu Mevlânâ Ahmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî ve Sultân Fâtih taraflarından Merzifon’da binâ edilen hamâmlara ve sâ’ir hayrâta binâ emîni ve Merzifon emîri oldu. 877 sâline doğru vefât etdi. Müteneffızân-ı asrdan idi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He is from Merzifon. He was the son of Mevlânâ Ahmed Çelebi, son of Mevlânâ Cemâleddîn Safer Şâh of Merzifon, who had been sent as envoy to Egypt by Sultan Yıldırım Bâyezîd Han. He became bina emini (building superintendent), that is, the official who ran the construction works, of the baths and other charitable works built in Merzifon by Sultan Murad II and Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, and emir of Merzifon. He died around 877 [1472–73]. He was one of the influential men of his age.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • sefâret: embassy
  • hayrât: works built for charity (mosque, bath, fountain, etc.)
  • binâ emîni: the official who oversees, on behalf of the state, the construction, expenses and workers of a building
  • sâl: year
  • müteneffizân-ı asr: the influential persons of one's age

Buildings of the Time of Murad II and the Conqueror in Merzifon

The years in which Ebû Müslim Çelebi served as bina emini coincide with a period in which Merzifon gained new buildings at the hands of the Ottoman sultans. Among the works that determined the look of fifteenth-century Merzifon are counted the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa (817/1414) in the Câmi-i Cedîd quarter, the imaret that Çelebi Mehmed's mother Devlet Hatun had built in 822 [1419] together with a mosque and zaviye, and the Medreseönü Mosque (830/1427), known among the people as the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque but in fact built by Murad II. Hüsameddin's mention of Murad II's charitable works in Merzifon agrees with these records.

On the baths specifically mentioned in the text the sources do not agree with one another. The Çifte Hamam (Double Bath) in Merzifon's Hacı Süleyman quarter is attributed in some sources to Murad I and in others to Mehmed the Conqueror, and is said to have been built in 1473. The date 1473 is very close to 877 [1472–73], the year Ebû Müslim Çelebi died. Hüsameddin's phrase "baths built by Murad II and the Conqueror" is compatible with the view that the Çifte Hamam belongs to the Conqueror; the reference to Murad I may have arisen from confusion between the two Murads. This is a guess and needs to be verified through the bath's inscription or waqf deed.

The Envoy Who Went to Egypt

Safer Şâh, mentioned as Ebû Müslim Çelebi's grandfather, going to Egypt as the envoy of Bayezid the Thunderbolt falls in the first period of Ottoman-Mamluk relations. These relations began after Murad I fell as a martyr at Kosovo; the Mamluk Sultan Barquq endowed a Quran to be read at Murad's tomb, and Bayezid the Thunderbolt asked Barquq for a skilled physician for the hospital he had built in Bursa. Relations later soured when Malatya was taken by the Ottomans. Some studies mention that in 1395–96 Bayezid sent an embassy to Cairo with valuable gifts headed by "Zeyneddin Sefer Şah"; however, the study containing this information could not be read in full text and was not verified. If correct, the epithet of the envoy, whom Hüsameddin calls "Cemâleddîn," is given differently in this source. No information was found in other sources on Ebû Müslim Çelebi himself.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 105–105. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 6 contents