Rum İmparatorluğunda bulunan Komnen hânedanından Amasya‘nın son vâlisi Şattat, Jütatiyus’un kızıdır. Amasya’nın fethinden evvel pek ziyâde sevdiği Türk beylerinden İltekin Gâzi’ye nefsini tezvîc ederek kabûl-i İslâm etdi.
Amasya‘nın fethinde hizmetleri sebk eylediğinden Türkler arasında şeref ve şânı yükseldi. Gâzi müşârün-ileyh ile beraber gazâlarda bulunarak Melik İsmâil Gâzi’nin zamanında vefât etdiği zannolunur.
Torumtay câmi-i şerîfinin garb tarafında yol üzerinde yüksek bir sırt üzerinde medfûndur. Ahşabdan ufak bir hücre olarak türbesi ve vakfı vardır. Vâkıfı, mahdûmu olduğu anlaşılan Emîr Hüsâmü’d-devle Hasan Gâzi bin İltekin Gâzi’dir. Vakfı da Saz mâlikânesinde Emîr Hasan Âlâkî demekle meşhûr [246] olduğu kayden sâbitdir.
Müverrih Mustafa Cenâbî Çelebi “el-Aylemü’z-Zâhir” adlı eserinde Efrûmiye Banû’nun İltekin Gâzi zevcesi olduğunu beyândan sonra mahdûmu Halfet Gâzi diyor ki bütün kuyûd-ı vakfiye ve mahkûkeye muhâlifdir. Halfet Gâzi, aşağıda yazılacağı üzere Tûlî Bey bin Türkanşâh mahdûmudur.
In Modern English
She is the daughter of Şattat Jütatiyus, the last governor of Amasya, of the Komnenos dynasty in the Byzantine Empire. Before the conquest of Amasya she married İltekin Gazi, one of the Turkish beys whom she greatly loved, and became a Muslim.
Because her services stood out in the conquest of Amasya, her honor and renown rose among the Turks. She took part in campaigns together with the said Gazi; she is thought to have died in the time of Melik İsmail Gazi.
She is buried on a high ridge by the road, to the west of the Torumtay Mosque. Her tomb, in the form of a small wooden cell, and her waqf exist. The founder of the waqf is Emir Hüsâmüddevle Hasan Gazi, son of İltekin Gazi, who is understood to be her son. It is established by record that the waqf lay in the Saz mâlikâne and was known under the name "Emir Hasan Âlâkî."
The historian Mustafa Cenâbî Çelebi, in his work "el-Aylemü'z-Zâhir," after stating that Efrûmiye Banû was the wife of İltekin Gazi, names Halfet Gazi as her son; this is contrary to all the waqf deeds and court records. Halfet Gazi, as will be written below, is the son of Tûlî Bey, son of Türkanşah.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- vâlî: governor, ruler
- nefsini tezvîc etmek: to marry
- kabûl-i İslâm: becoming a Muslim
- sebk eylemek: to stand out, to come first
- gazâ: war fought for the sake of Islam
- garb: west
- medfûn: buried
- hücre: small room
- vâkıf: the person who founds a waqf
- mâlikâne: a lifetime right of disposal over the revenue of a piece of land
- kayden sâbit: established by record, proven by record
- müverrih: historian
- kuyûd-ı vakfiye ve mahkûke: waqf deeds and court records
The Conquest of Amasya and İltekin Gazi
Judging by the conquest day celebrated afterward, the city of Amasya passed into Turkish hands on 4 April 1075 at the hands of İltekin Gazi, a Danishmendid commander. Once he had taken the citadel, İltekin Gazi settled a substantial part of his troops there; their wives came soon after, and these formed the first Turkish population of the city. The Çağlayan Bridge in the city is reported to have been built by İltekin Gazi in 1076.
Hüsameddin relates two further details about the conquest. The first is that candles were fixed to the horns of sheep in order to make the attackers seem more numerous in the final assault. The second is that the day of the conquest was celebrated every year and that a mosque was built to commemorate the point from which İltekin Gazi launched the last attack. It is said that the people of Amasya gathered here at a certain time each year and held festivities, but that this custom was forgotten in the period after 1826. Tuncer Baykara says he takes this information seriously because he has seen similar things in his research on other Seljuk cities.
Efrumiye and Şattat in the Danişmendname
The conquest is also told in the Danişmendname, an epic that was written down about a century after the events and whose text took shape in the fourteenth century. Baykara notes that it cannot be said that everything in the epic is true. In the passage on the conquest of the Harşena citadel of Amasya, a man named Efrumiye is one of about a hundred men who ride to the citadel together with Melik, Artuhî, Ahmed, Osman, and Süleyman. He has the gate opened by telling the guards, "We are Şattat's servants, and here he comes too," and Ahmed says in their language, "I am Shah Şattat." The gates are opened by this trick and the Muslims enter the citadel.
The names Efrumiye and Şattat that Hüsameddin gives also occur in this account; but in the epic Efrumiye does not appear as Şattat's daughter, rather as one of those who enter the citadel by trickery. Nor is the person's gender stated. It cannot be determined whether the two accounts refer to the same person; this is a matter of inference, and the sources neither support nor refute it.
The Lineage of Halfet Gazi
Hüsameddin does not accept Mustafa Cenâbî Çelebi's statement that "Halfet Gazi is the son of Efrumiye Banû and İltekin Gazi," and gives Halfet Gazi as the son of Tûlî Bey, son of Türkanşah. In the waqf deed of 1225 for the madrasa of Halîfet Gazi, the founder appears as "Mübârizeddin Halîfet Alp, son of Sûlî, son of Türkânşah." This record agrees with the line of descent Hüsameddin gives; the name Sûlî also matches the form "Tûlî" that Hüsameddin writes. No information was found in the sources read on Cenâbî's claim. Halîfet Gazi, a Danishmendid emir, entered Seljuk service, was appointed governor of Amasya in 1222, later became governor of Erzurum, and in 1232 fell as a martyr on a campaign against the Georgians and was buried in his tomb in Amasya.
The Tomb
Hüsameddin writes that the tomb of Efrumiye Banû is a wooden cell on a high ridge to the west of the Torumtay Mosque. The Torumtay waqf deed is dated 1266; Baykara thinks the madrasa belongs to the 1240s. The building complex on Torumtay Street is the Madrasa and Tomb of Halîfet Gazi, and only the south wall and the east section of the madrasa partly stand. No information was found in the sources read on the wooden tomb of Efrumiye Banû or on the waqf of Hasan Gazi. The location of the Saz mâlikâne, Melik İsmail Gazi, and the work "el-Aylemü'z-Zâhir" could likewise not be verified.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 338–338. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources