Amasyalıdır. Amasya ve Sivas hükümdârı Hacı Kutlu Şâhzâde İmâdeddîn Süleyman Şâh mahdûmu ve Kutlu Paşa birâderidir. Sunguroğlu el-Hâc İsmâil Bey bin el-Hâc Ahmed Bey’in kerîmezâdesidir. [303]
Amcası olan Amasya hükümdârı Seyfeddîn Şâdgeldi Pâdişâh devrinde Amasya muhâfızı, sonra çeribaşı ya’nî serasker oldu. 783’de amcasının şehâdetinde nesebinden dolayı ammizâdesi Fahreddîn Ahmed Çelebi zamânında çeribaşılıkdan azledildi.
788’de Amasya hükûmeti Osmanlı pâdişâhı Sultân Murâd Hünkâr’a arz-ı inkıyâd ve itâat eylediğinden bir müddet Amasya Vâlisi Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa’ya vekâlet edib çeribaşı oldu. 801’de Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’ın Amasya vâliliğinde mütekâid ve 804’de harb-i Timur esnâsında Amasya vâlî kâim-makâmı oldu.
Timur Hân’ın hafîdi Kara Mehmed Sultân’ın Amasya‘ya vürûdunda Amasya emâretine ta’yin edileceği muhakkak iken ihtiyârlığını der-meyân ederek emâretden çekildi. Yerine yeğeni ikinci Şadgeldi Bey nasbedildi.
805’de Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân Amasya’ya geldikde kendisine hürmet-i mahsûsada bulundu. Ta’yinât-ı kâfiye ile taltîf edib muhteremâne yaşadı. 814 senesi şevvâlinde dâr-ı bekâya [304] irtihâl etdi. Âlim gâyet müsinn bir emîr-i kerîm idi.
İkâmetgâhı olan mahalleye “Çeribaşı Mahallesi” dendi. Hânesi önüne kâr-gîr bir mescid-i şerîf ve altında bir Dârü’l-kurrâ binâ edib Amasya ve Geldiklân’da olan emlâk ve arâzisini bu hayrâtına vakfetdi. Türbesi câmi-i şerîfin civâr-ı garbîsinde bulunan hânemizin ittisâlinde bir sedd üzerindedir. Seng-i mezârı bâkî olup baş ve ayak taşları Uzun Yol Mezârlığı’nda bulunabildi.
Mahdûmları Abdullah, Ali, Hamza Beylerdir. Bunların evlâdına “Çeri-başıoğulları” denirdi. Dâmâtları Mustafa Bey bin Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa ile Şâdi Bey bin Burak Bey’dir. Şâdi Beyzâde Burak Bey “Küçük Çeribaşı” demekle meşhûr idi. Evlâdı muahharan dört kola ayrıldı. Bunlara “Mütevellîzâde, Zambak, Dedezâde, Müftîzâde” dendi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of İmâdeddîn Süleyman Şah, son of Hacı Kutlu Şah, ruler of Amasya and Sivas, and the brother of Kutlu Pasha. He was the son of the daughter of Hacı İsmail Bey bin Hacı Ahmed Bey of the Sunguroğlu family.
In the time of his uncle, Seyfeddîn Şadgeldi Padishah, ruler of Amasya, he became commander of Amasya and then çeribaşı, that is, serasker. In 783 [1381-82], when his uncle fell as a martyr, he was dismissed from the çeribaşılık in the time of his cousin Fahreddîn Ahmed Çelebi, because of his lineage.
In 788 [1386-87], since the government of Amasya bowed to the Ottoman sovereign Sultan Murad Hünkâr and declared obedience, he for a time acted as deputy to Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha, governor of Amasya, and became çeribaşı. In 801 [1398-99], during the governorship of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan in Amasya, he retired; in 804 [1401-02], during the war with Timur, he became deputy governor of Amasya.
When Kara Mehmed Sultan, grandson of Timur Khan, came to Amasya, although it was certain that he would be appointed to the emirate of Amasya, he cited his old age and withdrew from the emirate. In his place his nephew, the second Şadgeldi Bey, was appointed.
In 805 [1402-03], when Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan came to Amasya, he showed him special respect. He rewarded him with sufficient allowances and let him live in honour. In the month of Şevval of 814 [1412] he passed to the next world. He was a scholar and a very old, generous emir.
The quarter where he lived was called "Çeribaşı Mahallesi". In front of his house he built a masonry mosque and below it a Dârü'l-kurrâ, and he endowed his properties and lands in Amasya and Geldiklân to these charities. His tomb stands on a terrace, next to our house, which is to the west of the noble mosque. The gravestone survives; its headstone and footstone could be found in the Uzun Yol Cemetery.
His sons are Abdullah, Ali and Hamza Beys. Their descendants were called "Çeribaşıoğulları". His sons-in-law are Mustafa Bey bin Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha and Şâdi Bey bin Burak Bey. Şâdi Beyzâde Burak Bey was famous as "Küçük Çeribaşı". His line later divided into four branches. These were called "Mütevellîzâde, Zambak, Dedezâde, Müftîzâde".
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- hükümdâr: ruler, emir
- kerîmezâde: a daughter's son, a grandson through a daughter
- muhâfız: an official responsible for guarding a place
- çeribaşı: commander at the head of the army; the text explains it as "serasker"
- azl: dismissal
- arz-ı inkıyâd ve itâat: bowing and declaring obedience
- mütekâid: retired
- vâlî kâim-makâmı: deputy governor
- ammizâde: paternal cousin
- ta'yinât-ı kâfiye: sufficient allowances, salary
- müsinn: aged
- kâr-gîr: built of stone or brick, solid
- Dârü'l-kurrâ: a place where Qur'an reciters gather and Qur'an teaching is given
- seng-i mezâr: gravestone
- dâmâd: son-in-law
The Title Çeribaşı
The word çeribaşı is a term that appears in 15th-century sources alongside words such as başbuğ, serdar and serasker; Hüsameddin's "çeribaşı, ya'nî serasker" agrees with this usage. In later centuries in the Ottoman world the çeribaşı was a lower-ranking official who gathered the sipahis in a nahiye-sized part of a sanjak and kept order. The man in the text is the çeribaşı of the Amasya emirate period, in the sense of serasker.
Şadgeldi and the Family of Kutlu Şah
According to Hüsameddin the Great Çeribaşı is the son of the brother of Seyfeddîn Şadgeldi, ruler of Amasya. Şadgeldi was the second son of Hacı Kutlu Şah; his father appointed him emir of Amasya in 760 [1359], and he remained emir from that year until 783 [1381-82], when he was killed in a battle with Kadı Burhaneddin. The year of his death agrees with the 783 the text gives for the uncle. His son Ahmed, who succeeded him, must be the "cousin Fahreddîn Ahmed Çelebi" of the text. The name İmâdeddîn Süleyman Şah did not appear among the sons of Kutlu Şah in the article read; this information rests only on Hüsameddin and could not be verified.
Amasya's Passing to the Ottomans
The encyclopedia says that after Şadgeldi's death his son Ahmed defended the city against Kadı Burhaneddin with Yıldırım Bayezid's support, that Yıldırım Bayezid finally added Amasya to Ottoman lands in 1398 and left its administration to his son Çelebi Mehmed. After the Battle of Ankara in 1402 Çelebi Mehmed withdrew to Amasya and used it as a base against his brothers. The dates Hüsameddin gives, 801 [1398-99] and 805 [1402-03], agree with this account. The declaration of obedience to Murad Hünkâr in 788 [1386-87] does not appear in this encyclopedia entry; the text's Murad Hünkâr may mean Murad I (inference), but no details of this submission were found in the sources read.
Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha
About the Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha who appears in the text, the sources read gave only this: the entry on Murad II notes that Hüsameddin writes that Murad's mother was Şehzade Hatun, daughter of Divitdâr Ahmed Pasha, one of the notables of Amasya; the same entry presents Murad as the son of Mehmed I by a concubine. That is, this is a view resting on Hüsameddin's own sources. Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha is mentioned again in the next entry.
The Quarter, the Mosque and the Tomb
No information was found in the sources read on the Çeribaşı quarter, the mosque, the Dârü'l-kurrâ, the endowment in Geldiklân or the stones in the Uzun Yol Cemetery. Among the surviving works of Amasya the encyclopedia names the Tomb of Şadgeldi Pasha; the Çeribaşı's tomb is not mentioned. From the words "our house" it appears that the author's own family house adjoined this tomb. No information was found on the arrival of Timur's grandson Kara Mehmed Sultan in Amasya and the Çeribaşı's withdrawal from the emirate, on the identity of Hacı İsmail Bey of the Sunguroğlu family, or on the four lines descended from the Çeribaşı; this information rests on Hüsameddin and could not be verified.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 356. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- İlhan Şahin, Feridun Emecen, "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya
- Mehterhan Furkani, "Siyasî ve İlmî Bir Kişilik: Amasya Emiri Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa ve ed-Dürerü'l-Mensûretü fi'l-Furû' Adlı Eserin Kendisine Nispeti", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı I, Amasya Üniversitesi, 2017, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_FURKANIM.pdf
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Çeribaşı", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ceribasi
- Halil İnalcık, "Murad II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/murad-ii