Amasya ulemâsından Sarâczâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc İsmâil Efendi bin el-Hâc Hâfız Mehmed Ağa bin el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa bin Sarâc Mehmed Ağa bin [293] Dervîş Ahmed Çelebi bin Yahyâ Çelebi bin Mehmed Çelebi bin İbâdullah Çelebi mahdûmudur. Ceddi İbâdullah Çelebi Boza-hâne Mahallesi’nde İbâdullah Câmii bânîsidir. Buna Ubeydullah Çelebi de denir. Evlâdına “İbâdoğulları” dendi.
Ecdâdından Sarâc Mehmed Ağa meşhûr sipâhî olup 1058 vak’asında târihen ma’lûmdur. Bunun evlâdına da “Saracoğulları” dendi. Bunun oğulları el-Hâc İsmâil, Ahmed Ağalar da meşhûr idi. Büyük pederi el-Hâc Hâfız Mehmed Ağa 1147’de İbâdullah Câmiini tecdîden binâ ederek evkâfını tanzîm etmiş a’yândandı.
Sâhib-i terceme Amasya’da Çelebizâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Efendi’den tahsîl-i ma’ârif edib pederinin vefâtında servet-i sâmânına vâris ve ceddi evkâfına mütevellî olarak teayyün etdi. Hâciyân ve a’yân meclislerine a’zâ oldu. Muhârebelerde i’ânât-ı nakdiyye bezl ederek memdûh-ı enâm olduğu hâlde 1210 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Âlim, gâyet sahî, küşâde-rû, zengîn bir hânedân idi. Mahdûmu es-Seyyid el-Hâc Abdulhalîm Ağa’dır. [294]
In Modern English
He is the son of Saraçzâde es-Seyyid Hacı İsmâil Efendi, one of the scholars of Amasya. His line of descent is as follows: İsmâil Efendi is the son of Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa; he of Hacı Ahmed Ağa; he of Saraç Mehmed Ağa; he of Dervîş Ahmed Çelebi; he of Yahyâ Çelebi; he of Mehmed Çelebi; and he of İbâdullah Çelebi. His ancestor İbâdullah Çelebi is the founder of the İbâdullah Mosque in the Bozahane quarter. He is also called Ubeydullah Çelebi. His descendants were called the "İbâdoğulları".
Among his ancestors Saraç Mehmed Ağa was a famous sipahi whose name appears in history in the events of 1058 [1648]. His descendants too were called the "Saraçoğulları". His sons Hacı İsmâil and Ahmed Ağas were also well-known people. His great-grandfather Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa was one of the leading men who in 1147 [1734-35] rebuilt the İbâdullah Mosque and put its waqfs in order.
The person whose biography is written studied in Amasya under Çelebizâde Hacı Hüseyin Efendi; on his father's death he came forward as heir to his wealth and possessions and as trustee of his ancestors' waqfs. He became a member of the pilgrims' and ayan councils. He earned the people's praise by giving money aid in wars, and he died around 1210 [1795-96]. He was a scholar, extremely generous, cheerful, wealthy, and a man from a well-rooted family. His son is es-Seyyid Hacı Abdulhalîm Ağa.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- cedd, ecdâd: ancestor, ancestors
- bânî: one who has a building built, founder
- tecdîden binâ: rebuilding, renewing
- evkâf: waqfs, waqf properties
- a'yân: the leading men of the city; in the eighteenth century, influential persons with a say in local administration
- tahsîl-i ma'ârif: acquiring knowledge and learning
- servet ü sâmân: goods and property, wealth
- mütevellî: the person who administers a waqf
- teayyün etmek: to be among the leading men, to stand out
- hâciyân meclisi: the council in which the city's notables bearing the title hacı assembled
- i'ânât-ı nakdiyye: money aid
- memdûh-ı enâm: one praised by the people
- küşâde-rû: cheerful of face
- hânedân: a well-rooted, open-handed family
The Long Genealogy of an Amasya Family
The entry, in a style often seen in Hüsameddin's book, introduces the person within a genealogy going back seven generations. At the head of the chain stands İbâdullah (Ubeydullah) Çelebi, remembered as the founder of a mosque; the family was called "İbâdoğulları" after this ancestor and later "Saraçoğulları" or "Saraçzâdes" after a famous sipahi. That some members of the same family appear in other entries of Hüsameddin completes this genealogical record. In the section of the book on shaykhs it is written that İsmâil Kemaleddîn Çelebi, who received an icazet from Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Abdurrahman Çelebi, was the son of İbâdullah Çelebi, who has a mosque in Amasya; this son went to Istanbul with his own son in 958 [1551]. Thus it is understood that İbâdullah Çelebi lived at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century; this is an inference and has not been verified by a separate document.
The book also has supplementary information for the nearer generations of the family. In another entry İsmâil Efendi-Saraçzâde is introduced as the son of Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa bin Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Saraç Mehmed Ağa, one of the notables of the Bozahane quarter who renewed the İbâdullah Mosque; that is, he is the father of the Ebûbekir Efendi named in this entry. In another note in the later volumes of the book it is repeated that Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa had the mosque rebuilt in 1147 and endowed his properties to the needs of the mosque.
The İbâdullah Mosque and the Bozahane Quarter
No separate information on the İbâdullah Mosque was found in present-day sources; no building under this name is seen among the mosques of Amasya in the records of the governorship and the Ministry of Culture. What is known about the mosque's history comes largely from Hüsameddin. In another place of the book it is recorded that İbâdullahzâde Şükrullah Efendi, a kadı of the family and for a time nakîbüleşraf kaymakamı of Amasya, rebuilt in 1017 [1608-09] the mosque his ancestor had built when it burned, and that the family, though actually "Ubeydullahzâde", was called "İbâdullahzâde" among the people. More than a century after this, in 1147, the mosque was renewed, this time by Saraçzâde Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa. The preachership and pulpit shaykhship of the mosque also appear in the biographies of many Amasya scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; this shows that the building was for a long time one of the city's living places of worship and preaching.
There was also a market bearing the same name as the mosque. Selim Özcan, who studied the city of Amasya in the period of the princes (şehzades), notes that at the beginning of the sixteenth century a market called "İbadullah" existed in the Bozahane quarter. In Hüsameddin's book too, some waqf records show shops in the "İbadullah market" being endowed. The quarter, for its part, continued to exist in the nineteenth century: according to the Amasya population register of 1840, 14 Muslim and 56 non-Muslim households lived in Bozahane. These figures show that the quarter where the İbâdullah family was settled had by that date become a mixed quarter, with most of its population non-Muslim.
Saraç Mehmed Ağa and the Events of 1058
Hüsameddin says that Saraç Mehmed Ağa, who gave the family its second name, is known in history "in the incident of 1058". The year 1058 corresponds to 1648. What event Hüsameddin means is not understood from this entry; one would need to look at the events of this year in the first volumes of the book, which relate Amasya's political history. No information on Saraç Mehmed Ağa was found in other sources.
A Philanthropic Ayan
Ebûbekir Efendi's life reflects a type of ayan in eighteenth-century Amasya who had studied but was known mainly as a waqf administrator and council member. Although reckoned a scholar like his father, Hüsameddin does not mention for him an ilmiye post such as müderris or kadı; the aspects he brings forward are the trusteeship of the family waqf, his membership in the pilgrims' and ayan councils and the money aid he gave during wars. Considering his death date of 1210 [1795-96], it is likely that the war aid mentioned was given during the Ottoman-Russian wars of 1768-1774 or 1787-1792.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 97–97. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources