Atabeg Gâzi Medresesi mutasarrıfı es-Seyyid Ahmed Efendi bin es-Seyyid Veliyüddîn [338] Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. 1262’de doğdu. Amasya‘nın ulemâsından tahsîl-i ulûm edib pederinin vefâtından mahlûl olan Atabeg Gâzi müderrisi oldu. Akrabâsından Bakırcızâde Hâfız es-Seyyid Nureddîn Mehmed Efendi Vidin nâibi oldukda Vidin mahkemesi kâtibi oldu.
Badehû İstanbul’a gelip 1295’de Amasya’da küşâd edilen ticaret mahkemesi reisi olarak avdet etdi. Sekiz yıl kadar riyâsetde bulunup 1303’de ticâret işleri hukuk mahkemesine verildikde adliye başkâtibi oldu. Yirmi iki yıl da bu vazîfesini hüsn-i ifâ iderek 1325’de tekâüde sevk edildi. On üç yıl da ilim ve ibâdet ve mutâla’ât ile iştigâl ederek 1338’de vefât etdi. Âlim, vakûr, kâmil, eşrâf-ı memleketten bir zât idi. Oğullarından Yüzbaşı es-Seyyid Mustafa Nazif Efendi Çanakkale harbinde mecrûhan 1334’de vefât etdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of es-Seyyid Ahmed Efendi, who held the teaching share of the Atabeg Gâzi Madrasa; Ahmed Efendi was the son of es-Seyyid Veliyüddîn Ağa. He was born in 1262 [1845-46]. He studied the sciences with the scholars of Amasya and was appointed müderris (madrasa professor) of Atabeg Gâzi, a post left vacant by his father's death. When his relative Bakırcızâde Hâfız es-Seyyid Nureddîn Mehmed Efendi became naib of Vidin, he became clerk of the Vidin court.
Afterwards he came to Istanbul and in 1295 [1878] returned as president of the commercial court opened in Amasya. After serving as president for some eight years, in 1303 [1885-86], when commercial matters were given to the civil court, he became chief clerk of the court. He carried out this duty well for twenty-two years and in 1325 [1907-08] was retired. He spent a further thirteen years in learning, worship and reading, and died in 1338 [1919-20]. He was a learned, dignified, mature man, one of the notables of the region. One of his sons, Captain es-Seyyid Mustafa Nazif Efendi, was wounded in the Çanakkale war and died in 1334 [1915-16].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mutasarrıf: here, the person who holds the teaching share and income of a madrasa
- mahdûm: son
- mahlûl: vacated, left empty by the death of its holder
- tahsîl-i ulûm: studying the sciences
- müderris: a teacher at a madrasa
- nâib: a sharia judge, a kadı
- küşâd: opening
- ticaret mahkemesi: the court that heard commercial cases
- adliye başkâtibi: head of the clerical staff of the court
- tekâüd: retirement
- mutâla'a: reading, study
- vakûr: dignified
- mecrûhan: wounded
The Atabeg Gâzi Madrasa
According to Hüsameddin's section on madrasas, the Atabeg Madrasa stood on the bank of the stream in Sığır Pazarı. The Seljuk emir Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Atabeg had built it and arranged its waqf in Rebîülevvel 727 [1327]. One study writes that Nasıreddin Ahmed Atabey was governor of Amasya for five years between 1322 and 1327, and that he had the madrasa built and endowed all his land and property to it. According to Hüsameddin's description, the madrasa had been destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt with waqf income; it was a building of fifteen rooms with a lecture hall and a garden in the middle; since 1294 [1877-78] it had stood as an empty plot, and its surroundings had turned into blacksmiths' shops.
The same section names the sequence of professors as follows: after 1098, Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi and his descendants held the teaching share of the madrasa; in 1245 [1829-30] İskilibli Hüseyin Efendi and in 1278 [1861-62] Şehirli Mustafa Efendi became müderris. The same sentence reports the death of es-Seyyid Ahmed bin Velî bin Ahmed in 1266 [1849-50], and says that after the death of Şehirli Mustafa Efendi in 1291 [1874-75] "Bakırcızâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mehmed Emîn Efendi" and the sons of İskiliblizâde Hâfız Mehmed Efendi held the inherited shares; the sentence is tangled. Since the date of death (1266) and the father's name (Ahmed bin Velî) agree with es-Seyyid Ahmed bin Veliyüddîn of this entry, it is likely that this Bakırcızâde Mehmed Emîn is the person of this entry; this is an inference, for Hüsameddin does not link the names "Zanalızâde" and "Bakırcızâde" in either place. In the section on the Zanalı lineage in the introductory chapter, it is written that the Zanalızâde line divided into the Şerîf Efendizâde, Şerîf Paşazâde and Bakırcızâde branches, of which the Şerîf Paşazâde branch spread in Istanbul and Egypt and the other two in Amasya. Hâfız Nureddîn Mehmed Efendi, named as a relative, appears in the book's section on the Alaca Yahyâ Madrasa as the man who became müderris in 1248 [1832-33] but, being in the judicial career and running the madrasa only through a deputy, left it abandoned; his being naib of Vidin agrees with this.
Comparison with the Meşîhat Archive Records
A study based on the Meşîhat Archive documents deals in detail with an Amasya man named Zanavîzâde Mehmed Emîn Efendi. His name, his father's name (Ahmed Efendi, a man of learning), his post as clerk of the Vidin court and his presidency of the Amasya commercial court match what Hüsameddin tells; it is therefore a strong possibility that they are the same person. This is an inference; the study does not mention the name "Zanalızâde". According to the documents Mehmed Emîn Efendi was born in Amasya in 1849, did his rüşdiye education at Lofça in the Danube province, was taken into the Rumeli Vekâyi Office in 1868, worked in 1869 for eight months as clerk of the Sinop court and in 1870 as clerk of the Vidin court, and in 1871 resigned and returned to Istanbul. In May 1873 he worked for about six months without pay as a candidate member of the Second Commercial Court Council of Istanbul; in October 1873 he was appointed president of the commercial court of the sanjak of Amasya at a monthly 1500 kuruş, and held this post for some fifteen years. When the court was abolished by imperial order on 19 April 1888, he was left without a post, and on 8 December 1888 he was appointed chief clerk of the Amasya court of first instance.
There are differences between the two accounts. Hüsameddin places the birth in 1262 [1845-46], the documents in 1849. Hüsameddin writes that he began as president of the commercial court in 1295 [1878] and held it for eight years, and that the chief clerkship began in 1303 [1885-86]; according to the documents, the presidency lasted from 1873 to 1888 and the chief clerkship began at the end of 1888. The documents also show that in February 1877 he was granted the rank of Edirne müderris; the study, however, notes that there is no record of his actually teaching at a madrasa. Hüsameddin, on the other hand, speaks of the professorship at Atabeg Gâzi. On 24 October 1889 Mehmed Emîn Efendi wrote that the chief clerkship did not suit him and that he wished to be appointed naib of a district in the sanjak of Tokat or Amasya, and the province of Sivas reported on 4 November 1889 that the request was appropriate; there is no later document in the archive, so it is not known whether the request was granted. Hüsameddin's dates for his retirement in 1325 and death in 1338 cannot be compared with the documents.
No information was found in other sources about his son Captain Mustafa Nazif Efendi, who was wounded and died at Çanakkale.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, 7. Cilt, p. 366. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, pp. 161–167 (Atabeg and Alaca Yahyâ Madrasas) and 179–186 (Zanalı lineage).
Academic studies
- Hasan Telli, "Meşihat Arşivi'ne Göre Amasya Müderrisleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 7/2, 2024, pp. 732–758 (Zanavîzâde Mehmed Emîn Efendi, pp. 739–740). https://doi.org/10.52637/kiid.1512049
- Gözde Birsel Varol – Selim Özcan, "Atabeyzadelerin Amasya'nın Siyasi ve Sosyal Tarihindeki Yeri ve Önemi", MANAS Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 8/4, 2019, pp. 3775–3798. https://doi.org/10.33206/mjss.485672 (only the abstract could be read)