Ergeldi Bey — Şâh Melik Paşazade

In Modern English

He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Şah Melik Paşa of Amasya, one of the viziers, who was the son of Şâdi Bey. Attaching himself to Sultan Murad II, he became first one of the zeamet holders and then one of the emirs. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Varna and died as a martyr in the conquest of Istanbul in 857 [1453]. His sons Ali and Şah Melik Bey were granted zeamets of five thousand akçe each.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• vüzerâ: viziers
• mahdûm: son
• intisâb: attaching oneself, entering the service of
• ibtidâ: at first, in the beginning
• züamâ: zeamet holders
• ba'dehû: afterwards
• ümerâ: emirs
• isbât-ı vücûd: making oneself felt, proving one's worth
• şehîden vefât: dying as a martyr
• akçe: Ottoman silver coin

The Battle of Varna

The Battle of Varna was fought on 28 Receb 848 [10 November 1444]. The Crusader army, led by King Vladislav of Hungary and John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, and supported by the papacy and Byzantium, aimed to drive the Ottomans out of the Balkans and to advance as far as Edirne. Murad II had abdicated in favour of his young son Mehmed II but was obliged to return at the head of the army. With an army of about 40,000 he moved on Varna by way of Yanbolu. In the battle the Ottoman right wing broke before the Hungarian charge. Karaca Bey, Beylerbeyi of Anatolia, was killed in the fighting. The sultan's staying in place and the protection of the Janissaries turned the course of the fight. The Hungarian king charged with his 500 horsemen, fell into the ditch of the Ottoman camp and was killed. The Hungarians scattered. It is reported that the Hungarians left on the field numbered some 7,000-8,000 and the Ottoman loss was close to that. The text does not say in which unit and in what post Şah Melik Paşa was present in this battle. His name does not appear in the sources available to us.

Murad II and Amasya

Murad II was born in Amasya in Zilhicce 806 [June 1404]. His father was Mehmed I; Hüsameddin records that his mother was Şehzade Hatun, daughter of Divitdâr Ahmed Paşa, one of the notables of Amasya. When he reached the age of twelve he was sent to Amasya with the princely governorship of the Rum province, which covered the regions of Amasya, Tokat, Sivas, Çorum and Osmancık. That Şah Melik Paşa attached himself to Sultan Murad II is an understandable path for a man of Amasya serving a ruler born and raised in his own city. This is only an inference; the text gives neither the manner nor the year of the attachment.

The Conquest of Istanbul

The siege of Istanbul, which Hüsameddin gives as the place of death in 857 [1453], lasted fifty-four days, from 26 Rebîülevvel to 20 Cemâziyelevvel 857 (6 April - 29 May 1453). In the general assault the city was entered through breaches made by cannon in the walls and through openings between Topkapı and Yalıkapı. On which day of the siege and in which unit Şah Melik Paşa died is not stated in the text.

Zeamet and Emirate

In the Ottoman land system fiefs were divided by income into has, zeamet and timar. Those with an annual income up to 20,000 akçe were timars, those between 20,000 and 100,000 akçe were zeamets, and higher ones were has. Zeamets began to appear among the fiefs from the 1430s. Zeamet holders were required, according to their income, to maintain a set number of cebelü, that is armed men, and to take them on campaign. In this light Şah Melik Paşa's being "of the züamâ, afterwards of the ümerâ" means that he was first a zeamet holder and then passed into the class of emirs (beys). The "five thousand akçe zeamet" given to his sons is below the lower limit. This suggests that the term in the record was used loosely or that the figure was given by another measure. This difference could not be explained with the sources available to us.

Şah Melik Paşa and His Family

The vizier rank of Şah Melik Paşa, whom Hüsameddin calls "of the viziers", and the date at which he became vizier are not known. In the troubled days after Murad II's accession a Şah Melik Bey is mentioned who, in September 1421, resisted in Gelibolu Castle Mustafa Çelebi, who had landed before Gelibolu with Byzantine support. Whether this man is the same as Hüsameddin's Şah Melik Paşa is not clear from the sources. Nor was any separate record found, in the sources available to us, on his father Şâdi Bey or on his sons Ali and Şah Melik. By what ties he was bound to Amasya could not be verified in another source either.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 280. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Halil İnalcık, "Murad II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/murad-ii
• Halil İnalcık, "Mehmed II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-ii
• Feridun Emecen, "Varna Muharebesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/varna-muharebesi